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Today Today - November 2014

You wouldn't even think of riding outdoors here today. First day of winter it seems. I want to re-do those 1 min and 15 sec intervals if I can. Then it will hopefully be time to ease off a bit...

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
Bizarre conditions on the river this morning. Fog so think I couldn't see more than 20m. I knew MPeek was out there somewhere because I could see some tracks out of the occasional puddle. The summer warriors have all but disappeared so I know it can only be "the machine" out there somewhere, pounding km after km in the fog. It felt a bit like I was in a Sherlock Holmes episode maybe "The mystery of the cat killer". After a lap or two I was wet, the killer hadn't been caught but I was wet, as in drips coming off the hat, front side in the rain wet. But my back was dry, and of course the ground was mostly dry too. Very strange indeed.

I had intended on some 5 or 10 minute intervals. Seeing @andywood getting into his PM and interval training has got me a bit more motivated to start doing something other than my 60 minute sessions that have dominated for the last few months. But alas, I didn't feel safe at all riding in the soup so just got on a rhythm and did my usual…. Another day….
 
Been passed the sign for this old Church many times but the road to it was rough so took MTB to have a look. Its the first place the pilgrims could see Mont Saint Michel coming from the north. Found nice forest trail afterwards.P13-11-14_09.32[01].JPG P13-11-14_09.41.JPG
 
Still out in shorts this morning, but I think today was the last day. Frost on the grass and a 2degC average ride temp….
 
Weather still bad here so took 700c winter hack for a spin. Everything fine - didn't really notice the extra weight and the only time having a 42 front chain ring was an issue was the 25% small climb up to my house. However I must have 2 sides to my brain a OK side and a STUPID side as every time I went to change the RD no problem, arm down the frame and change but every time I went to change the FD I still flicked my wrist :oops:.
Saw a brilliant BIKE CRIME - guy up ahead of me was on a full Time Trial bike and him with a aero helmet. I passed him at 31kph but the crime was he had one of those orange plastic lollipop things attached to his handle bars to tell the cars to give him room. :confused:
 
Lightning and thunder here, and of course rain, too. Same tomorrow.
 
Fujisan was poking her head out today...

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Riding back down Arakawa this morning, see a guy coming the other way, full carbon roadbike and nice cycling gear, pushing a decent pace into the wind and....a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Only in Japan?
 
I went for a second bike ride with my nephew Paul today. He's visiting from Germany and is staying with us until next week.

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He loved the TCC gear that I lent him for the ride.

Normally he cycles no more than 10 minutes to work on a 30 year old commuter bike, but a week ago I first took him on a 45 km ride on the Tamagawa on my wife's GS Astuto bike as a warm up.



On Thursday we drove up Fuji Subaru line by car. The weather was fabulous. Here you can see the Shizuoka coast line from high above:

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Kawaguchiko:

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Yamanakako:

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Today's bike ride was longer and more hilly than last week's Tamagawa ride, including one Yomiuriland climb for the view and then Onekansen to Machida, with a couple of Fuji views thrown in.

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We had a conbini lunch at a 7-11 on Onekansen, where we bumped into Keith (@zenbiker) and had a nice chat while sipping fresh coffee:

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I took my nephew to Cherubim bike shop in Machida, then showed him the neighbourhood in Aobadai where we had lived before moving to Tokyo. Outside our former home I met the couple again who had bought the house off us and talked for a while.

On the way back to Tokyo we saw a Japanese cyclist crash, hitting the kerb with his shoulder and tearing his shorts. It didn't look like he was ready to ride on. The motorist behind him stopped and later called an ambulance.

We got back home after 75 km with 600 m of climbing, which was a pretty nice effort for Paul considering his usual commute distance :)

What's more, I think he caught the virus: He says he wants to get a new bike next spring, as well as some Lycra!
 
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Just returned from rainy and bl__dy windy 100kms. My legs are shot.......:cry:
 
Hit a new climb, today, called 刈寄山 (Kariyose Yama), also known as Iriyama Pass (not sure why).
There's a quarry about 3km into the climb, until when the ascent is pretty sketchy as there are a profusion of dump trucks and narrow roads.
Once you get past the quarry, though, it's a cracking climb.

Also saw some rifle-bearing deer hunters on Umenoki Pass - a little unnerving that.

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Looks cool standing still but on the move I think the guy/gal would look un cool.
Left house in the dark and headed south. Very cold - could not get my legs warm, took almost 40kms before any kind of strength or feeling. So just sat down on all climbs but after coffee stop things improved. Total 103kms
 
Today I was going to nudge the missus to go over 100 km for the first time ever. (She'd already done 92km, twice.) But after 28km she felt a bit off and decided to turn back (by herself). I had no particular plan beyond the original one of Ōme, and was unhappy with what I was wearing: useless and mildly annoying tights and a thermally transparent top. And so I timidly decided just to go to Ōme and back. Ōme turned out to be full of life, celebrating the 120th anniversary of the railway with open concerts, theatre, chindon'ya and much more. I wish I'd known. Anyway, in anticipation of the cold and for decisive treatment (one way or another) of a mild intestinal disorder, I avoided the routine onigiri and bananas and instead treated myself to a sesame and cheese curry in Higashi Ōme. Yes, that fixed me! (Poot poot.)

Another 10 km downstream, and I came up on an elderly gent (I mean, maybe five years younger than me) who was proceeding slowly on a very new and shiny road bike with both its QR levers concave side out. I pointed this out to him. He knew as little about QR skewers as I know about, oh, spoke tensioning, cycle clothing, whatever. He was, or politely feigned to be, very grateful for my input.

And then I sped home, powered by curry (poot poot!). Well, "sped" by my standards at least.
 
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