Published on January 31, 2008 in car by risu. Closed
WTF!
I hit the brakes and the parking lights come on… Ofuk! All that rain the other day shorted something in the FJ80 and now I have some weird, undecipherable electrical problem! I get home and start messing with stuff. Pull the parking light fuse – still does it – OK, the circuit is getting power from somewhere in back. I open the rear access panels and check for moisture on the rear lamp cluster connectors, but those are OK. I disconnect the left cluster – problem persists. I disconnect the right cluster – problem goes away.
Published on January 29, 2008 in Snow by risu. Closed
Got back in from Vancouver on Sunday night. Washed all my gear last night after work. I managed to get one set of outerwear last the 7 riding days. It was almost always below freezing except for a few times at the bottom of 7th Heaven, so the clothes didn’t get too funky.
My legs are fine – no muscle pain or burn. My rear-leg knee is a little sore though. It got a bit bad on about day 5, but tapered after that. I have a couple of bruised or cracked ribs on my back. They hurt when I cough of sneeze.
Just a couple of weeks until I’m off to hit the snow in Japan!
Published on January 18, 2008 in Snow by risu. Closed
All packed up and ready to go to Vancouver tonight. I hope I didn’t forget anything. I noticed last night that I only had 3 gels, so I ran into McBike while stopping to pick up lunch at Yamagen and got several more. the Whistler weather report calls for some flurries tonight through tomorrow, but they predict sunny skies with an arctic outflow at the beginning of next week bringing F-ing cold temperatures. Fabio will recall the Thanksgiving trip last year when it got down to -25C in the village. Woo hoo! Party! Looks like the groomer board unless for some reason Ullr blesses us with a crazy dump later in the week.
Published on January 17, 2008 in bike by risu. Closed
Finally a rainless afternoon on the Windward side! I took the Ellsworth out for a short spin yesterday after I got home from work. The new Easton EC-90 seatpost works fine, but the new Fizik saddle may need a little break-in time. The supposedly flexible “wings” on the front edges of the rear plane aren’t flexible, so there is some discomfort forward of the ischial contact zones. This could also be from a slightly flatter contour than my Titanio 200, or just from not having ridden for over a month. No leg burn, but my lower back was feeling it.
D = 10 km (6.21-miles), Vavr = 16.7 km/h (10.4 mph), Vmax = 38.9 km/h (24.2 mph), T = 36-minutes
Published on January 16, 2008 in Snow by risu. Closed
Man, all my Snowboarding outerwear is trashed – especially my jackets. My newest jacket is suffering from dandruff – the semi-permeable laminate on certain colored panels is flaking off. Still looks nice and new on the outside, but when I take it off I’ll be covered in white flakes. I ran it through the dryer inside-out on “air only” a few times to try and shake as much out through the inner mesh liner, so hopefully it won’t be too bad. My “Captain America” jacket has a hole at a seam where the stitching has gone away and the taping and laminate is failing. I stitched up the hole and put some Gore repair tape on the inside, so it should last until the end of this season. Continue reading ‘Semi-Homeless Boarding’
Published on January 11, 2008 in Food and Review by risu. Closed
We went to Island’s Fine Burgers in AMC last night for some monster burgers and brews. The hostess was from Oz, so Fabio was briefly in dreamland, until our server with ADD showed up. They were out of “hef-wize-in” or however she mangled the pronunciation, so I got a Kona Big Wave Golden Ale. Fabio got their Kona-coffee-flavored Pipeline Porter, and root got the Longboard Lager (all Kona drafts were $4 USD). The Big Wave was lighter in both flavor and color than the Longboard, which is their version of a classic continental lager (like Sam Adams Lager). I’m not a big fan of Longboard – it tends to be a bit overhopped, and I’ve had a few in bottles that have gone skunky. The Pipeline Porter was coffee-flavored beer. The other coffee-flavored beer I’ve had was the coffee stout at Brewhouse in Whistler, and to be honest, I didn’t really like either. A good, dark roast on the malt is all the smokiness I need – no additions please. If I could point out one thing I liked about the Porter is that it was mildly hopped, so there was just the coffee and the malt flavor – no bitterness or floweriness. I did like the Big Wave, however – I’d say it’s the best thing from Kona Brewing Co. that I’ve had so far. They have some things on tap at their brewpub locations that I’d like to try, including a hefeweisen and a porter that doesn’t have coffee in it. Continue reading ‘In the Islands Again’
Published on January 10, 2008 in Food and Review by risu. Closed
Chris mentioned in an email yesterday that a co-worker had gone to Los Chapparros and was raving about it to everyone in the office, and it brought to mind that the former Dixie Grill on Ward had been reformatted to a Mexican restaurant. On a whim, I walked down the block for a late lunch yesterday – nobody was in the office except me until 14:00, and the electricians showed up precisely at lunchtime so I couldn’t lock up and dig. Continue reading ‘Bob’s yer Uncle’
Published on January 9, 2008 in bike by taro. Closed
Yes, periodically check your equipment and tools. They can become damaged through disuse. Is that anything like blue balls? Anyway, I went pretending I was a roadie (no tightie shorts though!) tonight in a vain attempt to get my conditioning somewhat better for the trip. Started too late, only been doing it for past few weeks. Anyway, I cruised out past Koko Marina. Beautiful crystal clear night, calm to almost no winds so it was fast in all directions! Turned back into Hawaii Kai at the cancer duck corner, cruised past the 7-11 and decided not to do the little hillclimb to the back of that valley. I’d done it before, and Kulioouou Valley the other time. Zipping around on the flats tonight, I got it in my head to climb Mariners Ridge. Continue reading ‘Check your tools’
Published on January 8, 2008 in Food by risu. Closed
Sick.
Saw this at Times produce department on Saturday night. Supposedly it’s called a “Turban Pumpkin”. I guess when the meat-cutter’s union is on strile, this is what the produce department guys do…
it seems like chainring spacers are some kind of mystical vintage part. I've asked at almost every shop in whistler with a service department. Quite a few didn't even know what it was and couldn't comprehend what I wanted to do. Finally found some at Fanatyk Co but only ancient crusty mechanics know about these and they have poor eyesight or something. I asked for 3mm and he even used a ruler, he scrounged up 4mms.
I hit the brakes and the parking lights come on… Ofuk! All that rain the other day shorted something in the FJ80 and now I have some weird, undecipherable electrical problem! I get home and start messing with stuff. Pull the parking light fuse – still does it – OK, the circuit is getting power from somewhere in back. I open the rear access panels and check for moisture on the rear lamp cluster connectors, but those are OK. I disconnect the left cluster – problem persists. I disconnect the right cluster – problem goes away.
