Friday, July 4, 2014

Comparing the fat bike to the RIP9

Up at NEMBA Fest I took the Fatboy on about 1/3rd of the rides, every ride was great up there, the Fatboy was awesome on the Darling Hill trails and I really couldn't say that I was ever disappointed that I brought it on a ride. On one of the Fatboy rides we got over to the Burke side and coming down some of the slightly more technical trails I had to slow way down so the bounce of the tires didn't get to the point where I couldn't control the bike any more. It was fun, but on that same trail later in the weekend I was on my RIP and it was a lot more fun, I could go really fast and there was no issue at all.

I ride Crandall Park a lot because its close, the trails there are largely non-technical (with a few technical spots) so I have ridden the Fatboy there pretty exclusively. Yesterday I took the RIP9 out there just because it was the bike that happened to be on the car rack. It was fun with the RIP9, but the fat bike is way more fun to crank around the corners there - and there are a LOT of corners. I got a KOM on a climb on last night's ride, so I guess that answers the "is it slower" question, but more often than not I'm riding for fun, not speed.

I've got a suspension fork on order for the Fatboy, we'll see how that changes the formula.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

A little air on a fat bike

There's a perfect rock ramp out at Crandalls, you don't get up in the air that high, but the landing is perfect so you end up getting some good hang time as you travel down the hill 2" over the ground. I have to get out there and make a proper video with the Fatboy and the Contour.


Saturday, May 10, 2014

"What happened do your legs?"

I was at the climbing gym last week and I got the "what happened to your legs" question. As short-wearing season approaches I reflected about this question. Generally speaking my legs are a mess (sorry for the gross picture)

I'll admit that there have been times (and there will be times going forward) when I've had to wear long legged pants to cover up the nastiness when I wanted to wear shorts.

Every one of these scars represents a ride, an adventure, a missed attempt on a log ride (ok I'll admit one of them is a result of me tripping over a log in the garage - I was carrying my road bike at the time, if it helps and the ones on my knees are actually from climbing).

My message to you - embrace the scars in whatever form they take, you wouldn't be you without them.

Monday, May 5, 2014

This just in, riding is still fun

My love of riding, whether fat, road or mountain bike continues. I can't help but feel like a little kid every time I swing my leg up over a bike, regardless of which type and where I'm riding.

I was looking at Strava this weekend and here are my stats so far this year:
Year-to-Date
Distance 609.2 mi
Time 86h 13m
Elev Gain 51,089 ft
Rides 56

Its not huge numbers by any stretch, but underneath those numbers are some good times. I'm really glad to have biking in my life and to be able to really enjoy my time on the bike. I seem to be getting into this realm where speed is fun, but not the primary goal of riding and I kind of like it.

I did fat bike rides Friday night and Saturday, they were similar in that I didn't feel like rushing for either ride.

Saturday I rode at Case, which proved to me that the fat bike is not the correct tool for every job. 95% of the ride was fine and super fun just like every other fat bike ride I've been on, but man those highly technical sections were tough! I know its just a matter of me working the bike in a different way than with the 29er FS, but that "working the bike" thing wasn't going too well. I had a couple of crashes that were unexpected. More work to be done I guess, but I'm glad I've got the RIP9 to fall back on for technical rides.

I came across a 4-5' long black snake, it seemed pretty agitated and was shaking its tail in the dry leaves making for a pretty convincing rattle sound. I kept my distance, but very cool to see a snake this large in the wild.

 A bit later I came across two deer who, in contrast to the black snake seemed entirely uninterested in me. They went about their business without really moving even as I rode by them. They looked to be just starting to lose their winter coats and were pretty thin, I'm sure that was a tough winter for them.











I also came across a couple of friends I haven't seen for a while we talked for a bit, which was really nice too. The second rider, upon seeing my legs asked why I wasn't wearing leg guards, hmmm probably something I should consider, my shins look like a walked into a blender. 

On Friday the slow ride mentality at Crandalls manifested itself into a picture ride, I suffer for my art, having several crashes while being distracted by the camera while setting up a shot. I caught some good pictures though (none of the crashes):
Sunday I rode Middlesex, no pictures, but that continues to be an excellent place to ride, one of my favorite places in CT. Highly technical in sections, but really different terrain than any other place. A guy on the ride had a trail saw and we took care of three major trail blockages, it feels good to give back like that with a group of guys who are willing to interrupt the ride like that.

Friday, April 18, 2014

New sneakers, new stoppers


I guess I've been slacking on updating the blog, to my six followers, I apologize! 

I have been riding a mix of the road bike, RIP9 and the Fatboy pretty regularly. All good fun! We had a beautiful weekend to ride last weekend and I took full advantage doing 4 rides in 2 days. 

The tires on my road bike had dry rot on the sidewalls, they are 18 months old so I guess that's good life, though I really only had about 1500 miles on them, I would have expected more miles out of a pair of tires on the road. If this was my mountain bike I'd ride them until failure, or more evidence of impending failure. The road is a different animal though, I started to think about those sidewalls on every downhill - a tire failure at 50mph would be pretty dramatic, in a bad way. 

I figured I'd swap out the brake pads at the same time, wow glad I did, the old ones were really worn down. 

I got some new tires for the bike, they were $45 each, which doesn't seem so bad compared to the average cost of a mountain bike tire, but when you take that road tire out of the box and see how little it weighs, let's just say on a dollar/pound basis these things are expensive! I didn't take any pictures of the road bike tires, lets face it one slick tire looks an awful lot like any other one. 

I was really surprised I noticed a huge difference on a short ride yesterday, I expected to notice the brakes with much better stopping power. I was surprised how much of a difference the tires made, the bike is so much smoother. I wouldn't have thought one slick tire would feel different than another.

Speaking of expensive tires, they finally release the Specialized Ground Control tires for purchase on the Specialized website (and to dealers) - $160 per tire - yep PER TIRE! There must be some gold in the construction of that tire somewhere! I love those tires, but I thought for the summer season I don't really need 4.6" tires and considering how the rocks and stuff wear out tires I figured I'd be better off getting some cheaper tires for summer. I had been running On One Floaters on my old FB-4, so I went there again for the new bike. They now have some colored versions of these tires and they're even cheaper than the black tires. I wish they had red to match the rest of the accents on my bike, but orange will have to do. 


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Winter is over!

I think I can safely say that winter has left the building. I suppose there's a chance we'll see a bit more snow before it really starts to warm up, but cold rides on frozen ground are done for the season. I feel like a psychic buying a fat bike this past fall, perhaps the best winter for riding that I can remember. I am certain that at least some of those rides would have been fine on a regular bike, but there were some that would have been impossible and most would not have been as much fun.

Specialized just released the tires that are on my fat bike for sale individually, tires are a consumable and you know you're going to have to buy new ones eventually. The tires on that bike are $160 a piece! They are great tires, but I could put four tires on my car for the price of two bike tires? Crazy. I ordered some cheaper (though still stupid expensive) tires for summer use. I figure riding in snow doesn't do much to wear down a tire, so if I only use these in winter they should last 2 or 3 seasons. The new ones I ordered are a bit narrower too, I don't need 4.6" of tire for summer riding anyway.

I took a ride on my Niner yesterday, it was great to get out and push a bit. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape, riding two hours at a pretty good pace did not seem hard at all, even after doing 30 miles on the road bike the day before.

So I guess its on to Spring time, warmer weather and all the great things that come with it.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

What do you look forward to?

I went to a retirement party this week for a former colleague who is basically my age. He's got younger kids and a wife that brings in enough money that he doesn't absolutely need to work. I was talking to another friend at the party about how much I was looking forward to retirement, an obvious topic of discussion at a retirement party.

He looked at me very seriously and said "you can't look forward to retirement, you have to live NOW!". It really stopped me in my tracks and made me think hard about it. I really try to seize the day whenever I can, whether its a ride, climbing, playing music or just hanging out with the family.  I need to realize how special those moments are and make sure they happen more and I cherish each and every one of them.

My friend's comment made me realize that while I'm very active in my life, I need to let the little things go more and really challenge my overall view on life.

This is it, take every moment.

This same kind of thing came up yesterday when we were having lunch with our daughter - she was commenting how cluttered (bordering on messy, ok it is messy) our house is. We could spend all our time cleaning up and making our house a museum or we could go climbing, riding or play music. Judge me on the cleanliness of my house if you want, but I won't judge myself that way.

I had a great ride this morning on snowmobile trails in Union. It was a fast crank for 12.5 miles, so much fun flying into the corners - lots of ups and downs to play on. I absolutely love that new fat bike, its so much fun.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Shoulders and more zipper riding

I've had this nagging pain in my shoulder for the last 2-3 months. I've been using the age old remedy called "ignore it and hope it will go away". That worked great for a little while, but its getting worse, I think I need to get it looked at. I'm hoping its just a strain and backing down a bit from climbing and biking will let it heal, but I guess I need an MRI to rule out any damage before I go down that road. I hate being injured. Right now biking and climbing (and physical exercise in general) is a huge part of my life. Obviously I know I can live without it, but psychologically I'm in a much better state when I get out in the woods and get my blood pumping. More to come on that I guess.

I got out for a solo ride at Case last night - once again I could ride on top of the crust, it made for a great ride just cruising among the trees, I had to ride some trails which were very bumpy, that definitely did NOT help the shoulder situation.

First band practice tonight in 3 weeks, I can't wait.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Riding the zipper at Case

I spent the week cooped up in a conference center in Florida, sometimes those things are OK for a break from work, but its quite another story when you're one of the presenters. I did seven presentations in 4 days and countless meetings. By the time departure time rolled around last night I was sleep deprived, protein deficient (I'm a vegetarian and while there was plenty of food without meat there was very little with protein!) and bloated. Free beer is great, until its not, I'm not much of a drinker so even having 2 or 3 beers for four nights in a row is radically different than my normal intake. 

I took Friday off, and pretty quickly got crabby at my wife, it didn't take long for her to insist I get outside and get the cure for my surliness. 

I have this new Fatboy and it was time for a proper ride. 

I had heard via various social media that conditions were getting really good, so I was psyched to get out on the trail and see for myself. We have about 8" of hard, compact and frozen snow on the ground, you can ride just about anywhere, even where no one has packed it down. In fact most of the packed down trails are so post-holed that riding them is a filling loosening experience. 

I did 11 miles of goodness today - about 80% of it was off trail, today the woods were my skate park.


There were a few places that were just plain ice, but not many and it was pretty easy to spot them (I only went down twice). This was one icy spot, but with a straight on approach it wasn't bad at all. For reference in the summer this is a pretty intense roller - less than half the riders I ride with will ride it. The snow makes it a lot more benign, though the ice added a little difficulty to it. 


A little shadow play


I had planned on taking a lot more pictures, but I forgot to charge the camera and with half charged batteries, it didn't last long in the cold temps. 


I'm getting more medicine tomorrow morning, I can only remember 3 or 4 times in the last 25 years of riding where we have snow you can ride on top like this, its really fun. About 30% of the time I was zippering through the top layer, meaning a regular bike probably wouldn't be able to sit on top at all. I only spun through the top layer 3 or 4 times in 11 miles of riding.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

New bike in the house

As anyone who has read this blog knows I love my fat bike, and this winter has been really good for a fat bike with fat bikeable snow on a quite a few weekends where a regular bike just wouldn't work. I also rode it quite a bit before the snow came, having quite a few excellent rides on dirt.

After a few months I couldn't help but think how much better the fat bike experience would be with a lighter bike, just to be clear "couldn't help but think" is a synonym for "obsessed about". I considered upgrading parts on my bike bike, but it just didn't seem like a good investment to put expensive parts (fat bikes are stupid expensive just because they are fat?) on a cheap frame. The frame is actually not that heavy, though there are surely lighter frames out there.

I had pretty much decided to build a bike based on a China direct carbon fiber fat bike frame. None are available yet, but I got an email from a manufacturer saying they would have frames available in June or July. I researched and searched for parts and even bought a few. I posted a few questions up at MTBR and someone suggested that I could buy a pretty nice bike for about the same amount. While that's true, I think you could probably end up with a lot lighter bike.

I can't say why, but I started calling some Specialized shops in the area asking if anyone had the Fatboy in stock. Its been a very hard bike to find apparently, but the bike shops are starting to get them in. As I called around all the bike shops told me they had customers who had deposits down, but no bikes incoming. Eventually I called Family Bike in Agawam, MA and they said they had two on the way that were unspoken for - one was a Large.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty cheap and I don't spend this kind of money on a whim. After talking to Dawn and thinking about it overnight, I called the bike shop back and told them I wanted the large.

This week I was traveling for work and I got a text from the bike shop with a picture of my new Specialized Fatboy. I got the chance to take a ride this morning, conditions were great for the first hour while temps were below freezing.

I was seriously concerned that this fat bike would be just like my other fat bike and I'd have buyer's remorse, even though the bike looks awesome and its about 8 pounds lighter than my other fat bike.

I had nothing to worry about, the bike was awesome! The 4.6" tires were a great improvement over the 4" ones on my old bike. So much more control and traction, there were definitely hills that I didn't expect to make up that I made no problem. I like the geometry and the lighter weight is definitely noticeable. I would love to know the weight difference between the old and new wheels - it really seems like this bike accelerates a lot better than the old one. Conditions are so much a part of fat biking that its hard to say too much, but so far so good. By the second hour the temps got above freezing and things started to get kind of mashed potatoe-y. Great morning out on the trails.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Ski

We got 3-4" of snow Saturday night, so Sunday I took the skis up to Crandalls. I missed out on several other opportunities with friends, but it was a somewhat hectic weekend and I had a limited window of time to recreate.

Conditions were as good as they get in the woods here in CT. The breakable crust was under enough snow that it didn't impact the skiing at all - nothing but smooth sailing no matter where I skied. I skied around off trail looking for the best hills and tracks through the trees. It was a good time, but breaking trail for 2 hours is quite a workout!



I did get to follow the snowshoe path for a bit, when I hit this it was like jumping onto a super highway, so fast and smooth compared to breaking trail.

That's it, sorry I didn't take more/better pics. 


Saturday, February 15, 2014

Riding at Snip

I bought both skis and my fat bike to Shenipsit Forest today, I have been having a lot of fun on the bike, but I figured there was a good chance the snow wouldn't be packed down enough to ride. Unfortunately we have a good crust under 2" of fluff right now so skiing, except on packed in trails is not very good. It looks like there were a lot of snowshoers and snowmobiles out this morning so the trails were nicely packed in - the bike it is!

I started riding the trail that goes around the base of the mountain, it was great to ride on - though a bit narrow from the snowshoers. I got about half way around the mountain and the hikers took two different routes, so the trail went from one perfectly rideable trail to two which were unrideable. I hiked the rest of the way around the mountain and jumped on a dirt road that was well packed in by the snowmobiles. I took that from Soapstone all the way down to the flats in Ellington, that's a long way down! I added in a side trail that was packed by a single snowmobile - which made riding it a lot harder.

When I hit Route 83 I turned around and headed back up to Soapstone, as fun as it was coming down, it was a long slog going back up. Riding in snow is possible with these fat bikes, but that doesn't mean they are free rolling, there is a lot of resistance.

We have a lot of snow on the ground and more coming down now!

I took the blue down off the summit of Soapstone, this trail is tight, twisty, steep and technical in the summer time, today it was still tight, twisty and steep, but the technical bits are all buried under snow. So much fun to come down that trail!


Sunday, February 9, 2014

Another fat ride to remember

Roland promised a ride for the history books this morning. I got an email about a ski happening this morning as well, so I had a decision to make. Given that I skied yesterday I decided I'd ride today. I was dubious that the conditions would be good based on my short attempt at riding yesterday. To my surprise we spent the morning riding snowmobile trails that were pretty well packed.

 Some of the trails were packed to the point where you could just ride, and not really think about it, but some of them required constant attention - if your front wheel got even a little sideways you were going down.

We adjusted the air a couple of times during the ride, at times there was almost nothing in my tires, probably 2 or 3 PSI (too low for my air gauge to read!). Even at those low pressures some of the climbs were impossible.
Still a great day out on the bike, makes that fatty investment that much sweeter, a regular bike wouldn't be any fun out there today - I think even the trails we had no problems on would have been impossible with a regular bike.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

50th (yikes!) birthday celebration

We got together with the kids for a little birthday brunch today. Its great to see them both seeing life beyond college. Its hard not to worry about them, they both have are extremely busy, sometimes I wonder how they keep it all together. 

This afternoon I got out on the skis and fat bike at Bigelow - one of my favorite places to ride and ski. The skiing was very good, beyond very good. I followed a lot of trail, but also got in a little off trail hill fun and I had to break a little trail. It was all good fun. 
This seemed to be the right choice of brew for the mid-ski break. There was a fire still burning in the pit when I got there, it felt really good.

The trails were really packed and I thought I'd try the fat bike out (it happened to be in the truck). It was tough going. I kept letting air out of the tires until they were almost flat - probably 3PSI or something and I could stay on top, but just barely. Not that much fun. I took a trip down the road and did a quick lap on Mashapaug Lake, that was a lot of fun, though with the low air pressure there was quite a bit of resistance!
Nothing better than a winter view from the middle of the pond.


Saturday, February 1, 2014

Solo at Crandalls

I went on a somewhat long, definitely hard ride yesterday - 2-3" of untracked snow made for slow going at times. I opted for the Niner, which was fine, but I was wishing for the Fatty at times, surely would have made some of those hills easier.

Today I had a couple of options but I opted for a solo ride at Crandalls. I really felt like I needed some time, sometimes it feels good to just get out there and do a mellow crank without feeling like you need to keep up or keep someone entertained. I rode for about 2.5 hours, the pace was slow and I stopped to take a lot of pictures. I hate how few come out even half way decent. I probably had 40 pictures in the camera and came away with six that were presentable.

The fatty is particularly good at slow headspace rides.






Friday, January 31, 2014

Rock Climbing

Dawn really hates the cold, getting her out to ride when its under 30 degrees is difficult/impossible. She's always been kind of interested in rock climbing and a new gym opened up in Glastonbury last year. We went and took the belay class and soon after signed up for a membership. We've gone 3 or 4 times a week since then.

Its really fun - in a totally different way that mountain biking (yeah I have to compare everything to biking).

Its much less aerobic, but much more strength oriented. Its also much more deliberate. We're both progressing in our ability to climb harder and harder routes. We have a lot to learn with technique for sure, but the main limiting factor seems to be hand strength. I can only hold onto a hold for so long before my hand starts to cramp or give out in some way. Some of that is because my technique is bad and I'm having to use my hands to hold on more than I should, but a lot of it is just plain (relatively) weak hands.

So far I am really enjoying it though. I see little bits of progression with every trip to the gym, which makes it rewarding to go. I'll admit its a bit frustrating to see some not so fit people climbing routes that I can't even start, never mind finish.

The negative of this is that my biking time has been cut back a bit. I have to figure out how to balance it better. Not a big deal I guess. I noticed the last two times I played bass my fingers were really tight too - hopefully that will subside as my hands get stronger.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Rolling the fatty

Given the high rolling resistance of the fatty, I usually take the RIP on group rides due to some deep seated fear that I won't be able to keep up. I had the fatty in the back of the Element from Saturday's ride, but at the last second that fear crept in and I swapped it for the RIP9 before I headed out for the Sunday ride (the RIP had a newly rebuilt fork on it too, which sweetened the pot). I got to the group ride on Sunday morning and found the fork had no air left in it, ugh. I aired it up and it seemed to hold ok for a few minutes in the driveway, so I went on the ride. Within a mile my fork was flat again. Two of the other guys on the ride brought fat bikes, I was kicking myself for not bringing mine!

I brought the RIP back to the bike shop and they found a loose air valve. I'm bummed I missed a ride because of the bike shop's error, but I must say its nice to have someone else figure the problem out.

While the RIP was in the shop another ride opportunity materialized, so I grabbed the fatty and headed out, no choice this time! Jeff and I had a great ride, the fatty was surprisingly capable and a lot of fun to ride. In the entire ride there was only one descent that overwhelmed the bike, I will also admit there were a few jumps along the way that I looked at wistfully as I absorbed the bump rather than boost and get one of those "moments of quiet" that Jeff likes to talk about. I wasn't pushing it too hard, but I am sure that I can go faster on the RIP than on the fatty. I can't say the RIP isn't fun, it is, but the fatty is fun too.

I'll be taking the fatty out on more group rides going forward, that's for sure.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Road biking - 1 year of experience

I have been a die hard mountain biker for 25+ years. I scoffed at road bikers, thinking that type of biking was boring and more suited to folks who are only interested in "fitness". I always say that I ride bikes for fun and that if it made me fat rather than kept me in shape, I'd be morbidly obese.

Last fall I had an epiphany about the number of bikes in the garage - I had NINE bikes in the garage and I really ever rode two of them. One by one I put the bikes up on Craigslist and got rid of them. After all that I ended up with some cash in my pocket. I was strongly considering buying one of those slack angled hardtail 29ers. My better half (and I use that phrase on purpose) convinced me that I would probably ride a road bike more often than I would a new hardtail. She reasoned that I already had a hardtail in the garage and it hardly ever got ridden.

I searched around a bit for road bikes, figuring late fall is a good time to find either used or new bikes, eventually settling on a Trek Madone 3.1 from one of the local bike shops (I should say it was surprising how few bikes in my size were in stock ANYWHERE).

I am completely surprised at how much I enjoy riding a road bike. Contrary to what I thought its not boring at all. Its not quite the thrill a second that mountain biking is, but its pretty exhilarating to go 50MPH down a steep hill with a turn at the bottom. Incidentally my max speed on the road bike is about 51MPH - I tried for a long time to break 50MPH, the only time I was able to do it was by drafting off a box truck, I am not sure it would be possible without drafting. I love the fact that I can jump on the bike and crank out a ride right from my house with very little set up and no drive time. I do hour long rides at lunch time pretty often.

The interesting thing about road biking is that you really get out of it what you put into it. In mountain biking you encounter a steep hill - you have to go up it and on the steeper ones your heart rate is going to max out no matter how you get up. Roads tend to have less steep grades, so its possible to do a road ride and not really push your heart rate up - certainly you CAN max out your heart rate easily, but you don't HAVE to. I really don't know what that means from a fitness perspective, but it is interesting.

I have a lot of friends who talk about how much the road bike helps them in the woods. I'm honestly not sure how much I see/feel that. I guess I'm in better shape than I would be if I didn't ride all the times I did a road ride, but I don't feel it has really increased my speed in the woods all that much.

I hate riding when the trails are sloppy, the road bike really takes the pressure off that decision. If its above freezing, road bike is relatively comfortable, so its a really good option when the trails are wet.

Talking a bit about warmth - in mountain biking because you're moving slower and putting in more effort you can ride in lower temps and still be warm. In the winter I am almost always cold when I jump on the bike for a mountain bike ride. Its a lot harder to generate heat on the road bike, you pretty much have to have enough clothing on to be comfortable standing outside, if you are cold before the ride, you will be cold for the ride. In my case that means 30 F is about the lowest comfortable temp for road riding, any colder than that and its really hard to keep the warmth in and not be so bundled up that you can't pedal.

YMMV and all that stuff, just my experience.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Family trip to Kauai



We’re back from our vacation in Kauai, HI. This is the third time Dawn and I have gone there – but the first time the kids have gone. It’s a bit strange to me that we have never really been to another Hawaiian island besides Kauai, but our first two visits were so great that we decided to go there for our winter vacation with the kids. I suppose some of that is just knowing where things are helps facilitate the vacation to some degree. By all accounts it was a great vacation, Kauai delivered once again.  

The vacation started poorly, before we left the house we got a call from United Airlines saying the first leg of our trip to Dulles was canceled due to bad weather. We were told they could get us there on January 5th at the earliest (the trip was scheduled to start on the 3rd!). We booked four tickets on Amtrak to Washington and white knuckled the drive to New Haven to catch a “red eye” train (absolutely miserable!). It turned out getting to Dulles was the easy part, getting a plane out of Dulles was much harder. After six hours of messing about in IAD we finally got on a plane to LAX. Unfortunately it landed too late and we missed our connection out to Hawaii. We got four seats on the first plane out in the morning and United paid for two hotel rooms for us in LA. It was disappointing, but really only cut 6 hours or so of awake time out of our time on Kauai.

On to the good stuff: 
We rented a house in a resort area in the Poipu Beach area, it was a beautiful area and a nice house. The sunrise was beautiful from Poipu, and easy to see considering our body clocks were five hours ahead








What we would call a deck, the Hawaiians call a lanai, and this house had a huge one - we spent a lot of time out there.


"Shave Ice" is a popular treat in Hawaii, we had it a couple of times, good vacation food:














We bought snorkeling gear for everyone before we left, we spent many hours on vacation snorkeling off Poipu Beach,
which was within walking distance of the house we rented.






Locally grown rambuten:

Excellent Mexican close by:

Hanging out

Classic Hawaii scene:

Another sunset, ho hum

Walking to beach for a snorkeling session:
It’s hard to describe just how many fish and how many different types of fish are in the water there. It was really like swimming in someone’s well stocked fish tank. Fish of every size and color swam around in the reef protected waters. I kind of wish I had an underwater camera just to show what we were seeing, it really was incredible – just think of any undersea nature special you’ve seen, it was like that, really.  We also went on a guided snorkeling/whale watch tour, we didn’t take any pictures but it was a good (though cold) time and we got to see whales up close and swim with green turtles. That said we saw way more fish at Poipu Beach than we did on the boat. 

Scampering amongst the tidal pools was another favorite activity:

Various times during our visit we saw Monk Seals and Green Turtles resting on the beach. They seemed to have no worries about the people all around them, interesting that they have little fear of humans. 


I would be forgetting a big part of the wildlife in Kauai if I didn't mention the chickens and roosters, they are everywhere and LOUD
The first day we took a hike down to Mahaulepu Beach, it was a great hike along the coastline with excellent views. On your first hike in Kauai you take a hundred pictures in the first five minutes, slowly you realize that this beauty is everywhere in Kauai, the pictures don’t do it justice and it’s impossible to capture it all, regardless of how many pictures you take. 

 One of many rainbows we saw in Kauai, however this one brought us a pretty good downpour during the last few minutes of our hike (enough for us all to get soaked!).







 The trail runs along side a golf course at one point, Aaron was dying to get out there and hit a few, at $240 for a round it was slightly out of our price range: 
How is this for varied terrain? One minute you're looking at this amazing mountain range, 









then next you're walking through tall grasses















and then you're walking on volcanic rocks. Amazing! 





Our next adventure was a horseback ride along that same coast we walked the previous day – we were in similar spots a few times, but we were mostly on a different trail with entirely different views. 
I have been on horse back rides like this three or four times, despite that (and Emily owning horses for a few years) I am not comfortable on top of a horse. I just can’t seem to get the rhythm, at speeds faster than a slow walk it’s pretty uncomfortable. 

Emily and Dawn seemed to fall right into it and even Aaron seemed to have a lot easier time than I had. 



We all had a great time, it was a good three hours, the guide was great I loved hearing about the land and the history.









We did an ATV tour on Kauai as well – we weren’t sure what to expect, the guide prefaced the ride saying it was a slow tour on easy terrain (which I found a bit disappointing). While the ATVs had governors on them, the terrain was rough enough to keep my interest. 
We all had a great time (again), we got a good history lesson on the land and got to see several famous movie sites. 

Raiders of the Lost Ark - where Harrison Ford swings on the vine and jumps into the river to catch the plane while the natives are chasing him:
The Descendents - where George Clooney is standing at the top of the hill and showing his kids the land they own:
 Jurassic Park - where the small dinosaurs were running through the field:
We saw some wild pigs on the tour (though they seemed a bit less than wild to me:
I'm probably using the word "beautiful" too much:



 
The last two days we did somewhat serious hikes. I’ll admit not everyone in our party was excited about the prospect of hiking, but at the end we all had a good time on both. We found a really good groove on both hikes where we were power hiking at speeds I haven’t really done before, I’m happy we’re all in good enough shape to do that kind of thing for that length of hike. 

The first hike was on the Na Pali coast (north shore), this is the first two miles of an 11 mile hike that Dawn and I have done twice about 15 years ago. 

It was as beautiful as we remembered. Four miles of fast-hiking over extremely slippery rocks proved to be quite a work out. Those rocks are covered in a thin layer of really slippery mud.



 I'm going to have to go to the thesaurus for a new word:


 At the end of the hike we had to cross this river to get to the "beach" and our picnic spot, again there's that slippery mud on all the rocks, it was quite challenging:
It was interesting to see the contrast between the conservative/upper class trappings of Poipu and the hippy/gritty feel of the north shore, it was quite a dramatic difference. 

The beach at the end of the hike was a small inlet where the waves came crashing in, the noise here is incredible, the sign by the beach said that 83 people had died there to date, I can't imagine anyone going in that water! Ok this picture doesn't do it justice, these waves are at least 10' high.

The second hike was Awa’awapuhi Trail in the western part of the island. On the way to the hike we stopped at Wimea Canyon - pretty impressive hole in the ground (nice win-doo).




Dawn and I had looked briefly at the Awa’awapuhi Trail on one of our previous trips to Kauai, but hadn’t ever hiked it. The trail starts at 4,700’ and descends from there to 3,500’. We fast-hiked the trail both directions, but on the way down we were pretty much jogging the whole way. The trail itself wasn't really all that great - more slippery Kauai mud, but mostly its just hiking through the forest

Once you get through three miles of slipping and sliding, the trail ends on a pali (ridge) that juts way out and above the terrain around it. It was strange to see helicopters flying below us as we stood on the pali. None of these pictures do it justice, just an amazing view and a great place to just sit and contemplate things. We ate our lunch overlooking the ocean.




Beyond the end of the trail there is a narrow bridge with a 500' drop on either side that takes you really out to the edge of the pali. Aaron and I went out first



We came back up to the top and went back down with Dawn. 

Despite her pretty severe fear of heights she somehow made it out there. 

Great trip, I think we are all thinking about how we can get back there. The final day we spent a few more hours hanging out down at the beach. Emily finally got to get the sunburn she wanted so badly.