Half-Fast Mike
Lanterne Rouge-et-vert
- May 22, 2007
- 4,644
- 3,700
I mean, it's still off-road. Just more extreme than it was previously.this was the closest off-road segment from my house
@bloaker says 'send it'
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I mean, it's still off-road. Just more extreme than it was previously.this was the closest off-road segment from my house
I'm in the market for a ti bike and made the mistake of going to the Sage page after seeing this delightful creature. I suspect I will continue to be in the market for a ti bike for a considerably longer time than I had initially thought!Working on getting this bike shipped from the US...
Mine will be GRX 810 vs the SRAM pictured.
My Sage will become my road bike and this will take over gravel duty.
The Why R+ can take a 27.5x2.1 or 700x50 - so there is the ability to handle a much more aggressive off road setup than my Sage.
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This one is a "Why Cycles" brand. The one I have been posting here and on FB/Strava is my Sage.I'm in the market for a ti bike and made the mistake of going to the Sage page after seeing this delightful creature. I suspect I will continue to be in the market for a ti bike for a considerably longer time than I had initially thought!
I have always loved your dedication Joe. I tried for a while but couldn't maintain it, but I would like to reset this as a goal for myself.Another months of cycling adventures.
I didn't ride today, except for some shopping. I bought a small digital thermometer cum hygrometer to check the temperature readouts at home and of my cycling GPS. 35 deg C is nuts.
I'm looking forward to my first Century ride this month, which will complete 10 consecutive years of "Century a Month". I would like to go back to Chichibu, haven't been there for a while.
That is an epic ride Joe. Thanks for sharing.View attachment 36193
In August 2012 I visited Taiwan with my family. It was a great trip and I would like to back there, but between that trip and some typhoon I didn't do any long rides that month, which I had started doing in March of 2012. I resumed Century rides in September 2012 and kept it up ever since. Last Saturday I did another ride of 163 km (on Strava), completing 120 consecutive months (10 years).
I chose to go to Chichibu, one of my favourite places to ride. That's despite it being a bit hard to get to, but that's probably part of why it's so special as the remoteness has preserved its rural "lost in time" character.
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I began with a late start, getting out of bed only at 06:30. Three hours later I unloaded my bike from the car at Ogawamachi Michi-no-Eki for the ride to Chichibu.
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Near Nagatoro I cleared one Veloviewer tile and saw a paraglider.
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The clockwise Mitsumine loop climbs above 1,200 m and it was an overcast day so I knew I wouldn't get too hot.The top of Mt Buko next to Chichibu city was covered in clouds and I could see mist rising from the forest elsewhere.
I didn't bring any rain gear as I wasn't expecting more than drizzle and that was a good bet.
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After turning off the main road I climbed the Ochigawa rindo which was closed to traffic beyond the fishing center. I passed about four barriers. Some short sections of the rindo were under reconstruction with exposed gravel surfaces and in other places there was debris from rock slides but everything was perfectly rideable.
With all the recent heavy rain the streams and waterfalls were beautiful.
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The lower part of the climb is steep, mostly around 8 percent (in the 6-12 percent range) but there is so much too see that as long as you pace yourself and have good gearing it never feels too hard. Higher up it becomes less steep. There you either get to enjoy views because of the elevation or because it becomes very atmospheric as you're riding in clouds (i.e. fog and drizzle).
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I met several deer that were not shy at all. One was just standing there looking at me from 5 m away, not scared at all. I was beautiful to watch its graceful moves as it finally got out of the way, lightfooted like a ballet dancer.
The two tunnels at the top were very dark.
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Once I got up to 900 m it felt chilly with the lower temperature and drizzle. I could see beads of water collecting on the hair of my exposed wrists as I cycled through the fog.
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I was glad when I had passed the second tunnel and the descent to Mitsumine shrine started as it got a bit warmer again. I had to descend slowly because of the sharp-edged debris on the road.
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The long descent on the main road back to Chichibu was fun.
I stopped for dinner at Chichibu de Tandooru (ちちぶdeタンドール) before cycling the last 50 km back to the car in the dark.
How long will I continue "Century A Month" after 10 years? I have no intention to stop but I also feel no pressure.
I think it's a good incentive to maintain at least a minimal level of fitness and never get too lazy. What I enjoy most about it are the views though.
Slow and steady is the way to go.Goal is at least 91kg, 89kg would be better. Slow and steady, as dropping calories & weight too fast was really tiring.
I need a fit. Don't have money for a fit. My neck hurts but my legs feel so much better then my old bike. I think I might need to rotate the bars up a little to make the levers a tad easier to reach when riding the hoods.
So this was my first plan. How expensive are stems? I'm pretty cash poor at the moment getting back on my feet after the surgery and unexpected taxes, so I'm going to try and keep things cheap and then in a month or so if I'm having issues find somewhere to get a proper fit.When I got my second bike I just copied my fit from the first bike, i.e. same seat height, same reach, same seat to bar drop, etc. On the first bike I had simply experimented until I felt comfortable on my kind of rides. When I did a professional bike fit on the second bike it basically just confirmed that I already had it dialed in.
If you neck hurts, it can indicate your upper body is so low your neck has to be quite angled to keep looking ahead. Same if you get sore arms and shoulders.
Professional racers don't spend so much time looking ahead and more looking down to minimize drag, which is why they don't have that neck issue. They also have stronger legs putting down more torque onto the pedals, which means the arms carry less weight, hence no issues with arms and shoulders despite low handlebars.
The bottom line is, if you're not a professional bike racer, don't copy their seat to bar drop because your requirements are different.
I find for long distance rides and touring, keeping the seat and bars more or less level works well.
If your steerer is so short you can't raise the bars with spacers, there are angled stems that raise the bar relative to the steering tube. You can also rotate the bars up to raise the tops, but that may cause you to stretch out more in the drops or for the bars interfere with the wrists in that position. So I would recommend trying different stems.
A few stupid questions, and don't take offense if I'm asking the equivalent of "Have you switched it off and on again?"I need a fit. Don't have money for a fit. My neck hurts but my legs feel so much better then my old bike. I think I might need to rotate the bars up a little to make the levers a tad easier to reach when riding the hoods. But I also have no idea what I'm dooooing.
Not very, and people on the forums might have a few lying around. I think I might have one, but of course this only makes sense once you know what length of stem you need.How expensive are stems?