50 meters (yards?) never felt so far

I picked up another sport habit last summer while rehabbing my shoulder- swimming.  I have never been a great swimmer, but I was feeling pretty good about my swimming before the move.  I could swim for 40 min nonstop.  It wasn't always pretty, but I could do the distance.  

Disappointingly, since I moved to a place with abundant swimming (ocean and outdoor pools), I have swam only once.  Today made it twice.  My experience was both humbling and wonderful all at the same time.  The Manoa Valley Community Pool is a mere 2 minute bike ride from my house.  It takes longer to lock and unlock my bike than it does to get there.  On top of that, swimming is free.  The lap swim on Mondays is the full length- 50 meters (yards?).  I've only swam in little pools- Como and SPG.  Big pools look neat- you know- like the Olympics and stuff.

When I arrived on the pool deck, I inspected the swimmers to see if there was a method to there madness.  The lifeguard saw my blank expression and politely described the lane rotation.  Arrows on the pool deck marked which direction each lane went, one lane to go out, the other to return back.  Genious.  This was going to work just great.

I foolishly thought I'd still be able to swim my half-mile in 30 minutes.  Hah!  50 meters (yards?) is much longer than 25 meters (yards?).  I'd say, twice as long, maybe longer since I get to push off the wall half as much.  After my first lap, I was feeling pretty confident that I could at least swim 400 meters (yards?).  After my second lap, I was a little concerned- maybe I could swim 400 meters (yards?).  After my third lap, I proclaimed myself a filter feeder based on the amount of water I swallowed and called it quits.

Defeated (and embarrassed that I only swam for 15 minutes), I went to shower.  The kind lifeguard bid me farewell and gave me the pool schedule to take home.  Wow, even HE knew I needed to swim more.  Ouch.  I'm hoping to join the UH Master Swimming club next week.  For $4 a session I can get technique instruction from the UH swimming coaches.  I figure in a month or so, my lifeguard-friend won't even know its me!

Its really rad to swim outside in February.

And I have an advanced degree in science...

The road bike was built last weekend (the one before Vday). Shifting was marginal- seemed like it was because my derailleur was sitting crooked. Brand new carbon frame, so bent derailleur hanger was unlikely. My derailleur was probably just worn out- I've owned it for 5 years, it came to me used (either via the Swap, the Devil or Skreech). Its been crashed and abused a lot. In fact, the 105 is almost worn off. I figured I'd arrange for a "spare" one to be shipped down.

Today I struggled with a 12 mile group ride- automatic shifting, freight train noises, etc. On top of that, I was trying to get Sideburnz a job at a local shop. What a way to show off his mechanic skillz.

So, I was chatting with the dudes after the ride and noticed that the cassette on my bike WASN'T my 11-23. I thought things had gone awfully well considering my gearing. Once I returned home, I counted the gears. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9....10? 10 speed? WTF?

Then, the moment of enlightenment. Rewind to bike building frenzy. Sideburnz was going nuts building bikes. Road wheels were packed with the road frame and the rest of the pieces. Last time road wheels were used- CX nats, as my trainer wheel for my 10 SPEED CX bike. Cassette never got switched. Sideburnz never knew. I forgot. 9 speed cassette was still in the box of goodies from my road bike. All of my pissing and moaning about a new derailleur might be for nought. I hate spending money on road bikes.

Cassette still needs to get switched. Pretty sure 11-23 will make me cry, but 9 speeds will work SOOOOO much better than 10. I guess that's how I'll get fast. I missed my bikes.

Getting to IKEA

Sideburnz and I wanted to know how to get to the nearest IKEA.

Read carefully, here's how: http://info.ikea-usa.com/StoreLocator/Directions.aspx?Store=Emeryville&Address=Hawaii+96822%2c+USA

State Fair Fix

This weekend, I got my State Fair fix for February.  One of my coworkers invited Sideburnz and me to join him at the Punahou Carnival on Friday after work.  Punahou students and families put on this carnival every year as a fundraiser for scholarships- Punahou is private.  As you might know, Pres. Obama is a Punahou alumni.  What an experience (regardless of the Obama factor).  Jam packed with people.  Lines out the door for some attractions.  Food, games, rides...  The main attraction in my opinion was the tent full of garage sale items.  There were books, records, housewares, clothes, toys, art, things you didn't know what to do with- we came home with one of them.  But we knew what were were going to do with it.  It is a strange piece of pottery that we decided could be a spoon rest.  Nice.  Sideburnz also obtained a nice Aloha shirt for when we want to "go out."  Only problem is that the shirt is tan, and he owns lots of tan shorts- it looks a little safari-esque.  We'll have to find some darker shorts.

The food attraction was definitely the Malasadas (click the punahou link if you didn't already).  2 Malasadas was a full dinner for me (and not a very healthy one at that).  They are definitely not as delicate as a minidonut, but they have other minidonut attributes: freshly fried, rolled in sugar, probably inferior if purchased elsewhere.

The other attraction for the weekend was the Navy ship that ran aground near the airport on Thursday.  Sideburnz and I rode bikes up a local hill that has a view of the airport to admire the beached ship.  The Honolulu Advertiser documented the whole thing... here's the first and second attempts for freedom, the third attempt and planning the fourth, the fourth attempt fails, and finally the 5th try was the charm and on Tuesday she was home.

With the ship back at port and the carnival over, there's not much action around here- just work.  The weekend will bring our first cycling adventure outside of the city.  There will be at least one funny quip, I'm sure.