What's new

Today September 2020

because I just can "be happy" with stuff.....
Wifey says - "get the reeb" - so I research more and find another option that is cheaper and possibly more to my liking.
The downside - not hand built in the USA - the upside, similar geometry, ti, cheaper...

View attachment 20933
So it is happening....
3 different friends own three different businesses in the bikes world....
1 will be ordering me my frame. No discount vs buying direct, but huge shipping discount.
1 will be setting me up with my fork, dropper,drive train, & brakes.
1 will be setting me up with my Industry Nine wheels and my Chris King headset....

Yes - all three have given me a discount, but more importantly - I am giving all profits to small businesses vs the big mail order guys.
I am incredibly grateful for the tight knit nature of the MTB/SS community. All it takes is a phone call or a message and these guys take care of their own. I asked for nothing except the parts. All three have come back with incredible help.

Now that I think about it... all three rival me in sarcasm... maybe it has nothing to do with bikes, but making up for shitting on each other for years....
:D
 
Alpe Du Zwift - Not my favorite climb, but I have now done it 5 times.
Yesterday was #5 and I PRd it. I also found myself hobbled a little after.
No doubt the periformis muscle was unhappy, but today it feels a bit tender up in the groin area.
Nothing that is going to stop me from being on the MTB tomorrow... but tender enough to feel it when walking.

I thought chilling in the 250w zone would be a good spot, but it seems a few times I did do some segments in the high 280s.... it seems that might have been a bit more ambitious than I should have been near the top when I have not ridden this route in 3 months or so. I do think it might be time to start working on climbs again in Zwift. I have been playing on more flat routes and just enjoying some netflix. With winter coming, it might be a good time to start working on building up more climbing strength.
 
35km on the trails today. I had to stick to a very specific route due to wet conditions. Only a few trasils can handle bikes in the wet locally. Me and my 1 riding buddy help the pace pretty well through the cross country sections and it ended up being a very enjoyable ride. Winter can't get here soon enough! I love the dry trails and good visibility!
 
Anyone know how much of the Green Line is open these days? It's been almost a year since it got trashed by the typhoon. @stu_kawagoe, have you been up there recently?

According to this: https://www.toyota.co.jp/jpn/auto/passable_route/map/, the whole thing is passable, but I'm sceptical.
Some of it is open. This map is from July but I haven't seen much change in the bits of it I ride since then. Btw, any climbs that go up to closed sections of the GL are closed too AFAIK.

 
Four of us, led by Giant Amoeba himself, did this lovely route of his yesterday. Highly recommended -- except that the route up (and finally down) to Wada via Daigo rindō is a real mess (much worse than I'd ever seen it before), and while we were ascending it we encountered a group of men who looked as if they could be planning imminent fixes to its surface. I think it's likely that construction work will start there soon. OTOH no section of the road has fallen down the mountain; so even if there's construction work, the route should all be doable on their days off: sundays and holidays. (Uphill, I mean. Downhill, only if you're on a mountain bike, have nerves/gonads of steel, or simply are insane. Aside from the pointy little rocks strewn everywhere and the miscellaneous potholes and crevices, there are swathes of damp moss.)

But, great route. And note the little out-and-back to Ryōkoku-ya for lunch. Recommended: 天丼の小. You'll have a hill shortly after eating: 小 is ample; if you have the full-sized option your ascent will be ... gassy.

Of course, we all had to get to Takao for the start and return from Hashimoto at the end. Total for me was 158 km.
 
except that the route up (and finally down) to Wada via Daigo rindō is a real mess (much worse than I'd ever seen it before), and while we were ascending it we encountered a group of men who looked as if they could be planning imminent fixes to its surface.

Great riding with you, @microcord :)

Yes, daigo rindo is shattered right now:

s800.jpg


But on a positive note, I am wondering if after lengthy repairs the reopening of Rt70 from Miyagase to Yabitsu may be imminent. Notice the end date on this note posted near the road block fence after the campground:

s1024.jpg


s1024.jpg


Does that mean they're reopening it on Oct 1? :) That would make a lot of cyclists happy!

I had a great time riding after all the rain recently. And it was a good preparation for my 200 km brevet this coming Saturday, which we'll be riding
Flèche-style as a 5 person team riding together, in preparation for the real 24 hour, 360+ km Flèche two weeks later.

s1024.jpg


s1024.jpg


s1024.jpg


I picked up one tile near Aone and then headed to Miyagase to check out access for hiking to some VeloViewer tiles around there. So many tiles, so little time!

I finished the day's ride with 175 km though only 163 km was recorded. I have bought two new GPS units in July, both of which seem to have weird problems. So I recorded with RWGPS on the phone in parallel with the two units to test them, one on the handlebar, one attached to the seat post. Both units lost satellite lock, 50 and 52 km into the ride.

The RWGPS app on the phone kept recording, but without tracking location when when it was not awake. Normally it does that just fine. Only after I shut down a bunch of other apps also open on the phone did it manage to record properly in the background, but for the earlier sections it only gave me straight line distances between the points where I checked progress, hence the discrepancy (I figured out how much distance I lost by comparing with the route @microcord has sent me before). Perhaps those other apps open used too much memory so that RWGPS got booted when not active? Usually I am very careful to minimize having other apps loaded while recording with RWGPS, but not this time.
 
planning on doing my daily apple watch "close my exercise ring" biking tonight, making sure that my lights are ready. will probably wear my endura bike shorts and mtb jersey for the road ride for extra insulation.

dropped 2 kgs since i decided to tighten up on the meal portions while continuing the close my exercise ring challenge. want to be around long enough so that i could tell bad dad jokes to my kid.
 
that frog is flexible! funny how it should extend both limbs on one side when walking, don't think I've seen other animals do that
 
Back
Top Bottom