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Hawaii Tsunami – Live from Waikiki

Tim M — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:53:38 +0000

So, I’ve come over to Hawaii for a bit of a shredquest surf mission. Today, our 3rd day, was meant to be a trip to the big Island for a volcano tour etc.

Our phone rang at 3.30AM; the tour operator had called to cancel due to the “Tsunami Warning”.

“Err, what tsunami would that be?” I politely inquired (I am not particularly well inclined toward tsunamis, nor is my brain generally able to cope with such news at 3.30AM).

Anyway, after that was finished, I quickly opened up the Internet as Kate and I wondered what to do. She thought we’d be ok on Level 7 of our hotel, even though we are right on Waikiki.

At this point, I can’t describe the incredible apprehension I felt. I had a strong desire to get our basic stuff, and get to high ground in a taxi, to wait it out.

As I was out getting fresh water and bananas just in case, I dropped into the Waikiki police who said as long as you’re above Level 3 you’re fine. I found that particularly unrelieving. Haven’t these people seen 2012? LOS ANGELES WENT UNDERWATER!! The Himalayas!!

Anyway, after checking out the NOAA site and Twitter, we decided to wait it out. Glad I bought the laptop.

The tsunami is (still, it’s 10.30AM here as I write this) due at 11.05AM. We have fresh water, some food – probably enough for 2 days. An elderly Scottish lady had 5 days supply by her reckoning. Surely that is a little overboard.

Kate thinks this will be a non-event; I like to manage risk, hence the water, Clif Bars and bananas.

Some of my observations thus far.

Overall, people still, with 30 mins to go, seem to be treating this as a non-event. People are taking photos on the beach. People are walking the streets (though they’re becoming less busy now).

6AM: the streets are incredibly busy, with people stocking up on water and food. Most ABC stores are shut. One store near the market on Waikiki is open but way, way too busy.

Tension in the streets is palpable.

9AM: Kate and I go for a walk. The beach boys are packing their boards up. There are people surfing. The queues in the hotel for coffee and food are long. The hotel shop (water, chocolates etc), is letting one person at a time in only. The 24 hour Mc Donalds has closed, whilst Burger King is doing a roaring trade. Nowhere is open for breakfast except Dukes.

10.30AM. There are many, many boats out to sea. More and more arrive by the minute. People are walking the streets. Oblivious. The police are continually doing laps with the Fire Department, warning people to evacuate now.

Hotel balconies are packed. There’s a sort of grotesque schaedenfreude to this. People seem to be excited.

Warning sires are sounding constantly.

I can hear laughter. There is a young couple cycling along the main street along Waikiki.

The gentle waves gently break along Waikiki. There is a gentle breeze; nothing appears to convey or portend imminent potential catastrophe.

Overly dramatic, perhaps.

The worst part about this is not knowing. I’ve seen reports of 2 ft waves hitting some Pacific Rim islands, with predictions of a 12 foot surge. Also reports of a 35 foot wave. On Waikiki’s shallow beach, that could be interesting.

The latest Twitter hashtag for this, at #tsunami, mentions a prediction for Oahu of up to 2.3 feet – hardly dangerous.

The worst part about this is we’ve missed our big Island/volcano trip, AND we’re stuck in our hotel all day, oh, and of course, the deaths in Chile and elsewhere.

Some photos below.

More to come, including video.

Waiting in line for Food

Checking it out from the beach

Video of the wave…epic!
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YouBar – Custom Organic Energy Bars and Protein Powder and Shredquest Discount

Tim M — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:40:10 +0000

It takes a lot for me to love a product; iPhone, Kettlebells, Macbook, Heresy Snowboard.

And now, we have YouBars. I’ve managed to organise a discount for Shredquesters. When you order anything from YouBars, use the discount code getcando at checkout to get a 10% discount.

YouBar is a company in the states specialising in custom-made organic energy bars and shakes. They also do cookies and trail mix.

I recently ordered a custom protein shake and energy bar. The online ordering process didn’t work for me (in Australia), so I had to email them.

The guys there spent ages with me designing a shake and bar, answering loads and loads of questions, so I am very appreciative.

I recently received my bars and shakes (the ingredients of which are below). They are utterly delicious.

For the bars, my main concern was having something high in protein but with some carbs and fat for long rides, and something that was easy to digest. We nailed it. The only change I’ll be making is using peanut butter for a slightly more moist bar.

Apart from that, it’s a ripper. Feel free to copy my ingredients.

The shake was intended to be used sometimes as a snack replacement, but mainly as a recovery from intense exercise.

The cost per shake works out to be about AUD$2, and the bar cost around AUD$3 – about the same as a Clif Bar, but Custom!!

Anyway, I am in the Qantas Club lounge en route to a Shredquest for surf in Hawaii so need to make this brief. I won’t go into all the ingredients you can have, so go check em out.

Shake

Bar

Discount code: getcandoSimilar Posts:

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For Shredquesters: 20% iff at Wiggle for the next 48 hours only!

Tim M — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:16:17 +0000

Until Feb 15th, I am happy to be able to provide you with up to 20% off at Wiggle.

The codes you need are:

Offer: £10 off £50
Code: heart-10GBP

Offer: £20 off £100
Code: heart-20GBP

Have a great Valentines Day! I’ll be riding up Mt Hotham on my Roubaix then taking my delightful girlfriend out for a lunch at the Beechworth Brewery.

Tim
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Frequent Flyer Master: How to get 25,000 miles for $49

Tim M — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:05:15 +0000

I am a big, big fan of Chris Guillebeau.

He has some really awesome ebooks, and one of them is the new Frequent Flyer Master. Here’s a guy who has a goal to travel to every country in the world (he’s up to 119/~200), so he knows what he is talking about.

I personally have this ebook, and highly recommend it.

And Chris’s guarantee for this guide is: if you don’t get 25,000 miles out of it (enough for a free domestic flight in most western countries around the world), then he’ll give you your money back. It costs US$49 and is well worth it.

In it, he discusses:

The Big Opportunities that can quickly add 15,000, 20,000, or 30,000 miles at one time
Redeeming Miles for High-Value Awards
Opportunities for Southwest, United, British Airways, American, and 8 other airlines
Goal-Setting and Mileage-Earning for the Travel Rewards that matter the most to YOU
Mileage Mall and Finance Bonuses to help you earn miles for things you already buy
The Cost of Free Flights (and how to limit it)
The Best First and Business Class Mileage Redemptions
What to Do when the Airline Says No
How to Get Help if You Don’t Want to Do this Yourself
Mileage Optimization
How to bypass outsourced (and often unhelpful) airline customer support

So if you want to get some free FF points, here’s the best way to get insight from an expert.

Chris also has his Travel Ninja ebook bundled with the Frequent Flyer master for $79 (saving you 25%). You can get the bundle here.Similar Posts:

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Shameless Plug: Help Vote for my Brother’s Band in JJJ’s Hottest 100 2009

Tim M — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:30:48 +0000

I need some help. My brother Dan’s band, The Red Eyes, is on the shortlist for the Triple J Hottest 100 2009 (I am so stoked).

For those who are not from Australia, Triple is the “cool”/youth(ish) radio station in Aus – we have a countdown of the hottest 100 songs every Australia Day (Jan 26).

I need your help. I’d love if you could vote for them here – just search for “Red Eyes, The – High Place”.

If you’ve never heard them (gasp), go listen to them on Myspace them now. NOW!!!
You can also check their website here.

I’d super appreciate it, and if pass this on to all your dub/reggae posse, that’s even better karma.

Word, and thanks.

Timbaland.
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Photo of the Day, France 2010 update

Tim M — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:33:42 +0000

Sometimes life just throws up a googly, and you just have to roll with it. Thank goodness for my iPhone.

Revel in it! The mystery, the colour, the drama.

I don’t know where she was off to, what her name was, but I want to be at that party, because no one dresses like this unless they’re going to some sort of super-party. If this was in Vice mag it would be a fashion do. What does this have to do with this website? Everything! She’s clearly on some sort of super crazy rainbow Shredquest.

Snapped on 3 Dec 2009 on Chapel St.

Oh my

Anyway, I thought I’d update readers on what’s is going on here at Shredquest.

The Website:
Yes, it’s a mess right now, sorry. I just don’t have the time right now to be spending time (and money) on it. So you’ll just have to deal with it.

France 2010:
So, it’s happening. Once again, Michael and I are heading off to do L’Etape du Tour 2010. We’ll be flying in to Toulouse and staying near Pau for about 10 days, and smashing mountainous rides out for 2 weeks, sipping on noisettes, eating croissants. It’ll also be a recce for 2011, when I plan on heading back for 3 weeks with Ms Shredquest. Make sure you RSS shredquest.com to get the updates, it’s going to be great fun once again.

Other Stuff
Yours truly raced his very first open race after about 6 months of racing at the 2009 Tour of Bright. This is a 3-stage, 2 day race in the Victorian Alps.

I’ve done a full report here.Similar Posts:

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2009 Tour of Bright Wrap Up

Tim M — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:25:05 +0000

Intro
Well, I am sad that is over (no, really I am).

I started racing about 6 months ago, and have been going ok in my local club combine events; a few wins here and there, a couple of seconds (I’ve never even won an individual trophy before so I was happy to snaffle a couple), and have snatched a close win in C grade. Perhaps that gave me some false confidence.

This year I decided to do the Tour of Bright – a 2-day, 3-stage race in the Victorian Alps, comprising a 110km stage with a couple of climbs, a 15km individual time trial (YUK) and a 60km ascent up Mt Hotham, one of my favourite climbs.

I’d been riding and feeling really good up until 8 weeks ago, when I got a virus and lost about 5kg from my 65kg frame in 4 days. Ouch.

About 2 weeks ago I did an elite training camp with my local cycling club – 3 days of around 300km climbing in the mountains. I really noticed the weight loss, with a huge decrease in endurance and power in the hills.

I usually can stick with decent riders in the hills, but this weekend saw me smashed apart. Very disappointing, but inspiring to do better!

I tripped back up to Bright a fortnight ago, and did Bright to Mt Beauty and back in pouring rain, then Mt Hotham in torrential rain as further preparation, but I clearly did not take this seriously enough – not even a season of racing, a 3 week hill smashfest in France, training camp and endless commuting kilometers helped.

This all led me to have very low expectations for the Tour of Bright. I guess I thought I might be able to knock out a top 10, not realising that the level of riding steps up about 2 notches from club level. My results did not disappoint – read on for the wrap up – written from a battler’s perspective!

Stage 1
Stage 1 didn’t look too bad to me to be honest. A nice warm up to Rosewhite, where we then faced a 4km ascent of a not-too-steep Rosewhite gap.

Wes and I had rolled around town for a warm-up and only just got to the start with about 15 seconds to spare.

Things were easy-as as we rolled out of town – a little bit surge-y in places, but all good.

Reflecting back on this I didn’t have enough water, but had enough fruitcake.

We turned at Ovens and headed up to Rosewhite. A breakaway had formed and stayed away for about 20km but we caught them through the rolling approach to the climb proper.

A guy went off the front to bridge which was foolish in my opinion; he ought to have waited till we caught the escapees.

Anyway, we set what I thought was a solid pace up Rosewhite. I felt pretty weak a few times and really wanted to drop back, but my friend Mark was sitting behind me and said I looked rock solid so at least I can hide it well!

About 1km from the top I moved to the outside, and felt really good. I was considering bolting away to try for KOM points but disaster struck as there was a sudden increase in pace at the front.

I had an onset of asthma and all of a sudden was going backwards fast. I wheezed my way to the top and smashed it down as my heart settled as the Ventolin kicked in.

Unfortunately I deleted the data from my heart rate monitor (HRM) so can’t check out what I went to, but it was pretty uncomfortable.

I stopped for a “natural break” with 4 others, as I am yet to develop the deft touch that allows one to relieve onself as one continues to roll along.

The pack didn’t look like it was moving quickly, but we struggled to get back on for about 5km, after the turn off toward Mt Beauty.

I’d lowered my seat by about an inch in the last 3 weeks, and it’s really exposed my hamstrings as being weak (compared to quads and calves) – I started to feel it when we smashed up a small rise and asthma set in again.

It was here I knew I was going to get wrecked on Tawonga.

We got to the turn off and I knew deep down that I was stuffed. I rounded the turn and put the bike into a 34×27 right away just to spin up. The pack and many others just started flying away. I was a bit shattered but gritted my teeth for the next 25 odd kilometres.

I really struggle with climbs that have an initial steep pitch. I battle for a few km, and then find tempo and work into it. Heaps of guys were passing me at the start but the gaps lessened and started to decrease as I reeled a few in, then started passing masters and a couple of B graders.

I really wanted to hold on to the main bunch over the top because I can descend very well, but alas it was not to be.

I crested the top and flicked gears for the descent. I got down very quickly and passed half a dozen guys but the main field was long gone.

I just took it easy-ish into the finish as we had an ITT that afternoon which I knew would be horrible, especially in the wind.

I ended up 8 minutes back.

Mike and I rolled back in for a few hours of stretching, eating, stretching and eating. My post ride fix consisted of 600mL of chocolate milk, protein, chocolate, banana, Snakes and other stuff.

Good news was our buddy Pete – who I think just parties and rides and doesn’t take it seriously – knocked out a second in B grade. He did the tour on his 53×39 + 11-23 gearing. Nuts. Oh to be 19 years old, tall, lean and limitless heart rate.

Stage 2
Straight up, I hate time trials. I suck at them, especially in the wind.

This was amplified by being surrounded by guys with $10k TT bikes and crazy helmets. Hmmmm.

Anyway, I rolled up onto the platform, with timer etc – FUN!

My aim here was minimise the damage – which clearly I didn’t do, coming in at the tail end of the field. 92nd out of 104 is some sort of woeful. I got passed by about 3 guys on TT bikes and looking like they had practised for this. All of this reinforced how lazy and arrogant I’d been about this.

You can see my data below. I was pretty happy with the cadence across the ride, pretty even. My main aim here was to spin at 100RPM and keep my heart low. I think I got close, which shows how much more power and efficiency I need to develop.

Elevation versus cadence.

Speed versus elevation.

Elevation versus heart rate.

We had a massage booked for an hour each, but I flicked half of mine to CyclingTips.

We had fish and chips from Roc Salt. Seriously the best fish and chips I’ve had. Grilled Blue Eye, and hand cut chips with Wasabi mayo.

Podium Pete and I had a frothy at the Bright Brewery as we waited for his second place, then Mike and I had a second dinner of pasta at the Bright Pub (if you want seriously good Sri Lankan curry, try the Bright Brewery…off the charts).

Stage 3
Well, we woke in not too bad shape for two 30+ year olds. Bit of a stretch, Nutrigrain with chocolate milk, Magnesium tablets, protein powder, Glutamine etc etc and we were ready to roll.

As I mentioned before, I really like Hotham. I always seem to be able to knock consistent 90 minute ascents out (I need to get that to 80 minutes). So I was really looking forward to this stage, aiming for a top 30.

We rolled out of town and the pace was pretty quick.

The legs felt ok, even when we surged, and the only drama was a near off, when a surge down a hill culminated in sudden braking, requiring brake lockup to avoid a wheel clash with the guy in front. Some very shakey riding by some in the group.

The tempo picked up into Harrietville for the sprint, with our mate Clarky adding a second to his third from earlier. Unfortunately Clarky blew up at the base and turned around to Bright (bringing us some Cokes for later! Thanks Clarky, you’re a legend).

There’s a nasty little kicker right out of Harrietville and I’d worked into the front 20 feeling very good, but my legs starting beakering right away, meaning I had to back off. Which was cool, as there was a long, long way to the top.

I quickly settled down and started spinning and chewing guys up.

I spotted one of the B graders (Greg) from our club and lined him up – I wanted revenge as he’d beaten me up Mt Buller in the High Country Classic at the start of the year (I knocked out a 4th that day). As soon as I drew next to him, he said “Well, I can’t have that” then took off, but I chased him down pretty soon after.

I caught another guy and settled into a nice rythm which seemed to put him in trouble but he stuck on to my wheel, which was cool.

Reaching The Meg, a few guys I’d paced up dropped me off, and I was starting to struggle but I settled down again and surged up the road out of the saddle to catch on to a nice train of about 8 guys.

We caught my mate Mike B (racing in Masters 1/2/3 after an administrative balls up by CSV) just before the false flat, and as he had about 5 minutes on me in GC time so I was pretty happy as I knew I’d nullify that.

I had about 8 guys on my tail as I rolled through the false flat, with Mike and another C grader helping out, and a couple of kids gasping and holding on.

This proved to be my undoing at the entry gate, which precedes a nasty kick up, as they all dropped me. Thanks guys!

I battled up toward CRB hill then started pulling in more guys and then just tried to endure as much pain as I could to go as fast as I could.

I noticed Greg was chasing me down up the final ascent but there was only a kilometer left, which did not go fast enough.

I’ve done Hotham about half a dozen times and it’s never been this hard. Every muscle was crying for relief, but I just had to channel Jens Voigt and tell my body to shut up and harden up. The mind is indeed very tough.

I eventually got to the top, found Wes (who knocked out a very respectable top 30 overall), waited for Mike and Clarky, and then saddled up for a long ride home.

Elevation, Speed, the course.

Elevation, Heart Rate.

Elevation, Cadence.

Conclusion
My training for the 2010 ToB started with the 2009 ToB. I’ve already looked into someone to help me get stronger (hat-tip: James F), and I’m going to actually get serious about training.

Fun times though, and what life is all about. Doing stuff you’ve never done, and going deep into the Danger Zone, like Maverick. Then getting angry and getting better.

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What the Hell is happening with Shredquest.com?

Tim M — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:56:15 +0000

If you’ve been wondering why Shredquest has been all over the place recently, it’s because I am playing around with some themes.

As is the case with Wordpress free themes, you can find loads of awesome themes, but none of them do EXACTLY what you want.

So, for now, we’ll use this one, but I have some others I like. So just stick with me for a bit, whilst I make sure that I can give photos and video I take adequate air.

Cool? Cool.

TimSimilar Posts:

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Video from the Galibier

Tim M — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:57:50 +0000

God I love riding. This was an epic day. Poor old Mike did all the work up the Col du Telegraphe, but I was Menchoving so well that day, when he flicked his elbow, all he got was cold, steely Russian “Nyet”. Hhahaa.

Anyway, it was all high-larious up the Galibier then I wacked the gas on.

Fun times.

Untitled from Tim Marsh on Vimeo.

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AWESOME iPhone Camera App

Tim M — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:17:50 +0000

You know what’s rad? When I find things that make my life easier, or radder. I do a lot of twittering and photo uploads, and anything that makes my bog-standard iPhone photos more interesting and unnecessarily arty is awesome.

So, this app makes on-the-fly application of pre-configured filters to your iPhone photos EASY PEASY.
AND, it’s by Chase Jarvis. Nuff said.

Do yourself a favour, get it and start using it, because it RULES.Similar Posts:

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