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wexford

Maximum Pace
Jul 3, 2012
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Finally got a bike! Thanks Tim for setting me up!

Sunday I decided to check out Oi Futo for my first ride. I didn't actually leave the house until around 11pm. Headed down Yamate-dori, took a right at the end and then started looking for cyclists... Didn't see anyone. So decided to continue right and ended up on a long stretch or road leading towards the airport. Ended up going into a tunnel where there wasn't much room on the left and the white line was really rough. Kinda scarey as cars were moving fast. Maybe I wasn't supposed to be in that tunnel.... Had a back light though so that kept me alive I think. Ended up at the airport figured I'd missed Oi Futo and took a right up Kanpachi and just followed that back to Meguro-dori and home. Got rained on which was interesting also. It made those little metal grates really slippery as I cycled over them trying to keep out of the traffics way. Most cars were quite well behaved but one guy in particular took me real close.

Biggest challege after being back on the bike after all these years was feeling comfy around cars when things slow down. My balance is crap it seems. Anyway, it was a good first run and I learned a lot.

Anyone got better directions to Oi Futo? Also Yamate dori was horrible. I had to use the path quite a lot to make any progress as it was totally jammed with cars. Maybe that is just the time I went though.

Tom.
 
I don't know that tunnel, but I had a rather nasty experience with a metal grating (on Nakahara-kaidō) about four days ago. I saw it, it looked properly aligned, it was dry -- I don't know what was wrong with it, but something about it gave my front wheel quite a jolt. No damage done (I think), but I've learned not to trust metal gratings.
 
No worries! The routes will become clearer with repition! As for the road furniture - bunny hop is your best friend! Another reason for the 501's ! Check out www.ridewithgps.com for local routes. And of course, we'll be dragging you out on the weekly rides.
 
Ended up going into a tunnel where there wasn't much room on the left and the white line was really rough. Kinda scarey as cars were moving fast. Maybe I wasn't supposed to be in that tunnel....
I think you're right. I suspect you were on R357. About 400 m before the tunnel is the last-chance turn off, with signs announcing that scooters, bicycles, handcarts/Napoleonic field cannon* and pedestrians are verboten.

In fact, here's that sign.

I don't know where the Oi-futo course is, exactly, but this seems to be a reasonable explanation.
 
Wow... Nice find! That is the exact entry I took... If you give me a choice of two ways to go, I tend to always pick the wrong one! That one is best avoided. I'll have to keep an eye out for those signs in the future. Thanks for visual.

Thanks for the Oi Futo link also. Seems I was pretty close. I'm going to try the palace early some morning this week also. Have to give my bottom some time to recover after its initial fright on Sunday.

Looking forward to meeting a few of you over the coming months.

Tom.

I think you're right. I suspect you were on R357. About 400 m before the tunnel is the last-chance turn off, with signs announcing that scooters, bicycles, handcarts/Napoleonic field cannon* and pedestrians are verboten.

In fact, here's that sign.

I don't know where the Oi-futo course is, exactly, but this seems to be a reasonable explanation.
 
No worries! The routes will become clearer with repition! As for the road furniture - bunny hop is your best friend! Another reason for the 501's ! Check out www.ridewithgps.com for local routes. And of course, we'll be dragging you out on the weekly rides.

Can't thank you enough Tim for all the help with the bike! I'll check out the ridewithgps thing. I guess I need one of the little buggers so I don't keep ending up on the wrong roads. I'm definitely up for some weekly rides. Will need to find my legs first though I think. I was a tad on the tired side after the 40km :)

Tom.
 
I know that tunnel. I am scared to take my scooter in there, but looking at the sign I should be totally fine (@110cc). Looks like just no gentsuki.
 
I can't say that I'll take that tunnel again... It did force me to grind a big gear in my effort to escape as fast as possible though.

Tom.

I know that tunnel. I am scared to take my scooter in there, but looking at the sign I should be totally fine (@110cc). Looks like just no gentsuki.
 
I can't say that I'll take that tunnel again... It did force me to grind a big gear in my effort to escape as fast as possible though.

Tom.

I'm not sure where you are on Yamate, but scooting over to Kannana dori might work out a bit better. Takes you right in to Oi (more or less).

South of Route 20, Yamate isn't as good as north of it.... so might work out scooting over. Little bit longer but a bit more straight forward.
 
I'm not sure where you are on Yamate, but scooting over to Kannana dori might work out a bit better. Takes you right in to Oi (more or less).

South of Route 20, Yamate isn't as good as north of it.... so might work out scooting over. Little bit longer but a bit more straight forward.

I'm close to Kannana dori actually but there is also one road before that that seems to go down most of the way. I might try that one the next time.

I had my second spin this morning. Got up at 5:30 and met Eric in Shibuya and headed for tour de Imperial Palace. He road away on the hills and I never did quite catch my breath for some reason this morning. Anyway, I told him to get on with his training after two laps and let him go before I peeled off home. Was a little worried about pushing myself too hard in the morning before a full day at work. I gotta get a little fitter first.

Another annoying thing I discovered today is that I tend to be a bit bouncy at high cadence right now. I gotta smooth that out as its not good. I've also no idea how to use the gears on the bottom drops. Those brake gear changer things seem so foreign still. Practice, practice, practice I guess... Today was also my first time riding at any speed behind someone in a long time. I've forgotton how to trust a wheel.

Anyway - Thanks Eric! Really appreciate you showing me around.

Tom.
 
Thomas - you might want to drop your saddle a bit until you come into form. This will take the bounce out of your spin. Usually when you raise cadence, people tend to heel-up too much. Add that into a higher saddle position and you unweight the pelvis quite a bit - then - coming back down on the saddle there is a bit of a rebound. At the right rpm this creates a fairly large harmonic resonance. Lowering the saddle will force a little more weight on the saddle and prevent the unweighting action from becoming too severe. You'll feel more ITB muscle action - but that's fine - in time, brother, in time!
 
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