Today Today - October 2013

[joewein]

I didn't quite match @Half-Fast Mike's August distance in September, but 1418 km is my biggest monthly total since high school days.

October will be very different, as I'll be gone on a business trip for a week and I'll be gone for two of the weekends, but that's OK. I can still enjoy myself. I may just have to do some running while I'm out of the country.

The two year anniversary is coming up for my bicycle and I should be able to do another nice anniversary ride, like last year.

 

[Sibreen]

Only 570km for me in Sep due to broken rear wheel and no rides longer than about 50km.
New wheels installed now (will update my profile pic anon) so keen on some extra-prefectural trips for October and a couple (I hope) of metric centuries.

 

[wexford]

I had my first commute ride this morning. Left the bed at 6:30 and was in the shower by 7:10. A nice leisurely 30 minute ride at 100W on the revolution. I decided to try to commute to my shower via the revolution as many mornings as I can when I can't do real rides. I was a little worried about it this morning though as the bike was so filthy after Sunday - but I managed to get home early last night and spent 2 hours cleaning the bugger. So nice and clean again and its a new month. I'll see if I can post a photo or two from Sundays ride.

 

[wexford]

Mad gravel fest with Eric Sunday a we tried to discover som new roads. Well everything is still new to me but apparently he gets around so this is what we had to resort to. Trying to stay on the bike. 23C not the best of choices.


The top is always worth the struggle though.

Not sure exactly where we were but I have the ride on Strava so I can find it later.

 

[FarEast]

Blow out on the rear wheel on my CX bike this morning, switched innertube only to find that had a hole in it too .

Training session over?

I think not, whipped out the inner and rode it completely flat, really worked on the handling skills, especially cornering and was great fun having the back going out all the time

 

[Sibreen]

Blow out on the rear wheel on my CX bike this morning, switched innertube only to find that had a hole in it too .

Training session over?

I think not, whipped out the inner and rode it completely flat, really worked on the handling skills, especially cornering and was great fun having the back going out all the time

Very interesting, FarEast.
I thought that wheels would get damaged if ridden like this.
Are wheels stronger than I think, or do you have particularly strong wheels (or is there something else I've not considered)?

 

[kiwisimon]

(or is there something else I've not considered)?

He doesn't buy his wheels?

 

[kiwisimon]

He doesn't buy his wheels?

and then sells them to his mates as "barely used, just for training rides, never been raced"

 

[FarEast]

Very interesting, FarEast.
I thought that wheels would get damaged if ridden like this.
Are wheels stronger than I think, or do you have particularly strong wheels (or is there something else I've not considered)?

I was on my DuraAce C24 clinchers and these can take a beating - They did the UCI 2.2 Tour of Cameroon without a single problem and some of those roads make the North Classics look tame.

Of Course you can't ride them as you would normally, you have to have your body weight as far forward as possible and anticipate EVERY hit and flick the back wheel up over it and then also control the landing.

 

[joewein]

Looking forward to the new TCC kit.

Yesterday and today I went for after-dinner rides, yesterday for a loop around the palace, today to Hiroo and back. I now rank 3/191 on a climb on Komazawa dori on Strava (Thomas and Malte share the #1 spot).

Almost two years since I got my bicycle. I need to think of an anniversary ride route for the weekend. Life is fun

 

[joewein]

At the base of Wada east on my anniversary ride. Perhaps heading toward Matsuhime afterwards.

 

[rommelgc]

Been riding the steel steed on short stints for several weeks now. I'm loving it more than my carbon bike.
And today it got a treat, got some brake blocks at 長谷川自転車. That shop is like heaven.

 

[joewein]

As Tuesday will be the 2nd anniversary I got my Bike Friday, I did another anniversary ride, like last year. Sunday was the closest I could make it to Tuesday, plus it was a great day to be out and about after the rain yesterday.

The total came to about 190 km with 2,600 m of climbing in 13 hours, including numerous picture breaks (see selection below). I went through 9 bananas, 2 onigiri, 2 cocoa, one yoghurt and one slice of pizza. Now feeling nicely tired.

It was really gloomy in the morning and I wore my dhb winter tights, but I never put on my jacket and later it got really sunny -- except for Tomin no Mori, where it was foggy because the top of the mountain was stuck in the clouds.

Originally I had a longer route in mind, but I felt too sleepy in the morning and got up later than planned. Then I headed to Wada toge, because I like it around there. During the Wada West descent I stopped to check Google Maps and suddenly heard someone call my name. It was Stefano, who had just done Tomin no Mori and was returning home via Wada. A few km down the road I came across @jecjec81 who was on the same ride with Stefano. It's always nice to bump into fellow TCC or Half-Fast members out there and it seems to happen on almost every weekend ride I do

From Wada I headed to Tsuru toge via Rt18, through Kosuge village to Lake Okutama and over Kazahari toge to Tomin no Mori and down to Musashiitsukaichi. It was already dark when I cycled along the Tamagawa back to Setagaya.

Guys fishing near Wada:

Unexpected art collection near Wada:

Farmhouse on Rt18:

Hallucinogenic drug plants on Rt18:

Japanese maple leaves:

Bus stop on Tsuru toge:

Okutama suspension bridge near BOOB turn-around point:

View from the top:

Tomin no Mori in the clouds:

Old store house:

 

[FarEast]

Great day yesterday racing CX at GP Mistral in Saitama. It was my sons first ever race and we booth had a lot of fun.



He took 7th in his classification (He was actually racing the older age group against 1st to 3rd graders but held his own - he is still kindergarten )

In the Pro Elite race I also took 7th and spent the last 3 laps of the hour in a personal battle for 7th or 8th place the elastic finally broke after a few viscous attacks coming out of technical sections and I almost caught 6th who had to dig really deep to keep just out of reach.


Being mean to little kids is part of the image (actually before anyone lacking a sense of humor says anything that's my son)

The course was particularly challenging due to the heavy rain yesterday and the cut grass meant that regardless how good the clearance was you ended up with a hard pack material you could build bricks from.



You can see my spare bike in the background squeaky clean due to not being used, the reason for this is due to fighting out for 7th I had to make a choice between making my life easier and losing the position and potentially not being able to catch him again or just sucking it up and hoping nothing failed - the biggest issue is the rear derailleur getting sucked in.

@Gunjira I was surprised not to see you on the custom CX bike, what happened?

 

[saibot]

Look at all that mud… just thinking of cleaning that bike makes me go all ドキドキ inside

 

[wexford]

I rode the Gran Fondo Yatsugatake yesterday. Well the medium length ride anyway. Two friends from the company signed me up. It was our first time cycling together which was great. We arrived Saturday to sign up. The weather held up nicely in that area which was great as it was pissing down when we left Tokyo in the morning. We registered about 15:30. We got a little bag with a number and 4 pins as well as some vouchers for the food stations the next day. We also go a hat, a towel and a few catalogs. There were also lots of various stalls selling various goods and parts. I ended up buying a long sleeve campy top and a pair of campy socks for 3000 yen. What a deal! Nice onsen and meal that night and we were up early for the ride the next morning.

The longer distance ride (120km) had an earlier start than us. We started at 9. We arrived about 8:15, unpacked and as we'd already registered there was nothing to do. We queued for the start. They let about 10 people off at a time 30 seconds apart so by the time we started 9 and 1/2 minutes had already passed. It was up hill from the start and even though they'd let people go in groups, we were soon seeing some larger groups. One lady tried to change down to a lower gear at one point and took her foot out of her clipless pedal for some reason, then tried to put it back in again and I could only watch as she tumbled over in my path but easily avoided. That was the only fall I saw but my buddies saw a few more. Mostly on up hills.

I took it pretty easy but somehow lost my friends on a descent and decided I'd just keep going and see them at a food station. I was enjoying the rolling hills and passing various folks along the way - always a target in sight which makes it so much easier. Finally ended up with a guy from Chiba on my tail so we chatted as we climbed. At the next food station I met his whole team. 'Team B' from Chiba and we had a good laugh over some food. Soba, lettuce, country mama and a sports drink. I then waited for my friends and hit the toilet. While I was in the queue I noticed an old message on my phone to say they'd skipped this station and were going to the next as it was crowded. Indeed I heard it was a 35 minute wait when they arrived where as I guess I was lucky to have arrived earlier having passed my food competition.

There was some steeper stuff to the next station but it was all over to quickly before I met my friends and had some corn and bread. We rode the next part together until we got to a really hairpinie climb to some shrine (I think it was kaikanji or something like that). They fell back a little as I paced myself up. I finally put it in my 39x25 to ease some of the crunching but then I had to listen to the sound of my rear mech rub my spokes ever so slightly. This made me stay in my saddle all the way up also as I didn't want to flex the rear wheel too much. I'd no idea how much climbing was going to be involved but it was quite fun regardless. After a quick descent and a little more climbing there was another food station so I pulled in and adjusted my mech away from danger while I waited for my buddies. 2 salty sweets and a tiny jelly sweet was all we got here.

The next part of the ride was more tiny roads and some small ups and downs. Don't recall much. The last food station was pretty good. Banana, cucumber/miso and soft cream. About 15km from the finish. One of my fiends was pretty tired by there so we stayed there a while to recover. The last spurt was a longish drag up a main road. It was relatively easy and I ended up chatting all the way up which a tall Japanese guy who saw my Stephen Roche jersey. Couldn't believe it was over when it was over. I was a little disappointed there wasn't more climbing but I guess it serves me right for doing the medium one. I guess it also tells me that I've improved quite a lot since I started out in the end of April.

At the finish I met a foreigner who deals with Assos so I ended up purchasing a winter bib and some nice gloves. Wish I had brought more money to buy more but probably good that I didn't. lol... Looking forward to trying that stuff out.

All in all, very enjoyable event. Met a tonne of people along the way including a guy with no fingers on his right hand. He had a thumb so had two brake leavers on his right bar - the normal one for gears and an inner one he could use to brake. Amazing. I'll see if I can post some photos later.

 

[AlanW]

I know it's juvenile and not real racing, but I am luxuriating in nabbing back one of my Strava KOMs that someone had taken off me by one second. Bwah ha ha ha ha!

 

[theBlob]

A week off the bike and my injury seems to be not getting much better... Sucks...

 

[FarEast]

Look at all that mud… just thinking of cleaning that bike makes me go all ドキドキ inside

Not a sport for those that don't like to get dirty.

 

[Gunjira]

@Gunjira I was surprised not to see you on the custom CX bike, what happened?

Good going, although expected to see you on te podium again, after your recent good result.
My enigma custom is getting proper badges and a new coat of clear coat along with some small adjustments currently. Just put the replaced shimano disc brakes with metal pads on. The rebuild bike will be ready to get dirty in class 2 at the end of October some more action on the road first...