Sunday 31 March 2013

Rule 7

As the famous line from Star Wars goes, "With great power comes great responsibility".

For cyclists, with great weather comes great tan-lines. We wear clothes that, frankly, no-one else would... and when we're exposed to the sun, interesting things happen. Spring is in full swing here now, sun and all, and so it begins once again...

Naturally, your first reaction on first sight of your new tan lines after the first really sunny ride is going to be "Holy shit!", followed by "How can I cover these up?!". But is that so right? Is doing so not to cover up our identity as cyclists? I'm not alone here - 'The Rules' over on the Velominati site - a list that all road cyclists should be well aquainted with - seem to agree.

Rule #7 // Tan lines should be cultivated and kept razor sharp.  
Under no circumstances should one be rolling up their sleeves or shorts in an effort to somehow diminish one’s tan lines. Sleeveless jerseys are under no circumstances to be employed.

 So there you go - cultivate those lines! Wear them like a badge of honor!

Just don't be surprised when people think you have some kind of horrible cancer when you pay for something in a store and they glimpse the back of your hand...


Taking shape nicely: the result of wearing Rapha's Grand Tour Gloves - half-finger
gloves with holes on the knuckles and back of the hand - in the sun...

Saturday 30 March 2013

Hanase Omote




This morning I finally got up a climb that I've been wanting to tackle for months now - Hanase Omote, regarded as one of the most difficult climbs in the Kyoto area. Its 'mere' Category 2 status somewhat belies the fact that it's a total horror show - an average grade of about 3% for the first 4.5km, then suddenly kicking up to a fairly horrific 9% for the final 5.5km. The road surface is horrible, too, preventing you from keeping a steady cadence as you try to weave around potholes.

Much pain was endured...

My time was pretty woeful but apparently not bad for a first attempt. I'll do it again someday... and it'll be faster. At least now I know it can be done!


Gradient cross-section for the Hanase Omote segment on Strava

At the top!

We originally set out this morning to only do Hanase and then come back down, but actually the ride turned into a pretty substantial 88km affair, with a bunch more climbing including a nice Category 3 which I got up with a flat rear tyre - I didn't notice until the descent, beyond thinking it was more work than it should have been.

All-in-all a nice route which I will probably do again some day... when I'm feeling in a particularly masochistic mood.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

'Rest weeks'

Time for an easier couple of weeks before the next Strava challenge kicks off on 1st April. It's a biggie...


1,319km in 4 weeks. Let's see if I can make this happen...

For the time being, here's to shorter rides, like last Sunday's - a route I've wanted to try for a long time and which lived up to my expectations. It'll surely be entering my favourites...




Grabbing breakfast with Nigel before the ride.

Jazz hands! Our coffee stop up in the mountains.

Cherry blossom season is beginning...

Monday 18 March 2013

Giro's Train Like Taylor Challenge



Immediately off the back of the Quarq century, another Strava challenge appears. Ride ~32 hours (moving time) in 16 days. How hard can it be?

Hard, apparently.

I won't list all of the rides - it took me 11 in total - but I did it! However, a couple of notable rides:




This was my century route, minus the detour to Otsu and back, which docked about 35km from the total distance. It's a gorgeous route - so much so that I rode it again for the final(-ish) ride of the challenge - and one that will definitely enter my regular rotation. Fantastic climb in there, too - 25km of low-gradient stuff through really wonderful scenery.

Riding this the first time, both myself and Grecia got punctures. Just bad luck. In fact, over the duration of this challenge I think I got 5 or 6 punctures... to the point where it wasn't funny any more. I think I finally narrowed down the cause to a sharp edge inside the rim not covered by the rim tape (slipped, I guess). I've since made a makeshift boot of sorts, from paper. I'll retape the rims eventually. Wish I'd figured it out two weeks ago!




Mid-way through, I spent a couple of days doing some impromptu cycle guiding to some tourist sites in Kyoto. It was a really good time and a nice way of logging some relatively non-strenuous time in the saddle. I did, however, also have another bash at Hieizan - a Category 2 ass-kicker of a climb - and I moved up the leaderboard to 2nd place overall! Extremely happy with that, since it's a horrible climb and I'm now 'officially' faster up it than everyone I know besides Cory, who is superhuman and set a frankly silly time last year that even he hasn't come close to matching since.

A few assorted photos:

At the top of Hieizan (well, as far as you can go by bike... legally, anyway...)

Guiding to Ginkakuji
(Left to right: me, Varun, Grecia, Aparna)

A wet afternoon at Fushimi-inari

Definitely not suitable weather for cycling shorts... (Fushimi-inari again)

Hanging out at the entrance of Kyoto Imperial Palace

All-in-all a great couple of weeks. A tough challenge, but I somehow managed to get the requisite time in. Not as tough as the Rapha Festive 500 though - I can almost still feel that one!


Friday 1 March 2013

Quarq Power Trip Challenge - Century Ride


An imperial century - 100 miles - is a serious milestone for every cyclist. When a Strava challenge asking me to ride one last weekend rolled around, how could I say no?

I was originally planning to ride with a couple of friends, but their route selection had me convinced that boredom would kick in long before the end. As such, I made my own 'more interesting' route and on Sunday morning off I set. Solo.




The weather certainly made things interesting. It was cold, there were sporadic snow showers... and it was windy. Gusty, strong winds. Several times I had to actually stop and wait out a gust, as it threatened to rip the bike out of my hands or throw me across the road into traffic. The ride was anything is not boring...

Doing it solo wasn't as bad as I expected. I had my iPod for company and motivation (listening only in one ear where applicable due to traffic, etc) and I picked an excellent, varied route with one especially wonderful climb - a 22km long, but quite gentle Category 3 through some gorgeous mountain scenery. Alas I was too cold and stressed (time-wise) to stop and take pictures, but I think I'll repeat that section next week so I'll take a few then.

I experimented with proper carbohydrate loading for 2 days prior, made sure to hydrate well beforehand and made good decisions regarding hydration and food on the bike - all of this made a difference and I found it easier than I was expecting. I made it back in good time, enjoyed a long, hot bath and was ready to get back on the bike by about Tuesday.



Solo century, job done. Should have laid some nice groundwork for longer rides and multi-day adventures to come.

Snowboarding in Niseko

The week of 11-17th February myself, Grecia and Kitt headed up to Hokkaido, and in particular Niseko resort area, to get some actual winter sports in while the conditions are still good.

Kitt has been a keen snowboarder for years, so he attempted to get us into it as well. Given my previous attempt as skiing, and snowboarding's reputation as being even harder, I wasn't sure it would go well... but I actually found myself picking it up pretty quickly. By the time the second day rolled around, both myself and Grecia could get down pretty steep 'green' runs without falling - not bad, I reckon!

Niseko is famous for powder snow and my god, it didn't disappoint. Conditions were stunning, as were some of the views...

It's a shame I only started at the end of the winter season, but I'm definitely keen to get more boarding done next season. It's definitely easier to go boarding than it is to go climbing, and with this year's lack of partners meaning I got absolutely zero ice climbing done, that can only be a good thing...


At the top of our last run of the trip, with Mt Yotei ('Hokkaido's Mt. Fuji) in the background

Rapha Club Ride - February 2013

Apologies for this being the first of three posts, but I have a few things to catch up on so I figured I'd break them up nicely.

First up was a huge group ride on 10th February, run by Rapha Cycle Club in Osaka. I'm a big fan of Rapha cycling gear (the design and craftsmanship is excellent - my bib shorts in particular have taken a lot of abuse and still look new) and I'm good friends with one of the guys who works in the Osaka store, so myself and a bunch of our group joined their club ride as it came to Kyoto this month.




Turned out to be a great ride with a couple of tough climbs (including a nice Cat 2) and a great bunch of people. Next time the RCCO club ride comes to Kyoto (usually it's located near Osaka), I'm sure we'll go again.

Thanks to Ryo (of RCCO) for the photos!


Group photo (actually taken after the ride)

The pack heading up the first climb

Myself (left) and Alex (right) coming along the Uji river

Grecia (left) and Rafa (right) coming up a hairpin on the first really steep climb

Several of us bashing along the coast of Biwa lake