The third riding day mummification has hit. Generally on the third day
is when my body aches the most. It usually starts to improve from
there. Thankfully the back has been ok. Been taking the Gumby pills at
night.
Monthly Archive for November, 2009
Page 3 of 4
Chris will love this! I saw a fixie guy here while on the bus returning from snowboarding. Brikos, Euro-tight black long-sleeve turtleneck shirt, Euro-tight black jeans, black Addidas clipless road shoes, tiny black messenger bag. The bike was a black carbon monocoque Giant track frame with Easton carbon fork and Easton aero time trial bars. HED 3 carbon wheels. All black and riding at night with no lights in traffic with sunglasses? Dork! I couldn’t get my camera out in time to document this atrocity – besides, it was too dark to take a picture of a guy dressed all in black on an all-black bike at night!
(0)No amount of running can get you on the 07:20 bus for Sapporo Kokusai when you’re still on the subway train at 07:20. Luckily there was a second bus at 08:20. I stopped by 7-11 for bevvies and second breakfast, and went over to the bus terminal to wait for the next bus. Considering how late I was, the wait wasn’t long. There was ongoing tunnel repairs along the Jouzankei route, so the early season bus was running out toward Otaru on the Sasson expressway, then heading up the back way from Asarigawa onsen. Onze was pumping out their base with snow making machines, but only had one run operational. Asarigawa ski area looked pretty good on top, but was mostly grass toward the base. This route seemed quicker than the Jouzankei route, and if I didn’t already know how close the Sapporo area snow areas were to each other, seeing them along the way would really drive this home. Continue reading ‘Hot Tuesday’
Headed over to hilly Shiroishi yesterday to go to the big outdoor store in search of Snow*Peak stuff. It was easy to find, but a bit of a walk from the chikatetsu eki. It was a bit chilly out for my old-school Polartec fleece, but too hot for the jacket I left behind. Definitely time for some Windstopper fleece. They had everything I needed, and the dude was helpful even though my Nihongo was terrrible. Part of the issue was pronouncing things “American” and not “Japanese”, like Nalgene as “nal-jean” as opposed to “na-ru-gen”. I guess it’s no worse than Americans pronouncing “Tokyo” with three syllables. Continue reading ‘Gear Hound’
10″ of snow overnite at Brighton, that’s where we go!
Not bad at all, some nice jumps, but it hid an evil rock garden making
it look beautiful, until you rode through uncovering all the boulders.
Dammit, someone scored a brand new unused left Burton AK glove.
Accidentally missed the biner clip & dropped it somewhere by the
ticket window. At least it was cheap closeout & Fab had a spare. You
need to be super dirtbag to squirrel & keep one glove.
Kicking back at Kona Brewing Co. with a Big Wave and quesadilla. Must get to the gate on time! Don’t want to hear my name on the PA again…
(0)I dropped off Fabio and Root at HNL this evening, then came back home to finish packing to head out to Ezo tomorrow. There was no electricity from H3 to Fabio’s due to that red crane stored in the vacant lot after the Maunawili intersection toppling and taking out the powerlines and almost crushing two tourists in a Jeep. Root and Fabio were waiting in the dark. The crew balked at joining me in Sapporo when the return of fuel surcharges raised the JAL ticket prices above the $800 USD mark., so they headed off to Salt Lake City to check on the conditions there instead. Sapporo has been pretty snow free for the past few weeks, so things were looking rather dire, but it started snowing in the mountains about a week and a half ago, so I should find a half-meter base at Kokusai and Teine, and about 30cm at Kiroro. There doesn’t seem to be a high likelyhood of fill-in snow next week, so I may end up riding krunk.
Oh my, what a day. After my oh so rough day on Atooi (barely made it in time for flight) yesterday, went to Mr. Ojisan for dinner. Only Yuki was there (aside from cooks). Keiko came by after a meeting, then Yuko called and came by. It turned into a nomi-kai. They then called Santa-san (thats what
people call him), he’s apparently the #2 guy at Tokkuritei. It was quite an amusing night.
I must say, they treated me good, a Guiness, signature Mai tai, Sunset
draft, housemade spinach linguini w butternut squash & pancetta,
Patron shot later, yeah I’m feeling fine! Good thing the vacation
rental they put me up in is like 100 yards down the street.
If you find yourself in Hanalei night, this is the place to go. Live
music, nice service, down home Italian cooked by a honest Italian who
plays a mean harmonica, old school ambiance that looks like an old run
down building by day, family establishment.