Needing a cure for the letdown from last weekend’s failed ride, we headed out to the Ditch on Saturday afternoon. Kona weather brought thick, hazy air and almost nonexistent winds. On the drive to Waimanalo, it didn’t feel so bad, but once the ‘Cruiser stopped, the true depth of the humidity became apparent. Nobody was around, which surprised me, since I’m usually not the first to show up (although usually not the last either – that’s Root’s job). I got my stuff ready while watching three recently abandoned kittens going about their daily routine. When Jeff, Sara, and Danny showed up, they said Root had texted them to say that his brake pad had delaminated, so was off to find some epoxy to remedy the situation. Since it was clear that Root would be late, they took their time. Thanks for letting me know, guys! Continue reading ‘What?’
Archive for the 'bike' Category
Page 10 of 40
You can’t win against the weather. In an attempt to beat the arrival of a consolidated band of heavy rain arriving from the West, we hit the ditch at 13:00, but instead of arriving at the forecast 16:00, the rain arrived a few minutes after we started up Government Road. Hit it perfectly while trying to avoid it. Didn’t even have to destroy any stars – Dr. Soran would be proud (tell me where this comes from, geek!). After circuiting the side loop, Jeff suggested we ride up to the end of the road. We were already muddy and wet, so there really was no harm in riding more. Jeff was pretty much off the front from the start, but Sara, Danny, Paul, Root, and I were variably clumped up in a loose pack. On the way back down, Root and I went down the side loop a second time. The roots on the upper traverse were critically slippery. On the road back, I laid it down on the greasy-slick hard clay. I didn’t get hurt, but ended up with all the Java plum stains on my jersey and gear, as the runoff groove where I went down was where the rain was collecting the fallen fruit. After an early dinner at the Kailua Town Pub, it was home for a couple of hours of hosing off and washing the bike and gear. Continue reading ‘Defying the Strand’
The hunger…
The Ba-Le sandwich I had for lunch wasn’t enough to carry me through to tonight’s late dinner, so I grabbed a snack when I got into McBike. I didn’t want to eat something big and spoil my appetite, so this smaller bar looked like the ticket. At about half the physical size and caloric count as most standard energy bars, this snack-sized bar had the added benefit of being made from recognizable whole grains and fruits – more like a Clif Bar rather than the weird extruded robot food I’ve come to expect inside a PowerBar wrapper. The flavor was mild and easy to take, sort-of like a lower-sugar version of the more common mass-marketed cereal/whole grain bars. The packaging was easy to open, and the bar was gone in about four bites. These would probably be pretty good as ride food, since I have the tendency to eat only half of a standard bar per break. On the negative side though, you’d be generating more trash to keep track of, and the dollar value is a bit lack – it’s about half of a standard bar in content, but not at half the price! That’s the price of convenience and healthy content. Continue reading ‘PowerBar Pure & Simple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie Energy Bar’
The last dirt ride of 2010!
Sunday, 05 December 2010
The weather on Sunday was too nice to not ride, so the few of us that were able to ride met out at the Ditch for a little exploration. I saw some new tracks when we were out there several weeks ago during the muddy weekend, so this was a good opportunity to do some exploring. For a while, I had been thinking that it would be nice to cut a gentle new fully-rideable switchback trail from the Ditch up to the plateau so we didn’t have to bust our nuts going up the cardiac climb. When I saw the lines in the rain, I figured someone had beat me to the punch. Continue reading ‘Meander’
The base at Sapporo Kokusai had been steadily shrinking from the 50cm on opening day with no resupply in sight, so instead of blowing cash to ride out there on the bus and risk injury on the concrete-hard refreeze, I decided to head for the hills in a different way – on foot. I loaded up my pack with foul weather gear in case the forecast rains did arrive, and headed intop the hills above Sapporo. As a warm-up, I went up and around Maruyama. The trailhead for this 3km loop is just down the road from the Maruyama Zoo. There were about a dozen other people out on the trail with me that morning, along with a bunch of crows that followed said people, waiting for them to drop potentially edible things. On the return to the trailhead along the stream that runs down alongside the zoo, I found an Ezorisu that was hoping for a handout. Making squirrel noises kept him hanging around, even if I didn’t give him anything. I’m not sure if MTB riding is prohibited, but the amount of wooden steps would make this about 30% portages. Continue reading ‘No Snow? No Bike? Hike!’
Driving home yesterday, I saw a dude in a flourescent work shirt with a Litespeeed Ti road bike several houses down from the Cachola Clinic on Kalihi Street. Nothing screams “stolen bike” more than a road bike that’s the wrong size with the drop handlebars rotated back so the brake levers are beneath the hands!
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Man, it took until after nine at night to get everything cleaned up after this Sunday’s ride. The weather looked fine for a ride earlier in the day, but as ride time approached, a wall of grey clouds came rolling over the Windward side, drawn by the weak trades. Stronger trades would have moved the rain-dumping clouds through faster, leaving the trails slightly dampened at most, but the slowly passing clouds were given the chance to fully saturate the ground. When I arrived, Waikupanaha at the trailhead was dry, but within seconds, the downpouring that I had gone through along Kalani’ana’ole caught up. Continue reading ‘Mud Slog’
More heavy rains during the week made prospects for a weekend ride abysmal at best, but after a bleak Saturday, the sun rose Sunday in a clear sky. Everyone bailed on the ride except Taro and I, so we just turned in the normal Ditch ride in the cool afternoon. With all the rain, I was expecting at least a bit of dampness, but one would be hard pressed to spot any signs of the week’s precipitation. The leaves filling the runoff grooves along Government Road were undisturbed, and the places that accumulate water after the rains were bone dry. The only observable effects of the rains were a significant reduction in dust compared to the week before. The trail was mostly deserted, save for some people we heard but didn’t see when we were in the side loop and a couple with three dogs along the terminal extent of the Ditch. On the way out, we saw a pair of ownerless tan dogs that were gone by the time we came back along the trail. For post-ride food, we bypassed he normal pub and hit up El Mariachi in Kaneohe for some good Mexican food.
Pictures here
D = 12.5 km (7.77-miles), Vavr = 12.4 km/h (7.7-mph), Vmax = 33.2 km/h (20.6-mph), T = 1-hour (total trail time about an hour and three quarters)
After seeing one of these on a Redline pro BMX at McBike, I had Jarrel bring one in for me. It arrived just before I went to Japan, so I had to wait until I got back to install it. When I took it out of the box, it didn’t feel particularly light, that is until I dropped the CroMo fork out of my bike and compared the two. There was a significant weight difference! Installation was a bit of a bee-yotch. The crown race seat was a bit rough, long, and possibly slightly oversized. This made getting the probably slightly undersized Race Face crown race on a PITA. The supplied preload lag bolt had a larger diameter shaft than the fully-threaded bolt supplied with the Race Face top cap, so a bit of reaming was required to allow the bolt to pass through the cap hole. Lastly, the safety tabs on the fork dropouts were too close in to accommodate the giant axle bolt washers on my Atomlab hubs, so some grinding with a rotary tool was required to relieve them about a millimeter so the washers would sit flush. All the sweat and blood was made worthwhile the first time I took the bike for a spin. The vibration damping qualities of the fork are excellent. No longer do my hands get blasted off the grips when I land hard off a jump or bunny hop. Of course no sooner do I get this does Answer release the even lighter Dagger fork. Dammit!
About $275 USD MSRP/ $200 street
Recommended
Three out of four BMX monkeys
Not quite sure if these are new, or just new to McBike, but I found two new flavors of GU energy gel the other day. I bought one of each to try and tested them on this Sunday’s ride. The Jet Blackberry with double caffeine had a nice, rich berry flavor that didn’t taste like “chemical berries” or some kind of cough medicine. The double caffeine didn’t hurt. I’d buy that again. It didn’t quite give me a euphoric sense of well-being, but the berry flavor gave me a momentary bit of happiness during the grueling, humid ride. Continue reading ‘New GU Flavors’