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Today - August 2012

theBlob

Bokeh master
Sep 28, 2011
3,014
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Nothing special, 815km last month after a slow start. Most of it done down at the Arakawa TT track.

This month I would like to spend some more time in the mountains.

Today was 45km, Spinning in a high gear for 2km followed by a 2km of 52/14 interval. Legs are feeling it this afternoon, but it felt good to be out in the wind, I am getting soft just following my other morning speedsters...:D
 
Until yesterday I though I needed 70 km on Mon and Tue to beat my second best monthly distance (March) in July. Being a sucker for numbers, I did 26 km on Monday and another 50 km on Tue (at around 33 degrees).

Later I found some bad data for March, as I had built a tool that merges split GPX log files into a single file (for example, if you have to restart recording to change a battery or to work around a Garmin bug). I had uploaded the merged log for one Tomin no mori trip but forgotten to delete the partial logs, so the distance was double counted.

After correcting that oversight my July total (832 km) is actually 134 km ahead of the real March total (698 km) :)
 
A bit delayed at the start, but managed to get a 150km Greenline loop in with Pete. Weather is stilla bit on the toasty side. In 6hrs riding went through 8 bottles of water - not counting 3 conbini stops to cool down. Average to moderate pace worked well, especially after the weekends brutalizing - my climb rate is still fine from day to day, and that's mainly what I'm monitoring. I call it the 10/10 marker. Sustain 10kph @ 10% or greater. If I can't do that - then I know my recovery is not going well, conditioning low, etc. So, now I can get my 10/10 even after 6 or 8hrs and drop 3 gears and punch out 60s - 2min @70rpm standing. This next week is simply tire hiki, intervals and maybe one or 2 more 150km hilly ride. Then off to France! Oh, yeah, my tires came in yesterday - yey! Veloflex Extreme. These are handmade in Italy by the original Vittoria factory staff. Kinda like the difference of getting a Cannondale US model and a Chinadale. Same unit - but there is that iota of attention and difference. I love Vittoria and use them as my main 'go to' for just about everything except heavy training tire - then I use Gatorskin. But the VF's are a next world apart in suppleness and smoothness. 350TPI and sooo round. You can't measure a tire's performance only by Cdd. How it actually rides is very important. I used to ride old Clement Criterium Seta as my favorite tire - it seems they've resurrected it - and I'm trying to get them, too - but until then, the VF's are it ....

Thanks Pete! The traffic on the way back was horrid - I think we were both ready to go Postal - especially on the idiot honking at us AND reading a manga while driving!
 
Amazed at how many people are at Komazawa koen at 06:30 in the morning. I would say it was just as busy with runners, cyclists and pet walkers as in the evening. On the plus side, didn't see anybody texting on or near the cycling course in the morning. Cycled for about an hour before the family got up, mainly to work on my speed.

Must make a habit of ensuring the Strava app is not just running and locked into satellites, but also counting seconds before heading out and cycling 25 km... :p
 
just got a call from good myx yokohama and felt a bit sad that they couldn't take out the last pivot bolt and change the bearing on my intense uzzi vpx. looks like this is a known problem with this model, plus the fact that i didn't change bearings for 6 years! told them to destroy the pivot pin (felt weird saying "kowashite kudasai") as this was the advise from intense in temecula, california (and the pivot bolt is cheap at 2500yen plus shipping). was ready to assemble the bike again as i have bled the brakes, changed fork oil and bought new cranks but it was not to be, at least not yet. the shop is asking for more time and told them that i am not in a hurry. hoping to hear some news from them soon!

overall, i'm still very happy with the service, they changed the rest of the bearings without any fuzz and bought new blue odi grips (on sale at 500yen!)
 
dreaming of Hokkaido

Geez, it's hot... The a/c in my office has been out, and it's been 33 or so there for the last ten days--six offices affected. Repair has been tried, unsuccessfully, and the word is some new equipment will be installed, but that will take a couple weeks.

Yeah, dreaming of Hokkaido!
 
Lots of deliveries today as well, on my 4th litre of water and third shirt, this is just stupid! :warau:
Busy weekend, we have the Bon Ohdori festival, we sell draught beer in the park, four long hot sweaty days ahead!:eek:uch:

Hydrate people!
 
Speaking of deliveries.....



Unpacked my TCC kit. Sweet! very happy. Next hurdle, try it on. :eek:

Also, got package of stuff I ordered months ago.... was some Kapelmuur cycling kit that I liked, was sent to me in London. No notifications in London, but after calling to track down the EMS package, I apparently owed 40 quid in customs/etc. charges (i can't read the breakdown, they put another sticker over the detail).

Anyway, let them send it back. Just got it today! yeeha!

:bike:
 
Cycle shop relay...

I set out today, with one goal in mind: Buy new shoes!
I started off at Y's Road, Ueno. They had a good selection, but alas, nothing in my size.
Next, Nalsima near Aoyama. I tried on 5 different shoes - Mavic, Shimano, Sidi - all of them either a bit too wide, or a bit too tight, or a bit too ... something else.
After all that, I doubled back to Y's Road in Akasaka (actually, Tameike-Sanno), but it looks as if they're trying to get out of the shoe business - They only had a tiny range left, all at heavily discounted prices. Definitely getting rid of the last of their stock.
Finally, I remembered that there was a big Y's in Shinjuku - I had never been there before, but I decided to check it out.
I had heard rumors that some of the staff in one (or a few of) the shops around there weren't too helpful - That must be in the past, because I got great friendly service, and smiles all round.
In the end, I picked up a pair of these:

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Shimano R241

And I ended up with another 30 cross-town kilometers.
 
I've been bumped from last position to last

We've talked about the provocative notifications that Strava sends you when you lose a KOM to another cyclist. It looks like RideWithGPS is trying to do one better than that, because they sent me this email today:

dirtychain007 just unseated your ranking! You are now 12th on Otarumi Pass from Takaosanguchi Family Mart

Uh Oh! Joe Wein, you have been unseated!

dirtychain007 has just ranked 11th and has bumped you to 12th. You better get back out there!

Thanks for Riding With GPS!

I checked the details of the rankings: Until yesterday I was last on that climb (#11/11, 2:37 slower than #10/11). Today I am still last, but by not quite as much (#12/12, 2:00 slower than #11/12). Yeah, I better have another go at defending my ranking! :p:p:p
 
With almost civilized temperatures outside, Alex K and I headed up Shiraishi, and back down the greenline. Fortunately someone has flagged the Shiraishi segment as hazzardous so now no-one will be able to tell how much he walloped me up that hill!

I got my revenge getting on the train though, I was much faster getting my bike in the rinko bag. Of course I had a material advantage as he was wrapping his bike in plastic bags and gum tape:D

Good times!
 
Back from a business trip, a bit jet-lagged so a short ride this afternoon for me. Only 50 km but in Hakone, so lots of climbing. Also got to sample Route 75 with almost 1,000 m uninterrupted descent :) woooooo!
 
Got caught in a sudden downpour during a ride this afternoon. Took shelter at a bus stop until it eased up a bit, but ended up with sandy water all over my back as I hadn't reinstalled the mudguards yet (spoilt by too much sunny weather!). Decided to turn back to get the mudguards.

Washed the jersey and headed out again 1 1/2 hours later. 45 km in 1:50, most of it along the Tamagawa between the R3 and Chuo expressway bridges. Set a new PR on an 11 km segment there, now #29/111 which is an unusual part of the Strava table for me :)

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My son invited me to a 66 km ride mostly along the Arakawa for tomorrow.

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Very sunny both yesterday and today--a couple easy, early rides. The coming few weeks are very light ones at work, will see how many days I can string together. (Also, the pool is open daily at 1, for some midday activity.)

Leaving it in direct sun is also an excellent aid in proofhiding a Brooks. A couple very thick coats on the underside yesterday soaked in in no time, and I just did another. Of course the top, too, but even in the sun that's not near as porous/thirsty as the bottom.
 
Another short one, only 80 km, but in this heat that's enough for me. Back up route 75 to Ashinoko, brief stop for some delicious ice-cream, along the loch-side and up Nagao-toge, then Otome-toge and doooowwwn to Odawara. Surprised the driver of an AC Cobra by keeping up on the Nagao-toge descent :) and finished with pizza & a glass of wine.
 
Squeaking a few more tempo rides in before the HR. Today went up Tomin No Mori w/ Eric. Of course once the hill started, then our plan for a moderate tempo was blown and off he went! I sat back a bit knowing there's nothing I can really do when the road is only 3-6% except suffer without gain. The heat and last few km at over 8-12% are my vindication points. So, I just gritted through the first section and then at the onsen turned up the throttle. Hop skotched a bunch of riders - it's always easier to climb hard when you have people to overtake, IMO. Including one HS student that was a bit flustered when I went by him, then he launched a short counter attack, which I responded by giving him a 250m thrashing out of the saddle. Finished at the top hot and ready for some mango ice cream! We ha d agreat descent until Eric slid out on one corner. Luckily everything is OK except for some road rash and bruises. That slowed our pace returning - but probably for the best as the heat was quite fierce.

I managed to break 60min on the Tomin No Mori ascent (finally) and was pretty happy to do it without <really pushing> hard. Goal of this ride was to keep at sub-LAT the whole way and focus on consistency and relaxed riding over the whole route. Now I feel more confident about coming into form for week after next Le Grand Adventure - The Haute Route! Gotta couple of more longish rides planned mainly to taper-in to form and build up pre-event muscle and glycogen stores.
 
Today I added a lace up mod to the Tioga Cocoon. (see attached image) Now I can leave both the rear wheel and rear rack on when I use the trains.
 
Nice work, Jack! I like the Cocoon but it seems Tioga has made it increasingly smaller and less useful. Just adding back a little more fabric is good idea.
 
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