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Today December 2021

And if that is a little too "station wagony" or "mini-vanny" for your liking... The Carver O'Beast is another options and about twice the price!

My friends back home have them - Husband & Wife duo.
Husband runs drops bars and wifey the flat bars.

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In reality, if you really really want to ride the snow in Japan, studded tyres are necessary especially on the Sea of Japan Coast where @jdd and I am at.

Looking at Strava this weekend, Albert in Hakuba needed to push his fatbike uphill with snowshoes before enjoying the ride down.

Manfred in Yatsugatake was bemoaning the lack of availability of studded tyres for his fatbike, thinking studded tyres on his MTB would be better.

For me, I'll just do zwift for intensity and do endurance work on snowshoes.

Andy
 
I would start planning your next bike trip. It isn't going to give you a quick fix, but if you feel like you essentially have everything you need, just focus on experiences.
 
Only 6 degrees down in Chiba yesterday.
I managed to achieve my last century (km) of the year.
Body maintenance repair after the Christmas delights.
We have had some snow here in Sendai, which translates to tons of snow 30 km inlands. I'm sick now, so I will take a forced break from riding. But I can't do anything except calm Z2 rides, preferably with a trailer.

Riding to and from day care was fun, basically I needed to be very smooth and avoid shallow angles when turning.
 
Aside from <10km errands, I don't think I've ridden a bike for three weeks. (No injuries; it was just that other things had to be done.)

But browsing through what popped through into the door today --

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[Not my own copy (though mine's very similar). This photo was nicked from Amazon.]

-- has got me raring to go.
 
Dec 20th is the 1 year anniversary of destroying my right knee.
Today is my 2 year anniversary of destroying my left knee...

Only 3 more days to stay healthy to beat out the past few years of bad luck.
I am within reach of my adjusted goals for this year, but it will be all road/gravel to hit it. I can't rack up the miles fast enough off road.
 
So... the same guy that owns the O'beast I posted above is selling his Moots Vamoots Compact w full Campy Super Record...
WHY ARE ALL MY FRIENDS TOO SHORT!?!?!?!

I love this bike!
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I love riding in the snow. Once you have enough pristine snow on the ground and you are riding at moderate speeds, that's fine. A gravel or a mountain bike is perfect for that. Coupled with a stop at a cafe or restaurant, you have something that is super fun and builds your endurance. What more do you want? 😍
An electric gravel or mountain bike??? Heated seats and grips would be a plus but I can let those slide...
 
The year end is approaching fast and I'm still more than 100 km under 6,000 km but I think I'll let that slide. It's just a number, right?

I did some shopping, 5 km to the Seijo Ishii supermarket and back to stock up on wine, coffee, ham and cheese. It's cold and I find it hard to get used to winter this year. I guess I'm just not wearing enough for local rides.

The only things I like about winter are

1) Dekopon (but it's still to early for that) and
2) Fuji views from far away

@Kangaeroo, are you ready for an Izu ride in January? :)
 
An electric gravel or mountain bike??? Heated seats and grips would be a plus but I can let those slide...
I found good solutions for my feet and my body. But my hands are always cold. When it comes to the bike, I don't need electricity, because all my snow rides are pretty mellow. Going hard usually makes no sense in the terrain I ride.
 
I found good solutions for my feet and my body. But my hands are always cold. When it comes to the bike, I don't need electricity, because all my snow rides are pretty mellow. Going hard usually makes no sense in the terrain I ride.
The solution for cold hands may not necessarily be found in gloves. Yes, good gloves are essential, you need a layer that's wind stopping and a layer that insulates (or a combination of the two). But on top of that, if you lose too much heat at the core of the body, blood flow to the limbs will decrease (a self-preservation mechanism). If you think that's already taken care of, good! The second factor could be heat loss in the arms. If you have cold air blowing up your sleeves or along your wrists, the warm blood may not make it to the hands. A lot of Japanese jerseys and jackets tend to have sleeves that are on the short side for long-armed Westerners.That could open gaps for heat loss. Maybe some arm-warmers or something along those lines would help?
 
1) Dekopon (but it's still to early for that) and
2) Fuji views from far away
And kinkan (kumquats). I only noticed their existence last year. All those previous, kumquatless years wasted!

Yes, good gloves are essential, you need a layer that's wind stopping and a layer that insulates (or a combination of the two)
I'd pretty much given up hope of getting any coldproofing for my hands till last year. It was then that I tried the combination of very impressive-looking large gloves from Workman or similar (which by themselves were quite useless) and a pair of tight-fitting, unusually lightweight but full-finger cycling gloves (which, unsurprisingly, ditto). The combination worked very well.

I was in a pottering mood this morning and vaguely thought of pottering to Kabe-machi, stuffing my face with Sherpa's finest, and pottering back. But pottering is kind of boring, so I upshifted and actually overtook (and stayed ahead of) a couple of blokes riding bikes with those curly handlebars. Still, at Koremasa-bashi laziness overcame me and I did a U-turn, doing some shopping at Uniqlo and then noticing that there was an Indian restaurant atop the same building, so how could I resist?
 
I don't understand why there is not more love for bar mitts. One of the best cycling buys I have ever made!
 
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