Published on June 29, 2010 in bike by risu. Closed
Monday, 28 June 2010
While leaving the pub on Sunday, JT kept throwing around a Monday post-work St. Louis DH session. After hemming and hawing a little, I realized it was a good idea, and relented. On Monday morning, the emails flew back and forth, and we were all set to meet at Ckucke’s and shuttle up. Midday, I received a text from JT, the instigator himself, saying that he had a job to do and couldn’t make the ride! WTF?! Oh well, we were set to go. On the way to Ckucke’s, I got a call from JT.
Published on June 28, 2010 in bike by risu. Closed
Sunday, 27 June 2010
The end of the last full week of June was on and off rainy, but Friday turned to blue around mid-day, so the call went out. The bad weather had washed out or riding plans for the weekend before, so we were counting the days until the next opportunity. Ckucke was back in town but had plans for Sunday, and Chris was also out. Jeff and JT were optimistic, but as the weather on Friday night turned to rain that lasted intermittently through Saturday, the positive outlook tempered, then deteriorated. Sunday broke clear, so after a bit of phone finagling, we met out at the Ditch. Jeff, Sara, Danny, JT, Root, and I did the standard circuit, with the exception of Root and I taking the ironwood overlook trail back down. This time, I made sure to join the crew for a delicious bacon cheeseburger and draught beer at the Kailua Town Pub afterwards! It was a good start to a week of riding.
OK, it’s been almost 4 months since I’ve posted anything about my cars, so I’ll write up on what I’ve done to them in that period. With the white FX16, I believe I last left off pulling the windscreen out after cracking it looking for the source of water leak. Following that, we stripped the frame down to metal and I went at with a whole assortment of fiber wheels, wire wheels, grinding wheels and took down what rust I found. Revealed a number of rust throughs, good to catch it now as most of them were not yet hugely major. It was actually a number of weeks and stretched out over months before I progressed with this. Inbetween was a combination of working on other car, bike riding, and lazyness.
Published on June 22, 2010 in bike by risu. Closed
Took a secret spin yesterday since the weather was somewhat good when I got home. It was overcast, and threatened to drizzle once when I was riding in circles in an empty parking lot texting JT about his Fox fork. There was this older jogging dude that I always see, but for some reason, our timing that afternoon just didn’t work out. He was going anti-clockwise on the main loop, and I was going clockwise, taking most of the cutoffs and loops. Every time I ran into him at a T-intersection, we’d be doing the “left-right-left-right-stop” thing. It sort of didn’t make sense to me what he was expecting, since he was always going straight through, but hung tight to the left and made like he was turning into where I was coming out of and stopping until I passed, then continuing straight after I left. Whatever. After finishing up my ride and starting some laundry, I ran down to Long’s for some stuff and there he was, coming down the aisle in the opposite direction!
D = 12.92 km (8.03-miles), Vavr = 16.6 km/h (10.3-mph), Vmax = 37.3 km/h (23.2-mph), T = 47-minutes
Published on June 13, 2010 in bike by risu. Closed
Sunday, 13 June 2010
The sunny morning-drizzly afternoon schedule was a little off from the week before, so as I arrived at the trailhead it was raining – not a little drizzle, but a full-on downpour. Root arrived, but stayed inside his car until the rain subsided a little. The rain had fully stopped, but everything was shiny wet when Jeff, Sara, Danny, and JT pulled in. They were all incredulous at our prospects, but I was pumped and ready to go come what may. The sky out to sea was pure blue, so I was sure there would be no more. JT apparently was too, since he walked into the trail a little way and came back with the verdict of “powdery dry”. This pretty much stopped all the bellyaching, and the ride was on. We had apparently broken Doctor Paul on the Luana ride the weekend before, as he was absent. Chris and Ckucke were also absent. Continue reading ‘Afternoon Fun’
Published on June 13, 2010 in Gear by risu. Closed
Coffee is good, and coffee is your friend. When I’m on the road, it’s nice to have some hot coffee to shake off the cobwebs and promote a general sense of well-being. To this end, I’ve been carrying around a 340ml Tiger MSG-350 stainless steel vacuum bottle that holds the equivalent of a large cup of coffee. I bought the Tiger many years ago for carrying coffee while snowboarding, just around the time when the JDM vacuum bottle manufacturers were all moving their production operations offshore, so this is one of the last Made-in-Japan mahoubin available. Current Tiger and Zojirushi bottles are from places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and The PRC. Anyway, using the top cover as a cup in the field is fine, but when coupled with vehicle drink holders, it gets tired really fast. Fishing what amounts to a big shot glass out of a hole while driving and not spilling coffee on your hands is not my idea of fun. It was high time for a dedicated cup. Continue reading ‘Snow Peak Titanium Double Wall Mug 220 Folding Handle’
Published on June 9, 2010 in Food and Review by taro. Closed
Another new arrival at Marukai from a brewery I haven’t seen before, Coedo. I was debating whether to pick one of these up for sampling since I’ve been battling upper respiratory congestion that has wrecked havoc on my taste, but I couldn’t resist. Its name indcates its a red, they call it a lager, I see a little stick on label puts it at 7% ABV, pretty high. Its a medium dark redish brown, and pours with almost no head. It disturbs me a little how weak the carbonation is. As I feared, I can detect no aroma. This is probably not going to be a fair evaluation. Mouth feel is a bit syrupy and I can detect the sweetness. There actually isn’t an incredibly strong bitter. I’m going to have to reserve judgement, my taste really is screwed up, and I have to wonder if this bottle has suffered in transit. The packaging though is “Beer Beautiful”, nice labeling. Marukai has also brought in another variety, the Kyara. Woah, ok, the 7% is not a lie, I’m hitting a good buzz now, guess I should have taken it slower!
The sun and clouds were fighting for dominance all morning on Sunday, June 6th. Saturday had been clear, sunny, and hot, so the ground and air were still warm when Sunday rolled around. The trades and the rising warm air gave rise to rain-bearing clouds that intermittently dumped heavy downpours in random locations. The week before, there was one good squall in the mid-morning, but it was clear and dry by ride time. This week, the enhanced moisture continually generated clouds, some occasionally ringing the peak of Mt. Olomana.
When the group gathered at the park before the roll-out, the pavement still showed signs of recent rainfall. The air temperature was hot though, so I figured the ground would be moist at most, and would be progressively drying out. I left as if I was going all the way into Waimanalo, so I got there really early. Chris must have been giving himself lots of time to resolve the kinds of things that preempted him from the rolls of the previous weeks’ rides, since he showed up soon after I did. We had a lot of time to go over some of my latest tactical gear purchases before Jeff, Sara, Doctor Paul, and Danny rolled up, followed shortly by Root in his rice probe. I’m not exactly sure how Jeff coerced Paul to come on this ride, but considering how fast he can do the Tantalus climb and how regularly he rides, I figured he would have little problem with this 11-mile loop. Sara had previously balked at this ride, but I was pretty confident it was well within everyone’s capabilities. Continue reading ‘Moist at Most’
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.
