Beautiful Ride Back from Karuizawa

The first time I rode from Tokyo to Karuizawa, in 2010, Jerome and I went on a hot September day via Chichibu, Shigasaka Pass, Uenomura, the tunnel to Shimonita, and finally up the steep climb to Karuizawa from the South, expressway bridges soaring far above our heads. It was a memorably hard 175km one day ride.

Of course, each attempt at the SR600 Fuji -- finally completed in May 2015 -- also involved riding to Karuizawa, through Chichibu then up the valley through Tomioka and Annaka and via the easier, gradual climb up to Usui Pass. Numerous other brevets also have covered much of this route, in either or both directions.

But it does not take a rocket scientist to realize that it is a lot easier, and nearly as rewarding, to ride back from Karuizawa (elev. 950m) to Tokyo (sea level). I did it first in 2016, and again in 2019. Earlier this year, 2021, I rode back to Tokyo on the Pelso recumbent from Matsuida, just down the hill from Karuizawa on the Gunma side.

I still get a bit confused what is the best way to get through parts of Gunma, but the route is generally very familiar.

The route.

Elevation profile. Mostly downhill, but 1350m of climbing.

So after a Saturday overnight trip to Karuizawa to visit a close friend of my wife, a feast of a dinner, a leisurely Sunday breakfast, stroll around the Kumoba Ike ("cloud place pond") and nearby "bessou" areas of "old Karuizawa" with early Fall colors and dappled sunlight, then an early lunch near the Station, I hopped on my Sky Blue Parlee for the solo ride back to Tokyo.

The descent down old Route 18 from Usui Pass was lovely, though traffic slowed my speed a bit, a cautious rental car at the front of a line of cars. The traffic thinned once I got past the parking area at Meganebashi, and the weather remained spectacular.

Bike assembled in dappled sunshine outside hotel.

Only 1.5 kms from the shinkansen station, the descent starts.

Minimal work to Meganebashi. (Only some accelerations on straightaways.)

I took a short side trip at Sakamoto-juku to look at the day hot spring and a nice public park, then pretty much followed a typical brevet route onward, skipping GS Astuto this time as I needed to push onward.

View of Myogi-san from Sakamoto-juku and its day spa/park.

I managed to take a somewhat hilly but lovely road around the Kuriowa area and then south to Tomioka, back on track. Again, I lost the SR600 route and went a bit further East down the valley toward Kumagaya than I should have before bearing South through Fujioka toward Chichibu, but eventually found my way and found myself on familiar roads. 

Last view of the Takasaki/Maebashi plain

I was very glad that i took the Chichibu route, as traffic had picked up over the afternoon and I did not relish slogging through Saitama to get home. As soon as I turned onto the "Furusato Dori" that heads south into the hills, traffic volumes dropped quickly. Once past the Saitama border and onto the 150m elev climb on Route 13, I had the road almost to myself. I really enjoyed these short climbs ... legs still fresh after "only" 75kms with little climbing so far. 

That's my shadow. 
Same spot where I took the photo below as well.

Entering Saitama. First climb ahead.

Nearing Chichibu City from the North.

I made a quick stop at a convenience store in Chichibu City -- the Lawson that was one of the first convenience stores I recall seeing in Japan that had placed bike racks prominently in its parking area -- then started the slog on Route 299. All through Chichibu City I was traveling along a line of sitting cars. This continued until I passed the first 3 or 4 traffic signals leaving Chichibu to the SW. Only then did the road open up. All the way until the turn off to Yamabushi Pass I would be passed by waves of cars. This is not the most pleasant road to ride going uphill with traffic. But at least everyone kept a wide berth, the shoulder is decent in most places, and I knew that a reward waited just ahead.

Pitch dark at 6PM.

It was pitch dark by the time I turned off to Route 53 and continued the climb to Yamabushi Pass. A car would pass every minute or two, nearly always a "kei" light car or truck.  As I neared the turn off to Shomaru Pass, I could see a group of 5-6 very small deer hustling into the brush ahead of me on the left side of the road. There were also a few "kei" cars parked at odd intervals, the single driver sitting in the car, glued to his smartphone. But at least I was alone at the top of the climb. The signboard said it was now 9 degrees celsius (or around 48 fahrenheit), getting cold for a descent by bicycle. I rode down around the first section of the descent to a lighted area with a bit of a turn out, where I could put on my leg warmers and a helmet liner. I already was wearing a decent long sleeved jersey and wind block inner layer, and wool socks with MTB shoes and mid-season long fingered gloves, so was just fine to get down the hill without putting on a jacket or anything warmer.

On the Yamabushi descent.

Same place, different angle, in daylight 

Once descending Yamabushi, it felt like a fast ride back to Oume, only a few short climbs to slow me down. I had just enough time to rinko my bike at Oume and get onto the 7:33PM train to Tachikawa. I thought about riding further, having covered only 130kms. But it had been a perfect day, off and on the bicycle, so no reason to slog on just to add a few more kms. I would enoy the train ride, then ride the bicycle home 6.5 kms from Yotsuya.

If you read this far, perhaps you would enjoy some photos from the morning stroll we took near our hotel, and our visit to a historical building the day before.

Saitama Audax 300km -- October 16, postponed from March 20.

After a 9-day trip to the USA for family events and visits that included two empty international long-haul and three domestic spam-in-a-full-can shorter flights, plus a 14 day quarantine at home upon my return, I was feeling very much overweight, undertrained, and in serious need of a bicycle ride.

So I was delighted that upon my return to Tokyo, I had an envelope from Saitama Audax with a brevet card, return envelope, and a note that the March 20 300km event I had planned to do to prepare for the Okayama 1200 had been rescheduled for October 17 -- the first weekend after my quarantine end date. Even better, the event would be a held as an "N2" brevet, which means that no staff are at the start or finish, and the rider can select their own start date and time within 2 weeks before or after the official event date. The weather forecast for October 17 looked very wet and nasty, so I submitted an October 16 7AM start date and time.

After 2 x 200km easy events in January, my 2 x 300km preparatory rides in March and early April had both been cancelled/postponed, I rode only the first full day of the Okayama 1200, and a partial second day, a very short 3rd day back to Onomichi, nowhere near the stamina or speed needed to complete that event. And I have been riding relatively little since, much of it with the recumbent rather than on a road bike. My physical exam in September showed me near my "peak" weight of recent years, not at all where I should be at the end of summer. And so I had a lot invested emotionally in just managing to get through a 300km event, in avoiding another DNF after PBP and Okayama. (I did not care about an official completion, so long as I did the full ride. The brevet card in the mailbox was just the perfect excuse to try now).

A worthy course, but with pretty heavy traffic on a Saturday, except for
sections ridden early morning or late evening.

Jerome came along for the exercise and to offer moral support. 

From the start next to the Irumagawa in Saitama, I felt sluggish and went slowly. The course wound through SW Saitama, then Okutama, then Sagamihara, to reach the foot of Doshi Michi and climb to Yamanakako.  

At the start - Irumagawa

Ready to ride.

An early forced stop -- there goes the 300km record attempt!

We had already climbed over 600 meters by the time we got onto Doshi Michi, if memory serves. Jerome went way ahead the entire first half of the event, waiting for me each our or so. I did not realize Jerome had stopped to wait at the 7-11 on lower Doshi, and ended up passing him. He caught me at the spring where I was refilling my bottles and went ahead to the Michi-no-eki, where we both rested a bit. He waited again at the tunnel at the top.

On Doshi Michi -- the Olympic RR course, lest we forget

At the Doshi Michi Michi-no-Eki

It had rained a bit at the start, but the road was dry and the rain stopped, until Yamanakako. There the rain restarted in earnest. On the descent from Kagozaka Pass to Subashiri was the only part of the event that was actually cold, heavy rain, our own wind from descending, and the elevation all contributing.  We stopped at an eat-in convenience store in Gotemba, refueled and warmed up a bit before continuing onto the next significant climb, around 375m elevation gain up to the entrance to Fuji Safari Park.

The rain stopped on the LONG descent from 875m elevation down to sea level, and by the time we got to Suruga Bay area we were riding on dry pavement and even got a bit of late afternoon sunlight. 

Jerome struggles with zip ties and a failing light bracket.

Looking from Numazu toward Izu.

Finally some lovely late afternoon weather around Numazu. Fuji visible, barely.

We slogged through heavy traffic around Mishima and onto the gradual climb up to Gotemba. This takes more than 25kms to climb up to 460m elevation, much of the climb at a 2-3% grade. The middle part of the climb was on a quiet road, and as we switched back to a main highway further up, the traffic had died down. We rode in fog and mist for awhile, but that cleared away near the top and for the descent down the East side of the hill toward Matsuda and Hadano.

Late night in Sagamihara after 270 kms or so.

After a somewhat unpleasant stretch on Route 246 alongside trucks still running on Saturday evening, I got to the last PC quiz point in Isehara and turned north onto local roads. Another 60kms of riding in the dark, quiet night, and it was back to the finish. The last 10+ kms from Oume/Hanno area back to Iruma seemed remarkably easy. Indeed, it was mostly a gradual downhill. Perhaps that helps explain my slow start, in the opposite direction?

Done just before 2AM.  ... I would be happier if we had finished around Midnight,
but was glad to at least finish, within the time limit.

Instead of the usual convenience store receipts, Saitama Audax used "quiz points" based upon mostly postboxes along the route. 

Quiz at Yamanakako - what time are weekday mail pickups? 

I reached the Yamanakako quiz point only 30 minutes before the cut off, thanks to my creeping start and climb up Doshi.  The subsequent checkpoints were only a little better, and eventually I finished with 1 hr and 7 minutes to the cutoff. This was the slowest I have ever done a 300km brevet. True, the course was not easy with plenty of climbing, and the rain slowed the pace a bit. 

Elevation profile. Lots of climbing in the first half especially. 3700m total logged
(vs 4800m elevation gain predicted via RidewithGPS)

But in truth, it was mostly not too hot nor too cold, and I did not suffer any serious mechanical issues. Not a single flat tire/tube. Once I re-lubed my dry chain after the rain stopped, I had no drivetrain issues. My brake pads were worn from the long, wet descents, but lasted to the finish. My lights worked. And I am sure that alone Jerome could have done the entire ride at least 3 hours faster than I managed. 

The Okayama 1200 and this, my only subsequent Audax event yet this year, prove that I have a long way to go to get back into ultra-endurance riding condition, to have any reasonable hope of again completing 1200km events. But it was a start. At least I could get through a 300km with no "significant" issues. Nothing hurt, not back nor neck nor butt nor feet nor hands. My only physical complaint was indigestion and some accompanying lower back (kidney?) pain, until a toilet break well into the ride (Gotemba?).

PBP is my goal for 2023, and I now need to set some interim goals for 2022, and plan enough brevets to help me get back some of the speed I had doing these only a few years ago. There is hope.