Hit the Ditch with Jeff, Sara, and Danny this afternoon. I haven’t been on the bike since the ride after I got back from Japan, so I was off the back. There have been few opportunities for after-work rides recently, with either rainy weather, early sunset, or general malaise getting in the way. Near noon, there were ominous dark clouds hanging over the windward side, but as ride time approached, skies became clear with bright sunshine. No sooner than we entered the trail, the clouds closed in again. There were no portents of rain though, just a canopy of white. We started as usual with the side loop. Danny high-sided off the trail at the first valley, his tire stopping on the boulder on the inside of the turn. It was a silent, ninja-crash. If he had laid still, I might have just passed him without noticing. At the switchbacks, I detoured onto the original line after Jeff said someone had been riding that way. My brakes were still cold, so I was going too fast at the bottom of the chute to make the transition onto the switchback line, so I lowsided in front of Danny and Sara. Weak. Continue reading ‘Slow Pokes’
Archive for the 'bike' Category
Page 11 of 40
Sunday, 26 September 2010
I got back from Japan on the morning of Saturday the 25th, so after getting the laundry going, I ate and turned in early. The weather on Sunday was nice and breezy, so I met up with Jeff, Sara, Danny, and Paul out at the Ditch for a spin. There was a rental Ford parked sideways in the gravel parking area. Jeff said that when he arrived, a tall-ish Caucasian dude with tiny running shorts and a tank top was getting out of the car. Jeff briefly thought that it was Chris in an unfamiliar car dressed funny, but the guy went running into the trail. Darned trail runners! I thought only triathletes didn’t know how to ride, drive, and park. Continue reading ‘Hit the Ground Rolling’
Epic conditions demanded a Sunday ride. Everyone besides Root and I were otherwise occupied or out of action, so it was just the two of us on a Ditch ride on probably the best conditions of the entire summer thusfar. We did the normal side loop, Ditch, cardiac hill, leaning trees, ironwood hill descent run, but after returning to Government Road, we still felt prime and there was adequate daylight remaining, so we took another lap on the side loop. Climbing the second time warm was a lot easier than going up cold off the start. There were a lot of people out on the trail today, from runners and trail pedestrians to horse-walking lady and flatland horse guy to a surprising number of bike riders.
Pictures here
D = 14.02 km (8.71-miles), Vavr = 11.7 km/h (7.3-mph), Vmax = 34.4 km/h (21.4-mph), T = 1-hour, 11-minutes (actual trail time about two-and-a-half hours)
I got home early enough this afternoon to get some bike time in before it got dark. The weather was overcast with a light breeze, but it was still rather hot. I was hoping that getting back into the normal riding routine would possibly help me shake the bronchial spasms that have been bugging me after I got over a cold. Other than a few coughing fits and a touch of a runny nose, my standard training loop went normally. My “seat contact areas” were still sore from this past Sunday’s ride, but I felt back on the game breathing and power-wise. The herd was out today, and again blocked up the works. They were a whirlpool of random movement across the whole width of the roadway. As I passed them head on, riding on the right side of the road as per the standard practices of road traffic in the United States of America, one bikecow just rode toward me on the wrong side of the road with a blank look on her face. Like a deer caught in the headlights, she didn’t yield back onto her side of the road and just stayed directly in front of me, even when I was about a bike length from hitting her head-on. I had to move slightly toward the center of the road to avoid colliding with her. Right-of-way or not, I avoided her as a matter of self-preservation: A collision with her would have definitely resulted in damage to my bike and person. Idiots.
D = 13.15 km (8.17=miles), Vavr = 17.5 km/h (10.9-mph), Vmax = 38.0 km/h (23.6-mph), T = 45-minutes
Sunday morning was damp from overnight rains, so the patchy sunlight from mid-morning through the early afternoon cooked up a thick humidity that sat and stewed because of the lack of wind. Chris arrived soon after I did, being anxious to ride. I was a bit surprised to see Paul show up with Jeff, Sara, and Danny, considering this was the loop that had broken him once. With Ckucke rolling in, the group was complete and we geared up for the grueling ride. I got laid out with a cold the week after out last Luana ride, so I was operating with some lingering chest issues, and legs that hadn’t been on a bike for nearly three weeks. With restricted oxygen uptake, my body gave up quickly on the climbs. Once we left the pavement, I was pretty much off the back. As much as I wanted to stay on the bike and just spin a low gear on the climb from the mud bog up to the big tree, I just didn’t have it in me. I was considering turning back, but I figured if I could make it to the top of Government road, I could probably make the rest of the ride. Although I had to stop numerous times along the climb, I made the top. Continue reading ‘Still Dragging’
These popped up on Amazon since I got the 2008 iteration of the M-pact glove there a couple years back. My old ones were getting old, and these were available in somewhat subdued tacti-geek coyote brown instead of NASCAR neon, so into my shopping cart they went. The build quality appears as good as my old pair. The molded-on vinyl armor is slightly more minimalist, but looks cool and still does the job about as well. Grip, breathability, and comfort are all about the same. The sizing seems to be a bit loose compared to my older set, which probably is why the armor strip for the pointer doesn’t quite line up with the first knuckle and centerline of the finger properly. These don’t really shrink, so the fit will remain the same for their lifetime. The brown color doesn’t show dirt stains and crud, which is great for MTB use, but they tend to blend in with the background, so avoid dropping or misplacing them in the woods. It would be nice if they were made of a flame-retardant material for actual motorized vehicle wrenching or tactical use, but for MTB riding, they are fine – plunging one’s hands into flames is an exceedingly rare occurrence while cycling. They’d work pretty well for airsoft too (another generally flame-less activity). Like their predecessors, they lack any kind of absorbent sweat/snot wiping material. Although they were not expressedly designed for sports use, it’s not like the need to wipe the sweat from one’s brow is unheard of when working on a car or patrolling the streets of Iraq.
Model # MMP-72
Made in The PRC
About $35 USD MSRP/$25 USD street price
Recommended with reservations (specifically, that PRC part)
Three-and-a-half out of four grinning gear monkeys
Similar to Clif Shot Bloks, these gummy energy blocks from the makers of GU gel are a convenient medium between energy gels and full-blown energy bars. The size and consistency are similar to the Clif Shot Bloks, but they seem to be a little less sweet. I’ve seen three flavors – blueberry/pomegranate, strawberry, and cranberry/apple. The strawberry and cranberry/apple have caffeine, but the blueberry/pomegranate does not (boo!). The packaging is like the original Clif packaging, where once opened, there is no built-in way to reclose the bag or otherwise keep the unused portion from escaping. If you don’t eat the whole 60-gram package at once, stash a rubber band to hold the package shut, or tear a hole just small enough to force a single block through and hope for the best. The caloric value is listed as 180 calories for the entire 8-block package, with 100mg of sodium total: The similar Clif product is 200 calories for 6-blocks with 140mg of sodium (for the non-sodium enriched flavors). It’s pretty clear that the GU product was designed to be a direct competitor to the Clif one. On a recent trail ride, I passed around a package of the blueberry/pomegranate flavor, and everyone in the ride group was positive about them. Last year, Root did a review on these also – click here for his review.
Made in The USA
About $2.00 USD retail
Recommended
Three out of four carbo-monkeys
Monday, 16 August 2010
Ckucke, Root, and I were pretty worn out from Sunday’s trail ride, but at JT’s insistence, we met up for a St. Louis drop with Kevyn. I relented because JT said it would be easy. The weather in the morning was terrible, so I thought maybe I’d get some respite from riding, but shortly after noon, the clouds dispersed, and the sun baked the trail again to dryness. To keep the muscle effort down, we stayed up on Mainline and went straight through to the rock drop trail after taco jumps. Descending to agave, we took the smooth, lower line out to the water tank, and stepped up to the rocky bypass above the concrete road. It seemed like we were going pretty fast in sections. Back at Kanewai, I talked with Cook Paul and my cousin, Mike, while Kevyn shuttled Ckucke back up to recover his truck. After ditching the bikes at Ckucke’s, we met Kevyn and Lorna for Vietnamese dinner at the top of Wai’alae. They got my order right this time.
Pictures here
D = 3.69 km (2.29-miles), Vavr = 15.8 km/h (9.8-mph), Vmax = 36.0 km/h (22.4-mph), T = 14-minutes
Sunday, 15 August 2010
The weather was perfect and the crew willing, so we turned out a little earlier than normal for a full Luana loop. JT was finishing up some artwork, and Dr. Paul had family business, so they were missing, but Chris, Ckucke, Danny, Jeff, Sara, Root, and I made the roll-out. Jeff started out pushing pretty hard on the initial road climb. I was trying to take it easy so I’d still have something left for the rest of the ride, but I ended up pushing hard near the front regardless. We entered the woods quite a ways further down than normal, climbing through the ironwood forest below the telephone pole hill. This entry made for a little less climbing. After a food and rest break at the big tree with rope-throwing and camera-swinging antics, we dropped to the Ditch via fat guy and took it all the way to the top of Government road before another break. Ckucke, Root and I were off the back going up the road. I’m not sure what everyone else was on, but it was full of “climb”. Continue reading ‘Seeking Ikaika’
Having missed riding over the weekend and Monday evening, we were all feeling the need for some dirt, so when JT instigated a Wednesday St. Louis drop, we were all in. Root, JT, and I piled into Ckucke’s truck, and we met Kevyn at Kanewai for the shuttle up. Although it had rained overnight and intermittently during the morning, the afternoon sun dried things out, so there was no trace of wetness on the way down through Dumps. At Agave, we climbed up briefly to the middle sortie and descended to the concrete road. Kevyn pinch flatted on the step-up after the water tank, so he had to walk it out to the street. Dinner was at Serg’s in Manoa at JT’s suggestion. I had some good carnitas enchiladas with tomatillo sauce for about $10 USD (oh, and JT, don’t forget to give me $20!).
Pictures here
D = 3.89 km (2.42-miles), Vavr = 13.7 km/h (8.5-mph), Vmax = 31.2 km/h (19.4-mph), T = 17-minutes