Gee. Lucky I rode when I got home today. The sky just opened up and started dumping rain like a MF just now.
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I rode the ‘cross after work today to get some sprints in. All the bad drivers were out today. Along my training loop, I came face to face with a red Civic in my lane. The grunge-surfer dude was dropping off his granola girlfriend and came around a blind corner in the wrong lane. Seeing me, he made a vain attempt to move back into his lane, then slowly drifted back into my lane and stopped diagonally to let his passenger out, blocking my lane completely and forcing me to go around him in the oncoming lane. Ever heard of driving on your own side of the road? Effing idiot. Moments later after making the turn, I had to dodge a doddering senior lady in her new-ish Volvo who came into my lane far enough to clip the curb with her left front tire in order to make a right turn! I thought they only let the fools out on Friday and Sunday!
D = 19.78 km (12.29-miles), Vavr = 22.2 km/h (13.8-mph), Vmax = 50.0 km/h (30.1-mph), T = 53-minutes
A few months back, Jarrel at McBike got in an initial shipment of the Giro gloves. Since Hawaii always gets the stepchild treatment, the first ones received were the “less popular†colorways, the larger, more profitable accounts on the contiguous 48 getting all the good stuff first. For full-fingered MTB, there was the lighter Xen and the burlier Remedy. Root picked up a pair of the Xen gloves and reviewed them a couple of weeks back. There was only white in the Remedy, so although they were designed pretty well, I held out for either another color or for something nice to pop up on Chainlove. I had three sets of gloves, so didn’t really need another pair. On Tuesday when I happened to pass by the glove rack, lo, there were more gloves! Apparently, part of the fill-in order arrived and there were black Rampage gloves. They looked awesome – like something straight out of Mechanical Violator Hakaider. Continue reading ‘Giro Remedy MTB Gloves’
The sun was out when I got home today. I had neglected to bring my ride kit to work, thinking the rain that spoiled the weekend ride plans would continue today. That didn’t happen, but with Kevyn out recovering from surgery, Root with visiting relatives, and Ckucke at a business dinner, no ride plan materialized anyway. I quickly geared up and took the Moment out for a spin. The road was wet from a rainsquall that came down soon before I got home, but the residual ground warmth and bright summer sunlight were doing their best to dry it out. I rode my normal loop but stayed off the grass so as to not rip up the moist surface. I did a couple of sprints to failure to get my heart rate up, but for the most part, this was simply a fun, easy cruise to get out and feel the wind and sun.
D = 14.56 km (9.05-miles), Vavr = 17.2 km/h (10.7-mph), Vmax = 41.4 km/h (25.7-mph), T = 51-minutes
I was looking for something on the various data discs that Root had passed along to me (many in unimaginable multiplicity), and went and rewatched some old anime, and watched some stuff that I never got around to. Here’s a brief summary:
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou – Root has been a fan of Ashinano Hitoshi’s original manga since it started in the mid nineties. I’ve never actually read any of it, but after seeing the two old and the two older OAV’s, I’ll probably track down the tankoubon at Book Off the next time I’m in Japan. The inevitable comparison is to Amano Kozue’s Aqua/Aria works, both in style and general “feel†and pacing. The only thing that bugs me about the very well-crafted setting is the mysteriously still-functioning infrastructure, like the street lamps that even function in the submerged former Yokosuka and Kamakura alongside traffic signals. I guess somewhere out there, there are still people maintaining these and keeping the powerplants running. I realize these elements are there for sentimental effect, but still… The original OAV’s are great examples of traditional cel animation. Those are definitely worth a watch. The second OAV’s are marginal in animation quality, and seem to be more of a marketing tie-in. The various characters that appear don’t get enough screen time for any kind of development, so it comes across as a series of cameos. Continue reading ‘Anime Briefs – Cleaning out the Closet’
I’ve been a long time fan of Ditama Bou’s manga works, and after seeing the premium sale Kiss x Sis anime episodes that shipped with preorder special editions of the manga tankoubon, I was not surprised that Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!! was picked up for a TV anime. This isn’t my favorite among his works, but I really doubt the world will see an animated version of Super Love Potion (complete with the bloody sheet scene, right Roy?) anytime soon! Root passed along the first episode to me and I watched it with a certain level of anticipation, but also with a palpable level of cynicism, since I’ve seen some wonderful manga stories turned into terrible anime properties. Continue reading ‘Anime Briefs – Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!’
Ckucke called to check on how Kevyn’s shoulder reconstruction surgery went yesterday, and apparently all went well. He pretty much came home from the outpatient procedure and crashed out.
Hope everything heals up well so we can see him out on the trails again soon!
Monday came and went without a ride. Ckucke had a last-minute emergency, Root was burnt-out from Sunday, and I thought the weather was going to be inclement, so I didn’t bring my kit. JT was still itching for a ride when Tuesday came around, so after a few frantic phone calls, the ride was set. Not suspecting there would be a Tuesday ride, I didn’t have my kit, but I did have my helmet at work. Close enough. I drove up to St. Louis and hit the trail in my work clothes. I forgot that I had a pair of beat up TRD mechanic’s gloves at work also, but they were full of holes and were duct-taped together. After briefly talking to Chris Clark in the parking lot, I blew down the mainline to catch up to the guys at the jumps. I hit the jumps a few times with JT who was getting reacquainted with his Turner Burner. I didn’t want to stack without gloves, long sleeves, or shinguards, so I stopped before anything bad happened. We continued down the normal way to the bottom of the rock waterfall, then backtracked up to the second sortie. Continue reading ‘Pau Hana Panic’
Chris worked himself ragged on Friday and Saturday of the long Fourth of July weekend so he could have some free time left over on Sunday to hit the trails. We met up at the Pohakupu fountain after lunch to do the Luana Hills circuit. While we were waiting for Root to arrive a vaguely familiar green pickup pulled up. Jeff and Sara? Wow! They were going to ride part of the trail with us. They drove over to the Ditch end to meet us halfway. Root arrived, and we three little piggies headed out. After entering the Norfolk trail network, we took an early right to climb up to the concrete block hill. I thought at first it would make the whole process easier, but with two push-ups, it was much more heinous than the lower route to the big tree. All the extra climbing really took the “go power†out of my legs for the remainder of the ride. It didn’t help that I didn’t have lunch. Continue reading ‘This Little Piggy’
Monday’s St. Louis ride didn’t transpire, so I met Kevyn and Root up there on Thursday for some XC riding. Thursday is usually Tantalus day, but I really felt like riding dirt for some reason. Kevin’s truck was there when I arrived, but he was nowhere to be seen. I figured I’d take a little spin up the ridge trail to warm up then come back down and see if he was back. It immediately became apparent that my legs were feeling the effects of the beer ride on Wednesday, so I dropped it into granny just past the water tank and spun easily to where the trail jogged to the left. Returning back down the trail, I took a little left side trail into the strawberry guava thicket and re-explored the sideline that I had seen over a decade ago on a ride with Chris Clark. The trail along the edge of the ridgetop was still open, but disuse had obscured the line a little with a heavy layer of ironwood needles. I passed a DLNR pig monitoring enclosure complete with rain gauges and automated camera. It was looking rather dilapidated, and disused. Continuing down the tight singletrack, I dumped back out onto the main trail above the moonscape. Continue reading ‘Thursday Dirt’