Since I destroyed my old HiFi in Japan this past March, I’ve been in need of a replacement. My old one was around a hundred USD from Island Snow Hawaii back when they sold snowboarding gear. I probably could have gotten it for less online, but I was buying locally where I could actually try the product on. Since the sizing was already taken care of, and there is no comprehensive local source for retail snowboarding gear anymore, I waited for a good deal online. The season is winding down and a lot of good stuff is going on sale. Besides, a hundred bucks intuitively is way too much to pay for what is essentially a piece of EPS from the PRC. I was looking last season, but I never managed to find a nice color in the proper size for a good price. This season there was a nice camo finish, and when it went on sale for 25% off at Backcountry I was tempted. Since the riding season is essentially over for me this year, I thought I’d give it a little while longer to see if the price would drop. The overall stock amount and size run looked good, so there was no rush. Continue reading ‘2008/09 Burton Red HiFi Helmet’
Author Archive for risu
Page 57 of 95
Thursday morning was so socked in rainy on the Windward side that when stopped at a traffic light, I couldn’t even see the next intersection. When I got over the mountain, town-side was all blue skies and sunrise. It looked like good weather for a ride. Of course, by mid morning, the clouds had worked their way over the Ko’olau summit and were raining down all kinds of evil from Pacific Palisades to way past ‘Ainakoa. Things were suddenly looking grim. Thankfully, the trades continued to blow, and the clouds exhausted their precipitable moisture, so by noon, the rains were tapering and the clouds were dissipating. When work was done, the blue skies had returned, and the remaining clouds were calm and non-threatening. Continue reading ‘A Change in Weather’
Great – first it was Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe doing Ford F-series truck ads, now it’s Man vs. Wild host Bear Grylls doing Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal ads! Can you say “sell-out”?
(0)Just finished taking a second shower and popping open a St. Pauli Girl. After finishing my form 1040, it was around 22:30 and I wasn’t feeling sleepy, so I went outside and fixed the leaky heater hoses on the FJ80. Essentially, the ends of hte hoses that go to the thermostat neck and water pump were deformed from age and reaction to various fluids and had started to leak. The OEM Toyota wire-style hose clamps were deeply cut into the rubber and not providing enough squeeze. I undid the clamps, pried the ends of the hoses off the barb fittings with a flat screwdriver, cut a couple of centimeters off the ends with EMT shears, cleaned the fittings with a kitchen scouring pad, and reassembled the hose ends. Thankfully, there was enough excess play in the hoses to allow for this. After tightening everything up and refilling the radiator and reservoir, I ran it up to operating temperature and everything seemed to be holding. Damn, I’m tired now… Continue reading ‘Midnight Leak Repair’
Passed by a place on California Avenue advertising “cat boarding”. Is that anything like “waterboarding”? Someone better tell Dick Cheney – it sounds like it would be way more effective.
(0)WTF!? I awoke to the new “Dash and Diane” format on the KHNL morning news this morning. No Kristine anymore! Kuso! That sucks. I don’t have anything to look forward to in the morning now! It’s just like going back to Vancouver last year and discovering that the Breakfast Television format has been changed and the familiar hosts are gone! Bigfoot no like!
(0)Thinking the weather was going to be bad, I didn’t bring my ride kit to work with me on Monday morning. Instead, I went home and took the Ellsworth for a spin around the neighborhood. Moments after I left work, I had the epiphany that I should have taken my ‘cross home and ridden that, but it was too late to go back. It was overcast and a tough humid on the Windward side, so even an easy ride was inspiration enough to elicit a sweat. I tried a standing climb, but my shoulder was unwilling to take the weight. When I got home, I saw a puddle under the front of the FJ80 – one of the heater hoses sprung a leak at the water pump. Krap! I have to fill out my Federal tax forms tonight, and I’ll have McBike arubaito tomorrow, so repair will have to wait until Wednesday. Wonder how the St. Louis ride went…
D = 11.39 km (7.08-miles), Vavr = 17.5 km/h (10.9-mph), Vmax = 36.2 km/h (22.5-mph), T = 39-minutes
Chris wrapped up his family vacation with a trail ride out at the Ditch with the gang. Kevyn was there when I arrived, but the parking area was rather full, so I parked up the street a bit, by the Grosser sidecut. Taro arrived and took the last normal parking space below the gate. There was some dude we didn’t know parked above the gate getting his bike prepped. As Ckucke and JT came up the street, JT saw Root and assumed everyone present was our group. He waved at Root and Kevyn, and thinking the third person was Chris, flipped him off! With shock and embarrassment, he realized it wasn’t the case. After Ckucke parked above me, JT walked down the street to apologize to the guy and explain. The guy was cool about it. Chris arrived, and with the group complete, we headed up the trail. Continue reading ‘Death in the Morning’
I thought my separated shoulder was healing nicely, then this week it started hurting again. It survived my last Japan snowboarding trip fine, but this past Saturday’s MTB Deathmarch seems to have done it in – either that it’s from watching too much Clannad…
(0)Saw a black SUV (Surrogate Urban Van) with “Lonely Girl” diecut on the rear windscreen and the vanity plate “IMNXTC”. She probably shouldn’t be doing that while driving…
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