Its been too long since you last surfed if...

(1) You elect not to rewax your board because its too dusty
(2) As you're leaving, you can't decide if you have all of your "gear"
(3) You can't remember which leg you leash belongs on

Haven't surfed since August. Caught every wave I went for. My rides weren't necessarily pretty, but it was fun!

And then there were 15

I few weeks ago, I took my lil' Kona (aka 24 inches of love) to a downhill race. The lil' Kona is a hardtail dirt jumper that rides down hills better than my XC bike, but its not a DH bike. I haven't raced my bike just down a hill in years. It was a little intimidating, especially since I knew I needed to keep my shoulder where it belonged. Despite my apprehensions, I had a great race and a really fun time. Mountain bikers way more awesome than triathletes. Then I got to thinking... maybe I need a downhill bike. I had recently been toying with the idea of a full suspension XC bike, but ruled that one out because I really like to stand when I climb, and my Orbea is the jamm. A DH bike seemed like a good idea for several reasons: (1) I actually live somewhere I can ride it on trails (2) I don't have one (3) Sideburnz has one that he doesn't ride much, but he should ride it more (4) Riding down hills is awesome.

Since we have a large quiver of bikes, I didn't see the sense in being hasty, so I made a strategic plan. I would have to ride my lil Kona on a regular basis to demonstrate that a DH bike would get used. I would also have to show that my lil Kona was inadequate for the terrain I wanted to ride (not sure how I was going to do that, but hopefully it wouldn't involve any ER trips). Then after several months of saving, I could buy a DH bike.

I was feeling quite logical for about 8 hours until Sideburnz starting looking on the internet for tiny DH bikes. Low and behold, someone was selling a DH bike in Honolulu, size small. The ad was about a month old, but I contacted the seller anyhow. He emailed back right away- yes the bike was still available, would I like to check it out. **Warning** Warning** This is a dangerous situation, there is a high probability of exchanging dollar bills for bicycles if you get to test ride a bike. So I went down to check it out, with the expectation that the bike would be huge like the Straight 8 and I"d never be able to ride it.

The seller was a guy not much bigger than me who had the suspension dialed for 140 lbs. This is the first time I've ever sat on a FS bike and had it sag! I took it for a test ride in downtown and rode off a bunch of cement planters. Sweet. This bike was going to be at my house in no time. Monday this week, it finally made it home and yesterday I took it to the trails next to my house. So now there are 15. The Orange was so much fun- I finally rode a few segments of trail that I can't ride on my XC bike. I thought the hike-a-bike would get old, but it didn't (note to self: bring water next time). I even launched off some rocks on my first outing. Here's number 15:



So now, all I want to do is ride downhill bikes.

This is how (un)exciting my life is

Our 25 cent toaster from the Punahou carnival white elephant tent has finally died. It lasted nearly 2 years- not bad for a garage sale find. The toasting sensor thinks that frozen bread is toasted. No matter what degree of doneness I select, the toaster pops up after about 30 seconds. I fought with the old toaster for a few weeks, cleaning it out, turning the toast around and restarting, doing a little toasting dance, yelling at it... nothing worked. Sideburnz and I discussed the prospects of replacing the toaster with a toaster oven. It was unclear when or if a toaster oven would get purchased, since someone would need to go to the mall.

Well, yesterday, the old toaster tipped me over the edge, and I treked to the mall to buy a replacement. (This trip was also motivated by 2 victoria's secret coupons and the fact that I desperately need to retire 3 of my bras that I purchased 8 or 9 years ago.) Macy's pulled through- not only was the toaster oven on sale for nearly 50% off (retail 69.99, sale price 39.99), but I still had 2 gift cards from our wedding! Pretty sweet to get a wedding gift almost 2 years after you got married.

Here she is:


http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=328107&CategoryID=17664

Last night I investigated the "bake" function. In 7 minutes I had a delicious openfaced turkey-cheese melt. Wow, this thing is great!

This morning was the moment of truth... how would it handle my bagel bar (a bagel like item in the shape of a rectangle). This was one item the old toaster always rejected. The toast mode has 12 different settings: 6 levels of doneness x frozen or room temp. I set it for T-2 (room temp, light/medium toastiness). Once I pressed "start," the display showed a timer count down... this is too cool... I know that my bagel bar will be done toasting in 3 minutes! Wow. So I let the toaster oven do its thing, and when it beeped, I took my bagel bar out. Golden brown. Awesome. It was warmed all the way through so it melted my peanut butter just a little bit. I've been longing for melty peanut butter on my toast. I maybe would set it for T-3 next time, but T-2 was still a huge improvement over the old toaster. I can tell that the toaster oven and I are beginning a long, wonderful friendship.

Weekend plans

Today I'll be able to check off yet another neighbor island from my list: Kauai. The Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers Association Annual Meeting is on Kauai this weekend. When I submitted my travel documents for this trip, my fiscal officer said, "You didn't list a rental car, how are you getting to the hotel?" I just shrugged my shoulders. I knew it was less than 10 miles from the airport to the hotel. I figured I could take a cab or see if someone else was going to the hotel, maybe find a hotel shuttle. A rental car seemed ridiculous. I didn't have a plan, but I didn't care. This week my plan has fully developed: Travelers Check + knobbies + minimal luggage (1 backpack) = I should be able to ride the 5.6 miles from Lihue Airport to the Aston Aloha Beach. This is reminiscent of Finland and I'm totally digging it. I fully expect some challenges along the way. More updates to come.

A continuation of my bike breaking saga

The new (rebuilt) FOX arrived a few weeks ago. I missed it. I liked being fully rigid for a variety of reasons: the principle of it, awesome cornering, amazing climbing, bike was a tough lighter. But then there's the lava rock... my rigid fork and I didn't agree on that topic. Maybe I'm getting old, but the lava rock was too hard on my upper body. I don't know how sideburnz does it- except maybe its his 2-9er set up. I recently found out that others of my stature ride 29ers.

Even with my new frame and new fork, I had a nagging creak. Thought it might be the seat or the handlebars... nope. My egg beaters had 1/2 cm of lateral play. I'm shocked that my pedal hadn't ejected itself. Now I have brand, spanking new pedals. They also don't click anymore. The next replacement item is my saddle. Unfortunately, my SDG saddle came from the Madison Swap (I think), and its no longer in production. What to do... might try the WTB Rocket V. It fits my primary requirements- narrow, sweeps up in the back, nothin fancy. Sideburnz also recommended new handle bars since I guess they have an expiration date. Pretty soon this Orbea will be all new (and my checking acct will be drained).

Recent items

When we returned from our mountain bike-beach activities today, we found a campaign flyer for Eric Marshall attached to our doorknob. Eric is running for the state senate. Normally, I glance at these flyers and they put them in the recycling pile. This one was different. In addition to the usual, "If you elect me, I will do all these great things..." garbage, it also included a wedding photo of Eric and his wife, Yuri:


Also, we now have an interesting recipe for Sesame Marinaded Spinach.

To top everything off, the flyer included the University of Hawaii Football Team's 2010 schedule. AWESOME!
So, I suppose I need to make the spinach to see if this guy is worth voting for... bad recipe would = no vote. Stay tuned.

In other news, Sideburnz suggested an awesome remedy for my leaky hydration bladder. My Nalgene bladder has only been used occasionally, and has not yet grown mold. I was quite disappointed to find most of my water spilling on to my butt last time we rode mountain bikes. This bladder is way too new for being broken. The leak was where the drink tube attached to the bladder.

What was the remedy for a leaky hose-bladder joint, you ask? Waxed dental floss. Yup, wrapped that baby up and, wha-la! No more leaky bladder, no more wet butt! The drink hose doesn't rotate anymore, but I'll survive.

Our labor day weekend didn't include much labor, mostly riding bikes. However, we helped out with a little trail maintenance today on the Windward side and scoped out some (new to us) trails. I would have enjoyed the beach more, both today and yesterday, if I didn't have 4 stiches in my calf. Yup, bike crash. Saturday, stopped at a stop light, swung my messenger bag around to adjust the strap, fell over, cut a nice little pocket in the top of my calf. Since I was in my big ring, I ruled out my chain ring. Most probably culprit is my front derailleur. Yuck- blunt metal gouging my flesh. Enough gory stuff.

A great way to lose motivation

Sideburnz made me a hammock this week (his first homemade hammock). He insisted on testing it this morning. The hammock works great- too great maybe. I should not lay in hammocks after swimming and before going to work. It makes me want to stay in the hammock. Alas... Next time I set it up, I'll take some photos. This hammock will be 100% TSA approved. The TSA does not like carabiners. Sideburnz rigged up a great non-metal carabiner alternative. This may be the birth of a serious cottage industry. More to come...