Midaregami

This last Sunday, I rode my bike 100 miles up and down the southern and leeward coast of O’ahu. It was a blast, insofar as 3 hours of intense exertion followed by 4 of raw pain can be considered fun.

Oh, I’ll be doing it again, and soon.

Highlights:

• I had heard that there was a significant contingent of riders who fly over from Japan specifically to ride the event. I was unprepared for the spectacle of 4000 people, at least 2/3 of whom were Japanese, lining up for the ride.

• There were a lot of very nice bikes out there. Good ol’ Buster the Wonder Bike is no slouch—but once you’ve seen your third or fourth $9000 Cervélo/Kestrel/Pinarello superbike, you start regarding the $5000 Treks as mere dross.

• Speaking of Buster and of bicycles, I did a pretty solid round of maintenance on Saturday: New tires (cha-ching!), disassembled and cleaned chainrings and sprockets, cleaned and lubed chain, cleaned, greased, and tightened bottom bracket, minor wheel truing—the point is, somehow I got my bike in a state of tune I can only describe as “perfect.” It was nearly silent on the road. I had to laugh at the hyper-pricey carbon bikes with misadjusted derailleurs and creaking bottom brackets.

• Fellow messengers K. and Rob (who I don’t feel uncomfortable mentioning by name because he’s the the second-fastest messenger in the world) decided to crash the ride by going unregistered. Rob wore a ridiculous skintight time-trial suit, and K. wore an unbuttoned purple aloha shirt, skateboarding helmet, and motocross goggles, and rode his beat-up single-speed. Their buddy C. also rode a single-speed, along with a ridiculous ancient helmet and shirt and tie. What’s important to understand is that these three guys are three of the fastest riders on the island, and they dressed specifically to snub the road geeks. They passed me about 40 miles out, and they were hauling.

• Roughly 60 miles in, just past the turnaround point, I started hurting. Shortly thereafter I discovered an entirely new level of pain and suffering, but vowed not to give in. The final major climb saw lots of riders getting off and pushing; I dropped into my granny gear, but so help me, I rode up and down that hill.

• I wrote “Nihongo OK” (Japanese OK) on my jersey number, and had a couple of very pleasant conversations with out-of-town riders as a result.

• Muscle soreness on Monday was negligible, but my right knee was not amused. It voiced its complaint, loudly, every time I attempted to use stairs.

• I’m thinking of doing 70 miles or so this weekend. Just for yuks. I need a bike computer.

• Final time: about 7 hours, an hour more than I’d hoped. That’s okay. There’s always next year.

In which I discuss the different kinds of enthusiasm, or, “Why Princess Tutu is Awesome, But You Didn’t Hear It From Me.”

If you want to know why this is Episode 4 instead of 3, well… that is classified. I’m sorry.

 Hijinks Ensue Ep. 4 [2:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s episode is on the subject of singularities, and in it I disclose a number of humiliating details about my history as a fan, yet still manage to sound ineffably superior and holier-than-thou. Amazing! Stupendous!

Perhaps next time I will expand upon the concept of the media yardstick, and why us nerds can’t seem to be rational about our favorite things. Or maybe I will just shut up.

We’ll see.

 Hijinks Ensue Ep. 2 [3:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Yosano Akiko’s poetry presents an interesting challenge insofar as it is tanka, but deviates from traditionally tanka-like diction. The translator’s task when bringing Akiko into another language is, as I see it, to somehow communicate this unconventionality while retaining the essential tanka-like qualities of the poems.

Uta ni kike na
Tare no no hana ni
akaki inamu
omomuki aru kana
haru tsumi motsu ko

Ruby and I are running away together and there’s nothing you or Dad can do about it!

Dear god, what hath man wrought? I have been intending to respond to various points made at various points by the imitable hosts of the Ninja Consultants Podcast, until finally it became clear that to do so, and to remain a peer, I would need to found a show of my own.

After many abortive attempts, I have something that while not exactly interesting or even, strictly speaking, good, is not embarrassing.

In this short monologue I discuss the problem of nerd obsession, and why it’s good to Get Out and Do Stuff from time to time. I know, I am breaking ground. It’s just what I have to do.

This may be the only episode of Hijinks Ensue, but just in case, I am setting up the infrastructure for further episodes. Because it’s fun.

 Hijinks Ensue Ep. 1 [4:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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09/11   Terrorists destroy World Trade Center in New York, 2001
09/11   Anniversary of military coup in Chile
09/11   Ethiopian New Year in Ethiopia
09/11   National Holiday in Chile
Calcifer:~ pstarr$ 

We recently rewatched The Blues Brothers. I have the following observations:

1. I could never, ever argue with Aretha Franklin.
2. I would go back to church if I could get some religion from the Rev. James Brown.