THIS SUNDAY Feb 17....

Anybody riding this Sunday? I'd be interested in a real lazy ride starting not too early (even 9:30 or 10:00 from Sekidobashi would be OK)...

MOB : Tried Yabitsu

As nobody else was interested to ride on Sunday I left the house at 8.30hr and rode along the Tamagawa and Asagawa to Takao. I didn't want to spend all my power at Otarumi so I made a rather slow and steady approach which took about 23 minutes up. I then went along road 412, 413 and 64 to Miyagase Ko and made a rest at the entrance to Yabitsu Toge. Just when I turned around the corner after the rest I saw the road block and one guardman stopping all cars who want to enter. As usual before the end of the fiscal year, the remaining budget is spend to work on the roads of Yabitsu. I like the idea as a bicycle rider and I hate it as a tax payer.
Construction works are scheduled to be completed by February 24th.

I thought about pressing forward in good "spilliaert-fashion" but the guardman was nice and proposed to take the road 64 to Atsugi. This is exactly the same road that David and me took last year when we were trying to attack Yabitsu early in the year. It is wide and always down so one can go there with good speed. I made the run to Hon Atsugi where I packed my bike and took the train home. 100 km in total. Nice trip but it is still so cold and snow everywhere in the area.

TOM : New route to Akiyama-mura and beyond

Got up late this morning leaving the house only at 10:00. Like Michael, my first climb of the day was Otarumi. Unlike yesterday when I desperately exhausted every muscle trying in vain to keep up with NFCC elite hill climbers, I enjoyed a leisurely "my pace" ride to the top. Experimented a little with my "heso belly button" technique and found out that the horizontal pull on the handle towards the navel should not really be real energetic pulling but simply exerting a constant "tension"...just think of it as removing the slack in the muscle groups in the back and sides of your upper torso...no need to firmly stretch them but just keeping them tightly in position that's all (well, not really all...you still need the legs to do the work) and you'll instantly notice the difference. Moving and keeping your butt in the rear of the saddle adds even more momentum. Went as far as Akiyama-mura (where I begged Lady Kannon for mercy on my Colnago's soul) along a great new route. As Michael wrote, the snow is still everywhere but fortunately the roads are perfectly ridable. Feel like going up a bit higher (Matsuhime) soon!