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Today Today February 2017

Great picture. Cute kid ya got there.

You make me think I should get into MTB'ing.
 
Thank you, she is a handful.
MTBing is great and compliments road biking quite well. We rarely spin and it is like non-stop intervals.. but you are too busy picking lines and enjoying the ride to realize how hard you working. If the mood strike you to try it out, I can show you are the Zushi/Hayama area. If you rinko, there are plenty of trail accessible from Zushi station.
 
A chance to snow show this morning. Mt. Yoneyama rises out of the Japan Sea to almost 1,000 m. Great snow conditions this morning.

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The snow shoe was the biggest training of what was a rest week for me.

The usual blog here:

http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time/2017/02/rest-week-lets-get-serious.html

Might be of interest to some...

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
I rode my bike. I broke 2 teeth off a bent one horribly on the cassette leaving me to ride without my low gears.
Boo...

BUT then I got home and my tires showed up for the other bike....
Yay...

So with all the pieces in place, today is NEW WHEEL DAY!!!

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It is a 32T up from with an 11x42 cassette. I can pretty much climb anything off road. The rear tire is a 27.5x2.4 and the front is a 2.5

The funny part, the trend many are going with is leading up to a 3 inch tire.
 
It is a 32T up from with an 11x42 cassette. I can pretty much climb anything off road. The rear tire is a 27.5x2.4 and the front is a 2.5

The funny part, the trend many are going with is leading up to a 3 inch tire.
I used to race with 2.8 and sometimes 3.0 tyres. They were beasts. You could really plow through almost anything with those on
 
For XC and SS racing I normally ran a 1.9 or 2.1 - The trails were a bit more tame than what I have locally, so speed was a bit more important than grip and the ability to survive a hard hit. The rocks here ate up a couple sets of my tires, so I started going bigger with stronger sidewalls. All my MTBs now are running 2.4 except this one with the 2.5 up front and one hardtail with a 2.1 rear.

I am still searching for the magic setup, but the one I am running on the other MTBs are pretty close.
 
losing some weight from the previous 2 years has made this winter colder than ever. It's kicking my ass so badly that I only go out on the weekends around Lake Sai. How do you guys deal with the cold weather?
 
Wear more gear! When that fails and I let my mind slip to being cold, I just run into a tree or something hard... then usually I forget about being cold again. :)
 
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losing some weight from the previous 2 years has made this winter colder than ever. It's kicking my ass so badly that I only go out on the weekends around Lake Sai. How do you guys deal with the cold weather?

Yeah, as elluded to above, there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad kit.
 
losing some weight from the previous 2 years has made this winter colder than ever. It's kicking my ass so badly that I only go out on the weekends around Lake Sai. How do you guys deal with the cold weather?
Best piece of cold weather gear I've bought recently is my uniqlo down vest. It it lovely and toasty when I put it on. Great for the very cold early starts and when we stop at conbinis for lunch etc yet packs up so small. I usually put it in my storage bottle on the bike (I only need one water bottle in the winter which frees up one cage for the storage bottle). I picked up one of the down vests for a whopping ¥1280.
 
Like the previous poster, @tigerkamen I too have lost weight and notice the winter cold. But having grown up in Minnesota where the winters can be brutally cold and outdoor winter sports keeps you from getting cabin fever and going insane, I learned the best way to keep warm is layers. Tokyo winters are great. Usually dry and sunny. But still I wear a merino layer a long or short sleeve jersey over that depending on the temps, a Rapha neck warmer and I have two jackets one windproof and light and the other one heavier. Again depending upon the temp and where I am riding. And for the legs, I wear a pair of shorts and a long pair of windproof bib tights. And to top it off, or bottom it off actually, I wear winter overboots. I have never been cold and in fact I may overheat a bit. But the beautiful thing is, there are so many conbinis to stop at to warm up if need be. Winter riding is great here! I prefer it to summers. The only bummer is the 5 am morning call we have during the warmer months is just not possible in the winter due to the damn darkness. So I hit the road around 8 or 9. And if I am really motivated maybe a 7 am ride.
 
I would agree that layers are the way to go.

I got a merino wool base layer for my birthday a couple of weeks ago.

I knew it would be warm. But I was surprised how it takes the sweat away from the skin.

I thought it was a myth!

Training wise I've stepped it up a level this week. FTP intervals on Monday and today. The first time to feel it in the legs for a few months.

I wrote about my upcoming training plan here:

http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time/2017/02/4-week-build-phase.html

Sunshine on the forecast tomorrow for the first time in a couple of weeks in Niigata.

An easy day planned. Looking forward to rubber hitting tarmac!

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
Yesterday was a test day... My niner got new cassette, chain, different model tires, pedals and shorter stem.

Result: 1 KOM and 1 second fastest time through a segment.

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Then after getting home and checking the time, I realized I had enough time to get another quick ride in before dinner.

I grabbed the Tracer with New Wheels (ChrisKing/StansFlow) and took off for the same trail.

Result: Bested the KOM from 30 minutes earlier and got the KOM on the section that I just snagged the 2nd fastest on earlier.

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Both Runs had me taking time to deal with Hikers politely... so times on both could have been a bit better.

All in all, not a bad set of test runs.
 
It's not that cold mate. The first few minutes after that it's not so bad.
A good thermal bib is the key. Merino undershirt and some sort of wind proof jersey. Face cover or neck cover that you can cover your face over your nose.
Have that gear and you'll be fine.


losing some weight from the previous 2 years has made this winter colder than ever. It's kicking my ass so badly that I only go out on the weekends around Lake Sai. How do you guys deal with the cold weather?
 
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