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Today - February 2013

My rule of thumb: 10m/s = ~22mph, ~20kt, or 36kph.

From that, you seem to have missed your last number, 54,000 meters/hour, which is 54kph, which fits perfectly with my rule.

I know but 15m/s is ..... oh sheet I was riding into a 54km wind on grass on a SS. Damn I'm hard, no wonder my legs are cooked. Don't know why I thought it was 25kms.
 
Yeah, wind on the 'back side' can be a bitch. ;)
 
Headed up river with Ben and Takaaki today. Heavy headwind up made for one long power interval back. Hitting the little ramps that support the gates on the river road at 55km/hr had me getting some serious air! Great fun!

It was definately the most insane run I've had to date, with my HR being over 170 for just about the entire 40km run home.

100km all up, thanks boys!
:bike:
 
About 13 hours and 177 km of fun in the mountains today. Setagaya-Machida-Sagamihara-R35-Tsuru-Doshi-Yamanakako-Gotemba-Odawara, my long ride for February. A few degrees above zero, ice in places but very enjoyable.

My first mountain ride with HR monitor. It encourages me not to be lazy on the bits that are not so steep or are slightly downhill. If this had been a real brevet, I would have had another half an hour to complete it, but 23 more km to ride, which means I would have been over the time limit. I guess I would have taken fewer pictures though and they are part of the fun.

Ride report with pictures here.
 
Work

Snow again in Bremen in the afternoon. Finished work on the brake conversion kit for my Basso Blue Track. Can be fitted and removed within less than ten minutes.

http://cyclitis.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/basso-blue-track-road/

small-1302-blue-basso-xy-f-1.jpg


small-1302-blue-basso-xy-s-1.jpg


Meanwhile Bitzrad finished his blue fixie conversion. No,these are not 20 inch wheels, this is a 64 cm frame.

1302-blitzrad-01.jpg
 
Mob - that's very neat! Saves wrapping the handlebars every time too. Great looking bike.

As for me - recovering from yesterday. First time this year to really put the hammer down on my mountainbike on one of the longer climbs, along with some very intense intervals to climb the super steep sections. The extra drag of a soft surface certainly requires more strength to overcome, and scrabbling up slopes in my lowest gear 22/32 pushes my heart rate to the limit!
But the downhill makes it all worth it :D:D:D

AW.
 
10 minutes on the exercise bike at physio at 80 cadence.
Not a problem at all after raising the seat.
Can now get on the trainer at home...felt good and the legs knew what to do.

On the way home from there however I got a 7000 yen fine....

For those of you who have recently gotten their driver's license in Japan....

A question:

When you got your driving license, was being able to read the kanji on signs in the street a part of the test? I just got busted for turning right into a street that has this tiny tiny (go straight arrow ) sign with another smaller sign in kanji attached under it that says 'turning right prohibited'. Not only was the sign small....it was about 30 feet above the ground...unlit and it was about 5 minutes before sunset...... The cop was shaking as he gave me the ticket as he knew he was being a ....

I feel like complaining as the signage is inadequate. The cops know that as well. Just a bloody taxation collection station.
The funny thing is, this is on my yoruren course and cars turn right here all the time...as I have for years.... I'll never get a gold license in Japan...my last ticket was last February for a red light...
Can'ts.
 
When you got your driving license, was being able to read the kanji on signs in the street a part of the test? I just got busted for turning right into a street that has this tiny tiny (go straight arrow ) sign with another smaller sign in kanji attached under it that says 'turning right prohibited'. Not only was the sign small....it was about 30 feet above the ground...unlit and it was about 5 minutes before sunset...... The cop was shaking as he gave me the ticket as he knew he was being a ....

I had my license converted from a US one to Japanese. I memorized the signs and kanji just in case it came up on the written test.

I got stopped a few times at various traps while still in the international license. I got away with it by saying "Nihongo taberemasen". :) Sorry, I have no good suggestions other then to get an updated car navi that understands all the rules. The navi I have understands what hours it is okay to make turns or go through certain streets.
 
Post fit, new cranks, shake down ride...

Got in a few kms to start my adjustments to the new set up.
I in 15kms, I had a few burning muscles in new places. Not a bad/painful burn, but more of -'oh, you want to use this muscle now' type burn.

The good news, I found a 'wife friendly route' to a few new places, so she is ready to ride around a bit. The weather could not have been better this evening.
 
10 minutes on the exercise bike at physio at 80 cadence.
Not a problem at all after raising the seat.
Can now get on the trainer at home...felt good and the legs knew what to do.

On the way home from there however I got a 7000 yen fine....

For those of you who have recently gotten their driver's license in Japan....

A question:

When you got your driving license, was being able to read the kanji on signs in the street a part of the test? I just got busted for turning right into a street that has this tiny tiny (go straight arrow ) sign with another smaller sign in kanji attached under it that says 'turning right prohibited'. Not only was the sign small....it was about 30 feet above the ground...unlit and it was about 5 minutes before sunset...... The cop was shaking as he gave me the ticket as he knew he was being a ....

I feel like complaining as the signage is inadequate. The cops know that as well. Just a bloody taxation collection station.
The funny thing is, this is on my yoruren course and cars turn right here all the time...as I have for years.... I'll never get a gold license in Japan...my last ticket was last February for a red light...
Can'ts.

Yes you do- and one of the ones they really pay attention to are the turning and time restriction signs.
 
There were about 30 signs you had to memorise for the test - right now I don't have digital images of them.

Oh and can someone resize MOBs last image, not all of us are using 8640p monitors.
 
No,these are not 20 inch wheels, this is a 64 cm frame.

They measure about 20 inch across my monitor, with the picture posted at that kind of resolution! ;)
 
changed the wife's front tube on her mtb and the tube had an english/dunlop valve (we don't have this from where i came from). being an idiot, i over inflated the tire before i actually installed it on the rim (to prevent the tube from twisting once it is on the rim / within the tire). fortunately i was still able to put the tube in without problems ;) now my question is, how do you let air out of woods/dunlop valves? do you unscrew the top ring? i actually did that in an effort to let air out but nothing actually happened:confused:
 
http://www.police.pref.shizuoka.jp/e-html/yobu-1-h.htm

They are all over the internet... I used a test set provided by a driving school (purchased it Yahoo auction for a fraction of the price)

Not sure about the 'conversion test' - it's apparantly just a few questions and very easy. And passing score is 7/10. Probably the same required for Nuclear Reactor Operators or Homer Simpson.

The real Japanese Driver's Test (the one I took) comes in either Japanese or English. First you need to pass a provisional written - it's like 100questions and passing score is very high. Then you need to take provisional practical , if you pass, then you get a provisional license. After practicing this - then you are allowed to take the second written (250 questions ??) and regular practical.

Another option is sign up for a Driver's School . Then you pay about 500,000 yen and you are pretty much guaranteed to pass cause you don't have to deal with the regular Japanese Traffic Police Examiners - just the Driver's School 'Authorised' Examiners. Since you paid alot of money - unless you really can't drive at all, they pass you. The only thing you need to do at the License Bureau then is take the regular written.

I've heard that they (Driver's Schools) now offer a special 'Lapsed Conversion' course for those people who's driver's license in their homelad has lapsed - so they can't convert it. This is kind of a shortcut course. You get the Driver's School to sign off on your practical and then just take the written at the License center. I guess this course is about 200,000 yen.

You don't really need to read Kanji. But it doesn't hurt. Especially for the 'standard license' process. Conversion test is so stupidly easy you actually have to try to fail it.



There were about 30 signs you had to memorise for the test - right now I don't have digital images of them.

Oh and can someone resize MOBs last image, not all of us are using 8640p monitors.
 
how do you let air out of woods/dunlop valves? do you unscrew the top ring? i actually did that in an effort to let air out but nothing actually happened:confused:

:D Another victim of the
United%20Kingdom.gif
英式
United%20Kingdom.gif
conspiracy.

Note also that you can take the valve apart: remove the ring and pull out the piston. There's a little replaceable rubber sleeve in there on the piston, called mushi-gomu (むしゴム). They don't last forever - YMMV depending on the quality/origin of the rubber. So if you experience slow air leaks but there's no discernible puncture, try replacing the sleeve. A little spit goes a long way when doing this.
 
:D Another victim of the
United%20Kingdom.gif
英式
United%20Kingdom.gif
conspiracy.

Note also that you can take the valve apart: remove the ring and pull out the piston. There's a little replaceable rubber sleeve in there on the piston, called mushi-gomu (むしゴム). They don't last forever - YMMV depending on the quality/origin of the rubber. So if you experience slow air leaks but there's no discernible puncture, try replacing the sleeve. A little spit goes a long way when doing this.

thank you sir, so those are the little rubbery things that I see on the bicycle supply store! yes, i actually pulled it apart and found the rubber is torn, it looks like i could have salvaged that old tire by just replacing that but it is ok, you learn something new everyday :)
 
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