Are You Happy Now?

Published on July 1, 2008 in bike by risu. Closed

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

Ride, Rode, Rid

Published on July 1, 2008 in bike by risu. Closed

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’

Good Riddance

Published on July 1, 2008 in rant by risu. Closed

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!

Mechanix Wear M-Pact Gloves

Published on June 30, 2008 in bike and Review by risu. Closed

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’

Let’s the Translating!

Published on June 30, 2008 in Culture and rant by risu. Closed

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.

Mango Season

Published on June 26, 2008 in bike by risu. Closed

I got home early on Wednesday, so I spun through the training loop. After being stuck late at work for a bunch of days bracketing the weekend, it was very nice to finally get out and ride. The upper section of the course is lined with mango trees, so I had to slalom through the smashed mangoes on the road and avoid the bombardment of falling mangoes from above. I could see the hint of white flowers on the albizia trees infesting the area along the H3 service road. In addition to the usual walkers and runners, there was a pair of other cyclists out riding. At the end of the ride, it wasn’t my legs that were tired, but my arms from stand climbing in the drops.

D = 21.27 km (13.2-miles), Vavr = 21.0 km/h (13.1 mph), Vmax = 38.7 km/h (24.1 mph), T = 1-hour, 1-minute

CSD Again and Again!

Published on June 26, 2008 in Food and Review by risu. Closed

Korean-Style Fried Chicken

If you’ve experienced Korean-style fried chicken, Mochiko chicken, Garlic chicken, or any of the various and sundry spin-offs of the theme, then the version they make at Cooke Street Diner will probably surprise you. The serving is predominantly meat, and the amount on skin and fat is minimal. There is enough skin represented so you get a nice crispy crunch once in a while, but it isn’t all skin like at some other places. The chicken was cooked just about right, so it was still moist and soft on the inside. A couple of the smaller pieces were on the dry side though – that counted for a half-point deduction on the rating. The sauce is moderately thick and actually has a bit of a spicy burn that comes through the sweetness. As in the past, I ordered it with brown rice and a tossed salad with a creamy dressing. $6.23 USD including tax.

Recommended

Three grinning monkeys out of four.

Continue reading ‘CSD Again and Again!’

Forgotten FTP!

Published on June 25, 2008 in rant by derek. Closed Tags: .

Dammit, since I was working on all this site re-organizasion, I completely forgot to Fight The Power and take the time to remember Mr Chin, on June 23.

Maunawili, No Bats

Published on June 24, 2008 in bike and Uncategorized by taro. Closed

Another nice weekend. Sunday afternoon Dave, Jeff, Sarah, and I meet at Waimanalo for the Ditch Trail. There’d been some spotty rains through the week, but nothing too heavy. There’s a Jeep Wangler and Ford Explorer with Speedgoat.com sticker, looks like there’s some riders in the trails. We gear up and grind up the Government road. Trail is nice. Also some fresh horse dumplings. Following the route we’ve been using lately, we pass Maunawili Ditch and head up to the loop. It’s feels nice to hit the loop when fresh. Dave rides past the mango drop-in to explore and perhaps find the source of last rides archeology finds. As the rest of us wait at the mango tree, a bunch of guys come down the Government Road. Probably the guys in the Jeep and Ford, look like maybe military guys so it fits the image. Dave’s been gone a while, Jeff comes down and drops into Mango. Aparently Dave dropped in higher up, so we take the mango drop-in and hit the loop trail.

Continue reading ‘Maunawili, No Bats’

Quality Is Job One

Published on June 24, 2008 in car and rant by risu. Closed

Da buggah stay crooked, cuzI was sitting in back of a new Jaguar XF the other day in Kalihi of all places. I immediately noticed that the shiny boot (trunk) lid was offset and skewed in the opening – to be precise, the gap between left and right was unequal, and the right side of the lid sat 3-4mm above the adjacent fender.

This vehicle definitely wouldn’t pass the ‘ball bearing test” from the 1980’s Nissan/Datsun TV commercials.

Pretty slick looking car though.  Too bad the coachbuilding workmanship is so poor.  Looks like it probably costs all the money and gets terrible fuel mileage.