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Today - March 2011

ProRaceMechanic

Maximum Pace
Dec 31, 2009
907
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It was one of those days that start out with nice weather and as soon as your far away from your house the rain and wind start to pick up. "IS THAT ALL YOUVE GOT" I yell to the sky as I grip my drops and grit my teeth. I found a narrow road leading up to a skeet shooting range near Tatsuno that was steeper than most of the roads in my area besides the fire road next to the ski hill. It HURT soooo good. After the climb I ventured further inland and found some obachans viewing some yellow flowers blooming. I bought some super danky little snack cakeys and a hot ocha and made my way trying to take the most indirect way home.
I have not been bothering with my computers yet this year I have just been logging time and today was a four hour day. I cant wait til sunday I am gonna go for 5 hours I felt so good today! :bike:
 
After a month long break from cycle I came to the univ. by bike. No problems in the knee yet, though I pedalled lightly.

...time to go back and its raining :(
 
Did a delivery to my new customer, a bit out of our regular range for deliveries, not far, but down a steep hill. When I left, it was NOT raining, when I got there it sure was :confused: I put the Schwalbe Marathon plus tires on this bike, they have quite a heavy tread pattern, almost for a dirt road, anyways, they SUCK in the rain, I'm going back to the skinnier slick tires, the slicks have WAY more traction. Downhill with a trailer at about 150lbs if I hit the brakes, especially the rear brake, it would lock up and then the back end of the bike as pushed sideways by the weight of the trailer.

Other than that the delivery went fine :D
 
Two flat tyres...

... only one spare. Both tubes torn up beyond a patch, 3 km walk to train station, a good rain to add to the fun and a costly trip home. Nice guy at a surf shop kept an eye on the bike 'til I got back to pick it up. Still, it was a good ride while it lasted!
 
... only one spare. Both tubes torn up beyond a patch, 3 km walk to train station, a good rain to add to the fun and a costly trip home. Nice guy at a surf shop kept an eye on the bike 'til I got back to pick it up. Still, it was a good ride while it lasted!

Wow, that sucks, what did you run over?

I keep one spare new tube and a patch kit on each bike, but I've never (touch wood!) had a run of luck like that!
 
Easy mate!

Had a blast with my new stem today.
Very nice.

Come on now, Owen! This is a family forum we run here.
We ALL have fun with our stems, but none of us brags about it.:eek:
 
Pinch flatted at least once hitting a grate in the road. Traffic was tight and there was no way to avoid it. Tyre went flat immediatly. No idea the second one.
 
What a difference...

...a day makes; no rain, no flats, and get this, I found 100 yen on the side of the road!
 
The usual swim this a.m., then out on my tourer for 2011's virgin ride.

Unfortunately, more flurries due this coming week... :(
 
Darndest thing

Today saw a gaijin on a titanium-framed bike but with no chain or rear derailleur being towed through Shinjuku by his gaijin buddy, the latter on a titanium fixie.

Wonder what the story is there :eek: I bet it involves beer and gravity.
 
Sunday

So, with the Timtanium Road Warrior out of action for a few days due to a marmalized derailleur hanger, I cleaned up the Faded Felt carbon and took it out for a spin - must be the first time for six months as that's how long ago I 'lost' the iPhone headset that I found again in the bike's frame pouch.

As a result of Tim's very thoughtful consideration of my riding style, i.e., erratic, the bottom bracket of the TRW is somewhat higher off the floor than in most modern production road bikes. I had definitely noticed more clearance when pedaling through corners at obscene speeds and cants, but only really appreciated the difference when I tried to ride the geometrically 'normal' Felt. Grounded the pedal three times - the first one while dancing around pedestrians on a slippery Shibuya zebra crossing! Schlipppp... :eek: Managed to keep it all upright though.

Later on, one of those nice taxi drivers decided he wanted to park in the same bit of road (lane two, if you please!) that I was using at the time. :mad: Hmm...

taximirror.jpg


Wonder how much they cost. They make a delightful crunching sound when they part company with the rest of the car.
 
New Personal Best

Nikotama, Tachikawa, Route 16 to Arakawa to the end, then to Tokyo station and back to where I came from. 176km Total. I feel like I can go anywhere now. Yeah!
 
Not much cycling today :(

Just serviced two of my three Mavic Ksyrium Elite freehubs. Very satisfying. They don't seem much quieter, but *I* know that they're clean inside.
 
3 Foot Rule?

I am new to being on the road, on my bike here, and so far have not noticed any enraged drivers touch wood), compared to Western standards, anyways..., but have noticed, for example, while on Routes 1 and 246, that cars do not hesitate to get pretty close. I am big, and wear a bright yellow reflective vest and use my front and rear lights, even during the day to help be visible/stay alive, but was wondering what the rules were here about getting close to cyclists. Is there a three centimeter rule here, in that regard? No rule at all? How does it work?
 
Nice cool morning here, low 40's, as usual first thing in the morning, when I'm still stiff and hardly awake and climbing on my bike, the weak, fat part of my mind says "Drive your motorcycle, take the trail, jump in a cab...." but I tell that part of me to go back to sleep :p I tell myself that I'll go easy, just take a nice smooth pace, not too quick, but enough to keep me warm, I notice I'm going along at a nice gentle pace of 28Km/h 17.5mph.... I think, I can maybe keep this up for most of the ride.... :D I have a slightly new route to the hospital, it is shorter by about a kilometer (6/10th of a mile) but has two more hills, not big hills, but enough that I get my HR right up there and I get to burn my legs until they hurt :rolleyes: for a short time anyway. My rolling times to the hospital (time that my cycling computer records as the bike is moving) have gone from 25 minutes at the beginning of last fall to 15:00 flat today :) I know I can beat that, because I did not pedal at all on any of the descents, I just sat up and enjoyed the ride, if I put the bike in the big ring and push, I can shave off more time. The thing is, the time is not the most important thing anymore, yes it is a gauge on how I'm doing, but what has become more important to me is the accents and the bigger gear I can push, and how long I can push it, before my legs go rubbery. Understand these are short rides, so I try to get the most out of them by going flat out, by pushing as hard as I can. This is certainly NOT hard compared to many, or MOST here, but I'm sweating buckets, my HR is way up there and my legs are burning that good burn of hard work.

Back to my ride....
Then it happens, I'm just tooling along thinking that 28Km/h is a good pace, then some spandex covered matching outfit $3000+ carbon fiber skinny little cyclist blows by me like I was parked having a big mac (No one here I think...?) Well, that will not do, I take off after him the best I can. I guess in a way I'm like a dog chasing cars, I know I'll never really catch these guys, they are levels upon levels above me in skill, fitness, and equipment, I mean really most of them are wearing clothing that cost more than my bike, but I guess I like the chase :D Now I look down and I'm doing 35km/h 21.75 mph that is fast for this old fat guy on a MTB :eek: I chase him for about 5 minutes, then he makes a light and I don't...... thank goodness :warau::warau::warau:

I pull into the hospital, and check my rolling time, 15:00 flat, wow, that is like 10 minutes faster than when I started to go to the hospital to begin my cancer treatments, now two surgeries, two rounds of treatment, and 5 months and I'm just getting stronger.
On the way home I make sure that I pick the route with more hills, I do my best to pound up them in as high a gear as I can keep a good cadence up, I get home and I'm soaked in sweat, my lungs are burning from breathing so hard, my heart is pumping and I've got a big fat smile on my face.

It is wonderful to be alive and to live life.

Cheers!
 
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