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Today - September 2013

joewein

Maximum Pace
Oct 25, 2011
3,532
3,693
Hopefully the summer heat will recede soon. I can still go far, but more slowly and I feel it much more the following day.

In August I crossed both the 6,000 km and 60,000 m climbing marks for the year, so at the current pace I'd reach 9,000 km with 90,000 m by the end of the year. With a weekly minimum goal of 100 km and one 600 km ride coming up on the weekend of the 21/22, I should do at least 900 km in September, which would make it my second busiest month this year.

According to Strava, @Half-Fast Mike did 1999 km in August [*]. Before I went to buy milk at a shop 2.5 km from home last night, I was at 999 km. Glad to see there are still sane people who don't cycle by Strava numbers! :D

I have to admit, I am influenced by the numbers. They add an extra element of challenge to the attraction of cycling, over and above the joy of seeing places from close-up, freedom to go anywhere and experiencing one's own body.



[*] EDIT: Ooops, not really! It was 1448.7 km. My mistake!
 
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my bike for the trainer has been giving out weird noises whenever i use it and it turns out my rear hub bearing is broken, most probably the bearings inside are crushed. will have to replace it with a new one and will have it done at bex isoya kawasaki (nearest my place) at around 12000円 (new deore hub/spokes/labor)

did some research and found this on the livestrong.com site, most probably i have been overtightening the trainer or i give out crazy power enough to break a hub (most likely the former hahaha). you learn something new everyday!

Damage
With resistance trainers, it is important not to over-tighten the connection on the rear hub. Test the connection by spinning the wheel after you have tightened the trainer to the hub. The wheel should spin freely. If it does not spin freely, you have over-tightened the trainer to the hub and are compressing the hub bearings, which can lead to significant damage if you ride on it. Another type of damage your bike can undergo in a trainer is increased tire wear on the rear tire for resistance trainers and on both tires for rollers. Lastly, if you tend to sweat a lot during your indoor bike trainer sessions, the sweat can drip over the bike's components and corrode them because of sweat's salt content.



Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/370497-bike-trainer-damage-bike/#ixzz2dbnlKq1c
 
To make the long tail of the forum feel "normal," 466km in Aug., tho 33 of that was in a pool. (Sorry, I can't see killing myself in the heat when the pool is a nice 28-29C.)

And I'm off tomorrow to travel for a while, so Sept. will start about the 15th.

Also, this side has had huge amounts of rain (lots of flooded rice), and it's now only 23C, so maybe that'll hit kanto in a day or two.
 
Headed over to the Imperial Palace for a few loops in the late afternoon. The clouds in the sky got darker and as the wind picked up, I felt an unusal sensation: "Who turned on the Air Conditioning?" The wind felt cool and fresh, YEAH! :)

IMG_5711.JPG


There seemed to be a lot of police about. I saw two drivers getting ticketed or pulled over on the palace ring road.

On the way there I observed a cyclist with a messenger bag and what looked like some luxury brand bag slung over his shoulder (of course no helmet), who was running every red light (after which I always caught up with him again). I hate cyclists who blast through zebra crossings on red while a bunch of pedestrians are crossing on green. In fact I hate them even more than I dislike cyclists cycling on the wrong side of the road.

On the way back, near Shibuya I noticed another guy on a folding bike who was texting while cycling, who then went through a red light at a zebra crossing, passing within a metre of crossing pedestrians, all with his ketai in his hand. After the light changed I caught up with him and gave him an earful in my best angry Japanese. He hurriedly put his phone away :)
 
@mrkamot couldn't agree more w/FE and Gunnar. A single WHR-500 is only about 6000 yen. Deore hub, though? Was it a mountain bike? Hybrid? BTW - A new Deore rear hub is a whopping 3000 yen. You don't need new spokes especially at that level of wheel - they are probably 14G straight gauge with brass nipples. Just nipples and new hub is fine. And why a new hub? Deore uses loose ball bearings and at worst case the cups will be scored and perhaps a freebody. Still far less than a wheel build on a relatively econo wheel. No way you can 'crush' the bearings unless perhaps you have applied more than 500kg force on the axle. Brinnelling the cups or cones, yes. Crushing, no. This sounds all too weird and typical of so many LBS around here.
 
Where did that number come from? I make it 1448.7 km.

Ooops, you're right! Egg on my face! I should have saved this stunt for 7 months later ;)

I looked at the league table for Japan again (you're on the first page) and can only guess that I somehow must have got the "Distance" and "Kilometers Behind Leader" columns behind your name mixed up (yes, a guy in Sapporo did 3369 km). But the mere fact that the bogus number made it past my implausibility detector says something about your reputation :)
 
I looked at the league table for Japan again (you're on the first page) and can only guess that I somehow must have got the "Distance" and "Kilometers Behind Leader" columns behind your name mixed up (yes, a guy in Sapporo did 3369 km). But the mere fact that the bogus number made it past my implausibility detector says something about your reputation :)
And there's me, two places behind!

1,393km in August. That puts me at 8,050km for the year so far and well on the way to my target of 10,000km for the year.

Today I did nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Hang on! That guy at the top of that list seems to ride all over the world, two or three countries a day. I call shenanigans.
 
Strava can be bad for you, says Royal Geographical Society.
I fear an intervention may be required for you boys.
Hang on! That guy at the top of that list seems to ride all over the world, two or three countries a day. I call shenanigans.
Concur.

Meanwhile, (oh damn you made me look) the only person above me that I know to be real is @Stormy. Well done Norm.

I had a wonderful cyclo-cultural weekend in Toga, Toyama, experiencing (more of) the SCOT theatre company and some mountain cycling. Great experience which I hope to repeat in the future. You didn't go. You missed out. Your loss. I told you. Cycling back down the mountains in the rain wasn't so wonderful. But otherwise...
 
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Why don't you just get a new r500 shimano rear wheel? Saves some money
Thanks for the tip but my bike is a 26" citybike (trek 4900). When I do get a roadbike, the r500 will be a good wheel for the trainer.
 
@mrkamot couldn't agree more w/FE and Gunnar. A single WHR-500 is only about 6000 yen. Deore hub, though? Was it a mountain bike? Hybrid? BTW - A new Deore rear hub is a whopping 3000 yen. You don't need new spokes especially at that level of wheel - they are probably 14G straight gauge with brass nipples. Just nipples and new hub is fine. And why a new hub? Deore uses loose ball bearings and at worst case the cups will be scored and perhaps a freebody. Still far less than a wheel build on a relatively econo wheel. No way you can 'crush' the bearings unless perhaps you have applied more than 500kg force on the axle. Brinnelling the cups or cones, yes. Crushing, no. This sounds all too weird and typical of so many LBS around here.

aaah thanks @GSAstuto, was thinking of actually having the hub serviced but i bought the bike 2nd (or 3rd?) hand from a guy 2 years ago and the bike is an old trek4900 and i have been steadily changing worn out parts so i thought of just buying a new hub and retire the old to the recycling bin. or maybe i will get myself a set of cup and cone hubs and take the old hub apart and learn how to refurbish them (another excuse to buy tools!)
 
I finished the month with 774.66km. I was hoping to do 1000km, but could not due to a cracked bike top tube that occurred on August 28th.
 
Bit late with this ("two days ago" vs. "today")....
On Sunday I was back in action after my big crash three weeks previously. Naomi and I signed up for the Norikura hillclimb in Nagano, the last race of the All Japan Hillclimb Series. While Tokyo baked in the heat, we were lashed by downpour after downpour. We had to abandon our plan to do a slow ride up the course on Friday after only 3km, as it was raining so hard. On Saturday we went for another look, but were turned back by the race officials and police who don't let anybody up the course until race day. We had a little cruise around for 30km or so just to spin the legs, and just after we finished the heavens opened once again. By Saturday night it had been raining hard all afternoon and we were treated to an epic thunderstorm.
On Sunday morning the rain had abated a bit but showers were still coming every 30 minutes or so and the wind was driving clouds quickly across the sky. The organisers announced the course would be shortened to 15 km and the start delayed by 30 minutes.
Naomi-san started 1 hour before me so I was left waiting around at the start. With 4,500 competitors it takes a while to get everyone off the line.
The gun finally went for my class (30-40 year olds - I could not enter Expert as usual as I hadn't raced this course before). After crashing so heavily I wasn't sure how my body would react to a hard effort, but I felt pretty good. The pain in my legs and lungs soon overwhelmed any residual bruises and aches. Although I had lost some speed/fitness, my heart responded well and I was able to keep the leading group in sight, even reeling in and passing some riders on the way. The course was crowded with riders from the 20-30 year old class but I found a way around them without any big delays. Towards the top of the course I was involved in a battle with another rider (皆瀬 貴宏 [Minase Takahiro]) as first he then I would get a few lengths ahead. Finally I thought I had shaken him off but as we approach the line he came back strongly and passed me! But I still has something in the tank and sprinted after him, just pipping him at the line, taking 16th place of 489 racers.

Naomi-san was very unlucky and picked up a puncture only 1km after the start. Her back tyre got softer and softer, until 8km where it was totally flat. But, since she is an incredible fighter, she stood up, shifted her weight forwards and rode en danseuse all the way to the top. Amazing performance and enough to secure the overall win of the series!Naomi Podium.jpg Noriclimber.jpg
 
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Wow, Naomi that is incredible! Mega congratulations on the series win. Alan, great effort after a pretty horrible off, is that a replacement bike or an old spare.
What is the point of a podium girl for the girl winners?
Actually what is the point of podium girls at all?
 
@Deej (IronSword) was unavailable for podium duties :)
Yes the bike in the photo is a replacement - I'm not rich enough to keep Super Six Evos knocking around as spares. Matching wheel stickers already ordered!
 
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