Wada: Fast & Furious . . .

[Philip]

Thomas, Christoph and Philip decided to tackle Wada-toge today (Sat 5/24). By happy accident Tom joined - or more precisely, we joined Tom.

Due to the weather forecast for rain, Wada-toge was, being a journey of 150km, an ideal choice as it was a little shorter than the usual Saturday marathon. Thomas was to be today's guide as Christoph and I had never been through this area before.

The three all met at Suidobashi on the Tamagawa at 7:00AM. Went through the usual bullshitting of each other about how we were in terrible shape and thought we should keep the pace down.

Then we started rolling . . . Christoph asked should we take the gravel road or the smooth detour . . . Thomas was halfway through expressing a preference for the detour . . . when Christoph said "bugger that" and tore up the gravel road . . . so that predictably things started out fast.

And they got faster. And faster. And faster. So that along the river path heading out of Tokyo we maintained a very respectable 35-37kph through pedestrians, dogs, teams of baseball players, speed barriers and other river path detritus.

And then who should we see. Tom. Only Thomas had met Tom previously. However, we knew Tom from his blog and posts. Tom is a serious and well respected rider. Tom was remounting his handmade titanium pride and joy as we blew past. Recognizing Tom, I shouted "Hello Tom" which was translated in the wind by Tom as "Watch out you bloody idiot when entering the bike path".

Despite the misunderstanding we were able to join Tom who took us to the top of Wada-toge the "hard way". If that was not hard enough, Christoph rode up Wada in the BIG chain ring whilst Thomas and Tom whose bikes sounded like a couple of Gatling guns (skipping chains) rode up in whatever gear they could - their frustration professionally reserved.

Thomas' problems were serious enough he took the most direct route home and left Tom to guide Christoph and I to Itsukaichi along some fantastic roads. From Itsukaichi we jumped on the Christoph express. Christoph cut through a strong head wind like a knife through butter ray:

By the time I was home I had 150km on the clock and had enjoyed a great ride in the company some great cyclists. I hope we can all get together again soon.

Cheers,

Philip

PS - Thomas, I did manage to complete that 20km run afterwards as well

 

[thomas]

Thanks for your report, Philip. It was a great ride, as long as it lasted. Here's my perspective of the ride - and the month of May in total.

 

[Phil]

Nice report Philip. Mech troubles aside, that sounds like a heck of a ride. Once again, wish I could've been there.

Thomas > Sounds like a year's worth of bad luck crammed into one month. uch: The good news of course is that the rest of the year will be smooth sailing.

Re: gear slippage, you just changed your chain recently, right? Sometimes new chain + old sprockets = slipping gears, especially if the old chain was allowed to "stretch" beyond 1% or so. I have something like this

http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=5&item=CC-3

and replace chains fairly regularly. Might help for next time?

 

[Philip]

Gear Slippage . . .

I suspect Tom's problems were similar. He put some older wheels on his bike in anticipation of rain - I guess that included an older cassette. Only the extreme cogs on the cassette would not skip suggesting the other cogs teeth were worn and would not function with a newer chain. Maybe???

Philip

 

[TOM]

Correct diagnosis!

I suspect Tom's problems were similar. He put some older wheels on his bike in anticipation of rain - I guess that included an older cassette. Only the extreme cogs on the cassette would not skip suggesting the other cogs teeth were worn and would not function with a newer chain. Maybe???

Philip

Thanks Phil & Philip...indeed the combination of a (brand)new Dura-Ace chain with a 3-year old Ultegra cassette was the real culprit. When I changed back to my Mavic back wheel that holds a (brand)new Dura-Ace cassette purchased at the same time as the chain, the rattling was gone as if by magic. Thomas should check out his chain/cassette combination as well.

Philip, Christoph...yes that was a very fast & furious ride (for me it was a 3F ride: fast, furious and frustrating) but I really liked the way we were cruising. Glad you liked some of those roads through Yuzurigahara connecting Wada to Itsukaichi; the descent after the Buko tunnels is a favorite of mine (but only when the surface is dry). Let's run into each other again one of these days - or better - plan a monster ride like down to Enzan via Yanagisawa and back to Tokyo via Sasago while the days are still long.

 

[Deej]

Wish I could've been there

Thanks for the reports, guys! Wish I could've joined you, but my son's 運動会 and my recovering knee made that impossible.

Tom, I'm glad you were able to hook up with some TCC riders! It would be nice to ride with you again -- that monster ride to Enzan sounds great.

The troubles Tom and Thomas were having with their rear cassettes must have been frustrating, but it sounds like you got it sorted out.

Thomas, after reading in your other post that you had more wheel troubles, I think it's time for you to make the switch to Ksyriums!

Deej