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Today - June 2013

Half-Fast Mike

Lanterne Rouge-et-vert
May 22, 2007
4,644
3,700
May total 895km in 39h50m of cycling. Not bad, since I knackered my knees in Golden Week and really believed I was in trouble.

Today: 181 km through the mountains with my Half Fast buddies (but not macrophotofly as he was too busy failing to load a route onto his GPS). 1700m climbing. Good start to the month!
 
Hit up Arime toge with Pete and the boys today. Once you clear tokorozawa it is a beautiful area to ride. Shame about the shit fight getting there though.

Power meter clapped out today, not sure what was going on weird all over the place readings. Then I dropped a chain half up the climb and knocked the magnet off. Oh well.

May was another 1150km month, happy with my improvements. Nothing exciting planned for June but hope for a few nice rides.
 
Today's race was very tough, Queen stage of the Tour de Kumano.


I went over the top of the mountain in the second group. My group had two of my team mates and we chased for 10km and finally caught them 2km from the finish line. At the 1km to go marker I attacked and pushed hard but the finishing line was on a hill climb. I crossed the line in 15th, very happy as it means I get 20 more points towards the series.

Finished with the same time as the winner so no Idea what the GC standings look like.
 
Finished off our Tokyo to Aomori ride with the Chromania Meeting at Towadako . It's 120km /2000m course with vintage riding group. Well Eric and I thought that putting number on the bike means 'race' , so we pushed at tempo from the beginning. Ended up just shy of 4hr 30min and 3 hrs ahead of the other riders. Oops. But an awesome ride and only small mishap to deal with. While waiting one of our friends , I also bandaged up a hs kid that got nasty road rash from a Belgian Alley of Death fall. Quite common on the frost cracked roads here. Tomorrow is my last ride in the series, another 120km w about 3000m to tackle. Enuff for this meta-phase!!
 
Finished off our Tokyo to Aomori ride with the Chromania Meeting at Towadako . It's 120km /2000m course with vintage riding group. Well Eric and I thought that putting number on the bike means 'race' , so we pushed at tempo from the beginning. Ended up just shy of 4hr 30min and 3 hrs ahead of the other riders.

120 km in four and a half hours? Steel is unreal! And you might have been helped a little by your carbon fibre rims. (Historically appropriate carbon fibre, of course.)

I took my own ManMoly bike on a Half-Fast jaunt and got clobbered by one hillock. I had to get off and push. Embarrassing! I don't know whether cycling is building up my muscles but it certainly builds up my appetite: I've had three beers today (one of them non-alcoholic) and the idea of a fourth seems very tempting (I usually have one per day); I asked for the most lavish spread at a local Indo-Nepalese joint this evening and then asked for a second nan.
 
Just got back from my massage - legs feel great and after today's incredible riding by the team we are all in high spirits for the "ski jump" 10km x 5 criterium lap around the port with a climb that basically looks like its nickname.

It will be brutal - will need to be up front for the 1st 2 laps as the climbers will try to drop the sprinters after that I'm hoping the pace will settle down.
 
For the last five weeks, garmin tells me roughly 8.25 hrs/wk of activity.

And only 46km today, but will probably do about the same tomorrow.
 
Got on the delivery bike today for a short trip around the neighbourhood, in ten minutes my shoulder as in pure agony. I ended up doing deliveries by 4 wheeled push cart. :oops:
 
My first ride with strava today - I can already see its going to be addictive..

A couple of strava related questions:
Is the elevation gain it records accurate?
And, next to a segment, I understand what the trophy with a number in it means, but whats the grey circle with a white number inside?
 
Is the elevation gain it records accurate?

Strava data is as accurate as the device it's recorded on. If the data comes off a Garmin or other GPS with barometric altimeter, yes then the elevation total is pretty accurate. If it comes off an iPhone or Android smartphone without barometric altimeter then no, it's not very precise. It could easily be inflated by 50-100%.

And, next to a segment, I understand what the trophy with a number in it means, but whats the grey circle with a white number inside?

You are probably talking about your second and third best results for a given segment and being the 2nd to 10th fastest overall on a given segment.
 
Actually I've been riding on 'the other carbon' which are wood rimmed wheels. So that makes it a little interesting. @FE awesome riding out there! Keep punching!

120 km in four and a half hours? Steel is unreal! And you might have been helped a little by your carbon fibre rims. (Historically appropriate carbon fibre, of course.)

I took my own ManMoly bike on a Half-Fast jaunt and got clobbered by one hillock. I had to get off and push. Embarrassing! I don't know whether cycling is building up my muscles but it certainly builds up my appetite: I've had three beers today (one of them non-alcoholic) and the idea of a fourth seems very tempting (I usually have one per day); I asked for the most lavish spread at a local Indo-Nepalese joint this evening and then asked for a second nan.
 
Spent 13 hours on a plane, so no cycling there. But did make me wonder what the pro riders do to keep their blood flowing during their long flights to races.
 
finished off the week just short of my weekly goal of 300km.... by 100m :confused:

I should have stayed on the course for another lap, but instead I did a wiggo. (Bailed for no decent reason)
 
First spill on the bike: riding along Edogawa riverside, I went round one of the barriers onto the dirt 'path' to avoid an old geezer sitting on the middle of the barrier and slightly blocking the gap between the two barriers there, which I usually use. But coming back onto the road I underestimated the height difference and trapped the front wheel against the edge of the road. In effect, I hit the kerb, just like every other time I've come off a bike…(I hate kerbs) and went flying.

Scraped my chin along the road surface, and, inevitably, I put my hands out to save myself. So my face now looks like a minor train wreck and my wrists hurt like hell. Only damage to the bike was the entire brake lever hitting the road and twisting inwards about 30 degrees.

Sorry to bleat, but I'm feeling slightly sorry for myself, and SWMBO is less than sympathetic as she's been negative towards the bike since I mentioned I wanted to get it.
 
ninjarider , I'm sorry to hear it. But tell yourself that you're young. Or anyway after I fall off I attribute my (fortunate!) failure to instinctively put out my arm to slow reaction times and in turn to old age. To SWMBO, start muttering hints of an interest in a more horrific alternative. I suggest motorbikes: as anyone WMBO knows, an accident on one of these will permanently cripple you if you're lucky and lead to amputation or brain death if you're not. And then of course buy SWMBO her own (push) bike.
 
There are a few old geezers who do that. They stretch or just sit right in the way and they never look round.
It's best to give a shout, whistle or ring a bell along that river. The paths are narrow and the geriatrics plentiful, I'm afraid. Next time you're out that way drop me a PM as I often bother the old folk, too.

Chicks dig scars.
 
Just finished the Tour de Kumano and what an amazing way to end the 3 days!

1st lap of the course I took the KOM with a sneaky attack nobody expected and then decided if i could get away and i stayed out for several km before the peloton reeled me in and that was the last time it worked as the climbers moved to the front and set a blistering pace. I settled in around 10th wheel and rotated through the front as the usual suspects set the pace.

Final 2 laps and the climbers ramped the pace right up trying to shake the strong sprinters off the back or sap our strength. 1km to go and at the 300m market I went and it soon became a 3 dog drag race we crossed the line in a blur, I knew I'd been pipped for 1st but not sure If I'd got 2nd and had to wait an agonising 15 minutes.

2nd!

So my results for 3 days

Stage 1: 4th
Stage 2: 15th
Stage 3: 2nd
 
Microcord, I'll skip the motorbike route…have done that before &, despite the odd hormonal moment when craziness takes over, I have no desire to do it again!

Musashi13, cheers, I'll take you up on the invitation to ride when the ache in my hands (and pride) have healed.

Despite the embarrassment factor on my roadbike, I was actually thinking of getting a bell, as there are so many occasions when it would be useful. But this particular old geezer had his iPhone earbuds in while he was relaxing on the barrier, so I doubt whether it would have made any difference…
 
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