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Today May 2022

That's a beautiful Ti bike. I hope it rides as nicely as it looks!
It rides incredible. Not quite as soft of a ride as my Ritchey, however it isn't worse - just different in that regard.
It is just the right amount of smooth to not beat me up, but stiff enough I can muscle the bike through corners.
Then with room for up to a 40mm tire, I have quite a range of tire options to choose from.
I have 3 sets of wheels for the bike and it rides differently based on the wheelset.
The SemiSlicks in a 38 make it ride amazingly smooth on road while doing quite well in gravel & dirt.
 
Another Enoshima out and back, another sunrise...
this bike looks so nice. valves at 6 o'clock or valves at 12 o'clock, I approve!

btw, looks like they shipped my stand up bike and I'll be getting it soon. now, to the most important part: how to broach the subject of the new bike to other family members.....

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It rides incredible. Not quite as soft of a ride as my Ritchey, however it isn't worse - just different in that regard.
For a do-it-all bike, this sounds like the way to go. It ticks all the boxes of a do-it-all bike for me, nice frame, 1x, nice wheels with wide tires, etc. Wonderful.
I have 3 sets of wheels for the bike and it rides differently based on the wheelset.
The SemiSlicks in a 38 make it ride amazingly smooth on road while doing quite well in gravel & dirt.
38 mm slicks sounds like what many people should default to if they aren't worried about sheer speed.
 
Last day of the GW for me, with no wife or kid, so I have decided that I will loop the Yamanote-sen. Any suggestions? Favorite restaurant near a station? Attraction? :p

I'll start in Ikebukuro. Have a nice day everyone.
 
A few impressions of our Iriyama Loop on Wednesday. More climbing than expected, as the loggers did their best to render the road impassable.

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@thomas did you manage to get round the big pile of branches?
we managed to get through by climbing down off the road to the left and passing our bikes across.

You can just about see me in my pink jersey to the left of the road ↓

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real bodybuilder legs on this guy, nothing like TDF we know of...

"Italian cyclist Gino Sciardis getting his bike lubricated during the 1949 Tour de France."

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some of you of certain age might remember this pop song:

it's like raaaiiiin on your new bike day
(or something like that....?)
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only in my case it's not just a day, but a whole bleeding rain season starting!

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I did my first Century ride for May on Saturday (190 km with 2464 m of elevation gain, on Strava with pictures). Another is planned for the coming weekend, a 400 km brevet that starts in Machida and first climbs to Yamanakako via Doshi road (Rt413). This was a training ride for it.

I only left around 08:00 because it had been raining earlier in the morning. I brought my rain gear but didn't have to use it. Like on my ride two weeks ago near Ogose I didn't feel in shape for the first couple of hours but the second half of the ride was just fine. I took my first break at a conbini in Sagamihara, about 2 1/2 hours from the start.

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The 2nd major break was at Michi no Eki Doshi, where I had lunch (curry rice with coffee and apple pie for dessert). Doshi village tries to make the most of the publicity gained from the Olympic road race last summer.

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The scenery was beautiful. Lots of azalea in bloom and fresh green.

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I often stopped for pictures, noticing details that I had not come across before, such as this mask collection by a Doshi resident who backpacked around the world from 1986-1993.

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I used my 24T small chain ring a lot. The last part of the Doshi michi climb, especially the last 5 km or so before the tunnel always feels hard but this not being the real event with the clock ticking I took it a bit easier.

About 1.5 km and 100 m of elevation gain before the tunnel I saw a cyclist pushing his road bike. He was really struggling. I think his legs were cramping and he could barely walk. I stopped after passing him and asked if he was alright. He put down his bike and sat on the ground exhausted. He looked young and the bike was a light carbon road bike. Perhaps this was his virgin ride to Yamanakako. I offered him a banana, which he gladly accepted and some words of encouragement for the last part of the climb.

It was quite cool at this elevation. I put on my windbreaker and descended to Yamanakako. I didn't stop at any conbini there as I still had some food and drinks and took the turn-off to Mikuni. The climb there is not very steep and you can get a good view of the lake and Mt Fuji. This time much of Fuji was obscured by rain clouds (see view at the top). As I climbed higher, I entered the fog, i.e. other clouds. You really couldn't see much at the top but I came across some very late sakura (cherry blossoms) at about 1165 m elevation.

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I was glad about my hydraulic disk brakes on the Mikuni descent which gets as steep as 18% in places.

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The long descent down to Oyama and beyond was great for recovery. I stopped at a 7-11 in Oyama for food and topped up my bottles with water.

For the return route from Matsuda to Tokyo I followed route 246 and rode it in the dark. It's not a great road but had less traffic than the last few times I rode it. I got home about 15 hours after I set off.

I am now at 117 consecutive months of "Century a Month". Next weekend I'l be riding BRM514 (route on RWGPS). I booked a hotel near the start and will ride out there on Friday night.
 
some of you of certain age might remember this pop song:

it's like raaaiiiin on your new bike day
(or something like that....?)
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only in my case it's not just a day, but a whole bleeding rain season starting!

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I can so relate to this... I have gotten several MTBs that arrived on heavy rain days... the worst part with MTBs? I have to watch the 3-5 days of clear skies get wasted as the trails dry out... The good news, this is the most interested you will ever be in the new toy - time to look at how to maintain it, how to adjust it, etc... before it gets dirty.
 
thanks @bloaker . it's the same thing with me and arakawa. it takes several days for the path to dry off after a heavy rain, so it's always a few more days of waiting on top of the actual rainy days. that's why the first upgrade for this bike will be full mudguards, the longest I can find ;)
that way I'll be able to minimize loss in riding from such considerations

in the end FedEx missed their delivery date yesterday, and I see it has been handed over to some other agent in Edogawa-ku this morning for the final delivery. so perhaps I'll get it this afternoon, and hopefully do a quick setup and test ride in the evening, before the rains resume.
 
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