…figured it out… April 25, 2008
Posted by Chief in Bicycle, Biking, Equipment, Hawaii, Information, Rides.Tags: bike, life, tire
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Well, in my review of the Specialized Borough tires, I talked about a small bulge on one tire. It was the back tire. Nearly a year later, I have finally figured out what the bulge was. First I’ll tell you what it wasn’t…
It wasn’t a bulge deformity from the tire being stored all folded up.
It wasn’t an out of true tire, rotating oddly.
It wasn’t a thick or thin section of tire which bulged abnormally.
Nope, it was none of those. It was tread separation. The tire has slowly been coming apart. The bulge got bigger and bigger over the last year until I couldn’t stand it rubbing on my chainstay any longer. I finally flipped the bike over (again), but to look specifically at the tire tread. Sure enough, I found a two foot section that was coming apart.
So, defective tire? Is this normal? I don’t know. What I do know is that it is Friday, and on Sunday morning I need to be up in Haleiwa to ride 100km around the North side of the island in the Haleiwa Metric Century.
What to do? I’ll have to update my review. Regardless of this issue, I have loved these tires. They have served me well even with this little issue.
…do this one thing today… April 25, 2008
Posted by Chief in Information.Tags: Windows, XP
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Go to this InfoWorld site, and sign the petition to “Save Windows XP”.
http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/archives/2008/04/save_windows_xp.html
…biking can be tough… April 16, 2008
Posted by Chief in Bicycle, Biking, Culture, Hawaii, Information, Rides, Touring, Travel.Tags: Health, life, News, personal, Sports, thoughts, Travel
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Biking in Hawaii? Not so rough.
If you ever want a “perspective-check” to help you realize that whatever conditions and distances you are biking are really not so insurmountable, just Google the name Kathi Hirzinger-Merchant.
She managed a 25 and a half day ride on her fat-tired mountain bike over more than 1000 miles of remote, winter filled, uninhabited Alaskan wilderness.
From a Craig Medred article:
Having already driven a snowmobile from Knik to Nome, she decided this year she had to go by mountain bike, so she dragooned Bill into riding once again. Off they went.
It was not easy.
Here is a bit of what race director Dan McDonough posted to the race Web site:
On their approach to Nome, Bill and Kathi faced “immense winds and cold temperatures. At one point, when they were protected from the constant wind, Kathi looked at the temperature and saw minus 30 degrees … Bill described pushing the bikes at a 45 degree angle to prevent the wind from blowing the bikes away.
“After 25 and a half days Bill was looking forward to having a beer upon his arrival. Instead, when they arrived at 2:58 a.m. they were greeted by one woman on the street who was heading to work.
The only place open for food or drink was a coke machine.
“They celebrated with dehydrated food in Styrofoam coffee cups.”
You can read the full story here: http://www.adn.com/outdoors/story/374243.html
No matter how wet and rainy and/or windy it is here, I just have to remember that I’m biking in Hawaii. It only gets so cold (sometimes in the mid 60’s), and I can only go so far (my trip around the island was less than 160 miles). I won’t starve. I won’t get eaten by a bear.
So, next time you hear me crying about a ride on my blog, remind me that others do more…
…support bike friendly upgrades… April 14, 2008
Posted by Chief in Bicycle, Biking, Culture, Hawaii, Information, Rides, Touring, Travel, build.Tags: change, life, Politics
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More on the Haleiwa Metric Century…
This is a great ride, a beautiful ride. There are hundreds of bicyclists doing this ride. This puts a lot of us on the road at the same time. Driver awareness for bicyclists will be higher than normal, due to the sheer numbers of us.
Riding a bike along this same route is not as safe the rest of the year. In fact, it is one of the more dangerous roads – with no bike paths, high numbers of tourist traffic, narrow roads, angry locals who do not want to share the road.
If you want to be a part of changing this, then add your name to the growing list of people who want the City and County of Honolulu to take immediate action and begin improving conditions along the North Shore, for a bicycle friendly route.
Email “Bicycle Mom” aka the-green-one@hawaii.rr.com with your name and title (parent, teacher, engineer, lawyer, etc). Please include whether you are a bicycle commuter, or a recreational rider.
Read more in the draft proposal she is submitting:
http://www.box.net/shared/jq9naxf28s
You can also download it from the box.net widget on the right side of this blog.
*** Update from “Bicycle Mom” ***
- 29 Neighborhood Boards supported the bicycle safety resolution
- Honolulu City Council and OMPO also adopted the resolution
- The Big Island is currently working on its resolution, and I would like to see Kauai and Maui also adopt resolutions by the end of the year
- A bill to revise the state traffic code will be introduced at the beginning of the next legislative session.
…warming up… April 14, 2008
Posted by Chief in Bicycle, Biking, Culture, Hawaii, Information, Rides, Travel.Tags: bike, life, ride, vacation
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So, I did a little Metric Century Warmup ride with a friend yesterday. Pretty fun. Started at Starbucks for some coffee and gas (scone), then did a 25 mile, 2 hour, ride which included sprints on Ford Island and hill climbs around the Salt Lake area.
Yeah, my legs are toast.
The cool thing about the Haleiwa Metric Century is that it is such a flat ride. Hardly any altitude change at all. There is the one bump by Waialua, but nearly everything else is flat – and soooo beautiful! If you haven’t ridden an organized ride in Hawaii, you really should make this your first.
…2008 Haleiwa Metric Century… April 7, 2008
Posted by Chief in Bicycle, Biking, Culture, Hawaii, Rides, Touring, Travel, commute.1 comment so far
If you haven’t already registered, you are running out of time! Packet pickup will be on April 19th. See www.hbl.org for more information.
The Haleiwa Metric Century is a 100km bike ride starting in, you guessed it, Haleiwa. We’ll ride East up and around the North side of the island, all the way down to around Swanzy Beach State Park, then back. It’ll be a great time. Last year, there were over 900 riders.
You can register here: http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?CHECKSSO=0&EVENT_ID=1558136
If you are not up for a 100k yet, then try it out with one of the shorter distances. This is a great family ride with lots of well outfitted rest stops, so you should give it a try.
As far as my mileage update for the year, I’m up to over 340 miles since Jan 1st. Not too bad, but it could definitely be better. With the Metric Century at the end of the month, my mileage will jump quite a bit.
