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Today October 2021

It has just been a steady rain in Zushi.
Looking like Saturday morning will be a good one. Too bad I am also a soccer dad and need to be in Yokosuka for a 0900 game.
 
steady rain with the occasional strong gusts here in kawasaki and in futakotamagawa
 
Almost two years since that big typhoon that hit Kantō, filling the Tamagawa from levee to levee and a bit extra in some places. It was a Saturday and I sat at home (on top of my hill) watching the rivercam live feeds.

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Not so wet today although it's going to get worse over the next couple of hours. I guess they've repainted or replaced most of the 'ladders'.

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@joewein seems to have missed starting this month's daily thread...!
Indeed I did. @jdd, can you still change the prefix of the thread to "Today" which is what it's normally for these threads (it's something that can be selected when creating the thread)?
 
indeed, the typhoon sucked away all humidity today, so even the heat doesn't feel so bad... tomorrow looks similar, but with even more time for the roads etc to dry off, might be even better!
 
Day of maintenance for me yesterday with me getting some new bike tools, some wipes, and then a new rear cassette of 11-32. On the recent Yabitsu ride I did, I lamented the fact that I didn't have anything bigger than a 28 on the rear cassette, with some steep climbs along the way. A fairly easy operation to get the cassette changed, with me being lucky in that the the gearing worked first time on the stand, and out on a small cycle.
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Looking all silvery and bling now - but I wonder for how long?
The downside to all of this was then a sudden increase in bike maintenance on the rest of the bikes my family has - changing seat/handlebar height, dreaded punctures, and then today, the dreaded mama-chari tyre changing and brake maintenance.
 
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Yesterday I did a tiling ride to Akiyama (+2T, 192 km with 2,335 m of elevation gain, on Strava). From Tsuru I descended to Otsuki and Saruhashi, from where I wanted to ride to Kosuge and Okutama to return via Ome. A couple of km before the Matsuhime tunnel a thunderstorm upset my plan. I didn't have any rain gear with me, only a light windbreaker. I turned back to Saruhashi and returned to Tokyo via Koshu kaido (Rt20).

Today I was on my bike picking up a takeout order for lunch and found it kind of hard to pedal. I was wondering if this was my legs post ride, but then realized I had almost no air in the rear tire (down to about 1 bar). I re-inflated with my small pump and returned home. I had had no issues last night, so it must have been a slow leak over night. An hour after getting home I checked the pressure and it seemed to hold, at least for that short interval. I hate slow leaks, and take them just as seriously as regular leaks.

This is my first puncture since last July (15 months), about typical for my experience with these tires and the roads I ride.

The culprit turned out to be a very thin strand of metal a few mm long sticking out into the inside of the tire. I patched the tube. I also ordered a new rear tire as the rubber on the center of the tread has worn very thin. That's to be expected after almost two years (October 2019) and probably close to 12,000 km. The Rene Herse Babyshoe Pass are not cheap but they're good value for money.
 
A little muddy yesterday at the Ibaraki CX race
A slide out
 

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The Miura is fantastic on average days, but amazing on good days. Really surprised that noone has tried to make an "official" cycling route around the area.
We had one years ago. I had a group between 8-16 people every Saturday morning meeting in Yokosuka and riding to Zushi and sometimes out to Enoshima and back. It was for both a TCC ride and a FB group. As with everything, you get burnt out organizing people. 10 riders = 10 different opinions on when we should start, what side routes are good, how long we should do pulls, etc...

I just wanted to ride my bike - after about 3 or 4 years - that is all I do now. Grab my bike and go.
 
As with everything, you get burnt out organizing people. 10 riders = 10 different opinions on when we should start, what side routes are good, how long we should do pulls, etc...

Well, how about this: It's your ride. If you ask for suggestions or decisions, these are welcome; as long as you don't, they aren't. Anyone is free to disagree with you en route, and here's how: They're free to "vote with their feet", pedalling away from you in whichever direction their heads, their garmins or their phones tell them. The grossly overpowered are free either to WATT or to disappear over the horizon (but there'll be no search for them); the somewhat underpowered will be waited-for-at-the-top; the grossly underpowered (that's me!) won't be.
 
Well, how about this: It's your ride. If you ask for suggestions or decisions, these are welcome; as long as you don't, they aren't. Anyone is free to disagree with you en route, and here's how: They're free to "vote with their feet", pedalling away from you in whichever direction their heads, their garmins or their phones tell them. The grossly overpowered are free either to WATT or to disappear over the horizon (but there'll be no search for them); the somewhat underpowered will be waited-for-at-the-top; the grossly underpowered (that's me!) won't be.
It just wore on me after a while and stopped being fun.
I get up early and found myself sitting around waiting for others - so now, I just get up and ride. :D

Sure - on occasion if someone calls or messages and wants to ride, I have no problems meeting up at a later time every now and then.
But for every week to be a compromise - meh.
Also - now I am free the morning before to choose a MTB or Road bike.
Nov - April the MTB wins 90% of the time.
The rest of the year, road typically wins.
 
All that sounds good. Me, I have little or no memory or sense of direction, and hate peering into my phone (let alone anything smaller) when riding. So I tend to attach myself to other people's rides. And then, of course, I tend to slow them down. In slight mitigation, I do make a point of loading my phone with the RwGPS map, so I ought to be able to get back onto the route if I realize that I'm off it. And I'm fully prepared to be told that I'm just too slow and the others are tired of waiting for me, so I should proceed by myself.

Unrelated: Though I'm less and less interested in GCN's output these days, this new video



was worth the half-hour I spent on it.
 
Pre pandemic we did social rides on a fixed route. Move off at a fixed time, leaders generally set a consistent pace. Not our job to chase down people who want to sprint or do their own thing.
 
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