Riding the Rindos of Odawara from Cycling Gypsy Cafe

A closed rindo above Odawara!

RAMAX was a joy to ride on mountain/forest.gravel roads.

Last Saturday morning, I was in the Odawara vicinity and had my RAMAX adventure/gravel bike with me. Finally, a chance to try the RAMAX on some mountain/forest roads!

Looking down to the NE from the agriculture/forest border region above Odawara

Looking down to the South toward Sagami Bay

Since moving to a neighborhood not far from Shinagawa Station five years ago, the fastest way to get quickly to some lovely rides is to hop the shinkansen from Shinagawa to Odawara (26 minutes, ~3100 yen) or Mishima (35-40 minutes, ~4500 yen).  Going to Odawara, I am in the countryside and on a climb within 15 minutes of leaving Odawara Station, instead of the 2 hours it takes from my home to, say, Takao. So far, trips to Odawara have involved climbing west up the old road (kyu-do) through Hakone to Lake Ashinoko, and on from there, or perhaps starting by going northwest around the hills and then climbing up toward Ashigara Pass from the east.  

But in recent years I have noticed lots of cyclists posting Strava rides on the network of forest roads between Odawara and Ashigara. And I knew that Michael Rice, who I’ve ridden with long ago on Tokyo-Itoigawa, among other events back in the glory days of TCC, had opened the Cycling Gypsy Café in Odawara some years back, though I had never made it there. You can see details here in an article from one of the Japanese cycling magazines about the café and Chapter 2 Bikes, which they are selling. Or you can see another article here, or a blog post here or here, and info about rental bikes here, or Gypsy’s Instagram feed here. (Mike is one of the hosts of NHK World’s “Bike Around Japan” show … from which some readers may know him.)  He has been posting some of his rides in the hills nearby on Strava, including a regular “grand fondo” he hosts for other riders, as well as shorter “test rides” he takes with potential Chapter 2 bike customers.

Anyway, I decided to stop by the Cycling Gypsy Café to say hello, before doing a ride based loosely on one of Mike’s Strava tracks. I met Mike and Glen (“Gypsy”), chatted a bit, then headed out. There were people waiting to test ride one of the Chapter 2 bikes.  The café is located within walking distance of the shinkansen station, and at a jumping off point for rides in the hills, and had a nice breeze on a hot morning. I could understand why he picked this place.

Mikey Rice -- Fully recovered from Gravel Unbound 2022

Glen "Gypsy" showing her strength ... and the bike's lightness .. at the same time.

The roads above Odawara were lovely. After climbing 15 minutes or so, mostly on quiet back roads, I got to the long “virtually no traffic” section of the ride. I continued and eventually hit the network of forest roads (“rindo”). I kept coming to large signs by the road that warned against “unauthorized” vehicles. They had a long list of exceptions, including 地元関係医者—someone local or connected with someone local. I did ride one rindo that actually had closed gates at each end and, according to the signage, was 8.9km long. But the rest were open with only the signs to protect them. I guess the idea is that people not use these roads as a short cut to avoid traffic jams on the main road from Hakone Yumoto up to Gora.

Closed road ... unless you fit in one of the many exceptions. These signs were all over!

There was even a Salvador Dali "melting" version of the closed road sign.

It was nice in the forest riding in dappled sunlight at around 500m elevation … but it was beastly hot on any climbs where there was exposure to the sun. I had taken 1.7 liters of water, topped off at Gypsy Café, and was running low already when I could not have been more than 40% of the distance I wanted to travel up to Ashinoko via upper Ashigara. At one point I missed a left turn (Mike had said the route generally “keeps left” to continue climbing the top of the ridge).  For some time I continued on the level. Then, as my bicycle started to point down, I got off and checked location. It looked as if I could continue along the side of the hill, gradually descending, then eventually I would point straight down toward the flat lands. 

I did so, got to the bottom of the hill, turned right to head back toward central Odawara, … made a couple short detours that involved really nasty little hills, and was back at the Gypsy Café in time for a nice vegan curry (*with cheese) lunch.  By now it was the hottest part of midday, but the veranda at the café was still cool enough to relax and enjoy lunch outside. 

Spectacular paint job on this Chapter 2 bike

Chapter 2's gravel bike. No, it's not made of wood, just brown paint.

Cycling Cafe Gypsy is a great place to hang out, even on a hot day!

Delicious vegan curry.

My GPS somehow cut off mid-ride, but I could not have gone more than 40-45kms. It was a hot day and a very hilly course, so that was enough. I look forward to more, longer, cooler rides out of Odawara soon, once the peak summer heat has passed.