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Today Today - January 2016

I joined the ritual New Year Yamanote ride today. Since I did half of the loop just to get to the meeting spot, I bailed out at Nippori, gave Arakawa a bit of smash and called it a day. Couple of selfies, to get the feel what it was like:

@Half-Fast Mike defying authority as always
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@Half-Fast Mike @half-fast asleep

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Decent bunch (by numbers alone)

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Thanks everyone for coming out, and great way to start 2016.
 
Just got back from a short circuit of western Setagaya ward. Almost no traffic at all on Setagaya-dori between Seijo and Kamimachi, and even the Kanpachi was
quiet - I wish it were so every night!
 
Finally finished all the maintenance work scheduled for the holidays. I fixed the lever position on the carbon bike, changed RD cable, serviced the headset and replaced the old, scratched bar-tape with the one I discovered with the help of @andywood couple of months back.

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Back then I bought it mostly for the looks of it, but after actually wrapping it I was so impressed by its quality and how good it felt that I ordered another one from amazon. It turns out, that was the last one they've had, and it's now sold out, so I'm doubly glad I stocked up on it. I used 5-6 different bar-tapes so far (fizik, canondale, bontrager etc.) on different bikes, some tapes I liked, some I didn't, but this one I positively love. So thanks again Andy, and I hope yours is serving you good too.

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Received a fit today from @ProRaceMechanic / Cycle Fit Japan and I'm officially a member of the cult. It'd be worth the money just to pick the man's brain about cycling.

One thing today's fit turned up is that my narrow shoes are slowly murdering me. Anyone here with wide feet have any recs? I hear Bontragers are nice...
 
I have Bontragers purely because the guy in Y's Shibuya who measured my feet suggested they made a wide fitting which I needed so you might be onto something. They have served me well in the year or so I have had them.
 
Along the Tamagawa this afternoon, the midges (or whatever they are) were out and about - it must be Summer already!
 
it must be Summer already!
I did a quick ride because the weather was so fine this afternoon, even though I planned to rest today. I tested this alleged January and the newly arrived summer kit. It felt perfect to ride in short sleeve jersey and shorts between 1 and 3 pm or so. I think we may soon only be able to get a taste of Japan's avowed "four seasons" in a pizzeria...
 
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Up the Edogawa and down the Nakagawa today.
Nippy in the morning but in shorts and a t-shirt on the way home.
Called in at the AEON mall in Kasukabe to catch the last day of UNIQLO's sale.
Unreal weather recently!
 
Dusted-off my fixie for the first un-derailleured ride of 2016 - around 70 km down and up the Tamagawa. Beautiful warm sunshine. I'm so glad I took a couple of extra days off work after the holidays.

My Stages Power Meter was working intermittently - mostly not at all. In desperation I put a couple of small leaves between the battery door and the battery, hoping that it would improve the contact. No problem after that.

Along the Tamagawa this afternoon, the midges (or whatever they are) were out and about - it must be Summer already!
Mask up, or enjoy the extra protein on the fly.


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This has been a great start to the year...
Jan 1st - Half-Fast Ride.
Jan 2nd - Mountain Bike Gaijin Ride
Jan 3rd - 2 hours hiking with my daughter and then 2 more hiking with my wife and daughter.
Jan 4th - Back off road showing a "new to the area" rider some of the local trails.

4 consecutive days outside??? This is the first time in a long time work has allowed this (even when on vacation!)

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Yep, out at 9am for a ride along the river wearing far too much.

By the time I left the river to head home I was fully unzipped to the summer base layer.

I got some Giro neoprene gloves at Crown Gears the other day (10% off sale on right now) and was very impressed at how they kept out the wind and cold until I realised there was no wind or cold to speak of.

The over indulgences of my time at home with the family away from work have left their mark. Time to start afresh.
 
I am so jealous! These last few days the weather has been beautiful. My bike has arrived from Taiwan, built and ready to go with the help of a little long distance troubleshooting. Took her out on the maiden voyage a few days ago towards Hachioji. It's heaven! But then again the last nice bike I had besides my commuter I have now was over 20 years ago - a steel framed bianchi with a campy group set. Man have things changed.

Looking forward to riding with y'all this year! Maybe I'll be KOM!!! Ha ha!

I have a different question, not sure if it is okay to post here or start a new topic. Let me know and I will change it.

I see that many post map routes using Ride with GPS. Is this the best app to use and did you buy memberships?
 
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The best way to do things is this...

1. Get a Strava account, to record all of your solo riding / group riding / KOM hammering
2. Use RideWithGPS for mapping; use the plotting system in RideWithGPS, save the routes then export to your Garmin, or sync with the RideWithGPS app for your phone. Do the ride, and follow the route you made on RideWithGPS. RideWithGPS has the best route mapping system out there, with loads of well coded features.

Also, I have integrated direct embedding of RideWithGPS maps into the TCC site, which is the standard method we all use when posting rides.
 
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