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Today Today January 2017

Yeah, a face mask of some description is required for these early mornings. At -5 any skin showing will be numb and uncomfortable pretty fast.

Having had a very lazy Xmas and New Year, I decided I need to get fit. I started running last week but managed to pull my calf muscle on Saturday. Yesterday I decided to change my routine quite a lot. Now the plan is to wake up earlyish (6:30) throw on my cycling clothes, eat a banana and get on the bike by 7:00. Home by 8:25. Tried it this morning and really liked it. No faffing about in the morning and gives me plenty of time after the ride to walk my dog who had endless energy and has a VO2 max that would put Froome to shame ;)

Think I'm going to enjoy this routine even though I though my nose was going to fall off just after hitting the river.
 
Because "why not?"
My buddy Ray and I found a fun little pump track kinda thing high in the hills with Yokohama, Tokyo, Tokyo Bay, Boso, etc as a backdrop. We didn't ride for long, but had a blast in a little 8km ride.

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Snowing, down to just below freezing, and a little windy.

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I'm sure Andy, up the way, has about the same thing.
 
Not exactly snowshoeing and no mountains here. But we've got some snow as well. Roads were just good enough for a spin. It doesn't really feel like training, but we had good fun.
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Today I hopped on the MTB again, but with the goal of going down a trail head I have not been down yet.
The only problem... I have to do a lot of climbing to get to it. The other issue... there is a great trail near it.
The reason I have not gone down this one is because the other one is so good.

Now I know... keep going down the other one. But I was able to snap a few shots with the phone while I was exploring.
My legs are screaming now whenever I get on the bike because they are just not used to riding 4 days a week.

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Been sticking to my early (for me) morning 40km rides. It's not easy getting out of bed and stepping into the freezer when my bed is so toasty. My Garmin has shown -6 and -5 a few times but after 20 mins, I tent d to warm up.
One thing I have noticed is that riding in the winter is much slower than riding in the summer. Feels like I'm riding through syrup at times. And I don't like all the layers I wear as they get in the way somewhat. Really looking forward to the warmer weather. Hopefully these winter base kms will help me get some kind of form for Spring. The fear of indoor trainers is incentive enough to get out in the cold ;).
 
My legs are screaming now whenever I get on the bike because they are just not used to riding 4 days a week.
What are they screaming, "get out there 7 days a week or we walk away"?


The fear of indoor trainers is incentive enough to get out in the cold
Hear, hear. I second this. Had one of those and used it a total of 3-4 times only. Not for me, when there is outdoors. If we were somewhere colder fine - but Tokyo winter? Pffft
 
What are they screaming, "get out there 7 days a week or we walk away"?
My rides lately have felt like more climbing than descending. On a MTB, that isn't fun!
I have climbed 6500m this month and that is 2000m more than last year this time and almost 5000m more than the year before.
As my kid is getting older, I am getting back on the the bike more and more, but my brain seems to be more optimistic than my legs!
 
Had a shirt drop out of my rear pocket and got entangled in the drivetrain tonight. Got hot in the jacket, so I've taken it off and tied the sleeves around my neck leaving the rest dangling behind - and this is the result. A nice shirt ruined - it was just next to a convini so easy to dispose of the greasy mess right there.

That aside, the RD is out tune now. Nothing looks bent or strange, but as the shirt forced the chain to the lowest sprocket, it now shifts back only 6 gears up the 11 speed cassette. Basically, the shifter hits the lowest (easiest) gear and can't go further when the chain is only at the 6th smallest cog. How does one fix this? I guess I'll try removing the cable, and indexing the thing from the scratch from the lowest cog up... In any case, I put aside Friday as a running day anyway this week, so tomorrow is off the bike.
 
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In January, I have one bike hooked up to a trainer and one bike gathering dust.


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My commute is a run each way.

Yesterday was the full monty winter gear, boots and all...

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Sunshine today cleared the roads. Still wet. But a chance to strip down and run in trainers....

Tomorrow the roads will be dry... so a chance for rubber to hit tarmac....

Get on it!

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
@andywood Nice, that's proper winter, not what we have down here! I've started running home from work recently too. Once a week, 15 km. In trainers of course :) Shuffle the old bones a bit. Good workout, running.
 
@andywood Nice, that's proper winter, not what we have down here! I've started running home from work recently too. Once a week, 15 km. In trainers of course :) Shuffle the old bones a bit. Good workout, running.

Yes, a great workout indeed. It's probably my least favorite form of cross training but plenty of bang for the buck!

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Flew up the coast today. Literally flew. Such was the wind.

Riding the wind on the first leg of an out and back course is dodgy. Dancing with the devil. The further you go, the more fun. But the more you'll suffer later.

Resisting temptation, I turned inland after an hour to ride home. Inland is colder, wetter, but maybe some respite from the wind.

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But what a wind! I was at a standstill at times. Never had anything like it!

A quick play with the Garmin.

The last thing you want to look at is speed. Power and cadence. Resist the urge to grind it.

After endless nights in the garage I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Even a snow storm at the end didn't dampen my spirits.

A rest day tomorrow. Another base ride or snowshoe planned for Sunday...

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
Managed to get out this morning as planned despite a big booze session on Saturday.

Maybe my dad is right and Guinness really is good for you.

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If these two weren't waiting at the 7-11, I probably wouldn't have crawled out of bed.

We rode really well today. 4 hours of zone 2 base training. They dropped me off home before doing a bit more...

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I took the boys skiing.

Lucky to have a beautiful day like this in January.

I got another good week of training in and wrote about it here:

http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time/2017/01/the-magic-number.html

Not long till spring!

Andy

http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
I love winter, love the feeling of getting up early and on the saddle. The cold feels great, and it feels even better once warmed up. But then again I was raised in a part of the US where the temps were well below zero and no matter what we skied or skated just to get out of the house.

Putting in some good kilometers and maintaining a nice fitness base with some climbing reps and did some speed work yesterday. Also putting in some LSD and just enjoying the beautiful scenery outside of Tokyo.

Hope to see some of you on the road.
 
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