May 2009
We need a tandem!
May 13 2009 08:46 AM Filed in: Biking
Bicycling Magazine had a contest which ends in May to win "Any New Bike" reviewed in their magazine. The deadline for submissions is over but all you had to do was create a 60 second video showing why you, above all others, need a new bike. We attached the GoPro Hero cam to the side of my bike and did a stop motion video taking a photo every few seconds. Then we created the sound track in Garage Band. Here is our submission.
I thought it was pretty good but apparently the editors of Bicycling Magazine didn't think so ... we didn't make the top 10 which are up for votes now. The one characteristic I see in the semi-finalist videos which was missing from our video was a clear argument for why we needed the tandem. We were appealing more on the cute factor than the logical factor. Here are the 10 semi-finalists. You be the judge.
~Susanita
|
6th Annual Kumu'ohu Challenge
May 12 2009 05:58 PM Filed in: Outrigger
Canoe
This is the boathouse at the Washington Canoe Club on the Potomac River, upstream from our club on the Anacostia River. In mid April they host the first outrigger canoe race in the DC area, the Kumu'ohu Challenge. Rob and I took the plunge and raced the 9 mile course in our club's "banana boat" ... the yellow Hyper canoe. This after only having practiced in the boat twice. For our first time out I think we did really well. We finished in 1:34:26. The full results are HERE.
Some lessons we learned from our first race:
- The Hyper Canoe is a little slow on flat water. It's a high volume boat designed for the big waters in Hawaii. A better canoe for our flat water races would be the Huki V2-Z.
- We need to warm up on the water for at least a few minutes before the race. Because our club has only one OC2 we were sharing with two women who were racing in the early morning women's race. They finished their race a few minutes before the start of our race. So for the first few minutes into our race we were both feeling "off."
- We need to work up to a higher stroke rate ... or rather I need to work on it. Rob likes a high stroke rate but I felt more comfortable with the slower more powerful strokes. This will come with time on the water.
- We'll never be the fastest when the competition is good ... but we're not the slowest either. Wooo Hooo!!!
- It's all for fun any way. Outrigger races are always fun because there's always a party afterwards!
So ... everyone in our club did really well. On to the next race ...
~Susanita