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Today September, 2017

jdd

Maximum Pace
Hardest Crash
Jul 26, 2008
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Looking forward to a good month--it already seems cooler than normal (which means good riding temps).

Nothing long, but including today I was out five times for 189km this week.
 
Been off the bike for a while but look forward to getting back out there this month. Hope this cool weather sticks around for a bit. Might be headed up to Yabitsu tomorrow early if I can kick myself out of bed and get going.
 
I seem to be having a run of mechanicals of late. Had my speedplay pedal seize up last week coming back from the western mountains letting out a screaming banshee sound. So I rode about 8km on mostly one leg Nalsima tachikawa and they greased it up but said the bearings are screwed. Poor maintenance on my behalf.
Today coming back from Shiraishi my free body ratchet went almost silent. I got home and found the spring clip had snapped again. Last time it got a bit tangled up, this time it was ok fortunately still engaging one of the pawls.

Off to my local Asaka LBS and ordered new bearings and grabbed a few spring s. Good to go. The dudes in that shop are positively friendly to me now. Only taken 5 years but hey better late than never!!
 
I seem to be having a run of mechanicals of late. Had my speedplay pedal seize up last week coming back from the western mountains letting out a screaming banshee sound. So I rode about 8km on mostly one leg Nalsima tachikawa and they greased it up but said the bearings are screwed. Poor maintenance on my behalf.
Today coming back from Shiraishi my free body ratchet went almost silent. I got home and found the spring clip had snapped again. Last time it got a bit tangled up, this time it was ok fortunately still engaging one of the pawls.

Off to my local Asaka LBS and ordered new bearings and grabbed a few spring s. Good to go. The dudes in that shop are positively friendly to me now. Only taken 5 years but hey better late than never!!
I was there yesterday. The old guy upstairs used to look at me like I was a piece of scum. A few years on and he gives me a smile and chats every time I go in there now.
 
Yesterday I went for a lazy ride with the Family.
My daughter started out on the strider, but ended up on the back of mom's bike.
I had some tunes playing on my bike as we casually took in the views from Yamanakako.

21231756_10155572904012808_4608876633177247271_n.jpg



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Those are beautiful!
I can only imagine the first one in the rain with bad visibility.

UGH
 
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Climbed Fuji via the Subaru Line today. First time to climb it since I joined the hillclimb race 13 and 12 years ago.

Such a gentle grade. It's easy to find a good rhythm.

I'll race Fuji Speedway tomorrow morning.

If I still have some legs I plan to make my debut on Fuji's notorious Azami line. A different climb to today entirely...

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
Here's an old pic (2007), for old times sake:

full
 
Here's an old pic (2007), for old times sake

That was my first-ever carbon frame and my first climb up Matsuhime-toge. That frame's still in use somewhere in Sweden. Thanks for digging up ancient TCC history, @jdd .
 
Days have been fairly cool so been getting some decent riding in. Picked up an old lugged carbon frame a couple weeks back and finally got around to throwing new tires on it. Put 90km on it Friday and Saturday night with plenty of beer between.
Kinda need to find new riding partners. I far outpace my Beercycling buddies.
 
This is the Summer of the Hornets!
Had a buddy go to the hospital today after 4 stings. Not cool.
While riding prior to meeting up with him, another buddy and I encountered at least 8 of them. A couple were aggressive with us, so we just pedaled our asses off.
In the end - they have been awful this summer.
After a couple hours of riding, it was time to meet up for trail work.

Before:
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After:
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This was all done with hand tools in two hours. A dozen of us worked our asses off and knocked it out. The benches were all hidden over growth.
 
From what I've read, the big ones, suzume-bachi, attack if you run (or maybe cycle) away.

In the fall, one would inevitably come in a classroom window and cruise around a little. Best thing is just be cool and don't move, or only slowly.




Oh, and 43km today. Met my hip surgeon coming off the riverside path and talked a couple minutes. He's done the marathon here a few times, said that he was at about 20km so far.
 
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Being calm and relaxed has been my approach in the past. But after my buddy being stung a couple weeks ago while we just stood there and let it do its thing... I have a different opinion now. Fuck them all to hell! Seriously... these guys are just *******s. We didn't step on a nest or do anything to disturb it. It just flew up to us, buzzed around for a few second, then went attack mode.

CpNuNSPWgAI78Iy.jpg
 
Being calm and relaxed has been my approach in the past. But after my buddy being stung a couple weeks ago while we just stood there and let it do its thing... I have a different opinion now. Fuck them all to hell! Seriously... these guys are just *******s. We didn't step on a nest or do anything to disturb it. It just flew up to us, buzzed around for a few second, then went attack mode.

CpNuNSPWgAI78Iy.jpg
I've been stung twice this summer whilst out cycling - both times by bees.
 
Tour de Noto Typhoon this weekend. Saturday might be okay (I hope the morning is), Sunday/Monday not so much.
 
Really can't complain about Rapha after sales service.

Late last year I bought a winter bib, very nice piece of kit but it got wear marks on it that I thought were a little extreme for the cost and amount of riding I had done on it. Anyway so Yesterday I took it back to show them, as I was changing a shirt I had bought for a smaller size.

They kept the winter bib and today I got a mail saying they could repair the bib or send it back to me as is. So I said I really liked it and it was ok just to send it back as is.

They then responded and gave me a 35000y voucher I could use on their online store! Redeemable anytime within a year. So I could replace the bib if it wore out further....

To me that is an amazing level of customer service.
 
Three weeks ago I cycled the Arakawa for the first time. I did repeats, from the rugby pitch we were playing on to the nearby car park with the tap and water fountain, on a borrowed mama chari with our water barrel balanced on the bars and basket. This was near the Toda rowing course. The river route appeared to run all the way to the horizon without a bump in sight. I can imagine how uninspiring regular runs might become.

Today I did some maintenance to my newish ride. I had broken the chain for cleaning and waxing with Pledge after reading that old thread(I hope I am not being wooshed), and I had bought KMC missing links for reassembly. I needed a quick word at the LBS as I had forgotten which side went where on these new directional chains. Anyhow come reassembly time a pretty obvious blunder became apparent. I'll let you guess.

The bike is still in the stand on the balcony. I am going out for a jog now.
 
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