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Thanks man and, yes, no point having a bike as a show piece in my view (not enough space in Japanese homes, even if I could!).

Shifting is spot on with the BOR rings.

From what I hear from friends, Extralite rings can be hit or miss with shifting, but, on a SRAM mechanical drivetrain, these have been very good (crosses fingers).

They seem to be an ideal compromise between good shifting and shifting weight.

Too kind. Not sure it’d survive a lot of the riding you do in Scotland haha

Thanks for the compliment (albeit it could be just that you hate WW bikes and this is the best of a bad bunch haha).

My aim was always to have a bike I can use for long distances and that is functional. The issue with WW builds tends to be that they become too fragile and look odd due to the particular parts people often use.

In that way, I see this as a bit of an outlier and wouldn’t go the extra mile to cut the weight any more (cutting off bars, no tape, stripped saddle, etc.).

I’ll drop my Festka Scalatore 54cm in here.

After new wheels (775g tubulars - Extralite hubs to 25mm deep Farsports rims via Sapim Super spokes) and some Darimo bits (T1 Loop seatpost, handlebar, IX2 stem and Sub4 seatclamp), it got down to 5.470kg.

I haven’t used it much in the “very light” iteration, as it has a more practical set of TL/clincher wheels for longer rides and training (CK R45 laced to 45mm deep Farsports rims via Sapim CX Rays) for most riding. That setup is 6.170kg.

These look decent. Do you have a link to the specific items?

Forgot to add that I’m Japan postage, if that’s no problem. Of course, whatever the postage is, I will cover.

Separately, these samples are looking fantastic.

1) cozey Medium, Black
2) Alan_tbt medium black, large grey
3) GoatandTricycle Medium, Grey x 2 Large, Grey x 1
4) stelfox
5) doubleodavey
6) Big_Ted
7) miro_o
8) ltc
9) fussballclub
10) mrJL
11) Po medium/grey
12) MicroDosed™
13) Pmccee
14) bonk
15) PhilDAS
16) roboto
17) snoops
18) HarryK
19) disq Medium, Dark Olive
20) ghostface Medium, Olive
21) cjr
22) amey
23) dayday
24) M4xime
25) Thrustvector
26) Fieldmouse (medium, grey)
27) pacef8
28) Hamham
29) mobe (medium, black)
30) swmlon
31) ILb
32) luft
33) Oooooshuaia (medium, olive)
34) miloas
35) FourGreenFields
36) Merak (medium, olive)
37) iamalex (medium, olive)
38) LeMesjeu: (medium, grey)
39) urbs
40) EstelleGetty
41) LukeG
42) alex_s Medium/Black
43) thegreatbelow
44) Lolo
45) jb72
46) Acliff
47) S_b
48) jackincaves (medium, olive)
49) Mucker
50) djc
51) rj
52) Chalfie
53) motoko
54) TotalShanner Large, Olive
55) gillies Large, Grey
56) WilliamJohn (Large, Black)
57) vneilv
58) Crumbs
59) ElGonzo
60) apc (medium, olive)
61) bodz (medium, olive)
62) dglshrn (medium, black)
63) bossman (large grey)
64) lowbrows (medium, grey)
65) Jameo (medium grey)
66) GrimpeurG (Medium, olive)
67) greeno (medium olive
68) xDOMx (medium olive + medium grey)

It’s good, overall. The country is still a little new to road cycling so drivers are slightly unsure how to share the road, but they’re not aggressive. Landscape-wise, it’s incredible. Over 75% of Japan is mountains, so it’s great for those that like climbing (fortunately, I’m one of those).

Many thanks!

Done. A really cold and windy last day made for slow going (at least for about 60kms of headwind), but Japan’s winters are dry at least.

Like many, a mix of indoor and outdoor (largely flat) made things a little unspectacular, but it was good to be able to do it again and still manage to be an active parent.

Some shots from the 8 days.

For clarity, Japan can’t be lumped in with South Korea as regards testing or any kind of effectiveness. Statistics about confirmed cases here are utterly meaningless.

I live in Yokohama and there are extremely low levels of testing. The number of cases are almost definitely exponentially higher than any statistics show.

For an illustration:

• South Korea testing as of 20 March = 316, 664
  
• Japan testing as of today (23 March) = 20,228
  
  

To be honest, the measures have been poor to non-existent and the media is seemingly towing the party line by focusing on how bad it is in other countries. Trains are still packed, work from home is ‘encouraged’ (policy doesn’t get followed by many) and people are very much out and about (50,000 people went to an Olympic torch event last weekend). All of this is basically an attempt by the government to make Abe less unpopular and to try to save the Olympics (in my view, won’t happen).

I don’t know what the future holds for Japan and COVID19, but I’m pretty anxious about it (especially with a two month old and 2 and a half year old).

I’ll also be posting back via tracked delivery to be as sure as I can it arrives in time/arrives at all (especially with Christmas fast approaching).

Not ideal to have to foot the bill for that, but my seat is a close Con/Lib Dem seat and needs as much help as it can to keep the Conservatives out (even if that means keeping Tim Farron in 🤮).

Lurking on this thread, but haven’t contributed to date.

Just a note for those living outside the UK - postal vote forms arrived here in Japan, so I’m guessing others will be arriving imminently.

Wouldn’t mind a trip to Girona myself, but Japan’s mountains will have to suffice for now!

Last race of HC season here in Japan and a proper ‘cycling connects’ moment, as I had the pleasure of meeting @Tychom for the first time.

The 12.8km, 930m elevation gain course was tougher than the 7.1% average gradient sounds, and the (stupidly) humid Japan summer didn’t make things any easier.

In any case, a really well-run event and another time benchmarked for HC races next year.

I just rode a race/event called Attack!299, which goes from Hanno (Saitama) through to Chino (Nagano).

205km and 3,700m of climbing.

There’s coping mechanisms, but not sure they apply to a race (as much of a worry to me as to you, I’m sure).

Anyway, you/we will be fine (the amount of time it takes is a different question, however!).

I have an Aussie mate who lives near the event, so I’ll probably stop with him.

I have a race next Sunday, which I did an effort on today (West of Tokyo). Humidity was brutal and resulted in the effort feeling much worse, but that may be because rainy season is still in full flow.

From the options you stated, Nasu may be good. They did a Rapha Prestige there a few years back and it’s a pretty town.

Signed up for Cat B too. Now let’s see just how brutal the heat and humidity are...

That means I’ll have to finally get off my arse and sign up. Cheers for the motivation!

I don’t know anyone doing it or that has done it, but it may work for me...

I’d be in the same class if you did the B category.

It’s funny moving from south east England to a country that’s over 75% mountains, as you kind of need to learn to embrace climbing. Plenty of events here, but really spread about the country.

After Mount Fuji in June and another event TBC, I think I’ll jump over to Taiwan to do the KOM with some friends (not racing, just finishing!).

There were ‘waves’ for certain categories, but for my class, we started with two different age groups too. Must’ve been about 200 or so in that group.

Pretty mad start, to be honest (already on a 6% hill from the off).

Race got shortened to 15km, 800m^ (finishing at 1,600m or so) due to snowfall in race week.

Managed to push my record power to the finish (44mins4secs) and came 13th in my age class from 71 starters (top 10% in the race overall).

Relatively happy with the result given that I haven’t raced since September 2015, but hope to push on in future HC races.

Friend was there and took some photos...

I’ve kind of factored altitude in by training on some higher climbs, but not quite above 1,500m (more around 1,000 to 1,500m).

For background, I’ve listened to some TR and other podcasts on the subject (thanks for the pointer, in any case). While I know roughly where my W/KG should be for the duration, I also know that I’ll really have to be conscious of my power as we get into the higher parts of the course.

Next race after this will be a race up part of Mount Fuji in June (similar kind of distance and elevation gain), which mirrors a race I did back in 2015.

Ride With GPS course gives an idea of what’s in store for the race this Sunday...

Tour de Yatsugatake

The Daffodil Hotel in Grasmere is one I’ve heard very good things about.

Spa facilities, nice food, beautiful surroundings.

Haven’t been but got my mum and sister a voucher for the spa for Christmas. They were very impressed.