Strava Gran Fondo 2

130 kilometres. Mud. Ice. Snow. Headwinds. Dead-ends. Roads that are apparently "highways" but are in fact single-lane forest roads featuring most of the aforementioned things. Steep climbs. Ripping descents. And the company of a great friend. It was even warm enough to wear shorts and a short-sleeve jersey (with a wind jacket for brisk descents).

Doesn't get much better than that!




The one slight downer was the terrible PM2.5 pollution China have so kindly sent our way. I feel like someone sandpapered my lungs. Thank you, China!

Elbow grease

Amazing what a little effort will do... apparently there was a bike hiding under all the grease and dirt!

Going tubeless

I've been running tubeless tyres on my CX wheels from the start - they just make sense to me. No risk of pinch-flats at low pressures (I sometimes take them down as low as 20 psi with no issues) and with Stan's sealant inside, they self-seal most punctures with minimal pressure loss. For the same reason, most MTB riders now run tubeless, and have been for years.

But tubeless hasn't really caught on with roadies. High pressures made it hard to get tyres to stay on the rim, and I guess the benefits aren't as pressing. But the people who are running road tubeless setups generally proclaim it to be "revolutionary" and "the future of road tyres" so after writing off my trusty open tubulars yesterday, I thought I'd take the plunge and fit my tubeless-ready Ultegra road wheels with Hutchinson Fusion 3s and half a bottle of Stan's in each.

The promises:

• A smooth ride, like a tubular setup but without the mess and fuss of glue or tubular tape
• Run at lower pressures for better grip and more efficiency with no risk of pinch flats
• Self-sealing of most punctures without having to, well, mess around

Sounds perfect for Britain's wet, rough, thorny roads...

Hopefully I'll be putting 130 km on these on Wednesday, so that should break them in nicely. From riding around town, though, impressions are excellent so far - they feel REALLY fast, and comfortable to boot.

More soon, once I get some real mileage on them...

Atagosan: first puncture in 6+ months!

Nice ride with Alex and Kory today, along the Kamogawa and Katsuragawa rivers to Arashiyama (where ice-cream was consumed, naturally) before climbing Atagosan and descending to Kameoka before heading back to Kyoto.




On the way up out of Kameoka, I nailed what looked like a big fat carpentry staple and flatted. Honestly I think that's the first flat I've had in at least 6 months, which isn't bad going! Still, fixing that in the waning light wasn't much fun, and the tyre is a write-off. Ugh.

Snow, you gotta go...

Starting to get a little tired of this weather now. This was today:

I got a couple of rides in - one on Wednesday and one today so I could complete the Stravalentine's Day Challenge - but the roads were treacherous and I can't say it was a whole lot of fun!

And another snow ride...

Beautiful, crisp day today - it would have been a shame to not go out and ride!

It was an awesome snowy ride up on a bike that was pretty unsuited to the environment - lots of fun fishtailing and skidding, but no crashes! A bit of walking on more solid ice here and there, but not much. Then I, uh, got lost on the way down, lost sight of the MTB trail and the tracks of the lucky bugger with a fat-bike, and ended up on the Daimonji hiking trail. Cue an awkward and frankly at times treacherous hike down steep, slippery mud and rocks while shouldering my CX bike. Fun for all the family!

The cold killed the GoPro on the summit, so no comedy scrambling video, but enjoy the ascent!

Snow ride

In retrospect, probably a poor idea. GoPro footage afforded some quality comedy, though.

Thesis: defended!

Finally got to defend my thesis today. I think it went well so I'm pretty positive about the outcome - I even got what seemed like a compliment from my academic supervisor!

Celebrations were summarily had, consisting of the company of a good friend and cycling buddy, a beer, a large bowl of tantanmen (spicy pork ramen) and a gratuitous parfait.

Now... to ride it all off over the coming weeks!