Author Archive for risu

Page 56 of 95

Klimb

Published on May 7, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

Thursday was humid and hot with very little perceptible wind. I was jazzed to ride, but I was not looking forward to doing so in this weather. Everyone else was feeling the dread of the weather, both JT and Ckucke waffling on the edge of indecision all day. We met at the appointed time and found the area again infested. Jarrel came down the hill after doing a lap on his freeride hardtail. He was set to ride St. Louis, but his riding partner bailed, so he went up Tantalus. Ckucke managed to talk him into joining us for a second climb! I was not on the game for some reason or another, so I was off the back from the start. Somewhere up ahead, Root latched onto some roadies and drafted them to the top. My lower back was burning and my legs really didn’t feel like they were giving their all. Oh well. The descent went faster.

D = 15.32 km (9.52-miles), Vavr = 17.6 km/h (10.9-mph), Vmax = 62.9 km/h (39.1-mph), T = 52-minutes (climb = 42-minutes, descent = 10-minutes)

Natsukashii Aji

Published on May 6, 2009 in Food and Review by risu. Closed

retro_pepsiPepsi Throwback

Mmm… tasty! There once was a Golden Age when soft drinks were sweetened with “real” sugar – either from cane or beets. Through the intervening years, sugar prices rose, so cheaper high-fructose corn syrup slowly began to be cut in to keep the prices down and profits up. Nowadays, HFCS is the primary sweetener and sugar is uncommon in the USDM. For a limited time, Pepsi will produce and sell a retro version of their product. Once you taste it, you will remember what Pepsi used to taste like back in “small kid time”. The change was so gradual, you probably didn’t realize it had happened! The difference is almost like the flavor gap between diet and regular… okay, maybe not that bad, but it is detectable. The sweet is not stronger, but it is brighter. The other flavorings are not as muddled, and the aromatics are more pronounced. Continue reading ‘Natsukashii Aji’

May the Vog Be with You

Published on May 4, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

With dwindling numbers for the Monday St. Louis downhill, I opted out and went home for a quick spin on the ‘cross. The cloud cover was light and scattered, but the heavy vog made it look like it was raining or about to. The heavy, humid air added to the illusion. With the arrival of spring, I am expecting my allergies to start acting up. There was a bad week a couple of weeks ago, coinciding with the avocado blooms. Along my route, I could see the monkeypod and Formosa koa trees starting their blooming, so I am expecting something bad to happen in the immediate future from the pollen along with the vog. Circuiting the course on the 1.25 slicks was so much faster than on fat knobbies, but the lack of suspension forced me to stick to the nicer pavement, taking some of the side-loops out of the laps. I was paying attention to standing climbs to help with Thursday Tantalus rides. Hopefully my shoulder doesn’t give me trouble tomorrow…

D = 16.00 km (9.94-miles), Vavr = 22.0 km/h (13.7-mph), Vmax = 44.8 km/h (27.8-mph), T = 44-minutes

Over It

Published on May 3, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

I’m over it already.

I think we’re all over it.

We explored central Oahu again this Saturday. The payoff was not quite worth it considering all the effort it took to get to where we wanted to go. Although the main valley did not appear to be in use, some of the plots over toward the old access road were. We verified a second route over to the plateau, by crossing the road and going through the old paint marker gaming area. We found a quicker way to access the valley near the familiar steep climb through the eucalyptus trees. There was a steep climb-out to the bottom of the ridge where the abandoned structure is located. We rode through squealing pig to the doubletrack, then explored several dead-ends along the dirt road and the road itself. Access to the old flume trail was not available because of an active agricultural usage. The trail across the end of squealing pig is blocked off, and because of disuse, the trail further in was blocked with a lot of deadfall. After all the in-and-out exploration, we didn’t want to go all the way around and out the back side, so we looped around the way we went in the last time and went out that way. Continue reading ‘Over It’

Obaa-bling

Published on May 1, 2009 in Culture and SUAR by risu. Closed

WTF is up with all the old ladies with the Swarovski Crystals along the cuticle on their pedicures?  Is this some kind of fashion accident gone awry?  I’m thinking that at one point some young fashionista was the vanguard of this trend, but I generally only see it on “old ladies” or “someone’s mom” now.

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Pappy Roy

Published on April 29, 2009 in SUAR by risu. Closed

Former manga-ya minion Roy became a dad at 13:21 today to 3.1kg Zolie Akemi Heiser.  Congratulations!

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Outlaw Deathmarch

Published on April 27, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

Sunday morning was cool and cloudless, which meant the day would shape up to be sunny and brutally hot. What better a day to go on a long ride in central O’ahu! I met Ckucke, Kevyn, and Root for a recon ride out in the forbidden zone where we used to ride back in the day. Rumors through the grapevine indicated that the former tennant who had erected fences and signs was no longer in leasing the property, either because of an upcoming housing development in the area, or perhaps from repercussions over alleged illegal activity in a structure on the property. Continue reading ‘Outlaw Deathmarch’

Flash Flood Ride

Published on April 24, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

The weather report on Wednesday called for locally heavy showers beginning midday Thursday, so heavy in fact that a flash flood watch was in effect. With a reasonable expectation of bad weather, I packed my ride kit and brought it in on Thursday. Throughout the day, the cloudy skies grew progressively darker. Webcams showed the H3 corridor and the windward side socked in and shiny with rainwater. As quitting time approached, I went outside to check visually on the top of Tantalus, and lo, even though the thick ceiling of clouds was an ominous dark grey, it was high up and not in the act of relieving itself of its precipitable moisture. The air outside did however feel thick and heavy: It felt like it was going to rain any minute. Ckucke and I had eaten heavy lunches from Young’s in ‘Aiea, so we were feeling lethargic. We kept waffling on whether we should call it or go. In the end, inspiration won out over apathy and the call went out that it was mission “go”. Continue reading ‘Flash Flood Ride’

Beer Is Good – “33” Export Lager

Published on April 24, 2009 in Food and Review by risu. Closed

33_export_label33_exportHad this hoppy Pilsen from VBL Tien Giang Limited, Vietnam with dinner at Hale Vietnam. This beer has a convoluted history, originally being a product of the Lao Brewing Company in Laos until 1990, but now produced by various breweries and sold in various idiosyncratic markets around the world. The particular USDM-labeled specimen I had was labeled that it was brewed in Vietnam. It still had the LBC tiger logo, but it was all-red, instead of the brown tiger inside a red circle that is the current LBC logo. Continue reading ‘Beer Is Good – “33” Export Lager’

Back Leg Burn

Published on April 22, 2009 in bike by risu. Closed

Pain.

It’s been two days since the Monday night St. Louis downhill and jump session, and my body hurts the same as if I had done a full day of snowboarding two days ago. My messed-up shoulder is stiff, and my back muscles, triceps, and forearms hurt – just like I repeatedly stacked in the terrain park or something. My back leg quad and calf really hurt – just like from riding deep pow all day with not enough stance setback.

I hope I can recover for tomorrow’s Tantalus ride! Continue reading ‘Back Leg Burn’