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Today September 2019

joewein

Maximum Pace
Oct 25, 2011
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After 4 weekends in August with one long ride each I went hiking with my wife and her dog yesterday. 12 km through Nishizawa valley (Nishizawa Keikoku) in Yamanashi.

I can't believe I had never heard of this place before. It was amazing!


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Nice @joewein ! Meanwhile, I'm doing mostly indoor training until its generally below 30C for two reasons: I can immediately get more distance and hills in and its not as hot. Did 64km today in about 3 hours with 700+ meters, and I'm learning a lot about my FTP and HR. I am still super slow compared to nearly everyone else on Zwift.
 
finally did the first off road ride on the new bike, but we jumped into the deep end too soon. pictures don't do justice to just how bad and treacherous the terrain was. shifting from hard to loose, flatish to bumpy, rocks, mud, ponds, you name it. took two slow-speed spills, most likely with front wheel loosing traction due to sudden change in terrain. for those situations, I was considering flat pedals, but forget about it. it drops you straight down, clipped in or not. still, that was nothing compared to my friend who crashed badly on the paved descent back to the station. could have been much worse, but both him and the bike were OK and he seems to have gotten away with just bad road rash. I'll spare you all the gory ones, and enjoy the rest of the selfies:

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other than some superficial cuts and bruises, little twigs and rocks stuck in the shoe soles, I've apparently also taken down another omiyage from the mountain today: a bent RD hanger. and just when I perfectly adjusted it only yesterday! gotta borrow the tool and straighten it in the next couple of days (with thousand of other things I also need to get done) then index it all over again......
 
indeed, lots of fun was had. it's a steep learning curve for sure. I think couple of things to try next time would be:

- slightly lower tire pressure (had just a tad over 40 front and close to 45 psi rear, as my 47 mm tires say 35 is minimum) might provide more traction and less bouncing about

- similar with lower cadence, when I started shifting up one or two gears on purpose towards the end, it seem to have given me better "feel" for what the rear wheel was doing, and more control over it with less leg movement
 
not to mention these finds:

- kinda expected it but was hopelessly underestimating just how slow going that rough stuff is, took us about 2.5 or 3 h for 11km or so of that

- you can't drink, eat, coast/recover in any way off road, except by getting off the bike altogether!
 
- slightly lower tire pressure (had just a tad over 40 front and close to 45 psi rear, as my 47 mm tires say 35 is minimum) might provide more traction and less bouncing about

You should easily be able to go lower with those tires. I run 3 bar (42 psi) front and rear on my 42 mm tires, so I don't see why you should have to run any more than the minimum pressure on yours (since our weight is probably not all that different).
 
I don't see why

well main reason is I'm running tubes (for now) and don't wanna risk pinch flats. with tubeless I think 35 or even lower should be doable, but while I have tubes I think I'll just incrementally lower it by 1-2 psi, trying to find a sweet spot, perfect balance of good grip and good protection
 
I run my 42 mm tires with tubes too and never had a pinch flat at 3 bar / 42 psi. Mind you, most of my riding has been on roads. Washed-out gravel roads that look like dry stream beds like on your pictures have been the exception, not the rule.
 
- slightly lower tire pressure (had just a tad over 40 front and close to 45 psi rear, as my 47 mm tires say 35 is minimum) might provide more traction and less bouncing about
That pressure is way too high for off roading. Lower it to the minimum or even slightly below the minimum, this way you have better traction while going up and especially while going downhill. You can still add pressure when you go back on road.
- similar with lower cadence, when I started shifting up one or two gears on purpose towards the end, it seem to have given me better "feel" for what the rear wheel was doing, and more control over it with less leg movement
When you are in too easy a gear, it is easy for you to slip as you apply too much torque. That's not a good idea.
- you can't drink, eat, coast/recover in any way off road, except by getting off the bike altogether!
You should eat off the bike and carry a backpack with a bladder. This way you can drink while riding.
well main reason is I'm running tubes (for now) and don't wanna risk pinch flats. with tubeless I think 35 or even lower should be doable, but while I have tubes I think I'll just incrementally lower it by 1-2 psi, trying to find a sweet spot, perfect balance of good grip and good protection
Pressures for off road riding are much lower: on my old school mountain bike tires (26", 2.25" width) I run 1.8–2.0 bars (about 29 psi), but nowadays people run much lower pressures. 40+ psi is not a good idea off road, not only do you get road buzz, but in case you hit obstacles, your grip can be severely compromised by you bouncing off of the obstacle rather than the tires cushioning the blow. Both, flatting and crashing is much more common off road. But I'd rather flat than crash. (Besides, I haven't had a flat off road in 2 years.)

IMHO you should try 35 psi IMHO and even lower pressures. Going below the range of recommended pressures is in my experience not a problem if you don't overdo it.
 
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They do that every summer for their "self study" homework. 1.5km for the 8 year old and 2km for the 10 year old... so 3.5km for the 44 year old!

They didn't do it every day this year as we were moving around a lot but still got some good runs it.

My mate Andrew in Niigata has a 12 year old son and they've been riding up Mt. Yahiko before breakfast recently.

Maybe I can persuade my kids to ride up a mountain a day next year!

Andy
 
Great for you guys!
It's awesome you've got your kids outside and enjoying cycling. And not only ditching training wheels, doing it on a bloody BMX track! Pretty impressive.
 
Time to start researching bikes.
She mastered the balance bike 2 years ago and this was the replacement.
Unfortunately - she lost interest almost immediately. I told her over a year ago when she rides this without training wheels she will get a new one.
I have multiple thoughts on this, but most likely going to go with a 20" wheel. There is an outside chance of over biking her on a 24"- we will see....
 
There is an outside chance of over biking her on a 24"

I did this to my son for this NY's, and felt bad for the kid later as he couldn't safely ride it yet (barely able to standover). it's only about now, 9 months later, that he feels comfortable enough on it, and I'm satisfied he can operate it safely. was thinking he'll grow into it in no time etc but in the end wish there was a tad smaller option 22 or 23''. over biking put him off bicycles for quite a while, so think good n hard
 
40+ psi is not a good idea off road, not only do you get road buzz, but in case you hit obstacles, your grip can be severely compromised by you bouncing off of the obstacle rather than the tires cushioning the blow.

that is exactly how I felt, bouncing around etc and it's very reassuring to see that this was indeed the cause and it can (and will) be addressed.

When you are in too easy a gear, it is easy for you to slip as you apply too much torque.

could you clarify a bit here? I thought higher (harder) gear puts more torque than the lower (easier) one? on feel, it seemed to me that I am sometimes running too low (easy) a gear, and that it adds to the bounciness from the tires. I felt better when putting it in a higher gear or two, which drops cadence a bit, but it should also raise torque, not lower it?
 
I did this to my son for this NY's, and felt bad for the kid later as he couldn't safely ride it yet (barely able to standover). it's only about now, 9 months later, that he feels comfortable enough on it, and I'm satisfied he can operate it safely. was thinking he'll grow into it in no time etc but in the end wish there was a tad smaller option 22 or 23''. over biking put him off bicycles for quite a while, so think good n hard
This is definitely the fear... but the only fear.
A buddy with 2 race winning downhill daughters skipped the 20" option and went to 24". It took a minute to adjust, but once they did - they had a longer more stable wheel base and the next jump was when they were old enough they asked for it. In their case, the move clearly worked and worked well. I have also considered if I do go 24", if there is a reluctance/issue - a second hand 20" isn't too horribly expensive.
 
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