Peter J. and I decided to ride today, Friday August 27. We knew it would be hot, so planned a relatively early start, and a ride that at least had some options. I wanted to get to Kobu Tunnel and Uenohara area as I have done too many rides on the flats of Kanto or sticking to the Tokyo side of nearby hills recently. I left home at 6:07AM and met Peter at "the toilets" in Nishigawara Shizen Koen near Komae at 6:50. Today I rode the 2011 Canyon Ultimate CF. I plan to lend it to a friend this autumn, and wanted to do a shakedown trip now that I have got the Imezi wheels on it, a longer stem, new cassette, etc.
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| The Canyon reborn! |
Within a few minutes of leaving home, my hands were dripping wet. The handlebars and brifters on my bike were dripping wet, my skin was glistening in sweat, my iphone glass fogged -- 93% humidity before sunrise. Riding in a sauna essentially. Things eventually dried out, as they got hotter.
We made decent time until the base of the Akigawa, where we filled water bottles. It was a lot easier for both of us to ride together with me on a road bike, rather than the Pelso recumbent (which is too fast on the flats, too slow on the climbs, and no good for drafting). Just after we emerged onto the main road toward Musashi Itsukaichi, Peter realized he had forgotten his sunglasses where we filled the bottles. I pulled into a 7/11 and got a snack while waiting for him to retrieve the glasses and (after quite awhile, apparently not searching for sunglasses but searching for the right road) to find the way back.
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| Peter, at the spot where he left his sunglasses. |
Meanwhile, a guy wearing an "ATF" t-shirt pulled into the 7/11 parking lot on a large motorcycle (Harley or wanna-be). In Japan, alcohol and tobacco are very common and he looked like a user of both, but I had to question the "firearms" part of it, assuming he knows what ATF stands for.
It felt hot waiting in front of the 7/11, even in the shade, and even though it was only 830AM! Today was not like waiting in the shade for last month's Olympic road races.
We pressed on toward Itsukaichi and then up the Akigawa Keikoku (gorge). As we approached the "T" intersection, Peter was in front of me and I hollered "Alright! We go to Uenohara!" since the sign at the crossing showed the left turn would take us there. (I had previously told him that to get to Kobu Tunnel, we turn "left at Musashi Itsukaichi, left at the T-intersection in front of Hinohara Town Office, and left at the traffic signal at just over 400m elevation another 10kms further up the road". Left, left, left.
Peter turned right. ... for Kita Akigawa. I hollered "no, Left, Left".
After looping around and passing me, he explained that he had heard my "alright" as "right". Fair enough. I was reminded that even though he has been in Tokyo over 30 years, raced bikes as a student, and in recent years since he started to ride again gets out several times a week, he has his own set routes and not explored these hills quite the way that Manfred, Jerome, or I have done, typically staying closer to town. This would be his first trip to Kobu Tunnel -- though he noted that he has been up to Tomin no Mori/Kazahari before.
The lower Akigawa climb was very nice. It was hot, but not as hot as the Kanto plain. Still, I needed a breather to cool down before doing the short (4 km; 200m elev) climb to and through the tunnel).
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| Turn left for Uenohara (and Kobu Tunnel -- or Kobu Pass) |
Peter tells me that the tunnel is at "Kobu Pass", and we really should call the climb Kobu Pass, as some Japanese cycling resources do. But as the winter photo below shows, if there is a pass, it is way, way up on the mountain. In my view, calling this "Kobu Pass" would be is as if one were to take the Sasago Tunnel on Route 20 (Koshu Kaido) and say that you climbed Sasago Pass. We know that indeed, there is Sasago Pass, but that is another 350m elev higher and 5-6 kms away from the Sasago Tunnel on Route 20 (or the parallel tunnel on the Chuo Expressway).
Anyway, I was starting to fade on the climb in the heat, and Peter waited for me at the top. On Thursday I had been to the weight room for strength training, and I could feel weakness in my entire upper body -- shoulders especially -- on the climb. I guess it may be due to not only the weight room, but also spending so much time on the recumbent and so little on the road biek in recent months. This upper body weakness continued for the rest of the ride.
It was a quick descent down the South side toward Uenohara. I had no interest in trying the Golf Course Hills in this heat, but we did enjoy taking the small road across the river from Rte 33 (on the East side) for the ride into Uenohara. We stopped again at a convenience store, where Peter took a work-related 11AM call. This store is now a Daily Yamazaki ... I could swear in the past it was something else, and I remember when it had a bench in front. No longer.
By the time the call finished it was 11:20, midday heat. I don't know how hot it actually was, but it got to 37 in Kofu to the west, and 36 in Hachioji to the East. And today (the following day) the forecast is for 36 degrees in Uenohara. For American reference that is a (humid) 96.8 degrees fahrenheit.
I was not going to enjoy riding in this heat. In fact, my speed had slowed pretty dramatically. Peter went ahead to Takao Coffee, while I crept up the climb toward Otarumi. I was only going 10-12kph on a relatively shallow, very easy climb, but my heartrate was near max at 160bpm. I stopped to rest twice on the way up, and arrived at Takao Coffee 15-20 minutes after Peter.
After a delicious ice coffee and piece of chocolate cake, we headed west. ... except for me, Takao Station was as far as I was going. I hopped the train home and cooled down in a soaking tub.
110kms and 1000m elev gain was plenty for this weather. At least I got to see the "green" of the Akigawa and upper Uenohara, to breath fresh(er) air, and some exercise.
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