Even with tropical storm Flossie approaching, the forecast called for hot, sunny days this weekend, so even though it was clouded in on Sunday morning, we chanced a ride out at Royal Summit. It was ripping hot, but there was a good breeze going, so we didn’t die immediately from the heat. We did die later from the climbs, as we were instantly reminded why we usually tackle this area as a loop from the Wailuna side – the climbs at Royal Summit suck! My complete lack of conditioning became readily apparent as I dropped off the back. Definitely have to get more secret training time in before the next trail ride. We went up to the end of the doubletrack then snaked our way back down via the siding singletrack fun runs. There was a lot of daylight, so we sessioned a couple of sections until we ran out of juice and headed back out. We mistakenly went down into the airsoft area. We’ve done that before, and it sucked as much this time around. Continue reading ‘Sucking Wind at the Summit’
After replacing the eight mangled spokes on my rear wheel on Tuesday, I went for a spin today to test out the rebuild. After some hard climbing and purposely hard landings, the wheel was still true, so I guess everything is fine. There was one inside drive-side spoke that was a little stretched that was bugging me, but since the wheel is still round, I won’t mess with it. On the way back, I accidentally found a mud bog in the park and ended up getting muddier than I have on any of the past several rides!
D = 9.32 km (5.79-miles), Vavr = 16.6 km/h (10.3-mph), Vmax = 34.6 km/h (21.5-mph), T = 33-minutes
All week we had been planning a dirt ride, but at the last moment, Chris remembered he was on the schedule for his part-time fun job on Sunday, so the ride evaporated. When he got there, what he had to do was cancelled, so the ride was back on! Luckily I had gotten my kit together on Saturday in anticipation of the ride, so when the Minuteman-like call to arms came, all I really had to do was fill my hydration reservoir and mix my endurox. Continue reading ‘Go/No Go/Go!’
Forgot to mention, last week at Marukai they had a Okinawa food thing going. Among the items was this, Shima Togarashi. Ingredients list on English label is chili pepper and sake lees. Haven’t had a chance to try it yet, dunno how close it is to the togarshi awamori.
Mister Entitlement leans back in his chair, sliding his butt down to the edge of the seat and extending his feet out at 45-degrees and splaying his elbows out to the sides as he flips the imaginary pages on his e-reader, trying to take up as much of the physician’s office waiting room as possible by himself.
“if you call for an appointment, they have a legal obligation to see you,” he grumbles to his significant other (or babysitter – couldn’t really tell which she was).
He has an appointment, so he is entitled to occupy as much territory in the office as he feels is rightfully owed him!
Pours clear orange amber, weak head that quickly dissipates. Moderate floral aroma, almost smells like hint of jasmine. Subtle roast, medium bitterness that fades but leaves a touch of astringent feel on tongue. Medium mouthfeel that despite the weak head is cut by a fairly strong lasting carbonation. An easy quaffing pleasant beer. I wonder, did this beer used to be called something else and they just rebranded?
3 out of 4 cascading monkeys.
Forgot to post, as Ckucky and I were working on the FX’s on Saturday, saw HFD go up the street. Sure enough HFD 1 came buzzing by, although at a leisurly pace. They didn’t deploy anything and instead just touched down at the top, picked someone up, then flew to the park.
Next offering from Goose Island brewery, pours a clear medium amber, small head that persists. There’s a fair amount of the hop note that is in the other two brews I’ve tried, but this one is nicely mellowed by the darker roasting. The bitter is there, but its done pretty smoothly. A medium mouthfeel. This one is a winner!
3 out 4 English style monkeys
Chris and Root were at the shop and Chris discovered a 27.5″-wheeled bike. Chris found it more agile than a 29″, and noted that he could controllably wheelie it. He and I both noted that it was short-ish, but that was more a contemporary geometry thing. It definitely didn’t have as much of a toe-overlap issue as a 29″. Root said after riding it around that if nobody told him it wasn’t a 27.5″, he would have just thought it was a 26″, and really, when you look at it next to a 29″, that’s what it looks like.
So essentially, in reaction to the negatives and limitations of 29″, they came up with something that “undoes” those, and essentially ended back where they started. Unless you just want to have something new or different, what’s the point in getting the compromise when you can get either an industry-standard 26″ or 29″?  I don’t think the 27.5″ was different enough from 26″ that you’d get any really noticable difference. Go all the way and get 29″ or stay with 26″.
So here’s what happened with the street FX. I went out & got a compression tester and a stethoscope and went about diagnosing the car. Pulled the sparkplugs, they were pretty gunky and the gap looked pretty eroded and huge. I tested the compression, #4 was a little low but within minimum spec, #3 was very good. So while the readings indicated that to be in top running condition, the engine could do with a rebuild, it was still in good running shape. So the headgasket looks to be ok. What now? Continue reading ‘Suck!’