Flattest Century in the East Bandits

Jason Brianas, a member of my class at the War College, and I rode in the "Flattest Century in the East" last Sunday just as tropical storm Hanna made her way up the coast. It was a very windy morning early on, but by the time the ride started the weather was spectacular. There was very little water or debris on the road, and the temperature was very nice for most of the day. This was Jason's first 100 mile ride, so I rode up front most of the day...except when I had a flat tire. I had a record three flat tires that day on my wonderful rental bike.


The following are a few shots I took of our surroundings during the ride through Massachusetts. The ride began on the University of Mass. campus at Dartmouth. It was a beautiful ride through mostly winding country roads.

Newport is Beautiful..."Yank's Aren't Nice"

Newport is certainly a beautiful place (to visit), but I am quite certain I would not like living here for long. The people aren't very nice, and you guessed it, the roads in close proximity to the base aren't great for cycling. The picture below is taken from the Officer's Club at Newport Naval Base, and the bridge is the Claiborne Pell Bridge connecting Newport and Jamestown. There are usually lots of sailboats in Narragansett Bay in the evenings and on the weekends.

This is a shot of the marina across from the Officer's Club. The sailboats pictured are those used for the sailing classes given during the spring and summertime. I was signed up for the last class, but I decided to drop because of an opportunity to participate in a 100-mile bike ride in Connecticut on one of my weekends...turns out I didn't ride after all and could have sailed instead...oh well!


The U.S. Naval War College campus is pretty small, but it accomodates officers from all branches of the service (the largest percentage being from the Navy of course), DoD civilians, as well as other federal agencies (CIA, NCIS, etc.). It's a pretty nice place.

This building, Evans Hall, is where our MSOC classes are actually held each day. I will be here until 3 Oct and then it's back to Lubbock, TX, for some vacation prior to departing for Bahrain.

Trip to Boston and a Red Sox Game

Rich, a good friend from OCS and school in Virginia, and I went to Boston earlier today to catch a Red Sox game at Fenway. We parked his car at the Coast Guard base which, according to the security guard who gave us a hard time about parking there, was the best parking lot in Boston...can't say I really disagree.

The game was great, except that the Red Sox lost to Chicago 4-2. We purchased the tickets from a scalper for $80 (apiece), but the seats were great behind first base. Fenway Park is not very big, but there is a lot of tradition there, and the fans were incredible. I think you could easily get beat up for bad-mouthing the Red Sox anywhere near Fenway Park.

Following the game we walked back through Boston, which included lots of fantastic people watching. The architecture and layout of the buildings and streets is really breathtaking...but you could cut the liberalism with a knife it was so thick.

There was a guy on the street corner singing a jingle about voting for Obama (aka the "Messiah") if you wanted change. Rich was hysterical when I began yelling back at him in song that all he was going to have left was change if/when Obama had the chance to be in charge.

Hail and Farewell at the Dixie Grill

Some friends at work insisted that I have a going-away lunch/dinner, so I decided we should all converge on the Dixie Grill after work on Thursday prior to me leaving. It was a great time.

Amy Werner is presenting me with my "accident prone cyclist" going away gifts. Instead of a traditional photo or book that everyone signs, the Navy shop decided to give me a bike helmet with everyone's words of wisdom on it. It really was a great gift, and I am sure going to miss all those folks that were at the dinner...as for some others that weren't at the get together...that's another story.

Here are a few shots of all the folks that came to say good-bye. I'm going to miss all of you, but I'm quite certain some of our paths will cross again.

Dave's Promotion...Better Late than Never

Dave Ortiz had his promotion ceremony on Aug 15 so his family could be present while they were in Hawai'i on vacation. Here his mom, Hope, and wife, Erica, are putting on his new Lieutenant shoulder boards. Congrat's Dave!


Here's the entire gang together on the Arizona Memorial. What a motley looking crew.


Dave's younger brother, Matt, passed away earlier this year from a struggle with cancer. He had completed all the requirements from the Corps at Virginia Tech for his commission, but due to his terminal illness was not able to actually receive it and fulfill his dream of being an active-duty Naval Officer. He has been given an honorary commission, and the Corps flew this flag over Virginia Tech in his honor after his passing...Dave flew the flag at the Arizona Memorial in his brother's memory following his own promotion.

Crash...What Crash...I Can't Remember

On Wednesday evening I went for, what was supposed to be, about a two hour bike ride along the Pearl Harbor bike path to do some hill repeats of the Camp Smith climb. It began to rain during my first trip up to the summit and continued through my second trip. Once I arrived in Aiea after the second loop, the rain had subsided and I assumed it would be smooth sailing back home for a shower and a quick dinner...THINK AGAIN!

This is the part that begins to get fuzzy...

The last portion of the ride that I have any recollection of is crossing Waimano Home Road and continuing around Pearl Harbor. Literally the next memory I have is riding past my neighbor's house with the faint realization that I have been involved in an accident. I still have no memory of where, when, why, how, or what I crashed into or with. I could sense that my knee, face and shoulder were sore and that my jersey was pretty dirty/torn from a fall...THAT'S IT!

It was really pretty scary, because when I got home I couldn't figure out why our stuff was gone, where my family was, or where I was going that necessitated my household items leaving. I also can't remember how I actually got home...God was pedaling my bike...not me that's for sure!

NEXT DILLEMA - I couldn't find my cell phone to call Amber so she could talk me through some of these details I was failing to remember...I was getting a little worried at this point, because all our friends are out of town and the cell phone is my only way to contact anyone. AAAHHHH!

Once I finally found my phone (which was plugged in charging), I called Amber and she convinced me to get to the Emergency Room. Looking back, it would have been a better idea to have someone ELSE drive me, but I got there regardless. I admit my recollection of how to get to Tripler Army Medical Center was also a little fuzzy. A few hours, some ibuprofin, x-rays and a CAT scan later...the diagnosis was a moderate concussion (the Doc said he would classify it as a little more serious than mild because of my apparent amnesia). I was much more worried about the fact that I couldn't remember anything other than the pain associated with my scrapes and bruises. I have had my bell rung a time or two, but never like that...and I don't even know what happened.

You can see from the picture that the fall/impact caused the helmet to break clean through and cave in the portion just above...good thing I was wearing it, or I probably wouldn't be writing this! I wasn't planning on dropping another $120 for a helmet this week...but all things considered I am happy to do it.

1) Remnants of the knot on my forehead
2) Swollen cheek bone…initially thought it might be broken, but it was fine…just bruised and tender
3) New mustache

Tour de Hickam

The Tour de Hickam is complete as of July 31, and I swung by the Hickam Fitness Center on Friday after receiving a call about my "swag" being ready to pick up. The gear included a Hickam Fitness Center Tee and a small Schwinn tool kit for the bike. They're not really much, but the Tour was certainly a fun way to motivate myself to get out and log as many miles as possible during the month of July. Coincidentally, I ended up riding 534 miles for the month of July...not bad for still being on the watch and getting ready for a move!!!

I'd like to start a Tour de Wherever when we arrive somewhere new in the future...good way to motivate people to take up cycling.

Saturday Climbing - Five Sisters Again!

Ben emailed about a Saturday morning ride...Five Sisters again! I ordered a new cassette this week to correct my climbing defficiencies from last week. I ordered a new SRAM 11-28 casette, and I thought the gap between gears might be a little extreme in order to allow for such a wide range of gears, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn't the case.

Ben actually called mid-week and mentioned 5-sisters, but since I didn't get my order until Friday afternoon in the mail, I didn't commit myself to anything (wasn't doing it again with an 11-23...just not strong enough...or skinny enough...HA!). I actually had to chase the mail man down on Friday since the box required signature confirmation, and I hadn't arrived home from work when he tried the house. Luckily, he was on the second-to-last mailbox in our housing edition when I saw him...whew!

We had the misfortune of hitting almost every red light along our ride today. It is very frustrating to get up to some really fast speeds and then stop abruptly at every light...we just blamed Craig for the stoplights since he was pulling down Kam Hwy...thanks a lot Craig!

Here we are at the top of Pacific Palisades...our first climb of the day! I actually was on top in second position behind Steve (a drastic improvement from last week).

Everyone stopped for a good rest at the top of Aiea Heights.

Ben is taking the picture, but our climbing gang this morning was comprised of (from left to right) Greg (me...Boots Wiggins), Dev, Steve, Brandon, and Craig.

Dev is cresting the top of the Camp Smith climb...what a great day of climbing. We opted not to stop at the little Filipino market at the bottom of the climb today, and my legs were thanking me for not resting prior to that climb.

Five Sisters Climb

I met up with Dev and Ben for day number two of training…this time it was 3+ hours of some serious climbing. It might have been better if I had thought ahead and changed my cassette over from the 23 I was running to a 27...glutton for punishment I guess. We did a series of climbs from Pearl Harbor to Aiea known as the five sisters:

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

It was a pretty tough morning. I really didn’t want to finish the Camp Smith climb after we reached the state park at the top of Aiea Heights Drive (I was wimping out because of my 11-23 cassette and my legs were burning intensely), but Dev and Ben convinced me to continue on…I’m glad because Camp Smith was definitely the most tame of the five climbs. We stopped at a little corner market at the beginning of the climb and I had an AMP drink…probably helped more mentally then anything. Great ride topped off with a high-calorie McDonald’s breakfast on the way home prior to showering and departing for church.

Dev and I are posing at the top of Pacific Palisades...the first of five grueling climbs this Sunday morning.


On the way down from Royal Summit.



This is a shot from Dev's GPS unit detailing the amount of climbing we actually did today...I am still moving slow!

Kunia / Barber's Point Ride - 2 Aug

Met up with Ben, Dev, and Shane on Kunia road north of the house toward Schofield. The group was stopping to get water at the golf course. It really was a perfect morning for riding in Hawaii…no clouds, cool breeze blowing off the mountains. We rode down to Barber’s point, turned around, and proceeded to White Plains beach to refuel and take a breather. Ben gave us a tour through historic Ewa Town where the old sugar cane plantation houses have been restored. Shane split off at the Kapolei exit, and I went back down to Hickam with Dev and Ben. We used the Hickam housing loop for a cool-down and then I took the PH bike path back home. Just under 60 miles total…good training day! I’m sportin’ my NRC cycles kit in the back and enjoying the scenery. I don’t ride to Barber’s Point very often…nice change of scenery!

Hawaii State Criterium Championship

Sunday I rode in the Hawaii State Criterium Championship at Kalaeloa. Amber and the kids came along for the show, and it turned out to be a pretty exciting morning. I warmed up with Ben and Casey before lining up for the Cat 4/5 race. The field had about 30 guys, and I lined up in the back for the gun to avoid the madness of the first two corners. On the first turn in lap two, the rider in front of me misjudged the corner and went down very hard shoulder first...I almost joined him but managed to stay upright...WHEW! On the first turn in lap three I almost put myself on the pavement because I took the corner really hard with my inside pedal down...the pedal scraped hard and nearly sent me flying...again I managed to stay upright! After 25 more laps the bell rang and Ben, Mike Fujita and I gave it all we had to get across the line. Mike outsprinted me over the line, but thankfully he was not in my category. Come to find out, I took the State Champ medal for my category Cat 4 30-39...miracles never cease...my goal on Sunday was to stay on and not crash. I was so excited I was about to jump out of my skin!

4th of July Ride

Did a 4th of July ride with Tradewind and had a really great time. I wonder sometimes whether I made the right decision by leaving TCT and moving over to HACC. It is certainly more convenient, but the TCT members are really fun to be around. CAPT Haskins took everyone on a tour of the sub base which included a Japanese and Korean sub in Pearl Harbor for RIMPAC coming up next week.

We took a good tour around Ford Island as well and had a couple of photo opportunities along the way...this particular shot was in front of the USS UTAH memorial.