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Today - May 2013

Nope, I got some "Sportful total comfort" shorts. Might get some Assos too but one step at a time.

Please be careful. I have an Assos top that I like, but I've tried two versions of their (bib) shorts and have just given them away. DHB and on a higher level PI do a much better job, IMO.
 
spot the difference :D

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One bike has an orange thingy sticking out at the front, another has a yellow thingy, and the third has an invisible one.
 
I think a certain level of dirt/funkiness is kind of liberating.

I saw a bumper sticker once: "A clean car is a sign of a sick mind." Maybe a bit strong, but I can sympathize with that view. Cars and bikes are for use on a road. They're meant to get dirty and they will, unless you treat them as exhibition pieces never to be used for their intended purpose.

Bikes are not like dinner plates that need to be spotless before every use. Yes, bikes ought to be cleaned and maintained, but within reason (e.g.a dirty chain leads to extra wear and tear, a dirty frame does not).
 
They're meant to get dirty and they will, unless you treat them as exhibition pieces never to be used for their intended purpose.

Yeah, that is how it works o_O...

An ultra high-end bike is to be cleaned and polished as often as physically possible and should never be ridden dirty. Ideally you need to start every ride with it polished to such a gleaming level, when you put your ear close to it, you can just about hear a super pure 20,000hz sine wave running across the surface of the paint. Not just me saying that; ask my fellow bike polishers, Saibot and FarEast. Both of them are not exactly what you would call shabby riders...
 
One bike has an orange thingy sticking out at the front, another has a yellow thingy, and the third has an invisible one.

Ha, and they all appear to have had the Giant and Rabobank stickers removed ;)
 
Yeah, that is how it works o_O...

An ultra high-end bike is to be cleaned and polished as often as physically possible and should never be ridden dirty. Ideally you need to start every ride with it polished to such a gleaming level, when you put your ear close to it, you can just about hear a super pure 20,000hz sine wave running across the surface of the paint.

OK, I'm now embarrassed about the condition of my new, 500 km old bike. I'm off to do some polishing.
 
Please be careful. I have an Assos top that I like, but I've tried two versions of their (bib) shorts and have just given them away. DHB and on a higher level PI do a much better job, IMO.
Thanks for the heads up. I hear that PI are good. The Dhb that I have are the cheaply cheap ones. They are ok but not half as good as the top of the range Dhb ones.
 
Yeah, that is how it works o_O...

An ultra high-end bike is to be cleaned and polished as often as physically possible and should never be ridden dirty. Ideally you need to start every ride with it polished to such a gleaming level, when you put your ear close to it, you can just about hear a super pure 20,000hz sine wave running across the surface of the paint. Not just me saying that; ask my fellow bike polishers, Saibot and FarEast. Both of them are not exactly what you would call shabby riders...

Couldn't have said it better! It won't let me click the like button twice!

Also these are racing machines; everything is in tip top condition inspected and then inspected again ready for their next race.
But I'm always alarmed when I go out on club runs with all the squeaks, clicks and other noises that a bicycle shouldn't be making coming from riders bikes - then they wonder why they have catastrophic failures midride.

I was asked in an interview what was my biggest worry when lining up on the start line of a race was? The answer was the guy next to me having a filthy bike. It's a sign of poor maintenance and lack of care or knowledge about the bike they are riding and a poorly maintained bike is a danger to the rider and others.

I was also taught to respect and maintain my equipment, it lasts a lot longer that way.
One bike has an orange thingy sticking out at the front, another has a yellow thingy, and the third has an invisible one.

Ahhhh the Garmin mounts by Raceware - actually those are prototypes made for me, the yellowish one used to be bright orange but has faded very quickly, the bright orange one is the MkII and the nylon that the 3D printer uses seems to hold the colour much better. The 3rd "invisible" one is actually my custom cyclocross bike, she is currently without a garmin mount as the last one got snapped at the final AJOCC race and the designers are fiddling around with a CX/MTB version.
 
Yeah, that is how it works o_O...

An ultra high-end bike is to be cleaned and polished as often as physically possible and should never be ridden dirty. Ideally you need to start every ride with it polished to such a gleaming level, when you put your ear close to it, you can just about hear a super pure 20,000hz sine wave running across the surface of the paint. Not just me saying that; ask my fellow bike polishers, Saibot and FarEast. Both of them are not exactly what you would call shabby riders...

So, tongue in cheek, these guys can hear --and identify-- a 20khz sine wave?!
 
So, tongue in cheek, these guys can hear a 20khz sine wave?!

No but my radioactive beagle can and he's been trained to do cartwheels when he hears it being imitated from the bike.
 
So I managed to get through almost the entire GW with now familial obligations taking my precious time, and then...

I roll into the house Saturday afternoon after my "weekend ride" and there they are, the in-laws.

Rushed cleanup and rest, shopping for a purse for the mother in-law, credit card/GW prize fiasco, dinner in a smoky izakaya, woke up at 6am and realized I forgot to take my kit out of the wash, and now being taken out for some soba at a place in Chofu!?!

Oh well I was "this" close to getting away with an in-law free GW
 
My son and I did some hill repeats at Nagaodai (長尾台). I was more interested in endurance than setting a new PR, going round and round without breaks, except one stop to refill water. Still, I took some satisfaction from the knowledge that my best of 10 rounds today on the Bike Friday was quicker than a certain Half-Fast rider's PR on that hill on his titanium bike :)
 
Ahhhh the Garmin mounts by Raceware

One of my only niggles with the Edge 705 is that I cant find a good "out front" mount for it. I've got this lovely new bike & the gps is held on with two ugly cable ties.
 
Another 2,600m climbed today...takes my total for Golden Week over 10,000m with one day left! The last climb was Mikuni which, no matter how strong I feel or how many times I've done it, is still a brutal ascent.
 
I feel like I've got great form right now. My best form ever? Certainly the best for the last few years.

The じょんのびTIME BBQ ride today. I don't have time to do the full ride. Just 30 km down the coast before a U-turn back.

Up - down all the way. I decide to race it. Full gas. With "Mr. Hillclimb" Murayama san and my training partner Nishihiro san in my draft, I feel highly motivated. I pull them the entire way. 180 HR on the ascents. 50 x 11 gearing on the descents. 36 kmph on a course with no flats.

I need to hold this form now for Tokyo~Itoigawa later this month...
Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
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