Hi All,
Firstly congrats on the site, very informative thank you.
I've been checking out this website for a couple of years now, knowing that I would be coming to Japan to live for a three year work contract, well I've now arrived and finally sorted myself out enough to start riding my bike properly again.
I'm a 38 yo ex road rider originally from the UK that is coming back from a serious knee injury, that nearly took my leg (ACL then big post op infection).
The injury happened in May 2008, unfortunately many op's left me with a lot of scar tissue and initially very poor range of motion of just 20 degrees, so not so good for the bike!
But 18 months on and after starting out on 85mm crank length I've now got to ~ 95 degrees weather dependant! Or deep heat/stretch of the day dependant!
I now ride 165mm cranks but still have a bit of a limp whilst riding, which basically means my bad right leg throws my right hip up at the top of the pedal stroke. To many this looks like my seat is too high and last year whilst living in the bike crazy US Northwest many riders told me so, again and again and again and again... you get the point!
I've had bike fits along the way to get to my best position and believe me putting a 9cm 20 deg lift up stem in place of a perfectly balanced standard 13cm stem is a painful experience for any European roady, that with pushing my seat back 3cm and swapping my 172.5cm cranks for 165's on my highly prized Scott Addict was more painful for me mentally than the knee issue!
Last year I starting racing again as a 5th cat in the Seattle area, this was initially with many complaints from other riders about my slightly wobbly style, but they soon got to know it and trust it (I could hold my line I just didn't look to graceful!), also somehow during the season I managed to get enough points for a 3rd cat license.
So now that I'm here in Tokyo, I'm quite keen to get racing again and get properly fit, leg/weight/power (weight always an issue- I've always been a bit weighty for a roady!) I'm keen to meet up with a regular training group. I live virtually right on the Tama river near Denechofu and have done a few rides from here, just to about into the mountains and back, can't wait to really hit them in better weather with no ice!
So are there regular group/chain gang training rides that are around this area?
Cheers
Pete
Firstly congrats on the site, very informative thank you.
I've been checking out this website for a couple of years now, knowing that I would be coming to Japan to live for a three year work contract, well I've now arrived and finally sorted myself out enough to start riding my bike properly again.
I'm a 38 yo ex road rider originally from the UK that is coming back from a serious knee injury, that nearly took my leg (ACL then big post op infection).
The injury happened in May 2008, unfortunately many op's left me with a lot of scar tissue and initially very poor range of motion of just 20 degrees, so not so good for the bike!
But 18 months on and after starting out on 85mm crank length I've now got to ~ 95 degrees weather dependant! Or deep heat/stretch of the day dependant!
I now ride 165mm cranks but still have a bit of a limp whilst riding, which basically means my bad right leg throws my right hip up at the top of the pedal stroke. To many this looks like my seat is too high and last year whilst living in the bike crazy US Northwest many riders told me so, again and again and again and again... you get the point!
I've had bike fits along the way to get to my best position and believe me putting a 9cm 20 deg lift up stem in place of a perfectly balanced standard 13cm stem is a painful experience for any European roady, that with pushing my seat back 3cm and swapping my 172.5cm cranks for 165's on my highly prized Scott Addict was more painful for me mentally than the knee issue!
Last year I starting racing again as a 5th cat in the Seattle area, this was initially with many complaints from other riders about my slightly wobbly style, but they soon got to know it and trust it (I could hold my line I just didn't look to graceful!), also somehow during the season I managed to get enough points for a 3rd cat license.
So now that I'm here in Tokyo, I'm quite keen to get racing again and get properly fit, leg/weight/power (weight always an issue- I've always been a bit weighty for a roady!) I'm keen to meet up with a regular training group. I live virtually right on the Tama river near Denechofu and have done a few rides from here, just to about into the mountains and back, can't wait to really hit them in better weather with no ice!
So are there regular group/chain gang training rides that are around this area?
Cheers
Pete