Asserting myself as "that girl"

Starting jumproping today in the parking lot. I sure got some looks. CX season is upon us.

what haven't i broken

In May my mountain bike frame bit the dust.  Got a darn good replacement- I might even be happier with my new Orbea than I was with my Kona.  Things were going well.  Then the creak started.  Seemed like my bottom bracket, so I reinstalled it with new grease and teflon tape.  That should have fixed it- I had ridden on some gnarly muddy trails over 4th of July- probably got some water or dirt inside my frame. 

My creak still persisted, so Sideburnz took my bike to the shop for a more thorough inspection.  Then I got the dreaded phone call.... "Welllllllll seems like the creak is coming from your fork, and the FOX guys gave me an RA number so I can send it in.  What do you want me to do? " "Could it fail catastrophically?" "I spose so."  Hmmm. Tough decision.  It might be nothing.  I'm going to Maui in 4 days to ride mountain bikes.  I need a fork.  I'm racing the Xterra qualifier in 10 days.  I need a fork.  I don't need to be hurt.  drrrrrrrrrrrr

I had to whip out some logic to solve this issue.  My gut instinct was to wait 2 weeks- ride on Maui, race Mountain Man, then send it in.  but...... There's a little bit of bad mana in Makawao Forest Reserve.  That's where the Kona to her last ride. That's where we're riding this weekend on Maui.  Undoubtably, Makawao Forest Reserve would do my fork in.  And even if I wanted to throw out the bad mana idea, logic continued to prove that the fork had to go.  If a 125lb girl can bust an aluminum frame, she can probably kill any bike part, including a fork.  Logic won 2-0, my fork is on its way to FOX.  The rigid fork is supposed to be for Eye of the Tiger, whenever I get around to building it.  So how much is Maui going to suck now that I'm fully rigid?  

Thought I'd better give it a test drive tonight so I have an idea.  Theo Wirth and Elk River are great for rigid forks, but I was skeptical about lava rocks and thousands of feet of elevation change.  My test ride at St. Louis had lava, roots, loose gravel and cinder, berms, jumps, and ~1000 ft of elevation.  The rigid fork passed, almost with flying colors.  I just have to remember to keep my weight back.  I also remember how lazy suspension makes you.  I can only imagine how little skill one must have to ride a double-boinger bike.  I think my lil' rigid Orbea is going to rock it for the next few weeks, but I'll enjoy getting a suspension fork back on my bike.  This weekend will be a major upper body work out.  I'll probably develop some man hands from hanging on to my handle bars.

Things I saw this weekend

Saturday

North Shore Cattle Company, Haleiwa, HI

At my house

Sunday

Dillingham Airfield

Where's the pot of gold?

Peacock Flats, over looking Makua Valley

A hot ascent 

Lahaina Noon

Today, the sun was directly overhead at 12:37pm. The Bishop Museum explains a little bit about this. Note that my shadow is directly below me. This is how we have fun at work.

Eye of the Tiger

My size frame was "out of stock" a month ago at the Kona warehouse.  Magically, it became "in stock" this week.  My warranty frame arrived yesterday.  Haven't decided what to do about it.  Seems like rigid single speed is its future, at least for now.

This bike definitely has potential.  Especially since this is what the head badge looks like.

Rrarrh!  Go get 'em tiger!

Things I've been doing

About a month ago I went to Maui with my mountain bike.  Little did I know it would be my last ride on my tiny Kona XC bike.  I logged 6 hours of riding and 9000 ft of climbing on day 1 (which apparently did my frame in) and 1 hour of careful riding in the rain on day 2, avoiding a catastrophic frame failure.   Makawao forest reserve now has the esteemed title of "My Favorite Trail in Hawaii."  6 miles of multiuse trail traverse the slopes of Haleakala.  I later found out that this trail was actually designed for bikes, and that's why it flows SOOOOO well.  On Oahu I have only found flow once- at Royal Summit.  The rest of the Oahu trails climb and descend scary lava rocks.  Admittedly, I like the lava rocks a lot, but that style of trail is very taxing on both the mind and body.  In addition to flow, Makawao also offers trails with serious climbing, neat vistas, fast descents, dirt jumps (which I elected not to try), and berms like you wouldn't believe.  Here are some photos from the trip:

Verifying that I was there.

Buff Trails

BRRRRAAPPP

New Friends

A view from the top- still another 5000 ft of possible climbing

Nap time

Now here's the irony of  this trip: Makawao Forest Reserve is ~ 3 miles (as the crow flies) from the town of Kula.  My Kona bike was a Kula Lisa model.  I think my bike was just waiting to go to its name sake so it could die.  You know... like elephants go to the elephant graveyard to die.

Prior to learning the fate of my frame, I decided to re-retire from road cycling.  I did this once in 2006, but some how got dooped into thinking road bikes were fun when I moved to Hawaii.  Mountain biking is way to fun to waste time on road bikes.  I must have been drugged.  In fact, in the past year, my poor mountain bike saw less than 1/3 of the ride time that my road bike saw.  Anyway, the broken frame was quite the ordeal.  It involved all of the stages of grieving: during my day 2 ride on Maui, I kept telling myself it was cosmetic (however, the unbelievable creaking when I stood up was very telling of the crack).  Then I was angry- how could my bike do this to me?  I just gave up road cycling!  I'm not quite sure if the bargaining stage fully developed- this might have been when I was considering my other options if a warranty frame wasn't available.  Then the depression... this included several bouts of crying and being in a really sour mood for about 4 days.  The moment of acceptance finally arrived after I took my 24 inches of love Kona (dirt jumper) our for a short evening ride and Sideburnz's coworker clued me in to an Orbea closeout hardtail frame.  I conceded that I still had a mountain bike- 24 inches of love- and then felt quite guilty that it had sat in pieces since we moved.  My optimism improved once my new Orbea frame was on order.

Sideburnz was supportive, but he kept reminding me that it was time.  I have ridden mountain bikes for over 10 years and never broken a frame.  I ride aggressively, and even with my minimal body weight, this was inevitable.  I'm glad that my Kona's last ride was on Maui.  It was an epic weekend.

Now I have a new member of my fleet.  My raspberry colored Orbea.  Its officially a 2007 D'ella, but there's no model name on the frame.  I like being stealth like that.

Sideburnz built my Orbea while I was on the mainland.  The best way to get back on Hawaii time is to ride for 2+ hours at Royal Summit. She really proved her worth last weekend.  I never thought I could replace my Kona... the Orbea might even be an improvement!  

As if I don't have enough ways to have fun on a bike, I visited the Sand Box for the first time, this morning.  Its been a long time since I rode at the BMX track.  This was a phenomenal exercise in body temperature regulation.  Per ABA regs, I was wearing my BMX pants, long sleeve jersey, and full face helmet.  Yowzers.  I think "sweating profusely" might be an understatement.  I later found out that shorts are permitted with knee and shin pads and and short sleeves are permitted with elbow pads.  The track riding was fun.  I really got into the rhythm section.  Its slightly down hill, so if I had enough speed coming out of the berm, I could pump the whole thing without pedaling.  FUN! Good thing Sideburnz has a BMX bike!

As part of my BMX recovery this morning, I'm enjoying the Twins vs Phillies game (Twins just tied it).  Next up is a trail run in preparation for an off-road triathlon in July 4.  This evening, I'll meet Sideburnz at the beach for a short swim.  I might complete a triathlon today!  Can't wait for more awesomeness.

Things that make a Saturday great

1. Liliha Bakery (diner for breakfast, bakery treats to-go for tomorrow)

2. Freshly overhauled Xtracycle (no more rodents!) to cruise town

3. Browsing Macy's 1-day sale and buying a new pillow

4. Sampling fancy cheese and proscuitto at Whole Foods

5. Finding the beer jackpot- Deschutes Mirror-mirror and The Abyss

6. Maui range fed beef for dinner tonight (also a Whole Foods find)

7. Getting total respect from the guys at NAPA auto parts

and its only 1:15!