Statrix Redux

Tomorrow is laundry day and I’ve told my family that I will try to go out to Hawaii Kai for a birthday dinner for one of my sisters. I’m not yet up to the ride out there. I’ve no doubt I could do it, but the length of time it would take me will make it impossible. I’m staying slow. The overall distance out there is about 15 miles and at my pace I wouldn’t make it there till after dinner if I do my laundry. If didn’t do my laundry it would be okay, but that opens a completely different Can-O-Worms.
I’ll still bike to work in the morning and home in the afternoon, but instead of trying to overextend myself, I use my gas guzzling moped for the trip out there. I should note, for the sake of the folks I bought my moped from, and who continuing to do a great job keeping it up, that my moped doesn’t really guzzle gas. It’s just that now that I bike so much I’m down from 2 fill-ups a week (about 2 gallons) to just 1 fill-up. 🙂
In any case I’m going to add a couple of miles to my ride home today, since I’ve nothing planned and the weather is, well like it usually is here in Honolulu, quite nice. The ride home I’m thinking of will finish the oceanfront ride I started this morning with a duplication of Ala Moana Beach Park so that I can be back into the mood.

Here’s the route I think I’ll be taking….

I’ll probably stop for a cold drink around the halfway mark so I won’t be going fast, but I can’t imagine getting home much past 4:30 P.M. That just proves I’m not in this for the speed – heck, a good walker might actually go faster than that. 🙂
…and ride I did…
I was home before 4:30 and even had time for a 30 minute break for an iced coffee while I waited out some rain. It seems I picked the perfect route because it was raining near my place when I left work and I was headed away from it. When I got through the park I could see the rain behind me and again when I made through Waikiki. I never got wet. 🙂
All in all it was great dry time.
Now for tomorrow’s commute…
Aloha!
Aloha!

Today I did slightly shortened version of the Chinatown ride I took yesterday. What I left off were my meanderings through the parks along the way. Instead of going down the waterfront at Kakaako I simply stuck to the road. This got me to work on time and gave me a nice morning stretch. I may have to start fifteen minutes earlier though – I’d have like just wee bit more. 🙂

So it’s settled then, I’ll have to try to get up at 4:30 A.M. instead of 4:45 A.M. Which really seems to beg the question of why not 4:00 A.M. and just go for it. If I did that I could leave the house at 4:30 and get to work at 5:30 after a nice leisurely hour’s ride – to go, mind you, about a mile.
The thing is, it’s so beautiful that early in the morning that it seems a shame to waste it sleeping. The lack of traffic is a really the big draw. It may be dark when I leave, but it’s not the same as riding in the evening when the drunks are out. Oh there may be one or two early in the morning, those that have missed crashing into concrete abutments and such, but you can spot them a mile off. literally, they are about the only thing driving.
The real beauty of the morning is being near the ocean before sunrise when the colors start to show up. Since much of the oceanside is park or has a slow road with a view it’s very easy to soak up the morning.
Ideally I’d like to ride from downtown to Diamond Head along the waterfront and still have time to make it to work. I’ve got to figure out far that is so I’ll know how long it will take me!
I can at least keep track of time these days with my new $16 watch, a Casio (again). My last one gave up the ghost after I cracked the crystal. It was a $14 Casio that lasted just over a year. I really wish I could keep watches, but even the nice ones seem to get destroyed pretty regularly. Because I’ll probably misplace the manual, here’s my link for future reference, Casio 3321.
Aloha!

I had my morning ride as I described, then this later in the day…

I had to go from work to home, then to Kapiolani Park for a get together, then downtown to meet some folks, then back home. All in all I rode just over 20 miles…all with a purpose of actually getting somewhere. Cool.
My best calculations put my mileage over the last 7 days at 91.23 miles. This was the first seven day period I rode every day which is why I kept track, mapping every ride. I won’t do that as much now that I have a pretty good idea of how fast I ride. I can judge my distance by time now and not be too far off. I’m slow. 🙂
Aloha!

I woke today to the sound of heavy showers outside, never helpful for waking up. When it rains in the mornng, I can think of nothing better than sleeping in. Still I rose and took a peek outside. The weather, I decided, could go either way. I saw showers in the back of Manoa, but that is par for the course. I got ready.
A couple of times while dressing and preparing to leave I heard another passing shower, but I kept at it. My big concession was to stuff an extra shirt in my rack trunk – just in case.
Five minutes later than normal I was out the door and on my bike. The streets were amazingly dry given the very recent rain – puddles yes, but there were dry patches everywhere. The wind was blustery, but didn’t seem to be reaching to the ground, content it seemed, to play in the treetops lit by a very full moon.
All in all I had a lovely ride and am glad I decided it would be all right. It would have been so easy to roll over and get an extra half hour of sleep and drive in, but I rode. Good on you, Bob!
Aloha!

Cool…I’ve found a path to work that is pleasant, safe, and takes just exactly the right amount of time. It’s a four mile meander through Makiki, Moiliili, part of Ala Wai park along the canal, then off to work. According to MapMyRide it’s almost exactly four miles and takes about half an hour given stop lights, general laziness, and the overwhelming desire not to be all sweaty when I get to work.

The best part of the ride is the short bit along the canal where I get to watch Waikiki waking up from exactly the right distance, close enough to see, far enough away not to have to deal with it.
The half hour thing is important. It’s long enough to feel I’ve had a bike ride, but not so long I get all dank and sweaty. In addition it gets me to work, provided I’ve left at 5:00 A.M. early enough that I can command my choice of spots on the bike rack. This is more important than it might seem because, being a big guy, my bike is big and I need room to move around it. If I came later, I’d still get it locked, but it would be a more difficult. As it is, I’m golden.
I should mention that yesterday on the way home I bought some other things for the bike, a portable pump, a new tube, tire levers, some lube, and a multi-tool. I’ve already used last to attach the first, so I know at least a few things work. Let’s hope I don’t actually need all of them. 🙂
And later today I expect I’ll be riding to my Aloha United Way volunteer gig and back. Not only will it be a “new” ride, I’ll get to use my “shopping bags” or Townie Baskets as well as I have some stuff to tote around. Indeed I may decide to tote a lot of stuff around, like my computer as well. Then I’d have a Townie Basket, a rack trunk, and a Euro Compact pannier as well.
The whole route is probably going to be this…

It’s pretty flat so there should be no problems actually riding it, my only real concern is the return trip as I also have to be somewhere this evening and I don’t want to be late. 🙂
Aloha!

Yesterday, after heading out for a bit in the evening I chanced to have a conversation with my friend Connie. She rides everywhere as far as I know. I’m not sure about surfing, she may use a car to get to the beach with her boards. In general, however, she rides.
In any case she applauded my recent efforts and even got a laugh out of the fact that my riding to and from work isn’t enough and I find myself drawn to go out again for a “constitutional” if you will. What she said, before hopping on her bike and riding off into the dark (she does use lots of lights) is that, “it [riding] really changes your relationship with the city.”
It really and truly does, at least when one can get off of the main arteries and spend time looking around instead of worrying about traffic. For me it really has a been a rediscovery of my neighborhood. There a lot of little streets I don’t think I’ve ever seen in the 30+ years I’ve lived here.
In any case it was another lovely morning, quiet and cool and mostly devoid of traffic at 5:15 A.M. when I left the house. I did another 15 minute loop to work so I could soak up at least a little of the the morning goodness instead zipping straight in.

But quite frankly, it’s the end of the day I’m looking forward to with this planned ride home…

And ride it I did. I do need to repeat to myself, stay out of Waikiki. While a bike is the fastest thing moving on Kuhio Avenue, it’s too crowded to make for comfortable ride.
Aloha!

A quick evening ride to work the kinks out. 🙂

In an effort to get a bit more riding in before doing laundry, I thought I’d make my 1 mile ride home (if taken on the straightest possible path) a wee bit longer…

The truth is, and I never believed it possible, I may live too close to work. 🙂 Of course once there’s a good rain I’ll change my tune and be glad I do, but there you go.

The lights I bought seem to work fine. How do I know? I haven’t been run over yet. Today I was up before sunrise and added an entire mile (wow – a whole mile Bob?) to my morning commute. It just seemed like the thing to do after getting my bike adjusted yesterday. It rides a lot better which makes me want to hop on all the more.

And, if I needed another reason (I don’t), it’s laundry day which means I won’t have time this afternoon to do more than ride home.
In other news, I need a new watch. The crystal on my $15 Casio is in bad shape. I’d love to wear an expensive watch, but I keep ruining the darn things so a $15 watch is just about right. 🙂 That might be the ticket – after laundry I might be able to make to Long’s Drugs and back before full dark. We’ll see.

Aloha!