WATTS MY NAME - CRACKER JACK - TIP THE SCALES

Another great weekend of training! On Saturday I met up with Greg Layton, Shane Neal, Bike Shop Brandon and Dev Andrews. We wanted to do a 60 mile ride from Hickam up Kunia, back down, then to Kalaeloa, through Historic Ewa Town and back to Hickam. It was a beautiful day and a great workout. For some reason, I always felt like I was pulling on the front! This Sunday morning we opt for another bike ride but this time it was not going to be an easy cruise. We wanted to do some climbing so we headed to the hills to visit 5 sisters! Which include every hill climb between Pearl City and Aiea.

The climbs consisted of:

• Pacific Palisades
• Royal Summit
• Kaonohi
• Aiea Heights Drive
• Camp Smith

The weather held out and by the time we hit the second sister, most of us were dripping with sweat. I did a couple of small accelerations and felt really great. Every time Binky would get close, I would do a short interval and try to crack him. Hence the name "Cracker Jack". Speaking of cracker jack, its a great snack and I used to buy them in the early 70's! Plus it came with a surprise inside sort of like today's climbs! We ended up with over 3 hours of climbing and one hell of an appetite! Speaking of appetite, with all the training I have been doing this month my weight has just dropped! I jumped on the scale this morning only to find that it's the lightest I have been in 3 years! 159.5 pounds which is a big change from the 169 lbs. I weighed on July 1st for a total 30 day lost of 10lbs.



















In other news:
Maya - went for her 3rd series of shots and weighed in at 19.5 lbs which is 4 lbs heavier than my Specialized Roubaix bike! 2 weeks ago she weighed in at 12lbs. She's getting bigger and smarter by the day. During the day I have been able to trust her in the kitchen versus her crate which I hate putting her in. She is 12 weeks old and can sit, fetch, bark and shake hands.

Specialized Transition Bike - I was planning on picking up my new TT bike this weekend. But during the Saturday ride, I found ou that the Bike Shop is having a huge sale and can receive 20% off 2008 Specilaized bikes! Since I have my bike on layaway which also applies to the sale, I would receive an additional 10% off. $130.00 bucks more will definitely make me wait until next Friday! Oh, by the way, did I say I was picking up a new bike?

Lawnmower Purchase - With me having a fenced in backyard maint. will not go inside and cut my grass. My weekends have been usually a visit to Steve Steeles house to borrow his lawn mower. Yesterday he called me and said that the BX was having a huge warehouse sale and he seen 3 mowers there. I rushed over only to find 1 left! I looked at the price and it said $180.00 from the $250.00 normal price. I was doing the paperwork and the sales clerk said that it was 50% off from the regular price. YES! $125.00 for a new self propelled 6.5 horse. I was so happy and excited that I left there without my credit card. They tracked me down and gave me a courtesy call... Whew!

House Repairs - It's been a week since the ruptured water pipe in my ceiling. This happened last Saturday night at 2100. It was such a long night that I did not race the Boca Stage Race the next morning. They still need to complete the repairs of the "backyard" repairs. I ended up calling housing and they are having the maint. supervisor finish the repairs next week.

So as you can see it has been a busy last 2 weeks and I will try to update my blog more frequently. With the Tour De Hickam miles and the new guy I am training at work I have been swamped! Hope you enjoyed the post!