To put it politely... WTF!!

So I knew I was coming home to some snow.. but wasn't expecting this... WTF!!
Anyways, Maui went great... 20 rides and 2000km, and probably in the vicinity of 50,000 vertical in climbing... Maui is very up and down, inside of 20km you could climb over 1000 feet easily.. A nice loop I made had roughly 800 vertical, doing it 5 times gives you a nice 3+ hour ride and some nice climbing.. Im feeling like a bit of a mountain goat right at a feathery 158 pounds... unfortunealty my plans to get out and ride as soon as I got home dont look too be cooperating at all... anyone up for skiing this weekend??

I would also like to take this opportunity to slam Air Canada to the ground.... I will NEVER use them again on a paid vacation again... It started in Winnipeg with them now suddenly wanting to weigh my bike case and make me remove 5 pounds... hmm funny thing is same case, same stuff in the case, and lighter bike all the time suddenly is a problem after 8 years.. interesting how it works... and then they failed to load the bike on the plane in Vancouver coming home... although I did get it back later that evening, it was nothing but a headache... WestJet just got themselves a new customer every year for Maui... In Maui I never had a single piece of luggage weighed, but almost everyone else at the counter did... strange how airport security and screening works...

So the weather does not look good for the next little while... and even if you laugh at the farmers almanac... Its actually pretty close.. unfortunealty, April does not look so good..

April 2009
1st-3rd Brief clearing, then clouds arrive. Turning colder.
4th-7th Chilly air spills into the Rockies from the west.
8th-11th Generally dry and cool.
12th-15th Increasing rain and thunderstorm activity spreads east from the lee slopes of the Rockies.
16th-19th Very cold air Saskatchewan and Manitoba, bringing frost and freeze conditions.
20th-23rd A swath of rain and snow sweeps east through the Rockies and Prairies.
24th-27th Rain showers.
28th-30th A big Rocky Mountain storm brings severe weather to the Prairies. The cold air that sweeps in behind it brings freeze conditions.

West Maui Loop Ride

I got wind of the ride around the West Maui Mountains yesterday... my phone call from home @ 545 AM woke me up as planned... sorry.. I need to get woken up to be up before 7AM lately if Im actually going to wake up.. anyways, a quick 17km ride down to Maalea harbor and I met up with 20 or so more riders...
The ride started out good.... one guy flatted (his first of 3 on the ride) Unlike at home.. everyone just kept on going.. I was in a group that decided to soft pedal and hopefully wait for the guy...
At Kapalua it started to rain and I decided to put in a 400+ watt effort up what they call Pineapple Hill.. I pulled one guy along with me, and caught and passed everyone who was the group ahead that didn't wait.. a note about the road that comes ahead.. its CRAZY to say the least.. wet red slippery mud in almost all the corners.. and we're not talking gradual corners.. these are vicious sweeping switchbacks... I slacked off on all the downhills for the simple reasons
a) I dont know this road at all
b) In places its single lane and you cant see around the corner
c) I still have 9 more days of vacation left... I dont want to be eating asphalt (keep reading)
Well up comes what they call Mr Steepy... for good reasons.. 1/4 mile long and 18% grade.. 39X25 400+ watts... 10kmh... hit the top of Mr Steepy and my rear wheel hit the white painted line on the downstroke which promptly kicked my bike about 45 degrees to the outside... no big deal keep on going.. then the wind hit.. You have to see this road to beleive it.. you are against a mountain on one side, and the wind is blowing full boar off the Pacific Ocean.. its WINDY.. deep dish carbon wheels and this road.. not a good idea.. a little unnerving back there I must say....
Anyways, after that it was mostly a battle between the wind, muddy road, and my front wheel not like crosswinds.. The entire 130km ride condo-condo took a little over 4.5 hours... just about 5000 vertical climbing in the end...
Eating Asphalt... I feel really bad for this guy.. he had a BRAND NEW Cervelo P3 TT frame he was riding (why on this road, I dont know... anyways, not my problem) anyways, he lent his buddy his road bike to ride... he hit some loose gravel on a downhill and hot hard from what I hear... He was apparently out of it for a few minutes... nothing broken thankfully but the poor guys pupils were totally dilated... luckily the guy has insurance and hes going to get checked out.. buddy on the new P3 flipped over top of him and looked like he more or less eroded off 2 fingertips... Apparently as well a few guys that were coming the other way against the way we were going, one guy missed a switchback corner and basically ate the face of the mountain... not to sure of the outcome on that one....
Over all an awesome ride.. tomorrow there is a planned ride around the east side... Ill pass up on that one.. I was specifically told on todays ride if I take my wheels back there on those roads... there not coming home in one piece... Ill pass and do some more climbing tomorrow up Haleakala.. Ill get up to the 3500 foot area and the temperatures will be a nice cool pleasant 15 degrees or so...

Hawaii Training

Guess Ive neglected my blog while over here.. anyways, the weather has been a rollercoaster event. One day its blistering hot (literally... my arms are killing me from the blistering... kinda gross actually) and the next day its pouring rain and windy like crazy. Today was my 10th ride and I just surpassed 1000km total.. My goal was to do 100km + a day.. For here with the heat beleive me... thats plenty.. especially for this early in the season... I am going to be home with 2000km outdoor kms in the legs already.. hopefully the weather cooperates when I get home at the end of the month.
I did the Haleakala crater climb yesterday, sea level to 10,023 feet 57.2km of nothing but climbing. I took 25 minutes off my personal best, and did the climb in just over 3hrs 20 mins.. the weather from 7000 feet up (12 miles) was pure hell... it poured, I was in cloud, couldnt see more than 50 meters ahead of me at times... and the temperature at the top... +3 windchill -1... yes -1 in Hawaii... I was wearing jersey and shorts.. and frozen solid.. a family from Florida gave me a ride down... probably saved my life actually..
Todays ride was windiest is been... I headed north to Haiku to Maui Cyclery to get my powertap wheel looked at.. riding the Mokulele Highway.. wide open.. 30mph wind.. you know its windy when.... you are doing 260+ watts and only going 24kmh MAX... yeah... coming back I hit hit 60kmh on the flats... most of time was spent in 53X12 at 250 watts just over 51kmh for 8km.. gotta love a tailwind!!
Caught on that theres 2 group rides this weekend.. one around the whole west side of Maui.. about 120km ride, and the other one Sunday all the way around the East side... the east side is crazy...but I think theres a support vehicle coming..

Saturday training ride...

A fun?? 115km jaunt with ergvideo. Threshold set @ 300 watts and running on a level 2 ride setting... worked out to a 200 watt average for 2 hours 45 minute ride. Covered 115km today... setting up nicely for Maui in a little over a week!

Dave Z house burglarized

http://velonews.com/article/88567/zabriskie-s-home-burglarized

The world (North America in particular) needs tougher laws on these parasites who break and steal what's not there's... some of those items stolen can NEVER be replaced...We've been broken into before, luckily we didn't lose to much... I vote on automatic death penalty... guilty til proven innocent... my rant for the day...

I think this just about sums it up...

"I have always believed cycling offers so much. Whether you do it for a healthy lifestyle, a way to spend time with family and friends, an outlet for your energy away from the stresses of life, or with aspirations to race, or for other reasons. The sport has a technical side involving equipment and clothing and a physical side which at times can demand extreme suffering. Finally a mental side where a rider can be pushed to limits never thought possible. - Kevin Livingston"

Ruptured spleen to world champ...

Niels Albert DESTROYED the field... what more can you say... intensive care a few months ago, now the world champ.

1 Niels Albert
2 Zdenek Stybar
3 Sven Nys
4 Bart Wellens