Cycle Touring in Japan, Part 2

Our tour was not self-supported by any means. (For more information about self-supported touring in Japan, speak to David Shiver or Phil Bokovoy.) There are several companies in Japan that provide supported cycling tours. These are usually van supported tour so one’s luggage is hauled from stop to stop and varying degrees of on-road support are offered. We’re lazy so we have opted for package tours that have specific itineraries, van support, and all hotel/inn bookings handled by the tour company. In addition the company we have used, Cycling Japan, which by the way is Japanese owned and run, can provide rental bikes both regular or e-bikes (along with spare batteries if you burn through one during the day). They provide road bikes, hybrids, or touring bikes depending on your preference and they set them up according to your measurements.

Whether to bring your own bike or rent one. Taking your personal bike overseas is an undertaking unto itself. If you take your own bike, you will have to haul it in addition to your other luggage. Airlines have gone back and forth on whether to charge for bikes as oversize luggage; check airlines for the latest policy. If you plan to do any additional traveling while you are overseas after your tour, you will either have to find a way to stash your bike such as left luggage or you’ll end up hauling it with you even though you don’t need it. Sometimes it is possible to ship your bike to your start destination. If so, you need assurance that it will not only arrive intact but on time. (The same goes for flying with your bike. Airlines lose bikes occasionally and yours may not arrive on time.) If you want to use your e-bike, you will not be allowed to pack the lithium battery packs in your stowed luggage—it’s illegal. You will then have to take it with you into the cabin and there are limitations on the battery size and the number of batteries that can be brought onboard.

Renting a bike means you’ll shed the burden of packing, hauling, and unpacking your bike. But you may get a rental bike that is not to your satisfaction. When you take your own bike, you have a bike you’re familiar with and set up just as you want. Since Roger uses e-bikes exclusively, he has to rent one. Before going to Japan I had never rented a bike and had always brought my own touring bike that is kitted out the way I prefer. The first time we went to Japan with Cycling Japan I decided to try a rental because it would make the travel logistics so much easier not to lug a bike around. I’ve been fairly satisfied with their bikes even if they are more modest—but not always!—than what I would ride at home. Cycling Japan does a good job of fitting the bikes after you arrive. The other major positive is that since we are renting the bikes from the tour company, they assume the responsibility for maintaining the bikes while on tour whether that be providing fully charged battery packs, repairing flats (!), or fixing something major. On our first tour in 2016 my rental bike bottom bracket failed just before lunch one day; Kenichi swapped it out for a new one during lunch. Yes, they carry spares of everything including a fully functional road bike just in case someone’s needs repair that can’t be done immediately! Another time my freehub died just as we arrived at a ferry port. While waiting, Dai tried to fix it but couldn’t. (The pawls turned out to be shot.) So he just swapped in a spare rear wheel. If these incidents had happened with my own touring bike, I would have had to hunt for a bike shop to do the repairs. (Do not delude yourself thinking that nothing wrong can happen with your own, carefully maintained bike. We’ve seen broken derailleurs, shot shifters, broken saddles, broken seatposts, you name it, on other people’s “carefully maintained” bicycles.) If you do bring your own bike, at least have it tuned up or checked over by a pro (= not you) before you pack it.

The fitting adjustments are done on the first day of the tour, which is a non-riding day. I’ve learned over subsequent trips exactly what else I need to bring to Japan to make my rental bike work better. You are encouraged to bring your own saddle and pedals since those are highly personal contact points on the bike. Cycling Japan’s bikes have front and rear lights. But I bring more powerful lights because of the tunnels as well as a bell to use when I’m dealing with traffic. Although they provide a large rear saddle bag, I also bring a handlebar bag to carry my camera, snack food, supplies, as well as an additional place to stow clothing. By the way, in Japan brakes are set up English style, i.e. the left hand brake lever controls the rear brake and the right hand lever controls the front brake. This is the reverse of what we’re used to.

An advantage of a package tour is you’re relieved of making a lot of decisions such as where to stay, where to eat, and how far to ride or which road to take and all the associated research involved in making those decisions. Although you may not know the nittygritty details in advance, you do know the general architecture of each day and have an idea of how easy or challenging the route will be as well as the sights you might see along the way. The disadvantage is that you’re also limited to a set route and spontaneity is severely reduced. If you want to go somewhere else on a day, you’d better be able to figure out a route to your hotel/ryokan for the night! On the other hand you’re availing yourself of the company’s expertise and experience in crafting a rewarding experience. Never underestimate the value of locals’ knowledge. Another disadvantage is that because we are traveling with predominantly English speakers, we tend to cluster together rather than being forced by circumstance to interact with Japanese people. The few opportunities we have been afforded to speak directly with locals have been because they spoke some English; those interactions we cherish. Of course if you speak and understand some Japanese you’ll be able to interact more freely and likely have a much more rewarding experience while on tour. Another disadvantage of a set tour is that you’re on a schedule so even if you’d like to linger longer at a particular town you can’t. Certainly for a first-time visit to an area of Japan a tour is a great introduction and you can in the future plan to go back to explore in more depth the areas that caught your fancy.

A package cycle tour is not like riding at home. At home you can take a day off when you like or skip a day because it’s raining or unpleasantly hot. On most package tours that are point-to-point the best you’re going to be able do is maybe ride in the van. But that may not always be possible. You wake up every morning knowing you’re going to be riding regardless of the weather or how tired you feel. Unlike Northern California most of Japan can be rainy at almost any time of the year. Every tour we’ve done there has had some rain, sometimes very light all the way to torrential, all-day maelstroms. So you’re likely to be riding in the rain at some point whether you like it or not. Regarding weather summer in all but Hokkaido can be insufferably hot and humid. But even Hokkaido is getting hotter in summer due to climate change. The best times to visit Japan to cycle are spring and autumn although winters from Kyushu south to Okinawa are milder than on the northerly islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido and comfortable for touring.

Roads. Roads in Japan are generally in better shape than in the Bay Area. Road maintenance is serious business in Japan. Earthquakes and monsoonal storms do tremendous damage to roads whether it be by landslides, collapses, or overflowing rivers wiping them out. So there always seems to be road maintenance going on. Even in the rural areas road failures seem to be addressed quickly. Whereas county road budgets here always seem to be impoverished, Japanese fund maintenance to the extent that even potholes are rare.

Vehicles use the left side of the roadway as they do in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand so you’ll be cycling on the left side as well, i.e. close to the left edge of the roadway. This can be initially disorienting for Americans and one can forget which lane to use when turning at intersections—turn left and stay to the left, turn right and also stay to the left! If you use a cycling mirror, you’ll need to switch it to the other side of your helmet/eyeglasses/handlebar in order to see the traffic behind you. Traffic laws as well as general expectations of cycling behavior are slightly different in Japan. For example there is no right/left turn on red: all vehicular traffic waits until there is a green light before turning. Cyclists turning right are expected to make ’square’ turns: wait for the green light, proceed through the intersection to the corner, then wait for the green light before going to the right.

No surprise: road signage is different in Japan. The main difference is the stop sign; in Japan it’s a red triangle rather than an octagon. But occasionally you’ll see “STOP” on the road surface. Informational signs are mainly in Japanese but city names are usually also in Roman characters. Most other signs are standard. You will also see a sign allowing bicycles to ride on sidewalks as well at not allowing bicycles. But the latter are often ignored as long as you’re respectful of pedestrians.

Because Japan has a very long history its roads are similar to what you’ll find in Europe: an extremely fine and dense network of tertiary roads. These roads are used mainly by locals and local delivery trucks and businesses; people traveling point to point and larger delivery trucks instead stick to the main roads. It is not uncommon to be on a road so isolated and narrow that two cars can barely pass each other—and these are small, narrow Japanese cars! It almost goes without saying that these roads are lovely to ride on. Of course to get to these tertiary roads you inevitably have to take the major roads and many coastline roads are pretty heavily trafficked especially near the bigger cities. Roads in Japan are often narrower than what our Highway Code would require. Lanes are usually narrower and the presence of a reasonable shoulder is hit-and-miss. Bikes are expected to ride on the left edge of the lane if there is no shoulder; the idea of “taking the lane” is indeed foreign in Japan—drivers do not expect you to be in the middle of the lane. That said we’ve had exactly one incident in the thousands of miles we’ve ridden there when a driver seemed so uptight about being behind a line of cyclists that he sped up furiously to pass us even when it was patently unsafe to do so; in other words he did what would be have been matter-of-fact here!

Tunnels. If you ride in Japan you’re going to be going through tunnels. Along the coast tunnels are cut through bluffs over which no road could be constructed. Given that we’ve cycled on 15%+ grades on coast roads—similar to the rolling hills on the San Mateo coast—that’s saying something. Their benchmark for when it’s too-steep-better-dig-a-tunnel seems a lot higher than here. Tunnels vary in Japan from short galleria like you’d find in the Alps to long and dark with dismal or no lighting. Tunnels are the “short cut” so expect to encounter trucks. No matter how much I tell myself that Japanese drivers are better and more considerate than US drivers I still am unnerved when I hear the roar of a diesel engine behind me in a tunnel. So I’ve made sure to use powerful lights to be seen as well as to see the pavement and warn oncoming traffic of my presence.

Driver behavior. Driving behavior in Japan is unlike anything we have encountered in Europe and certainly here at home: drivers actually observe the speed limit. And the speed limits in Japan are lower than they are here. Typically the speed limit is 60 KPH on arterials and 40 or 30 KPH on ‘residential’ roads. Drivers also are much more patient waiting behind cyclists before making a pass. Turning at red lights is illegal and cars observe this law making it much safer for pedestrians and cyclists. When passing automobile drivers seem to have a good sense of the ‘edges’ of their car and pass with a sufficient gap. Cars and trucks are overall smaller than in the US and even Europe and they’re going more slowly than we are used to.

How do locals cycle? Riding a bike on the sidewalk is very common in cities. That said those cyclists are usually running errands and going very slowly (less than 10 MPH). Cyclists occasionally do ‘salmon’ although to a lesser extent than here. We only occasionally have seen Japanese recreational cyclists and that’s usually on a Saturday or Sunday when they have time for a ride. Do Japanese cyclists obey the letter of the law? Nope. They’ll turn at a red light as long as it’s clear. They also cycle ‘salmon’ in cities. But in general they are respectful of car drivers and don’t engage in provocative behavior; in return drivers don’t mete out punishment passes and attempt to terrorize cyclists.

The Devil is in the Details

January One equals Resolution Ride. We lucked out and had a break in the storms for the roads to dry out and a more or less dry day to head up. This year not only did Valley Spokesmen and Grizzly Peak head up but Marin Cyclists decided to send over a contingent—I guess Tam gets boring when you live in Marin. It was cold, as usual, about 40F or so at the start. But there was no wind to speak of so it didn’t feel super cold unlike in some past editions where we were swamped by huge gusts swirling around Diablo.

This year it was Stephen, me, Ian, Alan, and Dilan who did the nasty. The rest of you were cowering somewhere warm while i ciclisti con coglioni primped and pranced up the Devil Mountain. Ian of course took off right after the entrance on North Gate and we saw him only as he was descending while we were still climbing up. This year’s special treat was my husband Roger’s decision to participate but by car, i.e. haul a bunch of Johnny’s doughnuts and some java up and meet us at the Junction so we could refuel before the final push to the top.

It’s been a tough month for Roger and me. We did a most excellent cycletour in Japan in November only afterwards for us to come down with a nasty, gut wrenching cough and sinus infections that just wouldn’t end. We were both sick for a month. Consequently we did no riding in December. So what better idea than to go up Diablo to open up the new year?

Roger was the smarter since he could participate without killing himself. I, of course, of the nothing-ventured-nothing-gained mindset decided to cast my fate to the wind and head up despite the near certainty that this was not going to have a happy ending. And you know we always like happy endings. Well, as David says, “Bad cycling is still better than no cycling!” At least I had the sense to take the bike with the lowest possible gearing and to ride up casually rather than frenetically.

So that meant I hung out with the Kool Kids and got to hear them gossip about ALC, ALC personages, ALC history, ALC plans, and a lot of family stories that strangers really shouldn’t know about. Dilan and Stephen converse endlessly and at length about any topic so long as it’s ALC related or has high quality salacious gossip!

Most folks go up South Gate but I’m not sure why except maybe they live closer that way. North Gate is always quieter and in my opinion more scenic especially when rains have painted the grassy hills green again. This year was no different—we hardly had any company. Roger met us at the Junction with the goodies. Thank heavens, Johnny’s apple fritters are the cat’s meow! He got a dozen donuts including chocolate covered custard donuts, maple bars, and also glazed donuts. I wanted to eat them all. I snarfed a fritter like a cat eating a mouse as well as a cup of piping hot coffee. A maple bar later I was ready to get back on the bike and maybe barf a bit before heading up. Always tastes good the second time!

But above the Junction things rapidly went south for me. Alan, Dilan, and Stephen were plodding ahead and I was content to be the tail of this group when the leg cramps hit and it was game over. I made it up above Juniper but I couldn’t shake the cramps despite trying all the tricks of the trade. And it was starting to sprinkle. So I turned around and headed down and let the others carry the DSSF flag to the summit. I ended up cutting the ride even shorter and descending North Gate rather than to Danville for lunch. I was cramping even while descending. It sucked.

But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. And I gained a great start to 2025 even if the only resolution I made for this year—get to the top of Diablo—was broken practically before it started!

I’m Fixing A Hole (Part 2: Getting a Flat)

I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go
—Lennon/McCartney

You’ve got a flat while riding and you’ve decided to replace the tube with your spare rather than fix the puncture immediately. Dealing with a flat is an inconvenience and you would like to have just one inconvenience on your ride, no more. Then it is worth being careful and not rushing the process in order to avoid flatting again due to a careless and hurried effort.

But why can’t I just ride home on a flat tire? You can try it if you’re absolutely desperate, e.g. you’re out of cell range and no one is likely to come by who might be able to help you. This is the one situation where riding a tubular tire has clinchers beat. Since tubular tires are glued onto the rims, they are much less likely to roll of the rim even when they’re flat. And since they stay in place the flat tubular provides some rudimentary protection for the rim being damaged when you roll on it. Clinchers are another story altogether: there is nothing holding the tire onto the rim despite there being a tight fit between the tire and the rim. So at the slightest turn they are likely to roll off the rim entirely. Once the tire rolls off it will jam between the fork and the wheel (front) or jam between the stays and the wheel (rear). You also won’t have any control riding just on the rim and it will feel terribly rough. Third, riding on a clincher rim hooked or otherwise—especially a carbon rim—is guaranteed to ruin it and you’ll have to replace it later.

But I have tire inserts! There is one possible exception for clincher tires: if you’ve got tire inserts in your tires, you might be able to ride it carefully since the insert provides some cushion and flotation and helps keep the tire beads from coming off the rim. Getting a tire off that has inserts inside can be difficult, so all the more reason to continue riding it if possible. Needless to say if you do try to ride a flat tire that doesn’t have inserts you can only go slowly in order to be safe. But this is an option I do not recommend unless the distance you need to ride is very, very short and for some reason you can’t just walk. Nota bene: I don’t recommend you do this!

Before changing the tube find the source of the flat. You might be tempted just to replace the tube as quickly as possible especially if you’re riding in a group and everyone is impatiently waiting for you to finish up. My advice: don’t! Take the time to ascertain the cause of the flat before you put in that spare tube. If you haven’t removed the cause of the flat, you may flat your spare shortly thereafter and be stuck. So take the time to ascertain the cause before you stuff in that spare!

There are myriad ways a tire can go flat: Something sharp poked through your tire and punctured the tube; you hit a sharp bump hard and flatted; an old patch failed; the tire valve failed; you rode on a worn tire and wore through the casing; you overheated the tire on a long descent by braking constantly (rim brake only) and it blew off; you didn’t have the tire bead properly seated and it blew off; you accidentally abraded the tire casing—I could go on. Most of these have an overt cause and you will usually be able to find the cause of the flat.

If your tire deflated very quickly perhaps accompanied by a loud bang, you’ll probably not have to look too hard to find the site of the flat. But not always. The cause of quick deflations include “snake bite” punctures, casing failure, an inner tube not properly seated inside the tire, or too high pressure perhaps caused by overheating due to prolonged braking. Quick deflations mean the hole is so large that all the gas escaped immediately. If it’s caused by a large gash—maybe you ran over a large glass shard that sliced open your tire—you’ll see it easily. But sometimes there is no sign of the cause when you inspect the tire surface. Often you should see a hole in the casing or tire tread. Casing failures may be obvious and be sure to check your tire sidewall, which is where they tend to occur. If your tire overheated and blew up, almost always the tire bead is blown off the rim and you’ll spot that location quickly. But sometimes it’s not so obvious as when you hit a pothole hard and you compress the tire and tube so much that the tube is gashed in two places by the rim—a “snake bite” puncture; the tire casing may be intact and only the tube is damaged and you might not see that until you pull the tube out to inspect.

In the case of a failed tire valve it may not be obvious. The base of the valve is subject to stress and that’s why manufacturers strengthen that point on the tube. Even so they can fail through time either from stress on the base of the valve tube or by movement causing abrasion; also, tubes are rubber and rubber ages and can crack. If you look at your tire valve and it’s cockeyed, i.e. not straight up, The tube could have shifted on the rim and this puts extra stress at the base of the valve. If you have a retention nut holding the Presta valve onto the rim, it shouldn’t shift. But Schrader valves usually do not have retention nuts so they can shift. If you’ve put a tube with a Presta valve onto a rim intended for Schrader valve tubes, you can also abrade the base of the valve. This is because the hole in the rim for a Schrader valve is larger than for a Presta valve. That extra width can allow the valve to shift back and forth and cause abrasion. (To prevent this from happening in the future, you should install a Schrader-to-Presta adaptor.)

The base is underneath the rim and you can’t see it without removing the tire. A flat at the valve could also be due to the valve mechanism itself. Presta valve tubes almost always have a removable Presta valve core. The tiny valve mechanism is simply screwed into the inflation tube. Perhaps you or your mechanic removed it to inject sealant and failed to screw it back in all the way. Another cause could be that you failed to tighten the captive nut on the Presta valve after you inflated your tire. In the former case either a small wrench or a special Presta valve tool can be used to screw the valve mechanism down; for the latter, just screw down the captive nut tightly.

Bent Presta valve stem (with captive nut)

If you look at the top of your Presta valve, there should be a captive nut that you screw down to close the valve. The little stem that the captive nut screws onto is thin metal and it is very easy to bend by accident. It is also possible to break off accidentally. The most common way to bend the stem is when you attach a pump head to the valve to inflate the tube. Be careful! Rocking the pump head back and forth when pumping or when you release it or pulling it off at an angle is a good way to bend the stem. If you’ve bent the stem already, you may be tempted to straighten it. Again, be very careful because this is a great way to break off the stem altogether. I wouldn’t recommend trying to straighten it unless you absolutely have to, i.e. you cannot screw down the captive nut to close the valve. If you do break off the stem, your tube will probably be able to hold air but it will slowly (or quickly) leak. Presta valves are replaceable with a valve core tool and a spare Presta valve. Unless you’re carrying those along with you, you’ll definitely have to replace the tube and deal with the valve repair when you’re at home.

If your tire did not deflate quickly, then look for a puncture. If you are running tubeless tires with sealant, you should see sealant leaking if not squirting out of the puncture making the source obvious. The only reason you’re going to need to put in your spare tube is if (a) your sealant has either dried up or run out or (b) your puncture is so big that sealant is unable to seal it.

If your tire is wet you might be able to see air bubbling out of the tire; you may need to pump it a bit to check. Otherwise look around the tire including the sidewalls for a puncture or anything embedded in the tire. Sometimes whatever caused the puncture doesn’t remain embedded and it won’t be obvious. But often it is still in place and sometimes it’s very small and nearly invisible especially when it’s worn down and all you might see is a tiny dot. Needless to say that having a dirty tire may make it hard to spot the site. So wipe the tire down of as much dirt and debris as you can. (This may be difficult or pointless if you have knobby tires.) If you gently brush your hand over the tire, you may feel something stuck in the tire: lift the wheel, spin it slowly, and run your hand lightly over the surface of the tire. But be careful: if something very sharp is still in your tire, it may cut your hand or fingers; if you are wearing cycling gloves, it’s a bit safer to do this. This isn’t foolproof because the embedded object may have fallen out, not be above the surface of the tire, or sufficiently off to the side that you miss it completely.

Sidenote: If your vision is less than perfect—especially if you’re farsighted, you may end up struggling to see anything embedded in your tire. The offending object can be quite small—such as a thorn —and difficult so spot even with good vision. Make sure you have your reading glasses with you.

If you find the source of the flat, make note of its position on the tire by counting the number of spokes from it to the valve hole. You’re going to inspect the deflated tube after you remove it from the tire as well as the inside of the tire casing and this will help you find the corresponding location on both.

You may be able to find the puncture site without removing the wheel from your bike. It is also possible to patch your tube without removing the wheel. But most of the time it’s going to be much more convenient to remove the wheel in order to effect an orderly and quick repair. Note: you can’t replace an inner tube without removing the wheel. The one exception is if you have Cannondale Lefty front fork because the “fork” has only a left leg and you can remove the tube from the right side since no leg is blocking it.

What I’ll Remember About 2024

The years fly by and 2024, the club’s 42nd year of existence, is now one for the books. The club quietly does what recreational cycling clubs do: offer bicycle rides and club events for fellow LGBTQ cyclists, their family members, and allies to congregate and have fun. In the case of some challenging rides that might mean a bit of Type 2 fun though. Sometimes the club goes through periods of innovation that alter the direction of the club and sometimes those innovations become “traditions” until they become tired and dwindle away. Some of those innovations continue to today including the annual club picnic, which began shortly after the birth of the club. Mountain biking exploded and had a big club coterie in the late ‘80s and throughout the ‘90s but has since dwindled away with now just a meager presence on the ride calendar. What will 2025 bring? Surely it will be more of the same. Hopefully there will be some new events and rides that spark interest and can carry us into the future.

A “normal” winter. 2024 began with a “normal” winter after the deluge we got in 2023 when so many Bay Area roads were washed out and destroyed. Some of those roads weren’t repaired and reopened until 2024! We had the usual rain-outs of club rides but compared to 2023 it was nothing.

Will Bir. This is foremost on my mind thinking about the past year: Will Bir’s death from a heart attack while riding in the Presidio. Following David Sexton’s death in 2023, Will’s was another savage blow to the club. Will was a longtime club member whose involvement and dedication to the club was unquestioned. Will did it all and always with a smile on his face and usually while whistling. I’m going to miss him.

The return of the Ride Leader Appreciation Dinner. We hadn’t had a RLAD since January 2020. Then the Pandemic hit and we put it on hiatus for four years until this past spring at il Casaro on Church Street. It was great to gather with the club cyclorati and celebrate their club spirit. It’s the only goody the club offers to its members who volunteer to lead rides or host a club event at their house. Hopefully we’re back on our usual annual schedule and we’ll have one this spring for 2024 volunteers.

Tunnel Tops Park. The annual club picnic returned to San Francisco with some trepidation. A summer picnic is SF can either be a windblown fogfest or, if we’re lucky, a grand sunny day. We lucked out in 2024 and got the latter. Even better we held it at a new venue, Tunnel Tops picnic area in the Presidio, and it was a great choice with fantastic views, a cheery crowd, and a new, clean picnic area! A great turnout as well. It was also Will Bir’s last club event before his passing.

Pizza Night, the Marin Pizza Run. In our neverending quest to have more fun and food together we held two new events this past year. Pizza Night at Little Star Pizza on Valencia was going to be the first of several casual dinner gatherings but it turned out to be our only one last year. We had a great turnout, Little Star wasn’t crowded, and the pizza and conversation were fabulous. Hopefully we’ll have more of these in 2025! The other new event was the Marin Pizza Run held at Janet’s house in Marin. What better than a ride followed by even more tasty pizza! A fabulous jaunt out to China Camp and then camping in Janet’s beautiful backyard with slices from Cafe Verde Pizza on a gorgeous sunny day.

The Pride Ride. For many years the club was an annual presence at the SF Pride celebration with a parade contingent and a booth. But both vanished due to lack of enthusiasm—it’s a lot of work to put that together. Instead it was replaced by the Pride Ride, which has morphed into our biggest club event usually bringing out about 50-90 riders. This year was no exception with a big turnout, more donuts and coffee, and a beautiful sunny day.

Injuries. Being club president is an accursed position and maybe cursed, period! Both David Goldsmith, our past president, and current president Jeff Mishler ended up with chronic injuries in 2024—in David’s case yet again—that kept them off the bike most of the year. We hope to see them both on a ride after their eventual recoveries!

For me 2024 had three special club rides.

Old Haul Road. I finally got to ride Old Haul Road. I led it but no one other than Roger wanted to come along, which turned out to be fine. Old Haul has been on my list for a long time. I moved away from the Midpeninsula 40 years ago and it hasn’t been easy to get back to Coastside to do it. It was a complete delight: a broad, tree swaddled avenue into the redwoods on a beautiful dirt road. I’m definitely going back but next time it’ll be part of a long mixed terrain loop.

Pedaling Paths to Independence. This metric century in February has become one of my faves—it’s a small event, it’s relatively inexpensive, and it’s got beautiful terrain. But in 2024 I hadn’t been riding due to health issues and so I did this ride with almost zero miles and thus a great deal of trepidation. Fortunately David Goldsmith was also game and he hadn’t been riding much either and we sort of rode it together supporting each other. (Jeff Mishler was the other Spoker who did it. But he was killing it and we saw him only at the food stops.) Despite a slew of technological mishaps I went against my bullheaded nature and did the ride with restraint, which allowed me actually to complete the ride without dying or cramping. (I got the cramps in the car while driving home!) It was probably the slowest century I’ve ever done but it was no less enjoyable.

Pescadero loops. I did these loops three times last year. It’s another revelation thanks to David Goldsmith. Now I drive to Pescadero to skim the cream off the top instead of schlepping all the way from Palo Alto or San Francisco. It’s never not beautiful, always quiet, and I’m hooked on stopping at the Loma Mar Store for good grub! I especially like doing the loop up Haskins Hill rather than going down Highway One.

Cycle Touring in Japan: Introduction

“Two of us riding nowhere/Spending someone’s hard-earned pay”

In early November Roger and I went to Japan for a cycling tour, our seventh there. After many years of making pilgrimages to the European continent for our cycling vacations, in 2016 we decided to head to Japan for a taste of something perhaps different. We’ve been hooked ever since.

Japan has a long history of cycling despite being off the radar as a cycling destination. Yet Japan has a huge cycling industry and cycling is a part of everyday life there even more than in the US. If you are old enough, you may remember when ten-speed bicycles began to gain traction in the US in the early 1970s. We were flooded by bicycle imports. Yes, we had Raleighs from England and Peugeots and Motobecanes from France. But they were quickly followed by Bridgestone, Miyata, Nishiki. Fuji, Panasonics, Sekai, and many others—all Japanese made. Plus component manufacturers Suntour and Shimano as well as a host of other producers such as Nitto, Tange tubing, MKS, and Araya started selling their wares to compete with Campagnolo, Huret, Universal, and all the other European brands.

In Japan everyday people cycle to work or to run errands as well as cycle for recreation. People of all ages ride bikes including the elderly. Bicycles are deeply integrated into everyday life in Japan. Inexpensive bikes for everyday life, “momochari” are everywhere. Cities have dedicated bike parking near train and transit stations. At the other extreme keirin racing is very popular and high-end bicycles are still made by Miyata, Bridgestone, Fuji, and several others although they tend to outsource the actual manufacturing these days to China or southeast Asia.

What is largely unknown outside of Japan is the incredible countryside full of back roads and narrow lanes that are wonderful for cycling and make Japan worth a visit. This isn’t to say that everything cycling is hunkydory in the land of the Rising Sun. Arterials near big cities can be congested hellholes for bicyclists and most roads have no shoulders. But the liberal use of multiuse paths and sidewalks by cyclists is mitigating. In most other respects road infrastructure is much friendlier to cyclists than even the Bay Area’s. Speed limits are low compared to the US often no higher than 40 KPH on main roads and 25 KPH on residential streets. In addition to being driven more slowly cars as well as trucks are smaller and narrower making the inevitable pass less anxiety producing and safer. More importantly driver attitude is much more tolerant of cyclists and sharing the road, and drivers are very familiar with how to handle encounters with cyclists. In general Japanese culture values patience and politeness and it shows on the road. Tolerance for drunk driving is very low; the blood alcohol level for getting jailed is only 0.05% compared to 0.08% here. And taxis are everywhere if you need a lift home after a night of carousing.

We cycled from Nagasaki to Hiroshima over eleven days. It’s the second time we’ve done this trip. Two years ago immediately after Japan reopened to foreign tourism we rode this route. We felt like we had Japan all to ourselves and the absence of foreigners was immediately apparent. It was uncrowded and quiet. Autumn is also a great time to cycle in Japan. The oppressive summer heat and humidity are gone and if you time it right, the fall colors are exploding. We decided to go back not only because we enjoyed this part of Japan so much but because Roger fell ill with the flu shortly after we arrived and missed about half the tour. Thanks to the fantastically capable Japanese medical staff, who diagnosed Roger’s ailment and gave him a startlingly effective antiviral, his symptoms resolved one day later (!) and after recovering his strength he was able to complete the second half. We went back so that Roger could properly enjoy the entire route.

Our trip was a supported tour by Cycling Japan whom we’ve used every time so far. Although cycling on one’s own is possible, having guides to help us navigate not just the roads but also the language and culture have been essential since neither of us speaks nor reads Japanese. That said using Google Translate on phones it’s possible to get a lot of basic communication done albeit awkwardly. Unlike in many European countries the use of English has not made significant inroads into Japanese tourism infrastructure except in the biggest cities such as Tokyo and Osaka and even there it can be sketchy. Much of Japan’s tourism especially out of the big cities is internal tourism so hotel and ryokan staff expect Japanese. At the more isolated country towns it’s solely Japanese.

The Japanese guides not only assist with interpreting and translating but also convey cultural information that we tend to overlook or are completely ignorant of. Here’s an example: traditional Japanese inns—ryokans—have Japanese rooms, i.e. futons not beds, low tables and no chairs, and tatami mats covering the floor. One should never wear shoes in the ryokan let alone the rooms and one shouldn’t roll one’s suitcases on tatami. Tatami mats are expensive despite appearing to be spartan to Westerners. Wearing shoes or otherwise abusing them makes them look ugly and harder to keep clean. Another example is proper behavior in the onsens. Onsens are hot spring baths that are commonly found throughout Japan. There is a specific protocol in using the onsen that all Japanese know but is opaque to foreigners.

Nagasaki –courtesy Encyclopedia Brittanica

Our trip was jokingly called the “atomic bomb tour”. For most Americans Nagasaki and Hiroshima are one of the familiar city names other than Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka due to the US atomic bombings of those two cities that directly ended the Second World War. Of course other than historical remnants that have been preserved there is no sign of the bombings almost 80 years ago. Nagasaki is set on a beautiful inlet surrounded by tall hills. Part of the city goes steeply up the hillside and provides scenic views of the bay. Does that sound familiar? The population is only 400,000; it’s a big city but it doesn’t feel like it. Hiroshima on the other hand is huge with about 1.2 million residents. It too is a port town but set on the Seto Inland Sea, which is replete with hundreds of small to medium sized islands. Hiroshima feels big, more like NYC than SF and has a distinctly fashionable and urban feel. Nagasaki is on the western side of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, and Hiroshima is on the western side of Honshu, the main island. To get from one to the other we rode 500 miles taking in a lot of rural areas and coastal roads, took a tiny ferry to get across a bay, and walked under the ocean to get from Kyushu to Honshu. Japan is not flat by any means; it’s mountainous and cutting across the center of its islands always involves going over passes. We did something like 45,000 feet of climbing on our tour with most of those climbs being reasonable, i.e. less than 8%. But there were quite a few spikey, short climbs especially on rolling coastal roads hitting 15% or more. Low gears are essential! The climbing would have been even more challenging except of Japan’s propensity to carve tunnels through mountains rather than turn ancient goat trails into ridiculously steep roads. Every day involved going through tunnels. That’s both a blessing and a bane—the tunnels make it easier to get over the mountain but some of them are long, dark and poorly illuminated. Oh yeah, and the trucks go through the tunnels too. In the US this would be a recipe for disaster and either bikes would be forbidden to ride in a tunnel or we’d have to use a separated walkway. But in Japan drivers are more patient and not speeding. So after having gone through many tunnels in our travels there we have more confidence that we’re going to make it out alive at the other end.

Our trip would take us through Nagasaki, Saga, and Fukuoka prefectures on Kyushu and then through Yamaguchi, Shimane, and Hiroshima prefectures on Honshu. But before I go into any trip details, there are some things about Japan that make it different from North America or Europe.

Next: What is it like on a cycling tour in Japan?

I’m Fixing A Hole (Part 1: Preliminaries)

I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go
—Lennon/McCartney

NOTE: I wrote this post many months ago about fixing flat tires mainly because David Millard and I have never gotten around to hosting an in-person basic repair workshop for the club and I thought that this might provide some guidance for the interim. That said the last thing we need is yet another article or YouTube video on how to fix a flat bicycle tire. I’ve looked at quite a few of them and for the most part they cover the basics okay. So this article and the ones to follow are redundant and I would refer you to the Internet to get your education. However I think I organize the information more logically than what you’ll find by hunting on the Internet albeit in words rather than through show-and-tell and I try to catalog the many considerations involved in a repair.

We did a ride from our house that we’ve done many times. There were a couple of spots that had lots of broken glass recently and I warned Roger when we got to them. I should have paid attention to my own warning. The next day my rear tire was flat. It was about time since I hadn’t had a flat in several months; These days I seem to average a flat or puncture about every two to three months. They also tend to come in spurts—several flats in a short period of time and then nothing for a while. And sometimes I don’t fix a flat carefully and then I have to fix it a second time. I do tend to get more flats in winter when more debris is washed into the road and water makes it adhere to the tires. In thinking about it I’ve likely fixed at least 250-300 flat tires in my life and that’s just counting my flat tires and not other people’s. It’s become second nature, almost automatic.

I don’t think anyone fixes their own car tires when they flat. When we get a car flat, we call AAA or somehow get it to a shop and pay them to fix it. A flat in a car tire is harder to fix than in a bike tire as you need a jack to lift the wheel off the ground. Car tires don’t have tubes and a puncture caused by a nail is repaired very similarly to how we would fix a flat in a tubeless tire: tire plugs. At least if you have to remove a bike tire from the rim it doesn’t require heavy machinery as it does with a car tire. But the use of tubes makes the repair of a bike tire a bit more complicated.

Fixing a flat is a task many cyclists approach with trepidation. Certainly fixing a flat when you’re at home and can take your time is a lot less anxiety provoking than trying to fix a flat when you’re on the road, your fellow Spokers are watching you and wondering why it’s taking you so long (or perhaps expressing beaucoup sympathy and thinking ‘better thou than I’), and you’re tired and sweaty.

I won’t opine “it’s so easy!” because I know any unfamiliar task doesn’t feel like it is. In my case it is generally easy only because I’ve done it so many times that I’ve got a routine that works for me. Practice may not make perfect but instead “good enough”. I’ve also made just about every mistake in the book and experienced some unreal and strange circumstances that had me bemoaning my fate (like having seven flats on one ride). That said fixing a flat when it’s raining hard—been there, done that—is never easy!

Preliminaries. If you don’t carry supplies either to fix a flat or replace your flat tire, then you are at the mercy of other people. If you’re riding with others, you will have to borrow what you need from them assuming that they did due diligence and packed repair material. If you’re riding alone, then you will have to depend on the kindness of strangers, proceed by foot or otherwise to a bike shop, or arrange a lift home all of which are inconvenient. I’ve been that stranger that hapless cyclists by the side of the road have begged for help. I’ve loaned them spare tubes, a pump, and even demounted a wheel and then replaced a tube. It’s not that I mind helping people but it can be an imposition when I’m in a hurry. I’ve also–gasp!–been that person by the side of the road. In my case it was due to a severe gash that made the tire unrideable. Not even a tire boot would have worked. I was saved by a fellow Spoker, Walter Teague, who had made it a habit to carry a spare tire because he had experienced the same quandary in the past. Needless to say I started carrying a spare tire from then on.

All of this is to say: you should carry what you need to deal with a flat tire even if you don’t know how to use them. At the very minimum that means a spare tube, a pump or CO2, and tire levers. A spare tube is useful whether you’re running the common clincher tire or tubeless tires. (If you’re one of the few dinosaurs still running sew-ups/tubular tires, then you already know what you need to deal with a flat.) It is possible to demount a clincher tire without tire levers and just your hands but that’s getting near impossible to do nowadays because rim/tire specs are tighter than ever due to the rise of tubeless tires.* Tire levers are cheap, light, and small. So save the he-man/she-man demonstrations for other tasks and carry tire levers. How many levers? Usually you end up buying a set of three. But I’ve never needed to use more than two.

*In fact I had to fix a flat on Roger’s bike today in the shop and I could not get the tire bead off the rim bead shelf no matter how hard I pressed with two thumbs. I had to resort to a screwdriver–something I know is playing with fire and likely to cause more problems than it resolves–to get the bead to start to release. His tire is a newer Schwalbe. It was equally difficult to get the bead to reseat under inflation. On the road this would have been meant calling for a ride home.

Another warning: make sure your spare tube is the right size for the wheels and tires you’re running. That may seem obvious but it’s not, at least to some people. I helped a cyclist who had a spare tube with her but it was the wrong size for her wheel. It was impossible to use the spare and I wasn’t carrying the right size spare either. (She had a Bike Friday with 20-inch wheels.) That said it is often possible to stuff a bigger tube into a smaller wheel. The tube might be folded over onto itself but it will inflate and you can get home safely and replace it with the correctly sized tube. Stuffing a smaller tube into a bigger tire might work but it can be dangerous or impossible. If you have to stretch the tube a lot to get it over the rim, you’re also stretching your luck. Furthermore inflating a small tube in a large tire–even if you get that far–is going to stretch the tube like a balloon and it may fail.

Yet another warning: make sure your spare tube is protected. When you buy a spare tube it comes inside a small cardboard box and maybe it’s even inside a small plastic bag. Don’t make the mistake of sticking that spare tube in your saddlebag without some kind of covering. You’re likely tempted to ditch the cardboard because of its size. At least keep the plastic bag or wrap the tube in something like a sock. Why? Because the minor jostling and movement of the tube inside your bag along with any other tools can actually abrade the rubber and make a hole that you won’t notice until you need to use the spare. Don’t ask me how I know this.

Yet another warning: make sure your pump and/or CO2 inflator has the correct type of valve head for your tubes. Most of us run tubes with Presta valves. But Schrader valves–the kind on automobile tires–is much more common. Nowadays most pumps and inflators have a head that can be switched to either. But that isn’t always the case. It doesn’t matter which kind of valves you have–just make sure the head on your pump or inflator matches.

Fix it now or later? When you’re out on the road and get a flat, the first decision is whether to fix it immediately or just put in your spare tube. You do have that spare tube with you, right? As well as tire levers and a pump? If you don’t, then you’ve either got to cadge them from your ride mates (if any) or patch it immediately. If not, then it’s ‘game over’ and time to call for a lift home or to the nearest bike shop. Usually I don’t fix a flat while out riding. It’s time consuming plus I don’t have the convenience of a clean work bench, a decent floor pump, and a repair stand. Instead I’ll put in the spare and deal with the repair when I’m home.

There are some circumstances when I’d choose to fix the flat immediately rather than just put in a spare. If I’m on a long ride especially one that’s going to take me somewhere remote (and no cell service), I might fix it right away. This is because I want to ‘keep my powder dry’ i.e. still have a spare tube. But it also depends on the circumstances. If it’s an inconvenient location to do a repair (eg. muddy, dense traffic with no safe spot, etc.), it’s getting dark, or especially if it’s raining, then I prefer to use the spare. If you’re a real boy scout, then you’re carrying two spares and the decision is easy: do the repair at home.

Of course in order to do the repair on the road you have to have either a patch kit with a viable tube of ‘glue’ or glueless patches. Do you have at least one of these in your kit? If you don’t, then you’ll have to use your spare. Speaking of patch kits, those little plastic boxes contain a few patches, a glue tube, and a small square of sand paper. After you’ve opened that sealed tube of glue, it has a very limited life—maybe a few months to a year. This is because the ‘glue’ contains a solvent to stay liquid and it eventually completely evaporates even when capped. I have also discovered, of course at an inopportune time, a glue tube that had completely dried up even though it had never been opened. So they just have a limited life and you should check them from time to time by gently squeezing the tube to see if the glue is still semi-liquid; if the solvent is gone, the tube will feel lighter and it will compress easily. You can pick up replacement tubes at any bike shop. By the way patch ‘glue’ is really a misnomer. It’s not technically glue; it’s a vulcanization fluid that partially dissolves the rubber on the surface of the tube and the back of the patch so that they actually bond together directly rather than being held together by a third compound, i.e. glue

Glueless Patches. Glueless patches are patches with an adhesive backing so no separate tube of glue is required. You peel off the protective backing and slap in on the tube over the puncture. It’s faster and you don’t have to worry about applying glue properly or that you even have a good tube of glue. They usually come with a small piece of sandpaper too to roughen up the puncture area for better adhesion just as the patch kits do. There is one caveat: glueless patches may not last long before the air starts to leak out again. But they usually last long enough to get home. I’ve had glueless patches last indefinitely and I’ve had some fail within a day. The reason is that the adhesive is just that, an adhesive, and it’s not vulcanizing the patch onto the rubber tube. Vulcanization is a chemical process that produces a stronger bond between the rubber tube and the patch. If done correctly, a “glued” (=vulcanized) patch may last indefinitely. If you’ve used a glueless patch, you should consider replacing it with a glued patch later on; or you can just hope that it will last indefinitely. In my experience taking the time to clean and roughen the tube with the sandpaper and then repeatedly pressing very firmly all around the patch with the blunt end of tire lever after putting it on helps them last longer. Consider them a temporary repair or at least don’t be disappointed if you get ready for a ride later on and find out your tire is flat long after you put on that glueless patch and have forgotten about it.

Speaking of repair stuff you should have with you. The idea of having repair stuff with you is to be more self-sufficient. If that’s not important to you, then by all means outsource your repairs to a professional (or a really good friend!) You did know that AAA provides roadside service for bicyclists, right? Of course you have to be a member. They can pick you up and take you home, to your car, or to a bike shop!

Besides the bare minimum elements to handle a flat—pump or CO2 cartridge(s), tire irons, spare tube—there are other things that are useful to put in your saddle bag or Camelbak. Even if you don’t know how to use them, someone else on the ride might and then can assist you. What are those things?

A multi tool: a compact tool that has the usual Allen wrench fittings for bike parts such as your stem, screwdrivers, and Torx fittings. Bolts may come loose through time and you can tighten them up while on the go. The caveat is that all bolts technically have torque ratings so that you don’t tighten them too much and end up stripping the threads or breaking the part. Believe me, I’ve done that and it’s a total bummer when the broken part, e.g. the stem, makes the bike unrideable. So you need to know what you’re doing and be careful when using it. By the way these days all nuts and bolts on bicycles are metric and all bicycle multi tools are metric. But if you have a really old American- or British-made bike or individual Allen wrenches, they might be Imperial. Make sure you have the right kind for your bike. Also make sure that your multi tool has the Allen and Torx fittings for the parts on your bike. If you’ve got a Allen bolt with a rare 2.5 mm Allen head, you’ll need to ensure that’s included in your tool.

Tire boot: Basically it’s a really large patch to put in your tire if you happen to have a big gash. This prevents the tube from bulging out of the tire casing. You can make one out of an old tube. The trope is that in a pinch if you don’t have a dedicated tire boot, you can stick a dollar bill in your tire. But I have tried that and if the gash in your tire is big enough, it will still bulge out and be ineffective.

Spoke wrench: if your bike has rim brakes and your wheels have traditional spoke nipples, then carry a spoke wrench. They’re very small and light. Spoke nipples generally come in three different sizes so you’ll need to have the right size wrench for your nipples. If you break a spoke or your rim otherwise goes out of true (ie. develops a wobble especially a lateral one) and suddenly starts to rub against your rim brakes, you’ll need to tweak the spoke tension in your wheel in order to reduce that. Of course you’ll need to address this more carefully at home. With disc brakes rim wobble is much less an issue since it won’t rub against the brake; you should get the wobble fixed but you won’t have to do it while on the road.

CO2 inflators. Instead of a pump you can carry a CO2 inflator with a couple of cartridges. This is very fast and much less effort than pumping up a tire with a mini pump. The caveat is: when you’ve used up your cartridge(s), that’s it. With a pump you always have a means to add more air. Why should you be worried about running out of cartridges? Because you may get a second flat or you may not have fixed the flat well and thus have to repeatedly stop and pump more air to make it home. What happens more often that you think is that you never cleared the cause of the flat—such as a piece of glass embedded in your tire—and after putting in your spare, you flat again. (CO2 cartridges are disposable but you can mitigate the environmental impact by putting them in the recycle bin.) A pump also allows you to finely tune the inflation whereas a CO2 cartridge usually has to be fully used at once. (There are some inflators that allow you to adjust how much CO2 you can inject.) Better to have a pump. Of course a couple of CO2 cartridges and a simple inflator are usually lighter than a pump.

Most people don’t realize that CO2 bleeds out of the tire pores much more quickly than air so when you get home, you should deflate the tire and pump it up with air or else you’ll end up with a flat tire in a matter of a couple days even though there is no puncture. One more thing: when you inject CO2 into your tire, it is very cold due to the adiabatic effect. Know that if you are using tubeless tires with sealant, thermal shock from the very cold CO2 renders some sealants useless. CO2 also degrades some sealants even if you inject it slowly to reduce thermal shock. So if you’re using tire sealant, either use a pump or plan on doing some additional repair work when you’re home, e.g. checking and probably replacing the sealant.

Most CO2 inflators are all-or-nothing: once you put the head of the inflator on your valve and then screw in the CO2 cartridge to open it, all the gas is going to be released. (Some inflators allow you to adjust how quickly and how much you’re injecting and then shut it off.) You should practice this at home before you have to do it on the road because if you don’t have the inflator on the valve tightly, you may lose gas and not be able to inflate your tire enough. Note that if you have big tires such as mountain bike tires, you may need to use more than one cartridge. Cartridges come in 16 or 25 gram sizes; the former are for road tires and the latter are better for mountain bike tires.

Pump. There are probably hundreds of different bicycle pumps out there. At home you probably already have a floor pump also called a ‘track’ pump. That’s fine for pumping up your tires when you’re at home. But to do a repair on the road you need something smaller and lighter to carry, i.e a frame pump or mini pump. A frame pump is larger and fits on your bike frame neatly between frame tubes. Back in the day that was the only kind of portable pump for bicycles and there were basically two choices, Silca or Zefal. The former are/were legendary particularly when you got one with a Campy head. They came in different sizes to fit different frame sizes. Frame pumps being longer than a mini pump required fewer strokes to fill a tire plus they were quite capable of reaching 90 PSI.

By the way, be very careful if you think you can use a gas station air hose to fill your tire. First, they always have Schrader heads and they are press-on, not screw on. If you have Presta valves, then the only way it will work is if you have a Presta-to-Schrader adaptor. You screw this on your Presta valve (after opening the valve) and a Schrader-headed pump will now fit. They also inject a *lot* of air quickly and the pressure gauges on them may or may not be accurate (usually not). If you do not have the tube completely under the tire (see future post for the details…), you could explode your tube and possibly ruin your tire too making that call for a ride home mandatory.

Nowadays sporting a frame pump is a sure way to advertise what a dinosaur you are because everybody has switched over to mini pumps. Even Silca has a mini pump! They’re much smaller and lighter, so small many can fit in your jersey pocket. The trade off is usually time and arm strength: they require a lot more pumping to fill up a tire because the pump volume is smaller. And some are designed poorly enough that even those with strong arms can’t inflate their tire to more than about 60 PSI. Unfortunately there isn’t a sure-fire way to know which mini pumps are disasters and which are in fact well designed. (Well, except for Silca–its mini pump is near perfect.) Given that you’re not going to using a portable pump very often, the trade-off between small size and low weight for ease of inflation is understandable.

Finally a recent development has been portable battery powered pumps. These little pumps such as by Fumpa or Cycplus have just enough power and battery to get a tire or two up to rideable pressure. They’re quite small and will fit easily in a jersey pocket. The advantage is no hand pumping required and the batteries usually last for more than one inflation cycle. The disadvantage is that once your battery runs dry, you’re done. And obviously you have to recharge the battery once you’re home; if you’re the type who regularly forgets to recharge your cell phone, your bike lights, or your electronic shifters, then maybe a battery powered pump is not a good choice.

Next time: How to replace a tube while on the road.

I’m Fixing A Hole (Introduction)

I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go
—Lennon/McCartney

What follows in the next couple of months will be a series of posts about ‘considerations’ in fixing a flat tire. It comes out of a stalled project, a basic repairs workshop. David Millard and I have been collaborating on offering a short hands-on workshop on a few common repairs that cyclists can easily do themselves with some common or inexpensive parts and tools. We were going to go through just a few subjects—how to fix a flat tire, replacing cables on mechanical shifting and braking systems, and drivetrain care. That workshop is on hold because we don’t have a perfect place to offer it yet. Hopefully we’ll resolve the logistical issues and be able to offer it in the future.

In lieu of a workshop I thought for now it might be helpful to discuss fixing flat tires. Getting a flat tire happens to every cyclist eventually. Knowing how to handle it while on the road/trail and what to do when you’re back home is helpful and will certainly save you a significant amount of cash in avoiding taxi/ride share costs as well as paying a shop to do this simple repair for you.

There are dozens of videos on YouTube showing you how to change an inner tube or fix a flat tire. I’ve looked at a few of them and they cover the basics alright. Plus, being able to see what you’re supposed to do saves thousands of words. In the subsequent posts I’m going to focus more on the thought process in dealing with a flat tire; you can always go to YouTube and look at videos with those considerations in mind since this in no way replaces seeing how swapping a tube or patching a tube is done.

It seems pretty simple at first glance: pull the tube out, put a patch on it, put it back in, inflate, go. But each of those steps conceals many other minor but important decisions as you will see. These posts will focus almost exclusively on traditional wheels, i.e. a tire with an inner tube, with just a comment or two about tubeless tire flats. I won’t comment at all on tubular (sew up) tires because the process of repairing a sew up tire is very different and also complicated.

Next up: Preliminaries

23 and Me

Recently I capitulated to nostalgia and rode on some old wheels shod with 23 mm tires again. (I did it before.) These tires are actually narrower—22.4 mm when pumped to 90 PSI, which today seems like an absurdly high pressure. I used to think that 23 mm tires were too heavy and slow and I preferred 19 or 20 mm tires, which you can’t even get anymore. Do you remember when road bikes all came with 23 mm tires? Do you even pay attention to the width of your tires? If you’re new to road cycling, you’ve probably never even seen 23 mm tires. Tire width is esoterica only wheel nerds obsess about and you likely don’t give it a second thought. Odds are you’re riding 28 mm tires or wider since that’s the trend these days in road bikes. (You can look carefuly on the sidewall of your tires for something like “622-28”, the “28” indicating the nominal width of the tire when inflated.) Not that many years ago a 28 mm tire would have been considered enormous and many road racing bikes of the 1990s and early Aughts couldn’t fit anything bigger than a 25 mm tire, which was the widest size tire racers would use. The “standard” size was 23 mm.

In the past five years I have rarely ridden anything less than a 27 mm tire. This trend started when I got some Hed Belgium rims in 2012. These were heretically wide road rims for that era—21 mm internal width when the going trend was 17 or even just 14 or 15 mm. (Today we’re edging up to 23 and even 25 mm internal width!) I put nominal 25 mm tires on them and the extra width of the rims caused the tires to balloon out to 30 mm measured width. They were and continue to be the most comfortable road wheels I own. (Gravel and mountain bike wheels are another matter.) These are supremely plush yet fast wheels. Mind blown. Until then I ate only at the table of “skinny, pumped rock hard, light” so those Hed wheels were a revelation. Putting those HED wheels on any bike would improve the ride as long as the frame could accept that big and wide of a tire. Now I’ve become so used to wider tires that when I look at those wheels with 23 mm tires, they look scary thin; even 28 mm tires are starting to look “narrow” to me! Thanks to Jan Heine and Grant Peterson for debunking the old malarkey that skinnier meant better because faster. It turns out comfort can make you faster too.

I then began to experiment with different kinds and sizes of wheels and tires. I’ve tried 32 mm, 35 mm, and 42 mm tires as well as 650b rims. Each width is more comfortable than the other if a tad bit heavier. 650B wheels are heavier but they provide a Cadillac ride that puts a smile on my face most of the time. I haven’t looked back. The only “downgrade” I’ve played around with is 26 mm Rene Herse tires, which I’ve mentioned in the past. (These tires expand to about 27 or 28 mm in actual width.)

Going back to 23 mm tires for a week was a regression. But I couldn’t help it: the old bike that has these tires won’t take anything bigger than a 25 mm tire. So it’s stuck with skinny tires. Anyway my recollection was that the bike was fast and comfortable and I fondly remember many a ride zipping down roads at high speed. In particular I remember one fast ascent up Mt. Diablo, a club ride where I got schooled by Erik Leung. So I had to take a trip down memory lane hoping to relive those fond, or perhaps imagined, sensations of thin, light tires.

What was it like to ride an old bike with 23 mm tires now? To be honest it was a bit of a letdown. The wheels still felt sprightly and wickedly nimble—that much had not changed. They are fast. But the ride quality was comparatively awful: near constant vibration, juddering, and bouncing around whenever the asphalt was heaved or cracked. Perhaps roads are worse today than they were 25 years ago. Scratch that: roads ARE worse today. Counties cannot keep up with road maintenance because asphalt prices are much higher today, road budgets are cut, and road maintenance is partially funded by gasoline taxes, which are diminished by the explosion of electric car use. Torrential winter rains that wash out roads and increase pavement failures don’t help. The bike frame itself is quite compliant and not at all stiff and rigid like a carbon frame. But so much of the ride quality is due to the narrow tires. I used to think those sensations meant “excellent road feel” (= good!) when it’s really just being bounced up and down over every little bump in the pavement and feeling every little divot and crack. Those skinny tires pumped up to 95 pounds pressure were like riding on rigid Conestoga wagon wheels. My hands were aching so much that I thought I didn’t have gel gloves. But I did. The ride quality is not very forgiving. But that was what we were told back in the day how fast wheels were supposed to feel and we sure drank the Kool-Aid.

You’re not losing much by moving on to fatter tires. There is no doubt that they are heavier: there is more rubber and more casing. They do not spin up as quickly and that sublime feeling of “instant” acceleration that a light rim and tire give is muted by the extra mass. In exchange fatter tires make up for that minor buzzkill by providing a much more comfortable ride. It’s not exactly smooth but the jarring, shocking hits are replaced by subdued bumps. And the reduced bouncing actually makes for a faster ride. With 23 mm tires there is a constant benumbing vibration from every type of pavement save the smoothest of asphalt.

Yet skinny, narrow tires like 23 mm still have their allure. On smooth pavement they are addictive—they hum and flow and feel great. And if they’re 23 mm tubular tires (with silk casings), then they are like crack cocaine. Because they’re lighter they are absolutely amazing to spin up. And climbing on them is the cat’s meow because they accelerate easily with every pedal stroke. If I lived in a place with good roads like Switzerland, I’d ride 23 mm tires all the time. I don’t foresee local roads getting better with time, only progressively more awful. So 23 mm tires and their ilk have become for me a special use case. Or just a nostalgic visit to a previous era. With a harsh reality check.

For everyday riding here in the Bay Area a 28 mm tire is more comfortable and more functional. Those big volume tires allow lower inflation pressure and give a “magic carpet” ride while still being moderately light enough to feel a bit nimble. Plus, they’re less likely to incur a pinch flat when you hit that occasional monster pothole you didn’t see.

I don’t see myself going back to 23 mm tires as my regular ride; if anything I’m heading in the other direction and eyeing 32 mm tires for everyday use. The tires are indeed heavier due to more casing material and rubber. But that can be mitigated by using TPU tubes. And they are just excellently comfortable. Oh, and the other tire in the pic above is 42 mm wide. It’s like riding on a magic carpet compared to the 23.

But for the occasional ride—especially if I know the roads are of good quality—I’ll rock 23 mm tires for a trip down memory lane.

Early 2025 Centuries: January to April [updated 3/30/25]

It’s almost time to turn a new leaf! For your delectation here is the preliminary listing of century rides. April is when the calendar really starts to get packed. Note that a couple of longtime rides, the Tierra Bella and the SLO Wildflower have moved their rides into early May.

January 
1 Wednesday. Resolution Ride/New Year’s Day Up Diablo. 39 miles. No fee. This isn’t a century but it’s the first “big” ride of the year and a club tradition. See the listing in the club calendar.

February 
8 Saturday. Tour of Palm Springs. 102-, 85-, 56-, 36-, 24-, and 7-mile routes. $134-$39. This is by today’s standards a huge ride—many thousands of cyclists. It’s a long drive south but hey, it’s Palm Springs! Registration is open. Day of event registration opens Friday 2/7 from 12 to 8 PM and Saturday 2/8 starting at 6 AM.
~~16 Sunday~~. POSTPONED. Velo Love Ride. 60 miles. No fee. This event had been put on by Chico Velo since at least the mid-Aughts if not earlier. It’s a much lower key event than their Wildflower, attracting only a couple hundred cyclists in a good year. It’s pleasantly flat and tours the scenic valley area around the Sutter Buttes providing an excellent early season metric. Unfortunately Chico Velo hasn’t been able to find a member willing to organize this long held ride. Note that the previously annual Ride Around the Buttes is no longer offered. So Different Spokes is going to go up there to ride it anyway as long as it doesn’t rain. See the listing in the club calendar. If you’re unfamiliar with the Velo Love Ride, you can read about it here, here, and here.
22 Saturday. Pedaling Paths to Independence. 65- and 25-mile routes. $69 and $53. This benefit for the Community Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired is their annual fundraising ride out of Linden, which is just east of Stockton. It’s a small event of about 250-300 riders and feels more like a friendly small town gathering. It tours the rolling ag land south and east of the town. If you’re unfamiliar with this ride, you can read more about it here. Registration is open.

March 
8 Saturday. Solvang Century. 102-, 68-, and 52-mile routes. $159-$129. Limit of 1,000 riders. This event changed after Planet Ultra took over from SCOR over two years ago. Under SCOR the event food was worse than forgettable. Registration is open.
8 Saturday. Blossom Bike Ride. 60-, 40-, 20-, and 7-mile rides. $66-$29. A metric century starting in the flat orchards outside of Fresno and east into the hills and back. Sponsored by the Lions Club. Reedley is about a 4-hour drive from San Francisco. ~~Registration is open.~~ Online registration has closed. No mention of day-of-event registration.

April 
5 Saturday. Cinderella Classic & Challenge. 60-, 39-, and 21-mile routes. $85-$55. Limit of 600 riders; women/girls only. Girls 8-17 are free when accompanied by an adult. The Classic starts at the Dublin Senior Center this year and hence a new route through the San Ramon valley. Registration ~~opens December 1.~~ is open. Online registration closes April 3.
13 Sunday. Primavera Century. 101-, 63-, and 28-mile routes. $110-$50. Starting at Ohlone College in Fremont the 100-mile route again reverses direction this year and heads out Niles Canyon to Palomares before heading out to Altamont Pass and then back around Calaveras Reservoir before returning to Fremont. Registration ~~opens December 1.~~ is open. Registration closes April 8.
10-13 Thursday through Sunday. Sea Otter Classic. 90- and 50- mile road routes. $205-$155. There are also gravel, MTB, and road races. If you’re into a party scene and lots of new cycling product on display, this is your event. Registration is open. If you just want to attend the festival and not ride, a ticket is $35.
19 Saturday. Levi’s Gran Fondo. 138-, 117-, 86-, 68-, 46-, 28-, and 11-mile routes. $330-$110. Registration is open.
26 Saturday. Devil Mountain Double. 205/195- and 105-mile routes. $150-$75. Registration is open.
27 Sunday. Chico Wildflower. 127-, 102-, 100-, 62-, 60-, 30-, and 12-mile routes. $111-$79. This used to be the ‘must do’ club ride qua getaway weekend. Terrific riding despite the incineration of Paradise seven years ago during the Camp Fire. Registration is open.

New! Better! Improved!

Til one day I returned
And found they were the victims of the vines
Of changes
—Phil Ochs

Here’s a bit of recent bike equipment esoterica that likely escaped your attention: Shimano, the world’s largest supplier of cycling components, is revamping its lower lines of components and replacing them all with one new line called CUES (“Creating Unique Experiences”). If you’ve had to work on Shimano components (rather than having your shop do it), then you know Shimano has a rat’s nest of differing specs that make opaque which components are compatible with others. This is true not only between component line types—mountain bike versus road—but also quality and price levels such as Tiagra vs. Claris vs. Alivio etc.; and between e-bike and regular bikes. It’s also true between generations of the same component line. The purpose of throwing them all out and replacing them with CUES is to make mountain, road, 9-, 10-, and 11-speed CUES components intercompatible. The components are also less expensive than Shimano’s upper component tiers such as Dura Ace, Ultegra, 105, XTR, XT, etc. and they are supposedly more durable.

It certainly sounds like a good idea and it should make replacing Shimano parts a less confusing task should you need to do so. From personal experience I can tell you that replacing old Shimano parts is a semi-nightmare because newer stuff is not often compatible with older stuff. The most obvious example is the seemingly inexorable increase in the number of cogs in a cassette. I have old bikes and wheels going back from 5-speed up to 11-speed; rear derailleurs, shifters whether downtube, barend, or brake/shifters, chains, and obviously cassettes are not interchangeable. Even with the same number of cogs, Shimano has changed its shifters and front derailleur pull ratios so that an older 10-speed shifter may not work with a newer 10-speed front derailleur. Since 9-speed cogs Shimano’s mountain bike and road derailleurs have not been interchangeable because the pull actuation ratios are different; and even pull ratios in newer groups are different. I’m often forced to go onto EBay or prowl the dim recesses of the Internet looking for an older part and sometimes I’ve failed to find one. I’ve bemoaned this situation before.

If I were a shop owner, this change would be welcome if only because stocking an inordinate number of just slightly differing parts should diminish by having just intercompatible CUES parts. Furthermore not having to mentally keep track of compatibility between hundreds of parts will eventually be a relief. But I’m not a shop owner and I know that with all things tech—and that includes bicycles now—everything is changing constantly with the adoption of model year upgrade cycles and the need to dazzle cyclists with shinier, newer stuff to throw dollars at. On top of that it is only the CUES line that is interchangeable. For road cyclists, mountain bikers, and gravel cyclists who like lighter equipment, this won’t have an effect. Shimano XTR is still not going to be compatible with Dura Ace nor with Ultegra or GRX. CUES is also not going to be helpful for any existing Shimano components that it is replacing because they will mostly or entirely not be compatible with CUES. So it’s only going to be a benefit moving forward and if you buy the less expensive bikes that will have CUES as standard equipment.

Note that this interchangeability and replacement mess has been less of a problem with Campagnolo and SRAM. Yes, the number of cogs makes shifters, cassettes, chains, and hubs non-interchangeable. But both Campy and SRAM seem to have held to consistency in pull actuation ratios over generations. And in SRAM’s case its mountain bike and road bike components are mostly interchangeable. (Campy doesn’t make mountain bike components.) So this change by Shimano is really, to some extent, just playing catch up with the other producers.

There is one change in particular that caught my eye. Shimano’s lower lines are currently the only place where you can still find a triple crankset. Over time Shimano has stopped making Dura Ace triples, then Ultegra, and recently 105 triple cranksets. Tiagra was until now the highest road line that still had a triple crank. But now Tiagra is being replaced by CUES and there will be no more triples from Shimano: no front derailleurs, shifters, and cranksets. If you want to use a triple crankset or shifters or replace a worn out ones, in the near future you will either have to look for used or NOS Shimano parts or move to specialty component makers such as Rene Herse, Velo Orange, and maybe TA or Stronglight in France. Campagnolo stopped making road triples years ago and SRAM never made one at all. If I had to drop down to Tiagra for a triple crankset, the only real disadvantage is some additional weight. In exchange I would keep Shimano’s crank alignment and its excellent chainrings that are not only strong and longlasting but also have shaping that makes its front shifting so good. But Shimano is now driving the final nail in the coffin. At one point Shimano even made a Di2 electronic shifting system that worked with its top end mountain bike group XTR. What I had predicted in 2015 is now coming to pass.

There are a lot of cyclists still using triple cranksets but they’ll have to transition to a wide ranging double. As I’ve written about before, triples are not more difficult or complex to use and they allow you to shift in what I call “serial one-by”: the middle chainring is the one you use for most often since it provides a good run through the gears you use most of the time with small jumps between cogs; the big ring is for high speed flat or downhills sections; and the granny is for climbing steep inclines. Each chainring can provide a good run by just shifting the rear derailleur. Wide ranging doubles on the other hand have a weird transition between big ring-big cogs and small ring-small cogs. On the flats and rolling terrain I find I have to be a repeated cumbersome shift of both the front and rear derailleurs to move to the next higher or lower gear. However if you’re looking just for a wide gear range, then modern doubles and older triples cover the same ground and either will work.

Of course the compatibility issue that CUES solves with lower line Shimano parts will only hold true as long as Shimano doesn’t change the CUES specs as time goes on. That’s a bet I am very skeptical of given Shimano’s track record.