What's new

Today Today - September 2014

Only 60kms today. The rear Mavic Ksyrium has been making funny noises lately but when I took it in to the LBS they said nothing wrong. Decided to have a look myself and I found one of the pawls was missing a spring and the centre bearing was fuc--ed. So much for LBS. Ordered parts on line and now back on the Open pro wheels.
 
Last edited:
Besides hearing innumerable sports days echoing around, I think I saw 5 praying mantises this morning.
 
Those crow peletons give me the creeps. 3 or 4 flocks of them on the Tonegawa cluster around and ride into the headwind with you. Some of them coming up shoulder to shoulder giving the evil eye!!!. Ganging up on the riverside falcons as well. Throw in an autumn wind and it's instant goosebumps. Buzztards!
 
Really? I absolutely love them. So black and sleek looking and they come so close and fly alongside you.
 
Was on my way to nalsima after work on my scooter, I followed two cyclists down yamate dori, the lights went red and the back cyclist didn't stop so well riding right up beside the other almost clipping them, but managing to stop. Only then to realize that they had just bought clip ins and that there feet were stuck to her peddles. The inevitable happened...... Anyway got to nalsima with a mind to order some new sidi wire speed plays, only to be told there was a waiting list for a year.... Yes a whole year.

I did however manage to pick up a light jacket for the blue monkey epic!! So not a total loss.
 
Was trundling along Nakahara-kaidō at 25 km/h or so at lunchtime today when overtaken by a mamachari doing 35 or 40. Just to the curiously sweat-free rider's right was his mate riding a scooter, with left leg outstretched and left foot pushing the rear of the mamachari's saddle. Just after they passed me, they passed a kōban.
 
Found this today at the local chemist. It's essentially Deep Heat slightly watered down and packaged for Japan. Already on my knee and accidentally in my eye (not that eye).
dev1OQR.jpg
 
@Half-Fast Mike is away from his bikes (sniff) and in Bangkok for a week - ostensibly for work LOL.

Lonely Planet offered a selection of four bike tour companies. For my first day I chose the one the hotel concierge had heard of:- Co van Kessel bike tours. The late, eponymous Mr Co was a Dutchman and founded the company, and they seem to be marketed primarily at visitors from the Netherlands. On today's 5-hour tour there were 8 Dutchies and one Brit (moi).

Boy-oh-boy this was fun. City cruising at its finest. The others all chose shopping bikes. I took a mountain bike because with all the gears it would be even easier. Not many mountains in Bangkok.

Now I'm going to take a nap and then see if I can do a different tour with a different company tomorrow. Ancient temples might have to wait for another time.

10665083_962740463742655_2474073464881784202_n.jpg 1800383_962740490409319_5952364460602046900_n.jpg 10428576_962740530409315_8186848985943114644_n.jpg 10367575_962740527075982_1394118049359356292_n.jpg 10156055_962740473742654_2098387214286720309_n.jpg 10443489_962740493742652_5443124181780442043_n.jpg
 
@Sikochi what shoes do you wear for mid foot riding? Never heard of anyone doing that before.

Short answer: normal shoes with a stiff sole.

Long answer: Riding mid-foot meant either buying from the specialised makers - very expensive, especially when you don`t even know if you will like the shoes - or re-drilling existing ones. My Specialized S-Works shoes weren`t suitable for re-drilling given the shape of the sole, but I had a pair of Northwave ones that were. However, riding a 48 Caad 9, it turned out that the insignificant toe overlap I had, had morphed into 2-3 inches, which made riding hazardous, at best. Though, the issues are of course less pronounced when racing. I`ve been working on a slightly less extreme position to see if that would make it more manageable with cleats, but I`ve just got used to riding flat pedals, and not being a pro, it doesn`t bother me anymore. At worst I reckon the loss in watts is minimal anyway - I came top 5% in my age group in the last main Shikoku hill climb, and the slight bulge round my middle had more to do with that than my choice of shoes/pedals.

IF you want to try mid-foot riding, I would give it 2-4 weeks to fully evaluate it. Joe Friel is an advocate and does cite a study rating it to be a benefit to triathletes. If you switch, then using SPD cleats might make it easier to adapt the shoes - I was just brought up on Look cleats.

There have been occasional spottings of pros riding mid-foot - the main problem with mid-foot is that sprinting is less effective, due to the calves having less say in matters, so given how most races are decided, it isn`t really practical - but it`s more common in triathletes, though still not really mainstream.
 
Last edited:
The wife barred me from a long ride yesterday morning, but said if I accompanied her to the airport and then onto the zoo with the little one, I could ride home. Anyway, after we`d finished, I was mentioning I`d rather ride up the hill from the zoo, than ride home. My warm-up existed of the less than 2 min it took from the carpark to the road, then straight into an 8 min VO2 interval. That hurts. Straight down, and back up for 11min (faster than when I did it in a local event last year, despite the bike being set-up for normal riding), then decided to try for once more. Didn`t think i was going to make it, and my brain started doing the `why am I doing this again` routine, and duly gave up after 7 mins as power had dropped down to FTP level. So went into intervals. 10 1/2 hours for the week. 45-50 mins very hard, and the rest...enjoyable. Actually, I enjoy the hard stuff, that`s why I do it.
 
First puncture in a long time today. Rear tire. Whacked a pot hole pretty hard. That'll do it. Spent all my energy pumping the new tube up only to unscrew the pump and have it core dump. Really annoying particularly before work. Thank you @GrantT for helping out!
 
Seriously, why are you not using CO2 canisters?

First puncture in a long time today. Rear tire. Whacked a pot hole pretty hard. That'll do it. Spent all my energy pumping the new tube up only to unscrew the pump and have it core dump. Really annoying particularly before work. Thank you @GrantT for helping out!
 
Seriously, why are you not using CO2 canisters?

I guess it's the 24 year cycling gap. Still learning what's what. I saw my first canister on Sunday's ride although didn't see it in action. Must look into it. Would be a time and energy saver on these early morning pre-work rides or on a group ride when you don't want to delay others. Bless you sister @theBlob for your patience. Dare I ask how they work? Does one canister more than one tube? Do you have to stop it when the pressure gets high enough or does it stop itself? Can't do anything silly like over inflate or anything like that. I guess I can go looking for a youtube video in my spare time later on.
 
@theBlob pumping only actually took a few minutes, it was just that @wexford had never used his hand pump before today. After the flat was fixed he insisted on doing one more climb, so not such an inconvenience!
 
@theBlob pumping only actually took a few minutes, it was just that @wexford had never used his hand pump before today. After the flat was fixed he insisted on doing one more climb, so not such an inconvenience!

It was that damn valve core. Why don't new tubes come with it tighter by default? D'oh. Will be checking those going forward or better yet buying tubes without the removable cores perhaps.
 
Not really the GAP we are interested in around here, right @jdd ?

Pretty much fool proof, unless you don't seat the bead properly and then you can blow up your tube in spectacular fashion. Don't ask me how I know!:tdown: one canister fills up one tube to a decent level in about 5 seconds, leaving all your energy for the riding!

I guess it's the 24 year cycling gap. Still learning what's what. I saw my first canister on Sunday's ride although didn't see it in action. Must look into it. Would be a time and energy saver on these early morning pre-work rides or on a group ride when you don't want to delay others. Bless you sister @theBlob for your patience. Dare I ask how they work? Does one canister more than one tube? Do you have to stop it when the pressure gets high enough or does it stop itself? Can't do anything silly like over inflate or anything like that. I guess I can go looking for a youtube video in my spare time later on.
 
Back
Top Bottom