Published on
July 18, 2010 in
bike by
risu.
The long Memorial Day weekend demanded a ride. We were all set for a Saturday outing, but then I remembered that I had something to do on Saturday, so after a flurry of emails, the ride was moved to Sunday. The weather was iffy on Friday with heavy downpours, but Saturday was clear and breezy. The good weather lasted through to Sunday, so we were set for a full Luana loop.
Almost like clockwork, Chris called before the ride and said something had gone horribly wrong at his folks’ place. Last week it was a plumbing main leak. This week it was all electricity. The main service line had gone dead sometime during the week, so the ‘fridge had gone into meltdown and released its contents as a foul liquid. Yet again he was denied a ride. Jeff’s back was tired, so he opted out of the ride, and JT was off gallivanting in Texas, so it was just Ckucke, Root, and me. Continue reading ‘Ride Denied’
Saw a white Land Cruiser 80 with crazy lift by the airport. I’ve actually seen this thing before out on the West side. I couldn’t really make out all the details since it was bouncing around like crazy, but the axle linkages and coil springs had all been removed, and leaf springs hacked in. The stock outboard shock mounting positions had been abandoned for dual inboard mounted shocks set at 45-degree angles, such that the top eyelets of the innermost shocks were almost adjacent to each other! This is of course because functionality aside, duals “look more cool”. NOT! I wouldn’t be surprised by the unnatural track if semi-floating GM axles had been swapped in instead of the stock full-floaters. Also wouldn’t be surprised if there was a carbureted GM V8 in this Frankenmobile instead of a proper, torquey Toyota sequential EFI inline. Remove the salient Land Cruiser features and hack in lame, inferior substitutions. Good job!
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I’ve had a Bencmade Model 7 Rescue Cutter for many years. I went out and purchased it and attached it to my snowboard pack shoulder strap immediately after seeing some video footage of a kid slipping out of a chairlift and ending up suspended by his helmet strap. Being able to cut out of a situation like that one handed definitely seemed like a good idea, and not getting impaled by a sharp instrument when subsequently hitting the ground seemed like an even better idea (if you’ve seen Will Smith in I Am Legend, you know what I mean). Conceivably, one could toss a conventional knife after cutting loose, but the reality of the situation is that when you’re falling after being suspended by your pack straps or helmet straps, all intentions aside, you’re more likely to unconsciously clench your fist and hold onto the knife rather than ditch it when that falling sensation kicks in. Thusly, I chose a safety cutter. The Model 7 is a great tool, but it is not cheap, so when Dave at Power Edge told me a less expensive polymer version was coming out, I was intrigued. Continue reading ‘Benchmade 9CB Strap Cutter, Carabiner’
Published on
July 15, 2010 in
bike by
risu.
The weather was overcast yesterday, but it wasn’t raining, so there was no excuse to get out and pedal around a bit. Chris called me just as I was getting the bike ready to roll, but there was still a lot of daylight left after our lengthy discussion of matters tactical. This was a good opportunity to evaluate the performance of the Conti Rubber Queens that I had just switched to. On the first outing at the Ditch, they felt slower, but this was offset by the better traction and ride. On the pavement, I could definitely feel the increase in rolling resistance from the size, weight, pattern, and compound differences between these and the Michelins they replaced. Climbing was hellaciously sluggish. At speed, they tended to want to stay in motion, but accelerating them up to speed was harder. Once at speed, there was a more noticeable gyroscopic effect in turns, where they resisted the steer into hard corners. There may also have been a little change in steering feel from the slight geometry change the larger diameter imparted, but I really doubt I can feel something that slight. They are still new with molding hairs all over, so I’ll give them more time to settle in before I make any judgments. Heck, from the computer data, they were faster than my last ride on Michelins!
D = 11.67 km (7.25-miles), Vavr = 19.5 km/h (12.1-mph), Vmax = 39.4 km/h (24.5-mph), T = 36-minutes
Published on
July 1, 2010 in
bike by
risu.
This has been a good week for riding. The weather was ugly this past Saturday, but Sunday was clear for our trail ride. Monday was raining heavily in central O’ahu, but it stayed clear on the East end for the afternoon St. Louis DH run, then Tuesday went to heck. It was nice enough on Wednesday for an afternoon ride, but Thursday morning was again socked in. Hopefully the weather will be nice over this upcoming long weekend, but we’ll see – I don’t know if our luck will hold.
When I got home on Wednesday, it was early enough for a ride, but the sky was on the heavier side of overcast, so I waffled a little. Chris encouraged me to go while talking on the keitai on the commute home, and the heat inside the house underscored the point. Better to be outside in the wind than sweltering indoors. There was some sun out at MCBH, but for the most part, except for a brief moment on the way home, the thickest cloud interposed itself between wherever I was and the sun. Figures.
D = 13.73 km (8.53-miles), Vavr = 17.5 km/h (10.9-mph), Vmax = 36.2 km/h (22.5-mph), T = 47-minutes
Published on
June 22, 2010 in
bike by
risu.
Took a secret spin yesterday since the weather was somewhat good when I got home. It was overcast, and threatened to drizzle once when I was riding in circles in an empty parking lot texting JT about his Fox fork. There was this older jogging dude that I always see, but for some reason, our timing that afternoon just didn’t work out. He was going anti-clockwise on the main loop, and I was going clockwise, taking most of the cutoffs and loops. Every time I ran into him at a T-intersection, we’d be doing the “left-right-left-right-stop” thing. It sort of didn’t make sense to me what he was expecting, since he was always going straight through, but hung tight to the left and made like he was turning into where I was coming out of and stopping until I passed, then continuing straight after I left. Whatever. After finishing up my ride and starting some laundry, I ran down to Long’s for some stuff and there he was, coming down the aisle in the opposite direction!
D = 12.92 km (8.03-miles), Vavr = 16.6 km/h (10.3-mph), Vmax = 37.3 km/h (23.2-mph), T = 47-minutes
Published on
June 13, 2010 in
Gear by
risu.
Coffee is good, and coffee is your friend. When I’m on the road, it’s nice to have some hot coffee to shake off the cobwebs and promote a general sense of well-being. To this end, I’ve been carrying around a 340ml Tiger MSG-350 stainless steel vacuum bottle that holds the equivalent of a large cup of coffee. I bought the Tiger many years ago for carrying coffee while snowboarding, just around the time when the JDM vacuum bottle manufacturers were all moving their production operations offshore, so this is one of the last Made-in-Japan mahoubin available. Current Tiger and Zojirushi bottles are from places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and The PRC. Anyway, using the top cover as a cup in the field is fine, but when coupled with vehicle drink holders, it gets tired really fast. Fishing what amounts to a big shot glass out of a hole while driving and not spilling coffee on your hands is not my idea of fun. It was high time for a dedicated cup. Continue reading ‘Snow Peak Titanium Double Wall Mug 220 Folding Handle’
Published on
June 13, 2010 in
bike by
risu.
We got a pretty good crew together for a Ditch ride on May 22nd. Although the ride was at Chris’ instigation, he called the morning before the ride to say that he had gone up to his folks’ place, and discovered a big wet spot on the side of the house where a little pinhole leak in the water main had been spraying. He would be spending the rest of the day waiting for the plumber to come and splice in a new section of copper pipe. The rest of the crew met out at the Ditch, and we did the normal climb, side loop, rode out along the Ditch, doubled back on the inner loop, then repeated the outbound leg to the end. Jeff, Sara, JT, and Danny took the trail out to the street, but Root and I took advantage of the good weather and blasted back along the trail for some additional dirt time. The weather was warm and sunny, but a fairly constant breeze kept it cool, even under the tree cover. Continue reading ‘Through the Pinhole’
Published on
June 13, 2010 in
bike by
risu.
Got out for a ride on Saturday, 24 April with Chris and Root. This was the first ride since Akron was in town. The weather had been extremely uncooperative, with sunny weeks and rainy weekends for a while, and schedules just didn’t seem to work out either. Finally we were on the dirt once again. With mixed sun and clouds, we headed up Government Road, managing the ascent to the side loop entrance with a lot less pain and suffering than expected. We were actually jaw-jacking the whole way, albeit riding in a lower gear than normal, probably. The ground was perfectly moist and grippy where it wasn’t covered with leaves through disuse. Continue reading ‘Out of the Woodwork’
Here it comes. A distinct change in the color and density of the albizia canopy indicates that they have set flower buds. Welcome to allergy season!
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