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Today February 2021

hahaha actually when we rode together I was in my pretty mediocre period. in terms of cycling fitness, I was strongest around 2016-17, with very little bodyfat and overall body-weight at 62-63kg. so that was probably the closest I got to a rapha ad, and the closest I ever will methinks. circa 2016:

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on the other hand, I have now come down to comparably low body fat % but weight about 70kg. so maybe calvin klein underwear? anyone can put in a good word for me? ;)

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speaking of ads, if you ever get a titanium bike, I guess you need to expect targeted ads like this too:

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@luka , yes, get the titanium inkan but go for the optional extras: "Rapha" engraved on the other end, "Dogma" on one side and "Dura-Ace" on the other.
 
First road ride of the year done. Unusually early this year. Didn't see any other cyclists out though.
A ton of crap on the shoulders of the roads. Tubeless tires performed well after giving them a bit of air for the first time in two months, never even thought about them.
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Nice @luka , slight similarity to me when I arrived in Japan vs now.2014-2015 I was 65 and then down to 61 kg having done 1.5 hours of hot (42C) yoga everyday for the previous 4 years, sometimes double classes or teacher training for 3 hours.... Then slowly shot up to 78.5 kg until last summer where I got pissed enough to start taking some form of training seriously again. Now I hover between 71.2 to 72, but feel more muscular than I ever have in my life, including when I was a triple letterman in high school. Keep up the fight man, you're an inspiration
 
Now I hover between 71.2 to 72, but feel more muscular than I ever have in my life,

that's the thing isn't it, it's not just about body weight, but much more about body composition.
you're an inspiration

nah, I'm just another geezer way past their prime, especially if we look at cycling in particular. but I am working hard on bulletproofing my legs and posterior chain, and if that goes as I hope it will, in about 2 years I may have something worth notice.

until then.... I did my first full range of motion, no assistance in any way, pistol squats today, so another small but significant step in the right direction
 
In line with my goals this year for more adventure riding and to do some bike packing the last couple of rides I loaded up some bike packing bags, then explored some new roads in Saitama.

Side note a new feature on Strava when creating a route is that you can overlay your personal heat map so I could go about planning some new routes rather than ending up on the same roads. The route ended up along a really nice (& clean) river with a path along it, plenty of heron and carp total of @ 45km on the Fairdale.

Yesterday I went back to explore more of the areas and some different rivers but on the Trek Domane with 35mm Panaracer Gravelking tyres. Amazed just how much gravel and dirt roads I found by heading along some of the rivers that lead down towards the Arakawa River. Did a total of 60km over a total time of 6hrs and had a ton of fun. Stopped when I saw something interesting, took some photos and video, explored. Bought okonomiyaki takeaway and ate by the river. *Ahh watch out how you store your takeaway in a saddlebag. Okonomiyaki sauce everywhere but all inside a plastic bag luckily.

So get out, explore some new roads, don't worry about watts, km/hr, calorie burn etc and enjoy the ride is my 2021 slow down to speed up way to win.
 
Finished up Tour de Zwift with two make up rides, one yesterday and today. I have to say that even though it was virtual, I had a lot of fun, connected with some pretty cool riders that passed me, rode virtually together, or that I passed. A godo example: last Friday this woman from HK and I were riding together towards the end of the Champs-Élysées map doing about 2.5-2.8 w/kg, I think I pissed her off because she suddenly cranked it up to 5 w/kg for the last 2 km. That was great. I tried to keep up but couldn't keep above 300 w for the duration. Huff huff...
 
I spent 2 hours yesterday wrapping the swingarm of my new bike in protective film.
Trying to prevent bubbles and overlap.... tedious at best.
The hardest part was the dead center of the swingarm. At the bottom, it is concave at the top, it is convex - BUT - the vertical surface also curves a bit...
I will do the front triangle today or tomorrow when I have time to not be interrupted.
14 pieces of laser cut film just to do the swingarm.
I do not have the patience to enjoy this crap. But I know several hours of frustration now will save tons of headaches down the road.

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Besides the wind, the weather has been getting pretty nice. I'm glad I rode as much as I did during the last few months of cold weather though. Maybe it's just the weather but I've been feeling very good on the bike these past few weeks and I've noticed gains across my pretty curve which is exciting to see.
 
today was nordic curls (for the nordic girls) day, AKA destroy the posterior chain day. it is followed by one strangely calm day and then 2-3 penguin walk days usually. I wanted to upload the video, but apparently 19 MB is too large....

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My wife was doing some reset thinv from beachbody. I agreed to do it with her to make it easier on her.
I justdid what she said, no questions. The scale reflecred well, but i was super low on energy. So i finally looked into it.

3 days at 900cal a day. Wtf??? I buurn 2000 a day doing nothing.
Today i had a small breakfast befor riding. 2nd climb, my body was feeling jittery. I opted to shut it down and head home.
I will try again tomorrow.

Funny part about her 3 day reset - i wasnt hungry. I was just worn down by late afternoon. The most good out of it will probably be breaking some habits/routines i have fallen into
 
3 days at 900cal a day. Wtf???
from my experience, and those around me I've seen, anything sudden and drastic tends to usually just lead to a big rebound. otoh, if you can slowly build better habits, internalize them and keep progressively but incrementally getting better at it, that's usually what results in long term changes that stick and become a lifestyle and not just a fad or something. easier typed than done I know
 
I'm up to 17 fingertip type pushups . all 10 fingertips. goal is 25 then got to 3 fingertips, then 2 fingertips. Yes, I've been watching them kung fu movies. LOL
 
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