Au Plaisir De Vous Revoir.

Zachary Manago Memorial Tribute Ride. January 23, 2011.


the day could not have been more ideal for a long bicycle ride. cool temperatures in the morning followed by partly cloudy skies throughout the afternoon that covered hawaii’s warm sunshine. a total of thirty friends banded together to finish the island-wide bicycle ride that zach began. over half a dozen flat tires (including one tubular flat) later, the ride and all its participants was acheived.

mazie coloma, one of zach’s dearest high school friends successfully finished with minimal riding experience. somehow “mazie the lazie” proved to everyone -and possibility herself- that pure determination was greater then physical readiness.

in the end it came down to this: we will always love you zach, honestly. and we will always miss you deeply. thank you for bringing us all together even in death. may you rest in peace, friend.

"We're Taking The Train To Work."

Frigid Fury from BODA BODA NYC on Vimeo.

...wow. thank you BODABODA NYC for making me miss winter.

Ride Schwinn King.

the past sunday -january 16, 2011- a group of us participated in the bicycle memorial ride of Cliff De Rego. dubbed the “schwinn king,” de rego’s memorial ride bought out almost every cruiser and/or low rider bicycle in honolulu. an hour after the scheduled meet-up there were nearly two hundred bicycles in all shapes and forms ready to ride. there were entire families participating - cruiser tandems with children in a trailer!

the schwinn king’s memorial ride was a nice leisurely sunday bicycle ride amongst friends, old and new. all photos via fujifilm disposable film camera.

Honolulu Motorists Hate Bicycles.

michael schwenke posted this on the alohafixed message boards:

"just a quick rant/frustration...

Went for a quick solo ride today and on my way back up McCully to King I was harassed by a 50ish year old guy driving with his wife in a dark blue e46 3 series BMW around 645ish. I was fully lit up with two rear cateye lights, one on my bike and one on the back of my AF white jersey, headlight, and sporting a helmet. We all know the things we constantly have to deal with when riding. Although I was clearly moving with the speed and flow of traffic, this person felt so deficient by being behind a bicycle. There definitely wasn't a gap in front of me. And by all means let me say that I had no intentions of trying to provoke something.

He decides to swerve over to he next lane speeding to get around me even though he was approaching a red light and stopped traffic. Naturally he swerves back into my lane and now thinks he can pass me from the inside (I claim the lane when I ride, especially on McCully)!? He nearly hits me and ends up running into the curb giving his pristine rims some major curb rash. We're now at the light, he threatens me by revving his car and sharing his thoughts with me. When I turn around to get a look at him, he gives me a little tap to my bicycle with his car. His poor wife looks horrified. Now I'm pretty bothered. I get off my bike and ask him what his deal is, tell him guys like him will go to jail, as well as few other words. Typical roadrage response, he yells telling me to get off the road. Now he's creating a scene, people are looking.

The light is about to turn green, I'm over this. I start off, approaching the right turn lane on McCully to King to turn right. He drives by and then suddenly swerves in front of me in the right turn lane and slams on his brakes. Thanks buddy, had a feeling you were gonna do that. So after he has to make a turn on King, he's probably feeling great about himself now. I'm on King too now, and whaddah you know, Isenberg's light is red. I get to the light shortly after him, I get behind him and take a picture of his license plate while he's sitting there.

Unfortunately I failed because my phone camera flash setting was on, so the plate reflected. But he definitely saw me taking a picture of his plates, the iPhone's flash is ridiculously bright. To make sure he saw, I even held up the picture to him in his review mirror. Whether the thought of me having a 'picture' of his plates on my phone spooked him or pissed him off more, I dunno. I was done here.



end rant/frustration />"

Better, Back Together.

on january 9, 2011, eight friends rode around the island of oahu in honor of zachary manago. the intention was to complete the ride that zach began, and we did so the morning after zach’s conclusive memorial. the monumental task of completing zach’s final ride was not lost upon anyone.

embarking at 5AM in honolulu, five riders met up with three others in the pearl city/aiea neighborhood. from then on the journey began in earnest; the entire trip took just over seven hours of cycling.

we rode, we laughed, we ate, and we remembered our friend. ride in paradise, zach.

Three Weeks On An Island.

three weeks later and the world has changed and remained the same. today was the first sunday leisure group ride since the death of zachary manago; although the group was as intact as ever, the emptiness of our fallen friend was imminent.

nimz and I celebrated the new year on top the roof of the marine lab where she is employed. at the stroke of midnight honolulu erupted into a technicolor of explosions. the city of honolulu was quickly blanketed by a sheet of smoke so immense that it was plainly difficult to breathe...and the claustrophobia I felt when I first left hawaii mounted a resurgence.