I forgot a pair of Oakley Ballistic shorts on Maui at Dr. Kenny’s. I also lost a new bottle of allergy eye drops and forgot a four-pack of Maui Brewing Coconut Porter in the fridge. I know I’ll eventually get the shorts back, but in the meantime I have to pick up another pair of something. Herein lies the bug in the plan of “packing light and washing in between rides” – forgetting the stuff that’s hanging out to dry.
Author Archive for risu
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The ferry back was much smoother than the ride out. After the initial motion leaving Kahului harbour, the ship was very smooth and there was no weirdness from the following sea. About half-an-hour out of Honolulu, the helmsman changed hte throttle position or something, and a fairly pronounced vibration and noise began – not sure if the engines weren’t running in their “sweet spot”, or maybe one was set slightly different from the other and the difference set up a harmonic vibration.
I must sat that the operation is well done, especially the ground crew that checks in passengers and vehicles, directs them to the appropriate waiting area, and guides them aboard into the the parking dock. Everyone we met up to the stairways leading to the passenger deck were courteous and professional, and most importantly, nice. Continue reading ‘Smooth Sailing’
Back aboard the Alakai at Kahului harbour bound for Honolulu. We had four good days of hot sunny weather for mountain biking on Maui. On Thursday, we went up to “Little Whistler” in the hills near Makawao. Friday was an impromptu jump session in out host Dr. Kenny’s backyard. Saturday and today was more grueling pain and suffering up in the Makawao trail network, with some jump training to wrap things up today before we headed back to pack up and head to the dock. Supposedly, the trip back is the worst one. There is a following sea, so the behavior of the ship becomes a weird wallowing yaw. Also, because it is night, there are no visual cues like the horizon. I might have ot go out on deck and keep my eyes on the coastal lights if I get nauseous. Here’s hoping for the best!
It’s nearly 07:00, and we’re aboard the Alakai bound for Kahului Harbor now. Security, check-in, and boarding were no problem. The inside is really nice, clean and comfortable – It is new, so time will tell how good it will look after a bunch of use. I thought we were supposed to be sailing by now… We were one of the first ones aboard. Since we got a big group, we have a 6-seat lounge area with a table and electrical outlets. As you can tell, the onboard wireless internet does in fact work properly, since I’m posting this real-time.
There is a bit of shaking going on, kind-of an up and down motion, like when they load baggage aboard an aircraft. It wasn’t there earlier when vehicle loading was going on, so I’m not sure what it is. Engines?
I’m going to have my $3.00 USD pastry and raspberry iced tea now.
Off to Maui tomorrow with Jeff, Sara, Ckucke, and Root for some Upcountry MTB trail riding. We’ll load up Jeff’s Taco and ride the early Super Fairy over, then catch the late one back on Sunday. With any luck, we’ll be riding all four days, so stay tuned for some interesting tales of adventure, suffering, and woe! We’ll be staying up there in Dr. Kenny’s downstairs, so the trails will be close at hand. I got all my stuff for the ride – I just have to pack it all into one gearbag tonight and head to Jeff’s by 04:00 tomorrow morning!
I had a little trouble getting the pictures in the blog entry on the gloves formatted without crashing IE yesterday, so I got home a little late. The sun was still high in the clear sky, so I went out on a spin on the Bridgestone. It was about as unbearably hot as it was on the weekend, but the humidity was low, so as long as long as I was moving, evaporative cooling kept me cool. I just wanted to get out and spin Sunday’s fatigue out of my legs in anticipation of the upcoming Maui trip. The distance and physical exertion level on the Sunday ride was on the mild side, so there wasn’t a whole lot of residual leg burn. Since Saturday night, my chest and arms were sore from a Friday workout. The discomfort was fairly acute after the ride. With some stretching, it should be fine for riding on Thursday.
D = 15.16 km (9.42-miles), Vavr = 19.4 km/h (12.1 mph), Vmax = 51.7 km/h (32.1 mph), T = 47-minutes
Sunday was amazingly hot. It was on the warm side all weekend, but a nearly cloudless sky allowed the sun to bring the air up to oven temperature by mid morning. Granted it was uncomfortable, but it sounded better to be outside in the wind than inside in a hot house. Just getting my gear together made me run with sweat.
Movement.
Outside.
The nearly vertical curtain of the Ko’olaus were sunlit from overhead – the deep folds of the pleated stone cast black with shadows. The vog was long gone, but the intensity of the sunlight still excited the molecules in the air to a thin blue haze. Ckucke and Scat were taking refuge from the sun when I pulled up. I knew there would be at least one, “and we are doing this why?†When Jeff, Sara, and Danny rolled in, I got it from everybody. Black doggy buddy started down the street to say, “hi,†but the heat turned him back. He lingered briefly in the shade of a Java plum tree halfway down the street, but dejectedly returned home, bouncing gingerly on the hot asphalt. Root called to say he was running late, so we retreated under the cover of the trees just inside the trailhead gate. Continue reading ‘Ride, Rode, Rid’
Gone?
Gone is the white Ford Ranger pickup covered in obnoxious honu and Hinano girl die-cuts parked in front of my house.
Gone.
Gone is the wafting stink of stale cigarettes at all hours.
Gone!
The Emphysema woman next door is gone!
Some time last week, she packed up her krapp and got the heck out of Dodge. Now I don’t know if she moved closer to the hack charter school in Kailua that employed her, or if she fled back to the Big Island from whence she came – frankly I don’t effin care! I just am glad that I will no longer be awakened at midnight, 02:00, and 04:00 like clockwork when she chronically went outside to light up in their side yard just outside my bedroom window! Just in time for summer too – I would hate to have to go through one more weekend with her lighting up every hour or two and have to close the windows in this heat.
Good-bye you fat chain-smoking bitch! I hope I never see you again!
Ever since the MX market embraced stadium showmanship as the new god, I haven’t been able to find a decent set of armored trail riding MX gloves. I like the extra protection the finger and knuckle pads provide, especially in this current era where bar ends are either short or nonexistent. When my old box-fingered Answer MX gloves got mangled by a chainsaw, I got a couple of pairs of Answer-made Gary Fisher gloves. Made with the same pre-bent ventilated box-finger construction, those held up for many years. The padding has long since compressed flat, and the molded armor plates have faded to a pastel version of the once bright red and yellow. I looked long and hard, and all I could find were non-armored bicycle-like lycra backed gloves. WTF?! I guess nobody rides trails anymore. Continue reading ‘Mechanix Wear M-Pact Gloves’
Huh? What?
This container has been sitting on the kitchen counter for over a week, but in the morning fog, I never noticed the label beyond the bold print. I caught the “Japanese character…†part and was getting ready to Fight the Power. What are they going to say about the character of the Japanese People? Oh… okay… wait…
Huh? What?
Attempting to rationalize the text and try to figure out what was going through the mind of the copy writer would really take away from the bizarre humor of the label. I would venture a guess that this product was originally made in the PRC to be sold in Japan. The US distributor who is probably loosely associated with the Japanese distributor probably approached the PRC factory to produce the same product for the USDM with an English label. Someone at the US distributor told the PRC manufacturer, “just put English where the kanji on the label is,†and instead of just Romanization, they got exposition.