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Today Today - July 2014

I did my first ever Sunday morning ride along the Tamagawa cyclepath. Never again, even at 5:30am, it was so busy. Everywhere I looked there was neon coloured Lycra!
 
I did my first ever Sunday morning ride along the Tamagawa cyclepath. Never again, even at 5:30am, it was so busy. Everywhere I looked there was neon coloured Lycra!
Trying to beat the heat. If the path is busy (they do marathons, and group walks there), you can always use the roads ;-)
 
I did my first ever Sunday morning ride along the Tamagawa cyclepath. Never again, even at 5:30am, it was so busy. Everywhere I looked there was neon coloured Lycra!

Well, the lycra-clad should be alert and unlikely to crash into you. Enough lycra whizzing upstream and down, and it might deter the people you should look out for: pedestrians emerging from neck-high foliage, mothers doing sudden U-turns with their strollers, three-abreast mamacharis, etc. Also, at this time of the day you shouldn't get beery barbecuers. (I've seen these lying on the cycle path; I saw one being loaded into an ambulance parked on the cycle path.)
 
Only managed 40 minutes today between thunder storms, they have been coming though all day. Rain doesn't bother me - hell, I'm from Wales, where the only way to tell if summer or winter - Is the rain warm or cold!! its the lightening that worries me o_O
 
My Garmin 800 never liked me and I never liked it. Recently, looking at it, the question that oftenest came to my mind was "Will it blend?"

Today I wrapped it up with a few accessories and sent it off to a friend in Kyushu. (I'm swapping it for a used paperback of a novel.)

I await release of the o_synce navi3coach superbe pro Eddy Merckx edition.
 
Only 30kms this morning around Teganuma but the first try out for recently acquired navi2coach. Works well apart from a cadence glitch or 2 (my legs fall off at 177rpm!). Thanks to @joewein for the reference to bike24.de - good fast service and an interestingly variable and ultimately good price on the the navi2coach
 
Did some riding along Rt 8 in Naoetsu in Niigata.
Noticed the truc drivers give you a lot more room than in Tokyo area.
Highlight of the ride was seeing two drunk, tattooed, helmetless idiots on scooters crash badly while trying to avoid the police bike asking them to stop.
 
Seems like I am finally getting used to the heat of midday, even though today was a little bit cooler than the weekend. Got out for 2x20min intervals along the Tamagawa. Path was not so busy, and a nice breeze (almost in both directions.) Was feeling pretty strong on the first effort so decided to push it a bit. Ended up with 292 and 263W.
 
Had some time for another midday ride. 4.5hrs in Z2 with a couple of efforts on renkoji and odarumi west. Managed to stay reasonably hydrated, cool, and avoid too much HR drift. The renkoji effort yielded a 2 year best 4-5 minute power, and also the overall ride for 4hrs:10min-4:40 average power.
 
The new tyres that I'd ordered yesterday arrived by Takkyubin today. This is to replace the rear tyre that ripped near the bead during the Norikura descent, as well as the front one which already had a fair number of cuts.

Last night I had bought a spare tube to replace the patched tube and then did a loop around the Palace.

At Norikura I'd used a quick patch that works without rubber solution to mend the spare after it too had failed about 100 metres after swapping it in (that's then we found the tyre problem). On the train back from Matsumoto that patched tube had lost all air and I had to pump it up outside Shinjuku station to ride home. Then, only a km or so later, it made hissing noises and I had to top it up again and ride home very carefully.

Bottom line, I think I'm no fan of those quick patches and will go back to old-fashioned rubber solution. At least I now have two fresh tyres and two spare tubes again.

Maybe I'll head out for a long ride on Saturday, to complete a full two years of one century ride a month (Sep 2012-Aug 2014). Still thinking about a route.
 
Commuting is starting to become...difficult. By the time I hit Mejiro-dori at 9.45am, the temp sensor on my Garmin is reading over 40 - it got to 42 at one point today. I've gone from hoping the lights stay green to hoping they turn red just so I can chug a lot of water and perhaps pause in the shade a while. At least the ride home is still bearable.
 
Which patches did you both use? I'm carrying around 'porno' patches in the saddle bag as well as two tubes. I've had to use a patch once but I actually used it on the ripped sidewall of a tire. As a sidewall patch it held up well enough to get me home which is what counts. Quickly replaced the tire though. Tube wise, I guess it would also make a difference in summer vs winter and how much you are using your brakes to heat things up.

I used one of those patches for half a year until I changed my tires in April. They worked great for me!
Definitely nice to have new tubes with new tires, though.
 
I cycled out into Chiba from Ichikawa along route 14. I've done it before but won't be doing it again as it isn't worth the risk. Going out was terrible but coming back was sheer hell. Numpties all over the shop. I have resigned myself to the fact that I live in a bad place to be a cyclist but I have a multitude of train stations near by, so I got that going for me.
 
Which patches did you both use?
I use this:
http://goo.gl/oyuTL4
I discard the box, and fold the innards up in the piece of plastic wrapping that it comes in, and it takes up little more room than a 500yen coin.

Interesting point about the effect of heat on a patch - I suspect you mean that heat might soften the glue?
Can't really help you, here.

Have you ever had to use your patches and both tubes on one ride??
 
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I use this:
http://goo.gl/oyuTL4
I discard the box, and fold the innards up in the piece of plastic wrapping that it comes in, and it takes up little more room than a 500yen coin.

A "me too" post. I use this too (and the Parktool version) and have no problem with the glue going gooey.

The only problem I had with this patch was with a tube with sealant (!, Caffelatex). The puncture was big enough to prevent the sealant from plugging it.
The patch held on for several months. When the tire went flat again, I saw the patch has come loose, wet sealant on the tube where the old punc was.
 
At Norikura I'd used a quick patch that works without rubber solution to mend the spare after it too had failed about 100 metres after swapping it in (that's then we found the tyre problem). On the train back from Matsumoto that patched tube had lost all air and I had to pump it up outside Shinjuku station to ride home. Then, only a km or so later, it made hissing noises and I had to top it up again and ride home very carefully.

So I have used the Panaracer quick patches. They do require that area around the hole be sanded off a bit to get rid of any mold release, similar to "wet" solutions. Did you sand?

Anyways they held for a few weeks and failed. Even the instructions state they are temporary. Now, once I get home after a quick patched punc, the tube gets replaced.
 
Have you ever had to use your patches and both tubes on one ride??
Last year when you and I did Arima Duez partially together, @Sibreen, I used both my tubes and a bunch of patches, trashed a tyre and got really pissed off with valve extensions. That was the second beginning of my journey back from fancy wheels to 'things that work'.
 
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