300km from Kamakura to Minami Izu and Back

Sunrise on the southeastern Izu coastline

After a trip to visit family in the USA, I was back in Tokyo and ready to ride -- to get "revenge" for my 400km DNF in the cold hard rain and dark of February 1.  The 300km Kanagawa Audax ride from Kamakura to Minami Izu and back was my chance to do so. 

I had done this ride some years earlier, in November 2021. My outbound leg then was at a blistering pace, one of the fastest of the group. I rested at the Shimoda foot bath near Sakamoto Ryoma's statue, and took the return more slowly ... but still finished in a decent time. I liked the 8PM start also -- it allowed us to complete 3/4 of the ride before there was significant traffic. And even in late November, the temperature never dipped below 10 degrees C, the sunrise was spectacular, and I finished just as the rain started.

Three years later ... was a bit of a different experience. 

First, February in Japan is a LOT colder than November, with late February/early March being the coldest and wettest part of winter. This time Strava tells me it was 3 degrees C at the start, and it surely dipped near 0 C before dawn and hovered in that range until after sunrise. And with the wind Strava tells me it "felt like" -5 degrees C even when it was 3 degrees.  Anyway, it was really cold. Cold, even with good winter gear while riding, definitely very cold while stopped. This time, unlike February 1, the rain did not come until an hour or two before the end. It was a hard, cold shower passing through, and it was already dark outside with cars racing down the coast road between Odawara and Kamakura.  But I was not about to let it deter me when I was so close to the goal.

Second, this time the ride had an 11PM start, rather than 8PM.  So I was already tired shortly after the ride started.  11PM is not as good for me as an 8PM start ... and with leaving home by train, getting to Kamakura, etc.,  it was not as if I could just sleep early and then ride.  And a 3-hour later start also meant that we had traffic on the entire return trip. 

(In June, I will try a 600km brevet that has a 2AM start. I will stay at an onsen about an hour away, sleep from 7-12 or so, then ride to the start and go. I hope that will be enough sleep. I hope I will not feel as tired then as I did on the Izu ride!)

The organizers had shifted the ride to February in order to try and time it perfectly to catch the Kawazu sakura, which usually bloom in late February, 4, 5, or 6 weeks before the "yoshino" sakura in Tokyo.  We did see plenty of early blooming sakura in southern Izu, as well as some spectacular na-no-hana (rapeseed), ... but the sakura along the river in Kawazu, the very definition of Kawazu sakura, were not out yet. 

Anyway, the ride still had lovely coastline and a memorable sunrise as well as the early flowering plants. And anywhere inland would have been even colder.

I took some photos after the sun came up, but was tuckered out by the cold. I was determined to finish, and I had decent gear to keep warm enough while riding, but I felt as if I was using a lot of energy just to keep my body moving. And did I mention that this ride has hills?  Over 3000 meters of climbing on the middle 200kms; flat the first and last 50kms.  No single climb was higher than 100m elevation gain, but the climbs seem endless.  Izu is for climbers.

All those little 50, 75, and 100 meter climbs ... add up to over 3000 meters elev gain.

On the return trip, we were riding along a line of Sunday traffic ... sitting traffic ... all the way from Ito-shi to Odawara. I felt sorry for the drivers, and the passengers.

As on the February 1st ride, I had some stomach issues while riding. I ate too much or the wrong food at a convenience store stop? Or did not wait long enough before getting back on the bike? Or the cold had me in such extreme fatigue that I could not manage to eat what I used to be able to?  I used to have stomach problems around 5-6 hours into a long, multi-day randonee, but they would be temporary and after a few hours I would feel fine ... and continue to be able to eat and ride, eat and ride, for the next several days. I'm not sure any more.

And I often have feet issues after hours in the saddle. This time they were minor, resolved by getting off the bike and resting briefly a few times.  The RAMAX performed just fine. No bike issues, no tire issues. 

All-in-all a successful outing, even if much slower than in 2021. I made it, despite the cold, despite the climbing, my stomach, my feet, and the nasty cold rain for the final hour or two. I just rolled it in and checked in with 20 minutes to spare.

At the start .. reflectives!

Sunrise soon!

Inatori -- Izu is quite built-up here, south of Itoh/Izu-Kogen!
This almost looked to me as if I were in the Mediterranean

Finally approaching Kawazu!

Nanohana in Minami Izu, a few kilometers from the turnaround.
You can see a photo stage set up to the right side.

Last time, in 2021, I had Shimoda's Ryoma-san all to myself. ... 

A line all the way up to Manazuru Station ...

Not fun to ride alongside this endless line
 ... but I felt sorry for the drivers who did not even have that choice.

A detour to the restroom at Odawara Castle-west parking lot.
This castle and its grounds and moat never disappoint.

Done and dusted.

Winter Oikaze 400km Brevet ... DNF After the End of the Winter Dry Season

I remembered last year seeing some Audax friends post about doing a winter Kanagawa Audax 400km "Oikaze" (tailwind) ride from the Nagoya area back to Kamakura. This year, I resolved to join it myself. The course looked not overly challenging, it stayed out of the mountains (essential for a winter course in Japan), it offered a mid-day (1PM) start so that no hotel was required and I (and many others) could travel from Tokyo the day of the event. And I needed the training before some February travel. So I signed up.

Winter along the Pacific Coast of Japan can offer some excellent cycling. All through December and into January, we get lots of dry, cool/cold weather, as we are in the "rain shadow" with storms hitting the Japan Sea Coast and dumping snow on the NW side of the islands. Weather only starts to turn ugly usually for February into early/mid March.  Late March/early April are hit-or-miss, but at least as by April the typical temperatures are far warmer, even at night, on a mountain pass somewhere. February is the coldest month, and a lot wetter, in my recollection, than January. So a February 1 brevet is a real roll of the dice.

The weather on Saturday morning February 1 this year was very nice. It was still sunny when I got to the check-in at Mikawa Anjo, the first shinkansen stop on the Tokyo side of Nagoya, SE of the city center (so we would not need to slog through as much urban area as a true Nagoya start). 

At the check-in where familiar Kanagawa Audax members - Maya Ide and Honda-san. Also there was Izumi Kurabayashi (that is her unmarried name ... she was a regular Audax staffer in Kanto, but got married and moved to Nagoya more than a decade ago). And there was some familiar riders as well -- including Tom Yahagi. 

Izumi and Maya at the reception

Honda-san gives the briefing

Tom Yahagi, super randonneur

It looked overall like a fast group for Audax ... it was

It was already cloudy by the time we actually started to ride, and rain was forecast for sometime that evening.  It was just a question of how much rain, when, and how cold. 

Well, I made decent time to Lake Hamanako and then Hamamatsu, around 95kms in, just as it got dark. Still dry, still not too cold. 

Approaching the Route Inn on the west side of Hamanakako where Jerome and I stopped on a 600k a few years back ... in torrential rain.

At Lake Inohana ... connects to Hamanakako

Local roads in the area around Toyokawa in SE Aichi

Plenty of old roads along coastal areas here. Lots of history. 

Not a tailwind, as promised, but also not headwind. I was riding with another Audax member, but he ducked into a pre-identified tiny local restaurant for an unagi dinner. I rode maybe another hour making, I felt, excellent time through the area close to the coast east of Hamamatsu. Jerome and I had slogged through here on a 600km event a few years ago, in Thursday rush hour traffic. This was much better -- deserted roads at 8PM on a Saturday evening. And still only a hint of drizzle, not enough to put on rain pants or even my rain shell. 

Soon that changed and the rain fell, light at first, and not too cold.  I put on rain pants and continued, but my average speed was slipping. My rain pants were sliding down my butt as I rode and I would need to hoist them again every 15 minutes or so. By the time I got past Hamaoka with its massive nuclear plant and into Fujieda area. It was late in the evening. And raining still.  

I climbed the hill between Fujieda-shi and Shizuoka-shi, and after a few mis-course turns finally got back on the correct side road to the check point, which was the major mid-course setup by the organizers.  The checkpoint was a kind of camp site, with some covered picnic table ... I think a kind of gazebo and some rain tarps, and they had prepared a massive amount of food for riders. A large number of potential participants had reported "DNS" due to the weather forecast so they were urging us to take as much as we could.  Tanaka-san, former head of Japan Audax and compadre of Honda-san and Maya-san, was there and said hello. 

My stomach was bothering me, but I ate as much ton-jiru (pork soup - carrots, other vegetables, miso etc.) as I could manage, rested a few minutes, and headed on down the hill.  There were riders arriving and leaving in significant numbers and I felt as if I was very much in the "middle of the pack", at least not one of the very last stragglers.  I knew this route and how the GPS course would guide us to cross Route 1 at a non-obvious intersection, then and cut down a side road that came out on the western side of Shizuoka City ... I led some other riders who were a bit confused in the dark and wet. Eventually I caught one rider who had an annoyingly, painfully bright, flashing rear light that got even brighter when he came to a stop light.  I told him his light was not good for riding in groups or at an event like this (banned by Audax, actually) ... and eventually we separated.  Another couple familiar zigs and zags, and we were onto the "Strawberry Line".  I got a bit of a second wind and pushed through to Shimizu. 

At one point I made a mistake in the course ... and went up onto an elevated section of road in Shimizu that I am 95% sure is prohibited for bicycles.  Oops.  Too late to go back now, so I took the next exit, but that was well over a kilometer along!  By now it was after midnight and there were no cars at all the entire way, so I figured it was a "no harm/no foul" mis-course, a tree. It was raining harder now, and getting colder.  

I continued along the familiar roads to Okitsu. I had been planning to power-through the night and maybe find a place for some cat-naps, but with the rain and cold, and stomach bothering me, exhausted, I really needed an indoor rest.  I had done 230km, with an early afternoon start, so felt as if I had made enough progress to deserve a rest.

In the cold rain, every move was a "major production" -- it took forever just to get out of my rain garb and get into the Kenko Land, go up to the locker room, leave my rain/outer wear, go to 2nd or 3rd floor and find a place to lie down in the "TV room", full of men sleeping in reclining chairs. Most of these were not Audax riders, so I tried to put my valuables in a bag next to me as I slept.  I stayed in the chair for maybe 2 hours, but could not have slept more than 30 minutes. This was not helping. So I got up, went to the lockers to collect my wet gear, and checked out. Not a moment to lose.

As I headed down to try to push onward, I saw Tom Yahagi, to my surprise. I thought he would be WAY ahead by now.  He said there were reports of snow/sleet at the climb/tunnel entrance of our route over Izu. The rain was harder now, and was a LOT colder.  Really nasty stuff. This was a real winter storm. Tom was gone in a flash, and I was still putting on my rain gear minutes later. 

Back on the bike, I made slow progress toward Fuji City.  My gloves were soaked, my core was very damp, and there was a headwind. My stomach had not fully recovered. The only food I could find was at convenience stores ... no place to eat inside, so consumed out front trying unsuccessfully to get a bit of shelter from rain and wind.

The forecast was for continued rain and headwind most of the way back to Tokyo, including very nasty headwinds on the east side of Izu.

I needed to get back to Tokyo to prepare for a trip the following day.  I was not at all sure I could make it within the time limit if I continued, and I was pretty sure that, even if I did, I would be totally wiped out by the effort and pretty much struggle to even pack and do the few required things before my trip. 

So I decided to ride to Numazu then make a decision on whether to continue.  At Numazu, still wet, and cold, and tired, now in the morning light but behind schedule ... I veered left and headed uphill toward the shinkansen station at Mishima.

I can manage cold, or I can manage rain, but the combination of hard, cold rain is not fun at all on a bicycle.  My gloves, jacket, and stomach were not quite up to the task. The headwind added insult to injury, especially for a brevet named the "tailwind" ride!  And knowing that I needed to accomplish in the 24 hours AFTER I got home ... it was the right choice. A decade ago, I might have powered through this one, but I am older, and wiser, and not as strong today.

Some Quality Time Alone with Sakamoto Ryoma

Sakamoto Ryoma contemplates the world outside Japan, looking out from Shimoda Harbor.
(Always impressed with the iphone 11Pro's night vision-like camera. This scene was near pitch dark.)

This weekend I joined an Audax Kanagawa 300km brevet, from Kamakura/Zushi to Minami Izu and back. This route, down Route 135 along the eastern coast of Izu, is known for very heavy traffic at least as far south as Atami or even Ito. There are cyclists on it, but it took me years before I dared it, and it is not fun to ride with a constant line of cars whizzing by, sometimes only inches away. 

The solution -- ride it at night while the drivers are asleep in their beds! An 8PM start meant that around 12 hours (out of a 16 hour ride) were in low (or no) traffic.  The last 45 minutes of the ride was next to a line of standing cars along the coast road from east of Enoshima all the way to Zushi -- so if you count riding through what is essentially a parking lot also as "low traffic", at least "low danger from traffic", that would make it nearly 13 out of 16 hours.

Pre-ride briefing, at the West entrance to Kamakura Station

Organizers Maya Ide and Honda-san chat with riders

It was a beautiful night, the temperature never below 10 degrees C (50 fahrenheit) along our route, a full moon visible until nearly morning, only partially obstructed by clouds from time to time. Sunday we finished just as a light rain shower started. 

Typical audax scene - at the turn around in Minami Izu. Warm enough to eat outside!
(Family Mart just across from closed michi-no-eki)

First photo of the night - heading south, at Usami just before Ito

The ride included nearly 3000 meters of elevation gain, all of it in the "middle 220kms" along Izu, none in the first or last 40km. That would be too much for the recumbent, not to mention the stress it would have added riding the Pelso through the "parking lot" of traffic the last 20kms, so I was on Sky Blue Parlee. My usual brevet rear wheel is in need of a rebuild, so I got out the Gokiso rear wheel ... the bike felt fast, maneuverable, and stable. It advanced with minimal effort. And with this setup and at my current rather heavy body weight, I descended REALLY FAST. At one point I was doing an "accordion" ride with another randonneur, Ohno-san, who had done Okayama 1200 with us in April. He would distance me on the climb, and I would catch or pass him on the descent. Repeat. Repeat again. 

This ride offered a chance to at least say hello to numerous friends.  The organizers, Maya Ide and K. Honda, are longtime Kanagawa leaders, thanks to whom I have enjoyed countless brevets. Indeed, my first brevet ever was a Kanagawa 400k back in 2009. Ryu-san, the alongtime Saitama and AJ leader, was there. He has lost weight and grumbled about the headwinds, but looks as strong as ever. Joe Wein rode this one on his Elephant National Forest Explorer. Many others. Even a third "gaijin" rider -- a strong younger first time randonneur named Benedikt, from Iceland.

One highlight was the "foot bath" in the park next to Shimoda harbor. Ohno-san had stopped there on the outbound leg, and told me the location when he caught up again at the turnaround control point. Then there was also a big "FOOT BATH ->" sign in English at the park entrance, to help distinguish the gazebo with the hot spring water from others that had only benches. Looking out at the Ryoma statute, I could lie on my back on the ground, feet in the 15~20cm of water, it removed all the stress and strain of the ride in only a few minutes, and was just enough to warm my entire body on a night like this. I could have fallen asleep and stayed there until morning. But, this is a brevet. There is not a moment to waste! At least not any more than necessary. So the total stop was only 15-20 minutes, the time lying down even less. And it was back on the road!

Ahh!

Lovely, free, 24-hour public facility -- the hot spring is barely noticeable, inside the trench.

Anyway, it was a lovely ride, except that patch of 3~4 hours of heavy traffic between Ito and Enoshima on the return. Riding at night, not to hot nor cold, a confident bicycle, smooth roads, good lighting, the calming sound of waves breaking against rocks, their white foam visible when all else is dark. 

Moon over the Kawazugawa

First light

More first light

On local route 109 between Izu Kogen and Ito - lovely road

Still south of Atami, but back on the main road

Surfers at Yugawara

Since Jerome told me that my 2015 Japan Audax vest is not as visible as it should be, I have been using my Proviz runner's vest for these events. Very light weight and breathable, and very bright. A real winner.

Reflective vest in normal light

Reflective vest with camera flash

This was my last scheduled audax event of the year. I really look forward to more "traditional" (not just "remote") brevets in 2022, riding with, or not far from, friends.

Which Bike is Faster, the Parlee or the Pelso?

On Strava, this ride on the Parlee showed an average moving speed of 22.3kph over 302 kms.
Last weekend on the Pelso, my average speed was 21.7kph according to Strava. And that was a much flatter course. So is the Pelso slower, even on a flat course? Not necessarily.

A number of adjustments are needed.
--First, recall that my GPS was turned off for probably the fastest 10km after Oume -- the descent to Hanno. That section could have boosted the average speed.
--The event on the Parlee was 100km shorter, and I rode another 25kms total to/from the start of the other event, on the Pelso. 

My speed gradually drops over most rides, so the comparison is not at all even. On the Kanagawa/Parlee ride, I was going an average of 28.7kph to the first checkpoint, nearly 50kms in. And the first 150km, including almost 1500m of climbing, took only 6 hr 49 minutes. If I had just turned around and ridden back (without any rest, foot bath, nor drop in speed) I would have finished in 13 hrs 38 minutes, rather than, the actual 16 hrs 57 minutes. Add in another 100kms at the end with a slower, tired rider, and my average speed would likely have slipped significantly.

Also, I don't think the Pelso is fully optimized yet. Nor is the Pelso rider. I am going to try a shorter crankset (165mm instead of 170mm) as many prefer on a recumbent, and try a 44t crank instead of 42t, to get a wee bit more speed on the flats and descents. Finally, I want to try 700x30 or 700x32 tire, instead of the current 700x25 tires, to see if a bit more fork "trail" makes the bike more stable and comfortable when going at low speed.

Golden Week - Isabella Byrd's "Unbeaten Tracks of Japan" 1500kms #tohokudeyokatta

Jerome and I joined many friends for the AJ Kanagawa-sponsored series of rides in Tohoku over golden week.

The ride was a spectacular series of events -- 300, 400, 200 and 600 kms in length.
I did all but the 200 km one (instead I rode 125 kms to get to Aomori and do a short side trip). Jerome rode all 1500 kms.
The route offered a great mix of mountains, seacoast, farmland and everything else. Beautiful weather except for rain the first day.

I rode the Renovo Firewood -- it was extremely comfortable and fast, and the Di-2 shifting worked without recharge for the full event, while the hydraulic disk brakes worked like a dream. One flat rear tire (clincher) and a creaking BB (grit in the threads) were the only extremly minor hiccups.

You can see my photos here on Flickr.

You can find the routes on RidewithGPS.

First 300 kms.

Next 400 kms.

Third event - 200 kms.

Final leg -- 600 kms.*
*We were offered the alternative of going up through Oirase Keiryu to Towada-ko, and doing a short extra loop later that evening to make up the distance.

My favorite areas:
(1) Ouchi Juku
(2) Mogamigawa and Shinjo at dawn
(3) Kakunodake and the long climb and descent over Ani Pass
(4) the sea coast of western Aomori (Fukaura)
(5) the small peninsula east of Aomori-shi
(6) Oirase Keiryu, Towada-ko, and the descent to the South
(7) climb to Appi Kogen
(8) early morning stretch in the hills just above the plain of Ichinoseki, and along a river toward Ishinomaki
(9) gentle climb up the Abukuma River in S Miyagi and N Fukushima.

Quite a lot for one week!