Published on October 2, 2014 in bike by risu. Closed
Wednesday, 01 October 2014
I made it home in good time, and the weather was surprisingly nice considering the random heavy squalls falling island wide. I went out for a quick spin, but even with my prompt start, the daylight didn’t last long, sending me homeward bound early. I guess it’s getting to that time of year, even though the midday heat still feels like midsummer. I knew it was too dark when I had difficulty spotting the landing off my regular jump.
D = 8.55 km, Vavr = 14.6 km/h, Vmax = 37.2 km/h, T = 35-minutes, A/D = 129 m
Published on September 29, 2014 in bike and Culture by risu. Closed
Monday, 29 September 2014
Even with the dire forecast of thunderstorms and a flash flood alert in effect, it was dry enough to take a spin when I got home. The weather was a little to good to be true, for as soon as I got to the farthest end of my normal loop, I felt the raindrops start. The drizzling was very localized, so I stuck it out until it subsided then hit the little booter a couple of times. As the sun fell behind the hills and darkness gathered, I sprinted home through wet grass under peach hued skies before the Largo of Dvorak’s Symphony Number 9 could end.
D = 9.51 km, Vavr = 15.4 km/h, Vmax = 42.6 km/h, T = 37-minutes, A/D = 146 m
Published on September 25, 2014 in bike and rant by risu. Closed
Drat. That’s two ride opportunities missed this week. Monday was lizard tales with the neighbor and Filter Queen filter cone change, and Wednesday just was dark and doomy after I got off the phone with Chris. The weather is supposed to deteriorate toward the weekend, so Friday will probably be a wash too. Should have really gone on Sunday no matter how ill I felt or how awful the heat.
Published on September 20, 2014 in car by taro. Closed
Photo credit to Dan "kombi"
Last week Saturday as a end to a great four year run of rallycross, we had a party at The Groove, a kart track that recently opened up in Kakaako. Unlike the other track out in Kapolei, these are gas karts. You could argue that like krab, karts are not like real race cars, but I think you would be wrong. These things are great fun and when you get up to speed, it does feel pretty real! And since all the karts are so similar, you get to see how much a difference a good driver and technique makes. I tended to be tail happy and slide a lot of the turns and it showed in my times. My times were decent, but at least a full second slower than the top drivers, over a 20 second lap. Small mistakes in your line show up in your time.
Oh, and driving these things will give your arms and shoulders a workout. Non power, very quick steering means some muscle needed to hold these things in line. And if you’re skinny like me, get those butt gasket seat pad things. I didn’t know about them until my last run, without them I was swimming around in the seats no matter how tight you made the belts. Got bruises on the inside of my knees to show for that!
OK, tubeless technology does not mean dentless. On last Tuesday’s St. Louis DH ride on the road back to Ckuky the rear started swimming around. Yes, the tire was going flat. Hand pump got it enough to get back to his house. Last night I took the tire off for a more detailed inspection. Looks like I smacked a rear hard enough to dent the rim, on one side, and cause it to leak. Proceeded to pry and pound it until it was a little better and with more sealant it’s holding air.
Aloha, SNM fans. Self-invited guest blogger “Toki-doki†here (aptly dubbed, if I may say so myself) to offer explanation, reflection, and atonement for the weird but thankfully brief disturbance I inflicted on the Whistler biketrip guys last week. Not sure which category this falls into, I think it’s mostly “rant†obliquely related to “culture†and “travelâ€, but more likely it’ll make the reader want to “SUARâ€. If you had “roastâ€, as in celebrity roast, this would sit squarely in that category since Root gets raked pretty good over the coals (or rolled into the imu, if we’re going for regional flavor). And while it’s definitely not food review, I submit the accompanying pink drink photo (more about it later) to counterbalance all the beer-and-gear weighing down this site – nah, actually I don’t have a visual aid for this story, but I figured we owe a tribute to the WAG/SOs [wives and girlfriends/significant others] who steadfastly keep calm and carry on through whatevah, and who will hopefully find this parable entertaining as well. Continue reading ‘TR Phone Home’
I’m sure my doctor would not be happy if he found out I went sliding down a rooted, rocky trail on my bike in the rain and slammed my just-healed knee into a tree in the bad direction. That turned the last third of Business Time into one-legged parkour with a bike, but the cold weather kept the pain and swelling down so I was able to ride back to Whistler village.
Published on August 29, 2014 in bike and Travel by taro. Closed
We’ve been hearing from people that the riding in Squamish is great, some even saying it’s better than Whistler. Squamish is about 40 minutes south by car so after test fitting (cramming) all the bikes in the Suburban after our Thursday ride, we decided to check it out today. The weather is overcast, cooler, and drizzling. Continue reading ‘Getting Squamish’
Our Top Of The World ride turned into an epic super technical singletrack downhill death march. Imagine doing St. Louis World Cup Downhill for 5 hours. I exaggerate, a little. The start of TOTW trail was rocky and dusty much like lower St Louis. It mellowed out and we found the turnoff to Kyber pass. Continue reading ‘khyber death march’
it seems like chainring spacers are some kind of mystical vintage part. I've asked at almost every shop in whistler with a service department. Quite a few didn't even know what it was and couldn't comprehend what I wanted to do. Finally found some at Fanatyk Co but only ancient crusty mechanics know about these and they have poor eyesight or something. I asked for 3mm and he even used a ruler, he scrounged up 4mms.
