Candy Cranks

March has been off to a brilliant start, with a bike birthday party and time trial in the same weekend!

Awesome cycle girls Becky and Louise hosted a fun bike-love celebration for their March birthdays. Despite the rainy weather, a heap of people participated in an adventurous ride to Kakaako waterfront park for a firedance by Louise (with a couple of first-time fire dancers trying their stuff out as well) and then a ride to Cycle Manoa for a pinata smashing and dance party!

Penny trying out fire dancing

Awesome dance party set-up in Cycle Manoa

The AMAZING hand-crafted Hummer pinata that everyone was all too happy to smash!

Smashing the Hummer with bike parts!

There was a even a pool set up in the bike warehouse

Thanks for the super amazing party for 2 awesommmeee cycle girls!

Part 2 of the weekend was the time trial.. a bit more serious (well, sort of……)

The time trial was held at Mokuleia on the North-Western shore of Oahu with a 12.4 mile route. The organizers created a special fixed-gear category, which inspired a rambunctious crew of riders to participate.

A summary of the “seriousness” of the time trial

1. Ted Shred Stops

2. Time trial on riser bars + a whip skid

3. Eilif completing the entire 12 mile time trial by wheelie, shirtless and in terrific spirits

4. The helmet aero-fications by speedo swim cap

5. The helmet aero-fications by dinosaur shower cap

6. New rider Sabrina’s completion of the time trial as the only female participant, complete with riser bars, a hello kitty backpack and a backwards helmet that none of us caught!

All the participants with the head organizer that created the fixed gear category, David Lum

And congrats to the fixed-gear winners!

All in all, an awesome bike weekend in Hawaii!

February’s Hub Honeys gathering was quite fun.. Us ladies made Valentines cards for cute bicycles and rode around town to deliver them to the sexy bikes hanging out!

Crafting with markers, paper, magazines and glitter!

Conversation starters turned Valentine cards!

Sharing the love notes!

Delivering the Valentine cards to the bikes! Hope it cheered some people up!!

Bike love for all!!

bicycle love from explodingdog!

As I’m meeting more girls on bikes during group rides or around town, I realize its a mouthful  to get out the available chick-specific opportunities for cycling in Honolulu at a stoplight or in passing up a hill. A fellow lady cyclist suggested making business cards for the Punani Pedal Club and Hub Honeys… so I did! I found a website that allows personal designs to be uploaded, and also offers 250 free prints!

Hope you like it, and maybe you guys can also make some business cards for your bike group!

On the last Island Unstoppable ride, our dear friend Zach Manago was hit by a vehicle and sadly died later that night. The ride he was participating in was around the island of Oahu overnight, approximately 110 miles. To complete the ride Zach started, 2 more circle island rides were organized during January in the day time: a couple of weeks ago, 8 friends charged around the island on a 5am- 7pm journey and about 30 cyclists completed Zach’s island ride last Sunday.

Biking up Kamehameha Highway:

At Zach’s Ghostbike Memorial:

Rest stops at the 7-11s along the way

North Shore

Fun!

Ride in Paradise, Zach Manago.

A video by Smurfette/Christian Yee of the ride shot by a go-pro can be viewed here!

The girls of Hub Honeys got together for our January bike, craft and social event. The agenda this week was to create top-tube protectors! We “liberated” a banner from the university to use as material, along with foam pipe insulation and button snaps. They turned out pretty cool! Here’s some pics I took from the evening..

Kea truing her wheel:

Chatting with Mary, Becky, Mel and Louise:

Mel crafting:

Becky crafting:

Ready to ride!

Mission “Oh snap!” for button snaps to fasten the tube protector

Trackstands!

The girls:

Mary’s finished product:

Happy New Year!! Hawaii got off to a great start with biking in 2011. Already its been full of group rides, polo and new friends. We are all feeling positive that this will be an amazing year!

Sunday rides.. one group headed to the mountains of Manoa..
(Photo: Colin Waki)

With bike polo in the evening.
(Photo: Mark Mizusawa)

Another group headed to the beach:
(Photo: Michael Keany)

On Monday, a Punani Pedal Club ride happened around town, visiting Christmas tree park, Magic Island and downtown. Sadly, the ladies were way outnumbered by the guys, but we still had fun! Everyone was respectful and the group stuck together well.. overall, awesome! (Photos: Michael Keany)

And finally, we welcomed a new member to our Honolulu bike family, Eilif from Oregon who escaped the cold and landed in Hawaii with just his bike and trailer and is living off the land. Shoots! (Photos: Michael Keany)

The cycling community had a devastating tragedy on Friday, 17 December 2010. On an overnight ride around the island of Oahu with 30-40 other cyclists, a friend, Zachary Manago, was killed by a hit-and-run driver at 11:10pm. Though he only began riding this year, Zach was extremely enthusiastic about cycling and had a great positive attitude and a smile that was contagious. The cycling community in Hawaii is an extremely tight-knit group, so everyone who knew or did not know Zach was affected in some way by this incident. Though he was only 18, his network of friends and supporters was massive, as displayed by the turnouts at his memorial events and the nearly 1900 people that have joined the “R.I.P. Zachary Manago” facebook page.

In memory of Zach, the weekly Tuesday Night Ride on the 21st was dedicated to him.. aptly renaming it ZNR or Zachary Night Ride. Over 90 people showed up on bicycles to ride the weekly route that he was so enthusiastic about attending every week and where he gained close friends in the cycling community. A video of the ride can be viewed here. (Photo: Mark Misusawa)

On the 23rd, a ghostbike was implemented at the scene of the accident. Family and friends from Zach’s many aspects of life were present, leaving flowers and mementos for their fallen friend. (Photos: Colin Waki)

This tragedy had a phenomenal occurrence. Because it was a hit-and-run, the driver of the vehicle was not identified. Friends cycling with Zach recalled seeing a white SUV or pickup truck that they suspected was the vehicle involved in the crash. A few bike friends took the initiative to search for the vehicle in the area. One thing about living on an island: vehicles and people can’t hide for too long. By an amazing stroke of luck, friends located the vehicle in a covered carpark with evidence of the crash still intact on the SUV. Since it had been raining, the evidence may have washed away if it was not in a covered stall, and police made an arrest following this find. Unfortunately, the suspect was released pending further investigation, but all are hopeful that things will work out and the driver will get charged with negligent homicide and failure to render aid.

One of the most amazing things about the incident is that people are moving on knowing he is still present, laughing like he is hanging out with them and commenting on his facebook page knowing he is getting the messages and writing back to them. At the memorial, people felt that they were just so blessed to have had Zach around for 18 years, and that his presence is still felt amongst them.

I have never felt so honored and privileged to be amongst such a great group of friends, and I’m sure Zach felt the same way. Rest fully in peace Zach, as friends are looking out for you. Ride in Paradise.

An awesome cycling chick, Marissa Eshima, who is completing an art degree at the University of Hawaii has created some super neat bicycle prints. They were made with 2-4 woodblocks each, with inspiration from her friends’ bicycles. She has made 9 prints that I am aware of, with these few being my favourites.

Yuri:

Max-desu:

Yosuke:

Sau:

Marissa:

Check out more art and happiness from Marissa on her blog!

These are really cool.. I may end up posting all of her prints eventually!

The Hub Honeys had a meet up last night! Bicycle themed holiday cards, cookies and ornaments were created! Last meeting, the ladies created an awesome logo (designed by Kea) and printed it onto patches (made by Becky)

We then bicycle delivered the cookies to friends at a pub, and a get well holiday card to our friend and photographer Michael Keany and rode around the beach parks for a little while.

I really need to get a camera for these events!