99 Kilometer Commute

This fall, I am teaching a class at Keio University's Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) on Wednesday  afternoon.  SFC is a beautiful campus built in the 1980s, designed by Fumihiko Maki, Pritzker Prize winning architect.

Since the campus was planned and built back when Japanese land prices were very high, it is sited far from central Tokyo.  From my house it is a long train/bus trip, or just under a 1-hour drive via Daisan-Keihin, Yokohama Shindo, then local roads, without traffic tie-ups.  Or it is a 37.5 km bicycle ride.

If I ride in to work for the morning, then back home (24km round trip), then out to SFC and back (77km round trip), it works out to almost 100 kilometers.

SFC commute -- 37.5 km each way, via 246

I cannot manage it every Wednesday, but at least if I can do this every other week, perhaps I will notice the difference in terms of regular conditioning by the start of next year?

In town commute -- 12 kms each way, via Komazawa Dori (or faster but less pleasant Meguro Dori)

As for the route, after consultation with former and current Yokohoma residents (MOB, James M. and others), I am using Route 246 to get out to Minami Machida, then taking local roads and bike paths (e.g. the Yamato-Fujisawa bike path) the rest of the way.  246 is ugly, but fast.

Once I tried to go straight from my office via Nakahara Kaido, into stiff headwinds the whole way, and it was a disaster.  Way too many red lights, way too many hills, too many narrow stretches with lines of traffic and no room to pass by at the shoulder.  The ride took an additional 45 minutes.