That’s how long I’ve been in Hawaii, and it’s also how long I have left in Hawaii this year. I found out this weekend that I will be racing in the Mooloolaba World Cup in Queensland Australia. This is my first World Cup start, so needless to say, I’m stoked!!

Yesterday I rode up Tantalus with Oahu’s two local pro triathletes, Tim Marr and Jon Flanagan (though we were each riding alone and had no idea the others were also doing the same ride and never once saw each other.). I nearly stayed in and rode on the trainer, but I had talked to Courtenay earlier and she told me about how cold and wet it was for her ride in Seattle, but she still had fun. Here was my mental monologue as I eyed my trainer while putting on cycling clothes:

“Ugh, it’s windy and rainy and my bike is sort of clean… ok it’s not that clean…. who rides a trainer in Hawaii? How many times do I have access to my favorite ride ever? Is it getting nice out? I might as well go.”

And it did clear up. At least it cleared up until I started climbing, at which time it started raining with better water pressure than most hotel showers. Climbing Tantalus was wet and cold, but the descent was far worse. I never realized that drenching rain renders Shimano break pads worthless. Here’s my internal monologue as I approached turns:

“Ok, there’s lots of water flowing across the road, I should probably be careful… um, I’m squeezing the brakes, why aren’t I slowing down? …Please slow down please slow down.. THANK YOU GOD!”

So all-in-all a great training experience.

Yesterday I went out for a ride from my cousin’s house in Laie, which is on the northeast corner of the island near Turtle Bay Resort. The area has a combination of North Shore swells and Windward Side wind, meaning the ocean by their house this time of year is filled with white water as far out as you can see. It’s really windy, though I’ve heard from some people in San Francisco that the winds there have been brutal lately too. And Chris Tremonte claims that when he did the 200w 0% grade test in Austin over the weekend that he only managed 10.5mph, which is pretty much the same as I’ve been getting here.

Yesterday I went for a ride toward Haleiwa, and was amazed that I made it there in about 40 minutes without really trying. What I should have realized is that if i was going nearly 30mph without effort, I really should be turning around well before half way through my ride. It took about 50% longer to get back, and there was no “easy” riding involved in it. Just crouching over and taking a windy beating. So what I started thinking was, what if my Garmin Edge 705 (along with the Quarq Cinqo powermeter – pictured above on my Beyond Fabrications Radius Road bike) gave me some clue as to how much assistance I was getting from the wind. It could tell me my Coefficient Of Environmental Assistance, which I would like to name the ‘Collins Coefficient’, and it would basically take my power output, my speed, the % grade and some estimate of aerodynamics (or lack thereof) for a big shouldered swimmer type like myself. Basically, when I’m flying down the road with a tail wind, or drafting off a school bus it would be large positive coefficient and the screen would read something like, “don’t be too proud”, or “going the other way is not going to be fun”. Whereas when I’m fighting a 20mph headwind uphill the coefficient would be negative and the screen could read, “I told you this wasn’t going to be fun.”