Beijing Olympics

And now, a shameless plug for our friend Ann's travel company http://www.ludustours.com/
http://www.ludustickets.com/
If anyone is thinking of attending the Summer games. She can set you up. Her husband Mark and her have been living and working in Beijing for some time now and provide first class service.

Unfortunately with our travel budget blown on New Zealand we won't make it over to see them this year. Maybe I should get a job? Ha!

Hawaii State Team Time Trials

Sunday morning Spring and I drove over to the Windward side for the state TTT race. Spring graciously volunteered to ride on a mixed team with the HACC. We fielded 6 teams this year and brought home 4 podium spots. Our fast guys team took 1st in the 4/5 division, Spring and her team took 2nd, our women's team took 1st, and the old guys team (200+) with me on it rode to a second place finish in our category. Scott talked me into an hour run immediately afterwards and I'm glad I went. I felt good and that is one of the most scenic pieces of road in the world. That evening I took Spring to the airport and picked up Marianne at the same time. It was fun having Spring visit but even better having Marianne home again. Hopefully some day all 4 of us can hang out together.

So after 5 hours we made it down in one piece. There is a guard at the bottom of the stairs because you are not allowed to climb up, but no one cares if you come down. It was a great experience and I'm glad I did it but I don't think I would attempt it again. I was pretty far out of my comfort zone a few times. One little slip on some mud and that would be all she wrote.

Coming down the stairs above the H-3. This was cake compared to the hike up the so called "trail"

Spring looking cute and muddy at the top of the stairs

Do I look scared?

Talking to Marianne in Chicago. Okay, I'll try not to fall to my death!

Stairway to Heaven

Yesterday Spring, Matt, Kevin and I hiked up and over the Pali, coming down the set of steps known as the stairway to Heaven. These are about 4000 steps built by the Coast Guard up an impossibly sheer cliff to reach a now defunct communications station. We started on the leeward side of the island in the Moanalua valley. The trail got progressively harder as we went up and by the time we reached the knife-edge ridge my self preservation alarms were going off. That's when Matt said, "this is were we crawl". With a stiff wind blowing over the ridge which was 12 inches wide at some points I tried to make myself as close to the ground as I could. We were basically straddling the ridge top with our left hand on the leeward side of the island and our right hands on the windward side, with 2-3000 feet of nothing on either side. Did I mention the mud? I've probably been more freaked out in my life but I can't remember when. It was a total adrenalin rush and by the time we hit the comm station my heart rate was way up. Coming down the stairs was great because the clouds parted on our way down giving us some incredible views.

A visitor from Tucson

Our friend Spring arrived Friday from Tucson to check out her and her husband Kevins house here and also for a mini vacation. Spring has some big cycling races coming up so we promised her we'd do a lot of riding while she's here. Saturday we did the normal HACC ride over on the North shore. Sunday we drove over to windward to watch her race the Lanikai triathlon. She did great, placing 11th overall woman and 2nd in her age group. Pretty good for someone who hasn't swam in two years! My cycling bud Scott "fujito" Kimsey was also racing and kicked some butt winning the military category.

Last of New Zealand

One of our last stops in New Zealand was the city of Christchurch on the South Island. New Zealand still very much identifies with it's British commonwealth heritage and Christchurch really reminded me of the UK. We stayed for 3 days but a week would have been better. I've never cared much for city's but the weather was perfect and there was so much to see and do there.

This was the longest vacation we've ever been on and I feel as though we made a good effort to see as much as we could but still take time to get the feel of each place we visited. If I did it again I would devote more time to the South island as it has the most dramatic scenery and the least people.

Okay, so here are a few last shots from our New Zealand trip. The jet boat ride really got my heart rate up. They are totally overpowered and only need 4 inches of water to operate in, so your skimming along at 50 mph in water as deep as a small puddle. Here's a video I shot of a spin.

A Parade

Marianne led a flight of Air Force personnel in the Honolulu Prince Kuhio Day parade last Saturday. She looked sharp in her blues and was definitely the cutest one in the bunch.

I have to say I am very proud of her.