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Today Dec 2018

luka

Maximum Pace
Jan 13, 2015
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Wow, it's December already. Time flies (probably on a time trial bike?)... Got this little ride for tomorrow if anyone's interested. A bit on the chilly side compared to recent days, probably mild headwind, but should be fun. Before you know it, another year has gone by!
 
My ride started before most woke up...
Arrived with my coffee canister and enjoyed the early morning silence.

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Went up to Sekiyado yesterday and today.Have to get a few miles in before the brutal cold,dry northern winds kick in proper.Great colours all along the river and on the ride back along the Nakagawa.
I'm still amazed at the quantity of oranges and persimmon that are left to rot on the trees.
'Motenai' at its worst!
 
I try to snap couple of persimmons now and then when I can, but it's usually too messy to eat on the ride as they get really soft. Had big turnout of around 15 people today, but with bail outs along the way we were soon down to a dirty dozen. Still, nice to stretch the old legs a bit and catch up with old friends and meet new people. Thanks for coming out everyone. As @Forsbrook says, the colors are lovely right now - bright yellows, rusty oranges, earth browns, matte reds/ burgundies... Then all the jerseys hahaha. Looking forward to much more of this in 2019 and beyond! Part of our group here:

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I try to snap couple of persimmons now and then when I can, but it's usually too messy to eat on the ride as they get really soft. Had big turnout of around 15 people today, but with bail outs along the way we were soon down to a dirty dozen. Still, nice to stretch the old legs a bit and catch up with old friends and meet new people. Thanks for coming out everyone. As @Forsbrook says, the colors are lovely right now - bright yellows, rusty oranges, earth browns, matte reds/ burgundies... Then all the jerseys hahaha. Looking forward to much more of this in 2019 and beyond! Part of our group here:

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Great turnout.I hope you had a great ride.To be honest,I was expecting a lot riders along the Edogawa but there weren't so many considering the relatively mild weather.Did see one other gaijin and I think he is a member of TCC though,think he lives in Ishikawa but can't recall his name.
 
I was expecting a lot riders along the Edogawa
Edogawa is a long favorit of mine for winter flat rides, esp the left bank (as you face up North) as it's wider and with less people and obstacles (road traffic etc). Hope we can ride some time together over there. The only person that comes to mind from that general Chiba area is @Musashi13 ? Because I recon you mean Ichikawa and not Ishikawa...
 
I swapped my rear Shimano rotor last night, after more than a year of riding. It was down to about 1.2 mm, less than Shimano's 1.5 mm minimum. It looked to me like the outside aluminium layers of the Al-Fe-Al sandwich construction had partially worn through already!

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I planned to join up with luka's ride today but I had some bits and pieces going on this morning and couldn't get out in time. However, I had the afternoon free as my wife and daughter had a Mama Tomo thing so no Family Service for me today😂 I took myself off to Hanno (via Moroyama as usual it seems) and did five climbs in the end. The last one sort of wiped me out as I forgot to bring any food with me out on the ride. Total distance about 93km and total elevation about 1,800m (maybe).

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@joewein
What happened?!? I have ridden my MTB fully with essentially the same rotors (XTR ice tech rotors), and mine look like they are in a much, much better shape after over 6.5 years and thousands of kilometers. Did you clean brake pads and rotors regularly? Did you frequently ride through mud (which acts as an abrasive and can rapidly increase wear)?
 
I planned to join up with luka's ride today but I had some bits and pieces going on this morning and couldn't get out in time. However, I had the afternoon free as my wife and daughter had a Mama Tomo thing so no Family Service for me today😂 I took myself off to Hanno (via Moroyama as usual it seems) and did five climbs in the end. The last one sort of wiped me out as I forgot to bring any food with me out on the ride. Total distance about 93km and total elevation about 1,800m (maybe).

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Looks like it was a lovely ride, even if it did end with you worn out.
 
Edogawa is a long favorit of mine for winter flat rides, esp the left bank (as you face up North) as it's wider and with less people and obstacles (road traffic etc). Hope we can ride some time together over there. The only person that comes to mind from that general Chiba area is @Musashi13 ? Because I recon you mean Ichikawa and not Ishikawa...
You are right.I meant Ichikawa,damn spellchecker.
 
@luka and @OreoCookie: I ride about 8,000 km a year with 90,000+ m of elevation gain, mostly on the Elephant. So far I have put about 20,000 km on this bike. The rear rotor lasted for 15 months and 9500 km (Sep 2017-Nov 2018), all with Shimano resin pads (on the second set now).
 
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That really sounds weird to me. I put on >5,000 km on a bike with disc brakes (formerly owned by @Karl who, judging by the condition of the rear tire when I got it, also put several thousand kilometers on it). My rotors (which are the way uglier, cheaper, non-Ice Tech ones from Shinamo) are in tip top shape. I have had to change the pads twice so far. Are you sure you are changing the pads often enough? Perhaps you wait for too long to change the pads and the metal spring causes abrasions and accelerated wear.

Just so that I understand this correctly: did you change the rear rotor first? If you did, either you distribute your braking force completely wrongly (i. e. you mostly use the rear brake) — which I find extremely hard to believe given that you are an avid and experienced cyclist. So I suspect something else funny is going on. That level of wear is not normal. Even if you and your bike are "heavier than average", I would not expect this level of wear.

Three questions:
(1) How often do you clean your brake pads and discs (with brake cleaner or isopropyl alcohol)?
(2) Do you ride much off road, particularly through mud and grime?
(3) Have you changed your brake pads before they were worn out?
 
@OreoCookie,
The last rotor change was in early September 2017 at the rear and (I think) August 2017 at the front. The front still has 1.6 mm left, 0.1 mm before Shimano's end of life value.
(1) I never clean my brake pads and my discs only if they squeak, which they don't normally do
(2) I never ride off-road or through mud. Almost all my distance is on surfaced roads with just a tiny bit of gravel roads. Sometimes I ride in the rain, but not often. Most of my rainy distance this year was in a single ride, when I aborted a 300 km brevet this spring because of torrential rain, riding maybe 200 km in bad rain.
(3) I last changed my brake pads (front and rear) in early May when they were already completely worn out. Before that pad change I actually did have some issues with my front brake and consequently used the rear more than would be normal. Since the pad change both brakes had been working well and I used them both. So maybe that was a factor.
 
The wear you experience is abnormal. Brake pads are sacrificial parts that are much softer than rotors. That is so that the wear is primarily limited to your brake pads while your rotors stay in good shape. Given of what you tell me, it seems that you don't clean your brake pads often enough and you don't replace your brake pads fast enough. Rain itself should not lead to increased wear.

However, brake pads are porous and can accumulate grime, small particles such as grains of sand and oil from the road. These can lead to accelerated wear, because stones are much harder than the brake pads or the metal, and can lead to abrasions. Similarly, if you wait for too long to replace your brake pads, the metal brace which pushes your brake pads apart can easily scour the surface of the rotors. Another case of pennywise smart (just eek a little more life out of these pads) and poundwise foolish (rotors are much more expensive than pads).

I would suggest the following: whenever you clean your bike, clean your rotors and brake pads with isopropyl alcohol and shop towels. You will see that especially from the brake pads you remove a lot of black grime. Also, inspect your brake pads for wear regularly. Note that usually wear is uneven, because you should in fact do a lot more braking with the front brakes than the rear.
 
I took a ride out to Dodaira observatory this afternoon. Really nice visibility from the top (the picture is looking out toward Gunma).
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I know the weather is good at the moment but I decided to experiment with the Wiggo 'wrapping your toes in clingfilm' hack today. I also put masking over the vents on my shoes and wore two pairs of socks (neither are wool). My feet felt fairly toasty throughout the ride, including the descents!
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Also, I noticed that Tokigawa Base has closed down for good due to financial difficulties - not sure if people knew about that. Not great news:(
 

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