The 17-year-old shocks in the FJ80 were long overdue for replacement, but something got it in my head to replace them this past Saturday – maybe it was the swervy, edge-of-the-envelope, Caddy-like ride.  Went by Car Quest and got the appropriate KYB (Kayaba) units on Friday.  At one time I was considering upgrading to something like Edelbrock IAS’s, but since the FJ80 may be retired soon, I just went with the direct OEM replacement. Continue reading ‘Gasdruck stossdampfer’
Author Archive for risu
Page 93 of 95
Went to the McBike bike department bonus dinner last night at the Shogun Restaurant at the Pacific Beach Hotel. Buffet style. Main line was quite pedestrain, with the exception for the presence of goya champuru and shoyu pork. The champuru was looking a little grey, so it didn’t make it onto my plate. The little pitchers that held the soba tsuyu were empty, so my soba sucked even more. There was crab… the smooth one… is that Snow crab? Not the pokey Alaska King crab… Sushi selection was fairly good and quality was not unacceptable. Didn’t try the prime rib or tempura. Continue reading ‘What the hell is this cr@p?’
Yesterday (27 June 2007) at 07:53, Chris and Tanya Halsall became the proud parents of a baby boy. <5lbs. More details as they become available. Â
While out for a spin yesterday, I discovered that other than gashing one knee and bruising the other, I also tweaked my rear wheel in the crash on “That ride“. It’s got a good wave in it – about 4mm left and 6mm right. Hopefully I can get that straightened out… I was going to do it today, but I forgot the bike at home.
While taking a break after some mild climbs, I noticed my left shoe would rock over to the outside if I toed-down while in the saddle. Getting off the bike revealed that the outer spike had come unscrewed at some point along “That ride” and fell out. Must have been toward the end, since there isn’t any dirt inside the threaded hole. On cursory inspection, the threads appeared to be undamaged, so the spike didn’t yank out or get torqued out. Stopped by Sports Authority today to see if they had some alternative to the Sidi spikes, but the football cleats they had were too large in diameter.
6.65-miles, 38-minutes, Vavr = 10.4 mph
Jarrel brought in a set of Shimano PD-M970’s XTR pedals for me two weeks ago. Put them on last week. Tested them out on “That ride“. They are pretty. They work great. They’re the same as the PD-M959’s that they replace, except for the color, the label, and about 20-grams. Mud will be no problem with these, like their predecessors. The 959’s will move over to the cyclocross bike, and I’ll finally ditch the first generation SPD’s that are on there now.
About $160
10 out of 10
Ugh.
Well, it is possible – Chris and I proved it. We followed the trail that Jeff and I saw last time that leads from the fenceline on the third ridge. After cresting a small knoll, the trail gently ascended a wide ferny ridgetop between two ravines. The course was very evident ahead, and the trail was wide and clear here. Climbing the first hill as a contour along the left, the ferns began closing in. The initial euphoria and giddyness of finding new territory slowly eroded as the trail narrowed, but was bouyed when the trail became clear again. Continue reading ‘“That ride”: Wailuna mystery hills to Waimano’
Tried CytoSport’s “Fast Twitch” suppliment on Wednesday. Hard to tell if it really did anything, since I’ve been off training for a spell, but I seemed to be able to maintain a more consistent speed on the uphill sprints on my training loop with little to no burn and less oxygen debt. The single-use packet I had was “Go Grape” and was more powdery than Cytomax, which is more crystalline. Flavor was unpleasant compared to Cytomax, with a more chemically/artificial sweetener taste.
 8.28-miles, 45-minutes, Vavr = 10.9-mph
Went out for a brief pedal on Wednesday after work to get everything moving after having sat around all Kamehameha Day weekend drawing for Showcase 2007. Didn’t really feel like ripping or burning, so just took it easy. The brakes are now dialed. Scotchbrited the glaze and contamination from the rotors and purged all the factory fluid with Valvoline synthetic last Thursday and muddled with the centering and adjustment on Friday. Saturday’s ride honed everything in and now they’re set.
 6.81-miles, 38-minutes, Vavr = 10.6 mph
It was cooler than last Saturday, with overcast skies and a threat of rain, but still hot. There was a breeze to keep things cool, but it was also a headwind to fight at times. Chris was busy and Root didn’t respond to any of the ride mail during the week, so I thought it was going to be just Jeff, Sara, and myself again. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw that Paul and Danny were going to join us again! There was a brief discussion on the ride course, and we decided on the mystery hills since there was less climbing than the regular loop. Continue reading ’09 June 2007 Wailuna mystery hills’
Saturday was sunny and unbearably hot all over Oahu, except for Pearl City, which was cloudy and unbearably hot… Root and Chris were on the side due to car and baby issues (respectively), so Jeff, Sara, and I rode up to where Root and I had seen the little side trail a few weeks ago. Descending steeply, the trail turned right and went from the open grass to beneath tree cover. With a slight downward grade, it countoured the hillside, passing scratchy ferns and strawberry guava. A little ways in, the trail dropped down onto an old graded doubletrack. It was overgrown and had been continually disturbed by the piggies, so it was pretty uneven. It seemed to go both back uphill toward the houses, or ahead and down. We followed the doubletrack in and it narrowed to singletrack width with all the overgrowth. It was not unlike Bowling Pin at Mililani. Quickly, we reached a clearing at the valley bottom. The way ahead was open but without an obvious, worn path. There was, however, a very obvious swithcback to the left backtracking up out of the valley along the opposite wall. This path gently ascended to a grassy clearing, where the trail turned right around a head into the next little valley. The trail rose briefly, then descended to the valley bottom. There were some loose, pebbley sections and a lot of deadfall along the descent, but the course was wide and evident. Continue reading ’02 June 2007 Wailuna mystery hills ride’