How biking makes me feel.

Bike Fitting and Sad News

I went for a bike fitting at Specialized Shinjuku yesterday. I’ve been struggling with saddles for so long that I decided it was time to pay the cash and get a professional, personalized opinion.

LOVE Infinity

Recently I received an Infinity L-series test saddle in awesome brilliant pink. I had heard about the saddle before and was eager to try it. Perhaps this would be the one to finally end my search for taint-bliss?

My first moment in the saddle can only be described as

（O。O!!　HOLY WOW!!!

Un-Hero

I’ve read stories about this woman, Evelyn or something, who made this “amazing transition” from high powered business woman on Wallstreet to top level athlete with now Boehls-Dolman (or however you spell that). She bought her first bike in 2008 and trained at home on the turbo “every night” for a year, debuting in 2009 and winning the US time trial championship in 2010.

…or something like that.

I Did This

 

Borrowed some carbon race wheels. Put them on my bike. Played.

When the time came to send them back, I had to transfer my cassette back to my old wheels. I did that. Add it to my list of maintenance skills.

Also, a recommendation for all you semi-serious race noobs: unless you have two grand to spare, don’t test carbon race wheels. Just… don’t

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日本語版

Overtrained Again

I don’t know what it is with me, but I have major problems with recovery. I’m better with cycling than I was with running, probably because bicycles have built in intensity buffers that running shoes don’t, i.e. wheels, but this is the second time I’ve put myself into major overtraining since getting hooked on bikes in the Spring of 2015.

More Heroes For Me!

Source: Bridie O’Donnell takes UCI world hour record with a carefully paced 46.882 kilometres | Ella

 

Look! Another world record set by another amateur over 40!

Chasing dreams is all about believing it’s possible. Believing it’s possible is all about finding people like you that prove it can be done.

Congrats to Bridie.

Stealth Sexism in Sports| ACTIVE

Sometimes a cyclist’s eyes are bigger than his or her legs. How many centuries can you realistically prepare for in a season?

Source: How Many Centuries Can I Ride This Year? | ACTIVE

Yoyu

In Japanese there is a word yoyu which means something akin to “wiggle room,” or “having extra leftover.” You might use it to compliment someone’s riding:

“You climbed that hill with yoyu!”

or to express concern for your budget:

“I never have any yoyu at the end of the month.”

Yoyu is critical to maintaining happiness and composure on your path. Whether you are trying to achieve peak performance as an athlete (me!), or just trying to make it from one day to the next amidst the various demands of work, social life, personal health, family, bills etc (also me), protecting your yoyu can be the difference between achieving your goals and crashing in a blaze of terrific splendor somewhere midway.