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Today December 2020

@luka who makes/ sells those shades please?
Googling the name shown in the picture:
 
nordic skiing as cross training perhaps @kiwisimon ? that's some snow there, and they're saying the northern honshu and the sea of Japan side will see a lot more apparently, by tmr morn
 
yeah it's still falling. @andywood will be busy shovelling no doubt. I'm off to shovel the inlaws drive way and car park. Sadly they have a very long drive way. Country living. Shovelling snow is a very good work out, kills plenty with weak hearts.
 
Rain turning into snow from mid afternoon.

I rode the trail in summer kit yesterday.

This morning I got my snowshoe kit ready for an ascent of Mt. Hachikoku tomorrow.

My snow shoveling has gotten easier since we got the groundwater sprinklers set up around the place. Amazing what a difference they make.

Andy
 
Hope to go up the Edogawa tomorrow to Sekiyado.
It will be the 4th time in 6 days.
Love that river,so near Tokyo but so rural at the same time.
Does anyone on here still ride up it?
I know Kikkoman from Noda,if he is still here.does... but I wonder how many others do.
I saw a Western guy cycling up near the Musahino Line at Misato about a week ago........in shorts just like me......all of the other riders were done up like it was in the Himalayas.
 
tomorrow looks like a challenging north wind up there @Forsbrook , but it's probably gonna be fun flying on it back south. I love edogawa, at least the part from about misato to sekiyado. wide, fine quality tarmac, few people... a bit far for me, I'd only venture up there once or twice a year or so

anyways, today was wash the bike day for me, after who knows how long (I do simple drivetrain cleanups in between full washes, which happen like twice a year). did a good clean, dried it all up and checked the expendable parts:

- brake pads still minimal wear after about 500 km (I'm happy to see them wear out evenly, left to right, front and rear, closer to hub and further away)

- rear tyre pretty worn out after 2,750 km. not completely out just yet, can probably get to 3,500 or 4,000, but I'll be checking that one more often now

- front tyre still going strong after more than 5,000 km (looks like I'll be swapping 2.5 to 3 rear tyres for one front rotation)

- chain finally starts to show initial signs of wear after some 6,000 km. maybe good up to 8,000 km or so...

- found one spot where my current protection was insufficient and the shifter cable was rubbing the carbon fork the wrong way. put some frame protection tape there

tomorrow will remove the fork to inspect the steerer and regrease the headset, check the torque on all the bolts, lube everything and if I have time bed in the brake pads. I've found I need to do that after cleaning them and the rotors, even though I'm not swapping them out for new ones. probably because I rub them against each other, while showering them in brake cleaner, so the surface gets randomized again. in any case, the bike will be ready for 2021 all shiny and blingy

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.......in shorts just like me......all of the other riders were done up like it was in the Himalayas.
First time I went skiing in Japan, in jeans and a sweater, on a nice spring day in Naeba. It was rather easy to spot the gaijin.

Why do you need waterproofs if it's not snowing hard and you don't fall over?
 
Why do you need waterproofs if it's not snowing hard and you don't fall over?
Not a good idea IMHO. Regular clothes are not windproof and the wind chill can be quite severe, especially near your nether regions. If you are on a larger chair lift that is about 10-20 m up in the air, you might be exposed to quite a bit of wind. The other thing is whether the side you are skiing on is on the sunny side or on the shaded side. The temperature difference might be quite stark.
 
@andywood I don't understand that sprinkler system, doesn't it just end up with a layer of ice on the pavement?

It works here because daytime temperatures are usually above zero and it might dip below zero only at night. So it's kind of like keeping the hot tap running.

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Andy
 
It works here because daytime temperatures are usually above zero and it might dip below zero only at night. So it's kind of like keeping the hot tap running.

Wouldn't you have to make sure the driveway can dry out before the night? If it stays wet and then the temperature dips below zero at night, that would not be a good combination (unless you keep the pump running full time to keep supplying above zero ground water).
 
No riding for me today unless it's Sufferfest.
That reminds me of one reason why I no longer live in Southern Germany ;) (southern German winters mostly being colder than northern ones because of higher elevation and being far from the sea)
 
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