Monthly Archive for June, 2014

Surprisingly Sunny at Sunset Hills

Published on June 30, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed

Sunday, 30 June 2014

The days leading up to Sunday’s ride were dire with overnight heavy rains, then pretty constant rainfall from Friday night all the way through Saturday to Sunday morning. The NOAA forecast slowly changed as the week progressed from a slight chance of rain to possible morning rain to more definite morning rain. When I got up on Sunday, it really looked like a wash. Even the internet traffic cams in the Halawa area showed rainslicked highways. Still, the forecast was for good weather, and the radar images showed the arriving rain passing to the Southeast of Kahuku point, so Sunset Hills should have been spared. I was a little worried that if we went all the way out there and conditions weren’t good, we’d still feel compelled to ride in the muck since we had made the drive. I took a chance and said we were good to go. Continue reading ‘Surprisingly Sunny at Sunset Hills’

Breaking in the New Dragon 3’s

Published on June 25, 2014 in bike, Gear, rant and Review by risu. Closed

Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Weather was good enough to get out and try the new Dragon 3’s. I mounted the cleats the day before, and they seemed to snap in at about the right alignment. They were way stiffer than the old Dragon 2’s, but that’s both from the carbon plate in the new shoes, and the old shoes being totally flexed out. There was some discomfort on the lateral edges of my feet at the proximal end of the metatarsals as expected from new, narrow Italian shoes. I figure the shiny, more impermeable Lorica in these new shoes will take longer to soften and stretch, so the break-in might take a while. Wonder if it is the shoes breaking into my feet or the other way around?

D = 8.98 km, Vavr = 15 km/h, Vmax = 32.9 km/h, T = 36-minutes, A/D = 145 m

Jumping the Cock

Published on June 23, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed

Monday, 23 June 2014

I was glad to get out on the bike after not getting any ride time for a full week. A freeway jumper made my Wednesday commute time triple, landing me at home after dark, and the weather deteriorated by Friday, making the weekend a wash. I did some interval sprints to get the heart rate up with some easy laps in between to bring up the distance and build up the saddle tolerance. On the way home, I hit the water valve jump and ended up airing over a surprised and very upset rooster who was scratching for food on the landing slope. If he had on pants, he would have… well, you know.

D = 13.1 km, Vavr = 16.8 km/h, Vmax = 38.8 km/h, T = 47-minutes, A/D = 150 m

Here’s the Scoops

Published on June 23, 2014 in car by taro. Closed

Got my roof vent and scoop kit last week so I set out to install. It’s not anything terribly complex, just cut a hole in roof, drill a bunch of holes, bolt it in. It did take a fair amount of the weekend as I took my time and also needed to run to the hardware store a couple times. It went together nicely.

So now the FX looks all extreme rally ready. Just needs light bar and gravel guard that I’ve been debating how to make. Oh yeah, it looks cool, but how does it work? Took it for a test ride just now and happy to report it works quite nicely. Good test as it started raining. At highway speed and the vent open in the forward direction it cranks in a lot of air. Only thing is with it centered most of that airflow is going right in the center, between the seats, where no one sits. With the rain, flipping the vent to rear opening allows ventilation but keeps out the rain, except when the car adjacent to you hits a big puddle and throws a big splash all over. This should be a nice addition since the FX has no A/C.

Chickpea Power

Published on June 16, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed

Monday, 16 June 2014

I got rained out on Friday and nothing happened over the weekend, so even though it looked a bit ugly, I went to get some speed laps in. It drizzled lightly early on, but the rain held until later that night long after I got home. The legs felt really good: It must have been the chana masala from Chutney I had for lunch!

D = 12.2 km, Vavr = 16.8 km/h, Vmax = 36.9 km/h, T = 44-minutes, A/D = 149m

Retuned and Recovered

Published on June 11, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

After the long Sunday trail ride, I took Monday off to readjust the rear shock and resumed riding on Wednesday. I turned the boost chamber all the way in (it had been all the way out), and set that back at minimum pressure. I got the sag about right at a much lower main pressure, and didn’t have a problem with the shock bottoming. The weather was looking ominous on the way home, so I rushed to get suited up to beat the rain, but I got ambushed by my neighbor who was in a particularly talkative mood. Even with the late start, I got in about the normal distance and time, and even found a little hit off a water valve cover at the edge of a downslope that made for some fun, reasonably safe air. Several jumps and no bottoming! It was a bit dark when I got home though – I probably should have had my lights.

D = 10.6 km, Vavr = 15.0 km/h, Vmax = 32.7 km/h, T = 42-minutes, A/D = 135m

Long Day in the Hills

Published on June 8, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed

Sunday, 08 June 2014

Ckucke shuttled Chris, Root, and me out to Sunset Hills for the trail ride we had been longing for all week. We planned an early start to avoid the North Shore traffic, but discovered the parking area at the trailhead the most crowded we had ever seen it. A lot of people must have had the same idea as us! There had been some intermittent rain for the previous few days, so we figured we would find some damp sections, but in general, the trail was surprisingly dry except for the dark areas in the strawberry guava and Hawaiian holly below Lilikoi Junction.

D = 17.6 km, Vavr = 7.2 km/h, Vmax = 30.6 km/h, T = 2-hours, 26-minutes (total trail time about five-and-a-half hours), A/D = 706 m

Post Soju

Published on June 6, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed

Friday, 06 June 2014

Amazingly, after all the soju at Kyung’s the night before, I wasn’t feeling really off on Friday, so since there was time and daylight, I took a spin. Didn’t really push too hard.

D = 11.3 km, Vavr = 14.8 km/h, Vmax = 32.0 km/h, T = 46-minutes, A/D = 156 m

Back on It

Published on June 4, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed

Wednesday, 04 June 2014

After secret training the previous Friday, hitting Demon Trail with Ckucke and Root on Saturday, and washing, polishing, and waxing the car on Sunday, I wasn’t really feeling like riding on Monday, so I took a couple of days off. There were no good excuses on Wednesday since I got home in short order, and the weather was great.

D = 11.1 km, Vavr = 14.9 km/h, Vmax = 35.3 km/h, T = 44-minutes, A/D = 182 m

Another Ridge?

Published on June 1, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed

Saturday, 31 May 2014

The weather was nice at the end of the week, so the call to ride went out.  The day was narrowed to Saturday morning, but the crew dwindled to Ckucke, Root, and I.  We met out at the Ditch to climb Government Road and go as far into Demon as time allowed.  The graded road was just damp – enough for perfect, sticky traction with no picking up or packing.  There was one mud hole before the road turns rocky, but that was it.  After a rest at the top, where Ckucke and Root noticed what appeared to be a lot of traffic on the switchback cut directly down from the big trees, we headed up the Demon trail. Continue reading ‘Another Ridge?’