The coolest cafe in the world...and bike porn!

During race week, Coffees of Hawaii (a brand of Hawaii grown coffee), have this traditional Hawaiian outrigger craft anchored about 750 m off shore for folks to get some refreshments. Very cool. I did my swim session this morning, and on the way back stopped off for an expresso and cookie. My coach (John Newsom) was on board, as Coffees of Hawaii sponsor his podcast "IMTalk".

It was great pulling up, and just like at a land-based cafe, people start talking. I was chatting for a few minutes to a Brit girl from Cheltenham.

At 2 pm, I did my last run of any significance, a 30 min steady run along part of Ali'i Drive. I actually enjoyed the heat, and this was the hottest part of the day. It was good knowing that I did it without needing to carry a drink, and that whilst it was hot, it felt manageable. During the race, we have aid stations every mile on the run, so every seven or so minutes I will have access to cold drink, ice, cold water sponges, gels etc. It may well be a case of literally running aid station to aid station, but that breaks up the run, and lets you only worry about achievable chunks immediately in front of you.

I'd conveniently parked at White Sands beach, so to cool down I did 20 minutes of body-surfing on some beautiful breakers. What a life...

OK, I promised bike porn, so here it is. I'd imagine that most of you may not be interested, but to the average triathlete or cyclist, their bike is more precious than...well, I won't commit myself here, you get the picture. Here's a sampling of some of the goodies on offer:

First up, the latest offering from Kestrel. Kestrel were one of the original manufacturers to embrace composite materials, especially carbon fibre, and had high tech frames leading the way in the late 80s.

The Scott Plasma is one of the more popular mainstream tri bikes. Cam Brown rode one for a few years.

The Cannondale Slice is next. Nothing special, but a good tri bike.

Don't know much about the 3T bike, but I think they forgot the stickers.

Now we're talking. This is what Gina Crawford (nee Ferguson), the kiwi star rides, the Ceepo Katana. They are made by a Jap guy who has raced Kona, and decided to start making bikes.

Here's Chris McKormack, or 'Macca', as he is more affectionately known. He won Kona in '07, and was defeated by a broken gear cable last year, when he was the favourite to win again. He is a great outspoken Aussie (Kiwi mum) and larger than life. He's a strong contender this year.

His bike is a Specialised 'Shiv'. Its hot off the mold, with only Macca and Kiwi Terenzo Bozzone riding/testing them at present. It looks pretty slick.

Last, and the hottest bike IMHO, is the CeepoViper. Released on to the market last year, but re-vamped in '09. What is amazing with this bike is that it has electric brakes and gear shifters!!! This enables the gear shifters to be located on both the aero bar ends, plus the cow-horn grips. It's worth a cool $US16,000, with the electric shift system being worth $US5,000 alone. Cutting edge technology - it even comes with a test / self-calibration device for the brakes and shifters. It can also change its own wheels when it gets a puncture. Well, maybe not the last bit. Nice though.