Archive for the 'bike' Category

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Whistler arrival

OvernightEd at Seattle, breakfast Dos XX and complimentary hotel chocolate cookie. Drive north, hit Belingham REI, Fanatik. Border crossing took about an hour. bypassed downtown Vancouver, encountered some traffic on Hwy 1. Stop at Squamish and Tantalus bike shop.

arrive whistler and get to condo. The van is a tight fit outside. The condo is pimp. Rare case where the stated 8 person capacity is understated. If you were cramming it could easily fit 5 upstairs where each person would have a bed, sofa or cushion. Downstairs could fit 6 on beds. if you got into floor space there’s more! And no mice so far.

Dinner was Peak pie. Winding down with a Sleeman honey brown lager, kinda bland beer.

Labor Day trip

the summer bike trip begins. The Hawaiian air flight to Seattle uneventful. they still do a complimentary meal. Nothing to write about, but the steamed beans were surprisingly not a mushy bunch of green tubes.

gotta travel whith Ckucky, he scored his bike free, he scored a Ford Transit 12 passenger van, the hotel room is right by the elevator.

only drama so far has been Vince’s one day passport renewal. Time for a good morning beer and choco chip cookie!

Bike riding?

So if anyone still visits this site, you must be wondering, are the guys doing anything aside from drinking beer? Yes, under the guise of bike riding, eating waffles and gelato! Honestly, we wanted to ride, but in our age we like to think we’ve gained some wisdom and will call off a ride if it rains. And yes, despite this picture, it was raining at Sunset Hills.

Anyway, the waffle was great and so was the gelato. Tip, if you order pancakes or the waffle and think you want some gelato for dessert, get the $1 upcharge scoop of gelato served on it. Otherwise you’ll end up paying $4, I guess $3 for the cup, spoon, and service?

Oh yes, it will induce sugar crash. It was reported that all three of us when we got home passed out and slept for a good part of the rest of the afternoon!

Grinch

Dang it, weather had been good through the week, with nice cool temps. The Friday it clouded in with occasional passing showers. It wasn’t enough for us to call off a ride, so Dave and I headed out to Sunset Hills. In Kaneohe it was overcast but not actively raining, not a surprise there. It wasn’t exactly positive, but we loaded up and headed out anyway. The drive out was likewise not entirely positive, but not bad enough to give up. It was relatively clear in spots, although when we got closer to central Oahu we could see the Waianae range socked in with dark clouds. As we got through Wahiawa and heading down toward Haleiwa we could see more dark clouds and rain in the distance exactly where we wanted to go. Curses! The nearer we got, the worse the rain got. We are not riding today. We came all this way so we drove to the parking area anyway, and this is what it looked like. There actually was a fair number of vehicles already here, so there were people in the trails. But Dave and I had no desire to slog about in the high clay content mud here and ignore the signs posted admonishing against using the trails when muddy.

Continue reading ‘Grinch’

The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain…

The rain in Tantalus falls only on Chris and Root. I think Chris is of the opinion the whenever only he and I ride together, it will rain.  I think he may be more right than wrong, but if it’s not 100% then its not a fact. I hadn’t ridden for a week and the weather has been pretty clear, and today was even more so. As work was finishing, I stepped outside to take a look. Beautiful blue skies over town, toward Manoa it was gray and looked like some sprinkles. I called Chris and we decided to get out and go.

Continue reading ‘The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain…’

Darkness Falls

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

Goin’ Home

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

Darned Mice

The mouse got Vince!

I Can’t Even Look at You Anymore

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.

Tubeless, not dentless

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.