With the wind at my back I'm flying!
Sort of.
This is what I was saving myself for.
Last year, I was too toasted to even take advantage of the trailing wind.
Now I'm on the ocean side of the road and making good time.
In Kaaawa, one of the landmarks is called the Crouching Lion:
It used to look more like a lion, but weather and erosion have done their thing. Right below is a restaurant with named after the landmark.
Folks were getting sort of stretched out on the road now that speeds were increasing.
Hey wait!
Nightmares!
How'd this dude with the folding bike get in front of me?
The thing about the upwind leg is the road, while following the coast line is a mix of open and closed.
Meaning there are areas where the trees shield the wind:
Then there are areas where it's wide open:
WTF!
It's him again!
Okay actually I followed this guy for five or six miles. It just wasn't worth it to try and pass him since we were both moving pretty good.
I got a good look at his Bike Friday though. I couldn't believe the size of the small cogs on his cassette! They looked like 6t or 8t cogs!
Fellow blogger Statrix is going to do RAGBRAI on a Bike Friday, and after watching and following this guy, no doubt it can be done!
Anyway, about that darned wind, in the cover you feel like you are making some progress then you hit an open section and well, pain and suffering.
Most of area is agricultural, with farms further inland. Getting into Kahuku, you can see the wind farm in the distance:
There's also an aquaculture farm here where they have a shrimp shack:
What the hell is a shrimp shack?
Well a few years ago, some enterprising person had a lunch wagon where they sold garlic shrimp.
It was so popular, well, these shrimp shacks sort of proliferated all along the North Shore.
Speaking of the North Shore, here's world famous Sunset Beach:
Best guess is that it's breaking around 3-4 feet out there though while I was watching there were some over head sets.
Usually when it's big, it breaks like a quarter mile off shore, so far out that you need binoculars to see the surfers.
Moving on down the coast, you hit the all the surf spots.
Banzai Pipeline is a mile or so north, before you hit Pupukea:
That's a place called Shark's Cove, a popular dive spot.
Immediate to the left is a tide pool area.
By the way, I was going to show you Pipeline, so you could see how ridiculously close to the beach it breaks, but it wasn't breaking.
I'm getting close to the end for here's Waimea Bay, the famous church tower is just to the right of this photo:
Home to the Quicksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big wave surfing event.
They don't hold it unless the waves are twenty feet plus.
Let me tell you, you ain't seen big waves unless you are here to see it and feel it.
It's how us local folks learn to respect the power of the ocean.
Finally, Haleiwa Bridge and back to the start/finish!
Last year the weather was gorgeous!
I didn't get to enjoy it too much for I was mostly in pain.
This year, although the weather kind of sucked, I really had fun!
Mostly because I was faster.
The Garmin don't lie.
Okay, not really.
I was actually faster last year, but this year I had legs to spare.
Total time was around 4:45 and elapsed time was 4:07!
Better than I expected!
I'm telling you, all that high cadence heart rate stuff really paid off.
Can't wait for next year!
