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Today August 2019

Half-Fast Mike

Lanterne Rouge-et-vert
May 22, 2007
4,644
3,700
Aching a bit after yesterday's adventure in the mountains, but still managed to cycle to work. Absolutely roasting. And need to clean bike...
 
Agreed, I can't go slow enough to make it bareable. Will have to decrease commuting and maybe add early morning keep fit rides before work, plus shower and train... And it's August already!
 
today is a special day in my cycling life. day when I got rid of a pesky little grinding sound that's been haunting me for like 6 months or so. and all thanks to @thooms who perfectly diagnosed it last time we rode, just by sticking nearby on a climb and listening. let me post the symptoms here and see what people think, and I'll post the answer after tomorrow's ride around this time in the evening.

- setup: cannondale super 6 evo, rim brakes and mechanical shifting. aluminium clincher wheels, tubes. pressfit BB, both chainrings form a single piece so no bolts between them

- problem: grinding sound with every pedal stroke, but only on climbing with lots of torque. it's there in or out of the saddle, with just light touching of the handlebar (so no pulling there), when doing single leg pedaling on both legs, and with a different pedal/cleat combination as well. so nothing seems to work. take it away TCC
 
With Saturday's ride to the Hiyakuhironotaki in Okutama, I have completed 7 years (84 consecutive months) of "Century a Month". I cycled 183 km and hiked not quite two hours on a day on which temperatures staid in the 30s from the moment I stepped out the doorstep until my late afternoon hike.

Half-Fast had a ride to Tomin no Mori, but I wanted to leave earlier and thought they might catch me at or after Musashiitsukaichi. In the end I already left Tomin no Mori 20 minutes before HFC arrived.

The ride to Musashiitsukaichi was hot and uneventful. I was wearing my Half-Fast LS jersey. I soaked its sleeves in cold water on every water stop. I didn't want to risk a repeat of the sun burn of last week's Mt Fuji adventure.

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On the way up the valley from Hinohara towards Tomin no Mori I passed through the village where we had recently visited my mother-in-law's friends, but no car was parked outside the house so I didn't ring the door bell.

It had been a long time since I last climbed to Kazahari toge on the main road rather than via Kazahari rindo. This time there was far less motorcycle and sports car traffic than usual. There was no speed trap in the forest after Hinohara and I never heard an ambulance siren. Is it possible the police managed to clean up the race track?

After a short stop at Tomin no Mori for coffee and ice cream and refilling my bottles with cold water I continued on to the toge. The thermometer high above the road showed 28C while on my handlebar, much closer to the hot tarmac, I got a reading of 30C. After the toge I stopped at a parking area for some views, then continued the descent.

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I know I need some new brake pads soon. The front brakes felt wooden, the rear brakes were noisy.

At Okutama I turned up into Nippara valley. Traffic wasn't too bad. About 4 km from Okutama I passed the 川乗橋 bus stop, the entrance to the falls hike. I helped out three foreign lady hikers who had just returned from the falls and weren't sure how to get back to Okutama. They wanted to call a cab as they couldn't read the bus schedule. I didn't know any cab companies there. I checked the bus schedule and found the next bus to Okutama station wasn't due until an hour later. It would have been 4 km of walking in the heat and after the hike they said they "had nothing left in the tank". So they had no choice but to wait.

The gate was locked but bikes could easily pass it. The climb was steep but the river below was scenic. There were many groups doing canyoning. If you've never done it, give it a try. We did it in Yakushima and it was great fun, especially on a hot day. The water here was chilly though.

When I finally go to the end of the road, I locked up my bike. I only took my wallet, a water bottle, my camera and my phones with me. It said the hiking part would be 1.9 km. I recorded it with the Strava app on one of my phones. Checking it after about 10 minutes, I was surprised how little distance I seemed to have covered and thought maybe it wasn't recording properly but it was correct: It just takes much longer to cover distance on hikes than on walks on flat terrain. The hike was doable in SPD shoes but only just. Hiking boots or sneakers would definitely have been better, but I had not brought any other footwear.

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I met only a few small groups coming down as I headed up. It was clearly late in the day. There were many picturesque small falls on the way. I loved the atmosphere of the place. It reminded me both of our Jomonsugi hike in Yakushima and of Kanoto Iwa in Hinohara.

Finally I made it. I had the place to myself, so late in the day. A swim was out of question though, after I waded in to test the water temperature: It was positively on the chilly side. So I just washed off my sweat while standing the water, dried myself with my towel and put my shoes back on.

The falls were much taller than I had anticipated, truly impressive. All in a very natural state.

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I had started my hike after 110 km on the bike. The further I got to the top, the more I sympathized with the "nothing left in the tank" remark of the ladies, but the return was easier than the climb, even though it also had ups and downs. The mosquitos were vicious when I got back to the bike. I made sure I got out as quickly as possible. Returning to the gate by bike was much easier than hiking. The return to Okutama wasn't all downhill, but mostly, same for the return from Okutama to Ome.

In Ome I again had curry with garlic nan at Sherpa, the Nepalese restaurant, then a little less than 3 hours on Rt29 and along the Tamagawa to get back to Setagaya. In Fussa traffic was redirected because of omatsuri.

At home I unloaded the bike, showered and went to bed soon.

A long day in the sun! I am glad the rainy season is over. We can still ride when it's hot. I just have to go slower, rest in the shade every now and then and drink enough to make up for the sweat.
 
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On the viewpoint during the descent from Kazahari toge to Okutamako I noticed this far-away white building on a mountaintop near the lake, a little to the left of the valley where Rt411 runs towards Yamanashi:

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I searched the satellite view of Google Maps until I managed to identify it as the Tokyo Peace Pagoda:





This is not far from the T-junction of the TCC Boob turn-around point. One hiking trail up to the top of the mountain starts from next to Jinya, one of the two soba restaurants nearby. Another shorter one starts from next to Komori shrine above Rt139 to Kosuge, Matsuhime and Otsuki.
 
I had grander plans for today but life got in the way so I had to settle for my regular ride to Ogose. Stinking hot in the sun, but the forest roads were pretty cool and breezy. I got a puncture close to the top of the main climb, so decided to call it a day once I'd fixed that. Not so motivated:(

Anyone going to post any TCC rides for over the long weekend/Obon? I might be available for at least one of the days.

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Rode from Aizuwakamatsu to Fukushima today (day 5 of a 10 day tour winding my north). I've done some beautiful rides before, but I think this one might top them all. Everyone take a mental note to ride the Urabandai-Azuma Skyline before you kick the proverbial bucket! The descent from 1600+ meters to nearly sea level is... to die for! ☠

An early start time and high altitude rendered the heatwave irrelevant.
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What would be great would be if, when Andre is recovered and back in Tokyo, he would show up at a TCC or Half-Fast sponsored dinner/event and talk about this. I'm just amazed that he is doing so well and logging hundreds of kilometers a day, day after day, not to mention all the climbing.
 
yeah I'll ask him to share his experience in some way. much more probable would be some weekend ride with a sitdown lunch for it, as I don't think there's much chance of gathering people after work or on weekends etc
 
A quick visit to GS Astuto Headquarters yesterday afternoon to get my disk brakes serviced. I had last swapped pads about 5000 km ago. The front ones were getting pretty dangerous.

I threw in new rotors (SM-RT70 this time instead of SM-RT81 that I had used before) because my habit of swapping pads too late has been harsh on them again (penny wise, pound foolish, I know).

The ride to Kawasaki on Rt3 / Setagaya dori just after lunch time was sizzling hot. Not just the heat off the sun-baked asphalt, but also all the car engines and car air conditioners in the slow moving traffic. The ride back was much more comfortable: less traffic and some clouds to keep the sun off.
 
I got back to Japan recently after a month in Virginia & Indiana.
I left when the rain was getting old and now that I am back, the heat is nice.... yes, I did commute yesterday with Jetlag so I could look and feel my best at the office...

But back to Virginia...
This picture was taken about a decade ago...
Image may contain: Michael Miller, Carrie Law Miller and Jimmy Miller, people smiling, people riding bicycles, bicycle, outdoor and nature


And this picture was a couple weeks ago.
Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, riding a bicycle, tree, bicycle, outdoor and nature


My buddy Jimmy and his wife. We used to ride together monthly before I moved to Japan. We managed a weekend of camping and riding while my wife and kids were staying with the grandparents. What you can't tell from the picture is there are 2 prosthetic hips, some metal bits here and there, several others surgeries, career changes, 1 business started and another business bought, etc...

Then there is Carrie... ten years later, she is still the same. :D
One of the bonuses riding with her - she is an Emergency Room nurse.
 
What would be great would be if, when Andre is recovered and back in Tokyo, he would show up at a TCC or Half-Fast sponsored dinner/event and talk about this. I'm just amazed that he is doing so well and logging hundreds of kilometers a day, day after day, not to mention all the climbing.
I second this request. He has been staggeringly good! Bloody hell, what a beast!
 
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