Sunday, September 26, 2010

Honolulu Century Ride-The Short Version

One of the things I like about doing these things is seeing all the bicycle people lined up at the start.
The announcer said there were three thousand this morning, about a third of them Japanese riders.
The cyclists are separated into four groups, A, B, C, and JRA(no relation to JRA of One Speed: Go! fame).
The A types are usually the tri dudes, who make the ride a hammerfest, B folks are slower, C even slower, etc.
Here we are, all dressed up with no place to go:




The start is sort of funky as we march down the parking lot and make a U turn back up the street.
From there it's on to Diamond Head and the lookouts.
Dawn Patrol at Diamond Head:




From there, we head on toward the east side of the island, trying to catch the sun:



Getting passed by a folder:



This section contains some traffic signals which serves to break up the groups and create some backlogs:



The Sun coming up over Koko Head crater:



Just about a quarter of a mile away from the Hill of Mass Destruction.
The ironic thing is that it's also a slight incline getting there.
I had to watch my heart rate for I it was running a bit high today. Perhaps the effects of my still lingering cold.
I took it easy here for I knew what was coming up:



Yes, my nemesis, the Hill of Crushed Souls.
Doesn't look like much in the image, but check out the tiles on the wall. It's also a double incline meaning it gets steeper at the top.
I hit the granny gear and tried to set a tempo.
Let me tell you, it wasn't too much fun seeing my heart rate begin to redline, then go into the implosion zone.
By that time though, I was so close to making it, I wasn't stopping!
I think can, I think can, I think I can.
Like the Little Engine That Could I made my way to the top at a blistering pace of six miles per hour.
My heart rate ended up around ten beats over my max and although it worried me, it didn't feel so bad.
Sort of.
The rest station was just up ahead:




First thing I looked for was the water.
It wasn't hard to find for there were four young lasses hawking the H2O:



I paused(rested) for a bit to look out over the Ka'iwi Channel. It was remarkably clear and you could see the island of Moloka'i quite clearly:



From there it was back on the bike toward the Makapu'u Lighthouse.
Part II coming up.

5 comments:

Khal said...

Thanks for the story and the pictures. Brings back a lot of really good memories of century rides and ocean breezes. I hope that the dedication to Eve DeCoursey went well, too.

Aloha,

Khal Spencer
HBL Life Member
Honolulu resident, 1987-2001

limom said...

Aloha Khal!
Thanks for stopping by.
The Eve DeCoursey dedication was on the back of this years route map give to every rider.
Hope you can make it back soon!

statrixbob said...

Hey! That's me with the orange bag and yellow shirt! I was flipping the wheel on my Rivendell Quickbeam for a lower gear. I managed to make it all the way up! Maybe next year I'll ride my folder (a Bike Friday Quickbeam).

Aloha!

Statrixbob

Statrixbob said...

Ooops...meant to say Bike Friday New World Tourist...sigh. :-)

limom said...

Brah, I totally remember you!
I saw you flipping your hub and I remember thinking, boy, I'm such a wimp!
I sort of looked over and thought you going lower, but the gears looked about the same(in my perspiration blinded eyes) so I thought you were just going free wheel.
You probably passed me going up!
Cool! I hope you had a nice ride!