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Today Today - February 2015

bloaker

Sincerely A Dick
Nov 14, 2011
3,643
5,770
Did another Miura loop after having just done one yesterday... same result... crushed by a girl! And several others.

Cut the ride off as I started encountering some knee issues whenever I was climbing.
Hoping/Guessing overuse since I did more this weekend than I have since November.
 
I was all set to join a short club ride out to Jonanjima, via Roppongi, using my carbon bike. I'm not confident enough on the fixie for Tokyo traffic yet.

By 200 m from home it was clear there was something wrong with my shifting; the rear derailleur wouldn't return. So I wobbled back up the hill, got the tool box out and set about fixing it. I didn't want to remove the bar tape unless absolutely necessary, so it was some time before I discovered the cause - the shift cable had started fraying inside the Ultegra lever. Internal cable routing on this bike = more complications. In all it took two hours to fix up and tidy up.

By now I had missed the club ride, so I headed out in the opposite direction - to Mt Takao for a late lunch of ramen.

I was planning to take the south route back home along the Yudono-gawa (You dunno? I dunno?) and so for the first time took the "Machida" turn after the expressway ramp. The ensuing tunnel is almost 2 km long and has a gentle downhill grade from west to east. With the wind behind me (a literal wind tunnel) I felt like a rocket, although only doing 40 kph.

A good start to February :)

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the shift cable had started fraying inside the Ultegra lever.

Was the fraying where the cable comes out the lever that you could see by pulling back the lever hood? Happened once with my 105 levers and bluebell's 105 levers as well.

Edit: Just remembered the cable can actually be threaded out the lever in two directions. Mine frayed with it placed on the right-side channel. Which one was yours in?
 
I was all set to join a short club ride out to Jonanjima, via Roppongi, using my carbon bike. I'm not confident enough on the fixie for Tokyo traffic yet.

By 200 m from home it was clear there was something wrong with my shifting; the rear derailleur wouldn't return. So I wobbled back up the hill, got the tool box out and set about fixing it. I didn't want to remove the bar tape unless absolutely necessary, so it was some time before I discovered the cause - the shift cable had started fraying inside the Ultegra lever. Internal cable routing on this bike = more complications. In all it took two hours to fix up and tidy up.

You missed a good ride with a good beer or three. (I only had one. August's IPA is excellent, and enough.) It would have been a good lead-in to Tokyo fixie-riding, too: on a two-speed, with freewheel.

The toughest part of the little ride was for me, as usual, the approach: Gotanda to Takanawa-dai. Younger bloke on very sporty bike overtakes me near Gotanda station ... I hang in ... we go up the hill ... I overtake him ... I then have to keep ahead all the way to Roppongi. Done! (Actually we both overtook somebody riding an Amanda, no less.)

Mentally, I'm a 12-year-old again, thanks to my bike. (Translation: I'm a retard.)

Returning, I was again overtaken by the sixty-year-old Borgward 1800 that often trundles along Nakahara kaidō. It has a 5 rather than a fifty-something license plate so it must have been here some time. And a little later, coming from the opposite direction, a RHD convertible from the late 20s, with a long bonnet: an Alvis or Invicta or something.
 
Was the fraying where the cable comes out the lever that you could see by pulling back the lever hood? ... threaded out the lever in two directions. ... Which one was yours in?
It was the right (outer) side. To my shame I haven't changed these cables in the bike since it was built in 2012. Tonight I'll change the other three.
You missed a good ride with a good beer or three. (...) It would have been a good lead-in to Tokyo fixie-riding, too: on a two-speed, with freewheel.
I have to grow my moustache, ironically, first. And buy a cheapshit trilby. Somehow I have the feeling that there will be largely similar HFC rides in the not-too-distant future.
Mentally, I'm a 12-year-old again, thanks to my bike. (Translation: I'm a retard.)
Inflammatory stuff. I know several 12-year-olds and only most of them are retards.
 
I planned to go to Boso peninsula today, but when my alarm went off and it was still dark and cold outside, I decided that more sleep was a much more enticing prospect.
3 hours later, when I did finally wake up, I decided a local ride would be enough. The wind was already blowing a hoolie from the North. So it was a case of slogging my way up to the Spaceship, turning around and bombing all the way back to Kasai Rinkai koen. It was my fastest run ever along the Arakawa and I was lucky there were no running races going on like last time. No drama or mechanicals, but my legs were fairly well done in by the end of the ride.
I felt fully justified ordering a large cake, oh yes.
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Training with power started in earnest today.

I'm using a friend's powertap until my 4iiii precision arrives in (hopefully!) March.

He's bought a stages which are finally being distributed in Japan from now by Intermax.

Just playing with the power meter on the rollers today. Trying to get a feel for what x no. of watts feel like.

http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time/2015/02/notes-to-the-coach.html

Early days for sure but I'm hoping training with power will take me that bit further this year.

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
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Some 90 km into my 165 km ride today I thought I was screwed (literally) and would have to go out again on a different, equally cold and windy February day to ensure my "one century ride a month" sequence continues for the 30th month. But the unexpected encounter with a 50 mm wood screw turned out less dramatic than I first thought. 10 minutes later the wheel was back on, with one of the spare tubes installed and the cuts in the tyre patched from inside using a piece of electrical tape (I always have one stuck to the seat tube for that purpose) and one sacrificial piece of the 3M reflective tapes I attach to the bike for visibility. It didn't give me any more problems for the rest of the ride.

It had left home at 07:35, found the TCC North Familymart near the Arakawa undergoing renovation and therefore grabbed some bananas at a Lawson a few hundred meters away.

Then up the Arakawa to Kawagoe into a fierce headwind. Various picture stops at temples and shrines there.

Then via Hanno to Oume, down the river to Kawasaki, U-turn at Rt15 and up into the wind again to Futakotamagawa and home to Setagaya.

Two pairs of socks (one of them merino wool) kept my feet mostly comfortable. The cheap conbini smartphone gloves under the Y's road fingerless gloves were also a good combination, combining the grip and padding of the cycling gloves with the warmth and phone usability of the smartphone gloves.

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Big mistake this morning... Before hopping up on the trainer for a little sweet spotting, I started youtube playing what I thought was the top 40 charts. Turned out to be Ella Henderson Ghost on replay with the same damn Benz ad squashed in the middle. Feck! Mouse was too far away and I wasn't willing to pause the workout so on and on she went for 47 minutes of aural pain.
 
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Is that rust or tar on the rim and spokes? Can I send you one of these? :p
View attachment 10058

If you think my bike is dirty, you should see my car! :p

It's not a dinner plate that I have to eat off, it's something that goes out on the road in (almost) any weather. Nobody should be surprised if it's dirty (though it will get cleaned at least once a month).

Good on you for doing 100kms more than me. What was the blossom?

I think plum blossoms. These are about the only blossoms you can see as early as this in the year. It always amazed me that you would find any kind of blossoms in what is supposed to be the coldest time of the year here, but that's the Kanto climate for you!
 
Cold morning this morning, rode out to the pre hill monomiyama for some loops, temp down to -6! didn't get above zero until over 3 hrs into the ride. No wonder my water bottle froze up. Still just in the dhb toe covers though, they really do a good job very impressed. Not so impressed with the dhb winter bib though. 1 and a half winters and it now resembles uniqlo "room wear".
 
Usual commute this morning had a bit of run in with the Fuzz. At the Shibuya scramble at around 8:15am, the police were doing traffic control, specifically targeting cyclists. They were asking the cyclists attempting to cross with the pedestrians to dismount and walk through. Even though I do go through the intersection at a slow jogging speed, fair enough. Did the whole gentsuki modped thing, walked across, mounted and off I went.

Didn't see the enforcement on Monday when I passed through at around at 7am. Maybe they were still trying to find a doughnut shop open in the morning.
 
Went for a ride down the arakawa last night when I got home from work to test my new lights. They lit up the road brilliantly and turned night into day. With them angled down ever so slightly, they enabled me to see perfectly whilst not blinding oncoming traffic/cyclists. It was a little chilly being out at 10:30 but by then end of the ride I was toasty warm. I might have to do more night rides from now on.
 
At the Shibuya scramble at around 8:15am, the police were doing traffic control, specifically targeting cyclists. They were asking the cyclists attempting to cross with the pedestrians to dismount and walk through. Even though I do go through the intersection at a slow jogging speed, fair enough. Did the whole gentsuki modped thing, walked across, mounted and off I went.

This is an excellent idea. The police should do much more of it, and indeed extend it. They should of course ask drivers of private cars (which aren't obviously less lethal than bikes) to do the same, no matter which direction the cars may be going. Arrive at a busy "scramble", get out of your car, push it across, get back in, drive away. Of course, those drivers/passengers unable to push, or unable to reach a brake (whether hand or foot) while pushing, should not be driving anywhere near "scrambles".

The car I'd especially like to see pushed is the Rolls-Royce Phantom. The chauffeur can sit in it to operate the brake; the passenger(s) can push.
 
This is an excellent idea. The police should do much more of it, and indeed extend it. They should of course ask drivers of private cars (which aren't obviously less lethal than bikes) to do the same, no matter which direction the cars may be going. Arrive at a busy "scramble", get out of your car, push it across, get back in, drive away. Of course, those drivers/passengers unable to push, or unable to reach a brake (whether hand or foot) while pushing, should not be driving anywhere near "scrambles".

The car I'd especially like to see pushed is the Rolls-Royce Phantom. The chauffeur can sit in it to operate the brake; the passenger(s) can push.
Why would you extend it to cars when the cars aren't crossing at the same time as the pedestrians?
 
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