13 February 2009

Haruichiban Ride ?

Last year, I did a most exhilarating ride on February 27, the day of the first strong southerly wind of spring...the air felt steamy and I remember it got so hot that I welcomed the sudden rainshowers cooling me down. Tomorrow, I might go out to YABITSU to savor and brave those haruichiban elements again!

On Sunday, I'm planning to do another Miura Loop. Since I'm not taking a train, I will leave home rather early and may start from the Tokyo-wan side. If too cumbersome to connect with all of you, I may go on my own and meet you at some point halfway the Peninsula.

16 comments:

mob said...

Looking at the weather forecast, it definitely makes much more sense to ride on Sunday. I have discussed this already with my family and I should be fine. Yesterday when I spoke with Ludwig he was also OK to go ride out on Sunday.

How about everybody else ???
Long ride - good Transalp training!

I am happy to start either on the Tokyo or on the West side of Miura, both are OK for me.

Let's just agre on a time and meeting point.

Tom, when do you want to start?
Where can you meet Ludwig and perhaps some more riders along the Tamagawa?

If you start on the Tokyo side, we can meet on route #16 in front of
Kanazawa Hakkei Station.

http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=ja&geocode=&q=%E6%A8%AA%E9%A0%88%E8%B3%80&sll=36.5626,136.362305&sspn=35.51737,79.101563&ie=UTF8&ll=35.328466,139.627862&spn=0.017751,0.038624&z=15

Manfred von Holstein said...

We may want to review Saturday night whether we really want to do Miura-hanto on Sunday. I think it is quite likely that there will be extremely strong wind down there. Tomorrow will see taifun-like winds, and I think they will continue into Sunday.

Now if this proves wrong, my suggestion would be to start on the east side and return on the west side. The reason is that this provides many options to cut the trip short by hopping onto a train, which I think almost everybody except for Tom will appreciate. Also, riding to Enoshima along the river must be much nicer than riding all the way through Tokyo, Kawasaki and Yokohama to Yokosuka. The latter some of us can save if we go in opposite direction and take the train back home.

So my proposal would be to meet at the bridge of Nakahara kaido crossing Tamagawa, then take Nakahara kaido all the way to Yamato, there get onto the cycle path along the river down to Enoshima.

What does everybody else prefer?

David Litt said...

I won't know my likely weekend commitment/work schedule until this evening. And I see that weather may be very windy -- though now showing on 30% chance of rain Sat AM and 0% in the afternoon, and warm (haru ichiban indeed).

Ideally, I will either get to the mountains (Kazahari maybe, as Jerome did on Wednesday) on Saturday and/or join you for a Miura ride on Sunday (Nakahara Kaido/Tamagawa is fine as a meeting place. I don't know which route is best though I'm happy to try Ludwig's recommendation, since every other way I have gone through Kanagawa N to S has been unpleasant.)

Back to work.

the ups and downs of a belgian amateur cyclist in tokyo said...

Ludwig: You betcha! It will be very windy on Sunday too...in my case, the windier the happier!!

David: I agree, crisscrossing Kanagawa does not offer much in terms of beautiful sceneries. Last week though I cycled along a pretty impressive road nicknamed 海岸道路 Navy Road!

Michael: Hakkei Station...indeed it's on the way and planned route BUT almost halfway the ride from my place...

Reconciling different route preferences and starting times will not be easy...Maruko Bridge is fine for a first RdV and then pick up Michael in front of Kanazawa Hakkei Station along Route 16 would work out fine too. Problem will be timing as this is a long loop and we cannot afford to waste too much time.

To make things less stressful for all, I propose the following:

(1) each of us goes his own way and we meet (if we do) somewhere on the peninsula,

OR

(2) we fix a common RdV at Enoshima at 9:00.

For reference, this is the route I took last week:

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/japan/fuchu/808601748212

mob said...

I have no problems to meet at 9 AM at Enoshima bridge if this is the preferred solution. Although my understanding would be that we then go South on the West side of Miura Hanto first and return North on the East side later, correct?

I also asked Hiroshi to come with us and depending on his workload, he might. I also asked one more.

So why don't we all meet at Enoshima at 9 AM to avoid longer discussions about other meeting points?

Anonymous said...

it is Froggy time

I plan to go training with NFCC triathletes on saturday early morning (Running, Cycling & Swimming definitely helps me to get in shape) & might give a try to your Haruichiban ride in Miura hanto
Meeting at 9h00 in enoshima: what time shall we leave David Litt home?


Remarks regarding new jersey: after reading all the comments & contradictory requests, my point is that if we keep the same color combination, the same "text" do we really need to make a new jersey? I think that we should definitely have the haiku printed on because it reflects perfectly the spirit of the team

Froggy

the ups and downs of a belgian amateur cyclist in tokyo said...

...if we start from Enoshima I think it's more natural to keep following the beach.

So, first:

Southward & down along Sagami-wan (East side)

and then:

Northward & up along Tokyo-wan (West side)

It just feels more natural and as Ludwig pointed out, more train hopping escape opportunities, just in case.

the ups and downs of a belgian amateur cyclist in tokyo said...

....I guess I'm mixing up East and West again. Michael was right, first West then East (of course!!! sorry for the confusion)

Froggy...read your comment about the haiku; all I can say to that is that I obviously do not belong to the hardcore members of the team; while I do appreciate the humor of the haiku, it is just not my style. That's all (I still would like to order one pair of the bib shorts).

Manfred von Holstein said...

I'm equally guilty of confusing east and west I just realised. I meant to say down on the west side, up on the east side.

I will join at 9am Enoshima if the wind conditions look alright. Otherwise I will do something else or stay home. My experience with a storm on Miura-hanto last (and first) time I went was not so good and I don't want to repeat the same experience, or even worse. If I don't join, I will let MOB know. If I join, I will do my utmost to be on time, despite the crazily early hour.

mob said...

Ok, 9 AM on Sunday at Enoshima bridge. Please let either Tom or me know if you come, so that we don't wait in vain.

I will inform Hiroshi to join us at Enoshima bridge as well.

Jerome, David, IF you go fast on route 246 to Yamato and then 467 to Fujizawa you might do it in 2 hours - depending on many things. So better to start at 7 AM. My gut feeling would be that any other road will require more time.
[http://positivo-espresso.blogspot.com/2009/01/blown-by-wind.html]

the ups and downs of a belgian amateur cyclist in tokyo said...

Great! FYI, I will be leaving Fuchu around 6:30 to be on the safe side.

Anyone in for a windy ride tomorrow?

OH...ALMOST FORGOT THE BIG NEWS...WE GOT AN INVITATION TO ITOIGAWA (I believe an envelope was sent out to all participants of last year - even the ones on the "black list"?).

Payment/sign-up deadline is March 14. Conditions are the same as last year. This year I'd prefer to stay at the hotel (20,000 yen) although the minshuku (19,000 yen)was not bad.

Let's organize our team via PM not this public blog.

Tom

David Litt said...

Post #37 about the Haru ichiban/Miura Hanto ride (two blog entries, same weekend ride).

I will plan to ride out with you in the morning. See you at 9AM at Enoshima.

I may hop the train back from Kurihama or Misakiguchi. We shall see. I had a nice ride today - but broke a spoke when going up the Akigawa at around 350-400 meters elevation (still below the Uenohara turn off). Turned around and did Jerome Hill on the way back (Wachi did not have any of the Mavic drive side spokes).

I (and Jerome) will leave at 7AM. I think Nakahara Kaido might be nicer than 246 ... but looking at the map, if we go to Maruko bashi then we end up coming back toward 246 on the other side of the river. Would be faster to cross at Futako and then head off toward the left at some point from 246 to Nakahara Kaido. ... or just go out 246.

Ludwig -- do you know if the river I think you mentioned (just East of 467) is significantly slower than 467 itself?

Best, David

David Litt said...

Post #58 about Haruichiban/ Miura-Hanto ride.

The sender would like to recall Post #37.

I talked to Jerome and we've decided to just do a morning ride out to Wada (or maybe out over Otarumi and then back over Ura-Wada). Since my time is a bit limited tomorrow, and he is not eager to ride to Enoshima, that sounds like the best compromise for us.

We will need to get to Arasaki and Jogashima another time!

the ups and downs of a belgian amateur cyclist in tokyo said...

Sorry to hear you won't going to Miura Hanto after all, David & Jerome. Hiroshi also sounded like it will be difficult for him to make it to Enoshima by 9:00...I guess for everyone this is not a convenient starting time.

Maybe we ought to move up this event to a later date with a later starting time?

We can still cancel of course...let's decide by 10:00 this evening.

mob said...

I don't want to create a big drama but I am getting tired of this discussion. It seems that we are not able to decide as a team where we want to go on a Sunday. Sorry, but I do not want to continue this discussion any longer and I will ride my own roads tomorrow.

Manfred von Holstein said...

I'm still on for Enoshima at 9am, especially as the wind conditions look favourable. Maybe I will see Tom and MOB there, if you are still on.

Incidentally, I saw David today returning home along the Tamagawa, but despite waiving my hand and shouting "David!" as he was approaching, I went unrecognized. Maybe all the traffic on the Tamagawa cycling autobahn was a bit too much distraction. It was indeed very crowded - the weather had tempted masses of people.

Also met Danny who owns another Cervelo and will hopefully ride with us some time soon. Looking forward to it - especially as he kept complementing me on my bike which is really nice given that nobody knows the make.