Hakone Ekiden 2013

January 2nd's weather forecast promised sun with a high of 13 degrees celsius.  A classic warm, dry Tokyo winter day, perfect for riding bicycles along the closed roads of the Hakone Ekiden, as in past years:  2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and P.B. ("pre-blog") 2007.

Nittaidai (Nippon Sports Science Univ.), our neighbors  on Komazawa Dori in Setagaya, win the relay!

James K. and Shane P. rode out via my house, then we met Laurent D. along the Tamagawa and headed toward Yokohama.  We joined the Ekiden route a little north of Yokohama Station and were immediately welcomed by a large group of cheering fans, as in past years.

As with last year, we were directed onto the "old road" near Totsuka Station, rather than the no-bikes-permitted bypass that we used to take with the runners.

This year we faced very stiff headwinds much of the way, and where we were not protected on the sides -- crossing some bridges near Oiso and closer to Odawara -- swirling gusts threatened to push us sideways, off our bikes and into the guardrail or, worse, into the passing traffic.  At one point,  I unclipped my left pedal and put a foot down.  Laurent, with his deep rim Lightweight wheels, held on for dear life.

We saw a TCC group as we passed them at a rest/gathering spot near Route 16 ... and they passed us back at the Odawara 7-11 that serves as an informal staging area pre-ascent, where James and Shane said farewelll and headed for Odawara Station, as Laurent and I started the last section up the hill to the finish at Hakone Ashinoko.

As we got to Hakone Yumoto, still near the bottom of the climb and far ahead of the lead runners (who were at least 10~12 kms back, not yet in Odawara), a policeman directed us off of the main road and onto the "old Tokaido".  The old road does go up the hill to Ashinoko ... but would take us away from the cheering Ekiden crowds.  After a rest stop, some attempts to find a way around the barriers and rejoin the route further up (we did, but not far enough up, and were quickly pointed down the hill), Laurent and I descended 1-2 kms and stopped at a convenience store for pasta. 15 minutes or so later, the runners came by, in remarkably close succession after 85+ kms.

Laurent and I headed back toward Tokyo, together along the coast as far as Chigasaki.  He continued to Kamakura and took the train home, while I headed inland to take a look at the Keio Univ. Shonan Fujisawa Campus and then continued the rest of the way home through the Kanagawa sprawl via bicycle.  A bit more than 160 kms in all -- an even 100 miles.

It was great to see James, Shane and Laurent after quite awhile, and to get in such a good ride on January 2 to start the year.  Then again, I think with the added police measures to keep us off of the climb, even with a good "cushion" ahead of the runners, the Ekiden tradition may have run its course.

Ekiden ride as far as Hakone Yumoto, then back to Chigasaki and inland to Shonandai/Fujisawa:

From Shonandai/Fujisawa back home:

Le Velo Avec J.J. et DiDi

DiDi and J.J. at the rest area before the last climb to Tsuru Pass

Today we enjoyed a classic Positivo Espresso Spring training and fun ride on le velo.  The trip was just over 175km from my house, with the highlight being the trip up Yamanashi Pref. Route 18 from the Uenohara area to Tsuru Pass and beyond.  This road continues to be one of my favorites -- a climb through a quiet valley with a river that runs through it, and traffic limited to some locals and a very few people who need to get to and from Kosuge village on the North side of the pass.

We left my house at 8AM (actually, a bit later, as Jerome was running late), and joined James, Dominic, Shane and Tim for the ride out to Hachioji.  They were headed up Jimba Kaido toward Bonbori Rindo, while we planned to go via Route 20 and out over Otarumi.  We did not have a clear plan after that.  In classic Positivo Espresso fashion, the ride had been agreed at the last minute, with no clear goal except to go far and climb high, or at least higher than in the winter months.

Didier passes a motorcycle at the line -- hilltop finish.

At our refueling stop in Hachioji, I was able to chat briefly with Tim, who mentioned that he had been the Tokyo-based private equity coverage investment banker at a large U.S. based brokerage, before moving to the same group's commercial banking arm.   It occurred to me a bit later in the day that I met him in such capacity back in 2005, shortly after my arrival in Tokyo. ... somehow I did not recognize him with his helmet and Oakley glasses, nearly 7 years later. Not the first time I have not put 2 + 2 together when I meet someone in cycling garb after having known them in business (or vice versa).

I gave my best Euro-cyclist imitation today -- white jersey (PBP2011!), white shoes (Scott), white arm warmers and white bicycle (Canyon).  Assos cap and formerly white Assos bib shorts ...   But black leg warmers and flourescent green  shoe covers ruin the effect.

We were blessed with near perfect cycling weather -- cool, even chilly and windy at higher elevations and on the descents -- and blue sky, dry pavement, and the scent of Spring in the air.  The plum festival was on in Oume, even though the blossoms have not quite arrived yet because of the recent cold weather.

Instead of Route 18, we took an even-more-local road, bypassing Tawa Pass -- as shown to me by Steve T.  last year.  I told Jerome and Didier about the little old lady who always is out tending her field on the steep hillside below the road ... and she appeared on cue, and even responded to a wave and greeting!

A tailwind pushed us much of the way home down the Tamagawa.

Sunday Ride - Shiroyama, Tsukui, Otarumi

Sunday was at least dry enough for us to get a group headed out of town in the morning and up the Tamagawa.

View from above Shiroyama Dam toward the mountains around Miyagase-ko and the foot of Doshi-michi

James K and two of his friends peeled off to ride Yomiuri V Dori and then head back to central Tokyo.  Dominic and Doug peeled off at end of One Kansen Doro for the Starbucks and then a return to town.

Jerome, Didier, Graham and I went on via the "tank road", then up a hill to Shiroyama Dam, around the North side of Lake Tsukui, then back over Otarumi and home down the Asagawa and Tamagawa.   

We ducked out of the rain that started as we near the top of Otarumi for ramen and gyoza at Fujiya, the little hilltop ramen shop that welcomes cyclists.  They even had a bicycle rack, and when the rain strengthened they helped move our bikes under roof cover, and lent us a towel to wipe off the seats dry.  

It was a wet descent, but the pavement had pretty much dried again by the time we made it back to the Tamagawa.

Didier enters the steep part of the climb to Shiroyama Dam.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a national holiday ... and the forecast is for dry, if cold, weather.  An even better day for a ride!

January 2 Ekiden Ride Report

After lunch at the Hakone Touge Michi No Eki -- nearly all the hard work done for today

The Positivo Espresso/TCC Ekiden Ride went off without a hitch yesterday, as no one got lost, and nearly all the riders reached the top of the climb and the finish along Ashi-no-ko 30 minutes ahead of the runners -- enjoying a welcome from cheering crowds (even cheerleaders), marching bands and everyone making noise to try and stay warm.  We were blessed with glorious, clear weather, dry roads and not-too-strong winds (that were at our backs on much of the ride along the Sagami Bay).

We received plenty of encouragement on the climb, with "gambatte" calls from some pairs of attractive, younger women (waiting for their real heroes) -- inspiring us to even greater than our usual efforts -- and the occasional "Fai-toh!" (fight!) from an oddly dressed Japanese guy.  The muscle-suited cyclist who had dismounted near the top of the climb took the prize.

The group suffered a serious schism in cycling doctrine at the Hakone Pass Michi No Eki.

One group, led by Ludwig, insisted that it would show disrespect to MOB Kraehe if we were to take Route 20 toward Atami Toge (MOB's "favorite road in Japan") in his absence.  They argued that Route 20 must never be ridden by P.E. in his absence, and opted to explore Route 75, the "Tsubaki Line".  Another group, referred to by some as "the renegades" (and by Ludwig as "the re-negates"), led by Dave and Dave, argued that we must ride Route 20, out of respect for MOB -- that he would have "wanted it that way" and would not want to deny us the pleasure of this spectacular stretch along the spine of the mountains of Izu, just because he is stuck in North Germany working on an antique road bike in the dark of winter.  No one thought it was worth calling MOB at 5AM local time to figure it out. Just about the only thing that anyone could agree upon was that the descent into Atami from Route 20 was "a b****", could cause excessive wear on brake pads, and was to be avoided if practical.

So we split into two.  Ludwig's group went back down the bumper-to-bumper, extremely tedious (their words, not mine) road the short way back to Ashi-no-ko, then onto the Tsubaki-Line.  They report that Tsubaki Line was worth this minor inconvenience, is a GREAT cycling road, and some of the photos bear this out.  The TCC reports and links can all be found here.

I joined the renegades, who I had been riding with most of the way since I was slow getting my gloves on and cleat covers off while leaving the Family Mart at Fujisawa, missed a red light and did not see the lead group again until Odawara.  The four of us headed up to the pass, then cruised down Route 20 -- spectacular views as always.  After the traditional brief stop at the entrance to the Izu Skyline, we headed West down Route 11.  This was a really, really, really nice descent -- lots of curves, not too steep, emerging from forest to see a spectacular vista to the West or a valley to our side, and only a couple of cars coming up the hill for the first 5 km or so.  We realized that anyone going from Atami to Numazu takes the OTHER Route 11, which skips Atami Touge, goes through a tunnel and only rejoins our deserted road near the bottom of the hill.  Hard to imagine that any other route could have equaled this one!

Then we enjoyed our own short slog through traffic jams on the flat area, up to Mishima Station, where we acquired the necessary provisions (beer, unagi-flavored "Pretz") to enjoy a quick shinkansen trip back to Tokyo.  My Garmin data/map is here.  Some photos, mostly from Ludwig, a few from me (click on them to see in full size):

The start -- Otemachi/Marunouchi Area of Tokyo early

Too many traffic lights early on.

The Fujisawa Stop -- where I fumbled my cleats and gloves and lost the lead group.

Lots and lots of Japanese cyclists this year ... mostly slower than us, and apparently a huge group that rides slowly AFTER the runners.  I got the pleasure of driving several to complete exhaustion who tried to hang with me on the flat.

Beautiful weather, as usual!

The road turns gradually up.

Andy W, Travis, James M and Mike (photo by Ludwig), waiting for the rest of us at the finish.

Mysterious broadcast-related equipment at the Michi no Eki.  Might have something to do with all those live TV shots from trucks and motorcycles during the Ekiden.

Dave & Dave at lunch -- are those potato chips?

Mr. Rindo and others who did not grab one of the chairs at the table, and so whose legs were maybe a bit numb by the end of lunch.  I thank you for your sacrifice.

Andy and Shane (a/k/a "new Dave").

A motley crew.

The view from our lunch spot.

The traditional stop at Atami Touge.  "We have conquered Izu!  Already 1/20 of the way down the peninsula."

Looking back from Atami Touge.

On the climb of the Tsubaki Line.

I think they went up there -- ahead.

Yes, definitely climbed another hill for a better view, and proof that James M. (a/k/a "MacGyver") topped 1000 meters.

The usual heavy traffic on East Izu roads ...

A Very Good Cause

Next month two of our very own, James K. and Dominic H. will be riding in this year's Etape du Tour, a mountainous stage of the Tour de France which is open to amateurs. The ride is 174km (108 miles) long with 4,000m (13,123 ft.) of climbing. It finishes on the top of the legendary Col de Tourmalet.

They are raising funds for the Tyler Foundation. The foundation's mission is to support children with cancer in Japan and their families by improving quality of life during treatment and by ensuring a smooth transition to normal life after treatment.

If you're able to help them, please visit this link to the event and click on one of thier names.

http://www.tylershineon.org/index.php/events/shine_on_letape_du_tour_2010

Please note, the currency quoted on the website is Japanese Yen. The current conversion rates are about Y91/$, Y121/GBP and Y109/Euro.

Donations may be made by wire transfer in any major currency to Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ in Tokyo or via Paypal.

Here is the link for the donations:

http://www.tylershineon.org/index.php/donate_now

If you are based in the USA or are a US tax payer you can benefit from US tax exemption by making a US dollar donation to the US branch, "The Tyler Fund" which is under the 501(c) 3 tax-exempt umbrella of the Pittsburgh Foundation. To receive a tax exempt "receipt", US dollar donations must be made with a credit card, cheque or bank transfer to the Pittsburgh Foundation.

(http://www.pittsburghfoundation.org/credit_card_gifts).

Please be sure to indicate "The Tyler Fund".

We believe strongly in this cause and would appreciate help you can give.

Thank you and best wishes,

James and Dominic

To spread awareness please feel free to copy this entry to you blog, facebook, twitter, linkedin or any other media as this really is an amazing cause that is in need of funds, 100% of what you donate goes to the charity as both Dominic and James have paid 100% of the entry fees, flights and accommodation completely out of their own pockets!

Leave him a message, I dare you~!

Tunnels, Ice and Snow

A little bit late perhaps, but I don't like to miss the chance to report about the ride of the splinter group on Saturday after saying Sayonara at the Doshi-Michi / Yabitsu Entry. Ice and snow will play an important role so as fallen trees.Well, while Jerome, James and Dominic were happily chatting and riding in direction Yabitsu, our social ride came to a sudden end when Ludwig, Fumiki and me continued on Doshi-Michi in direction Yamanakako. As usual Ludwig picked up the pace and Fumiki could easily follow him, while I was taking a more "legere" approach. Sometimes Ludwig stopped along the roadside to stretch his back or do the opposite with his bladder and so I could close up again.All around us was snow and there was a lot of water on the road, sometimes flowing downwards on the slopes which we were riding up, giving us the impression that we were very fast if compared to the asphalt surface.But soon we had climbed up to Yamabushi Toge, the last pass before Yamanako lake and then descended on the other side. Meanwhile the accumulated water on the road and the additional spray we have received from passing trucks and cars had completely soaked our socks, legs and behind with water. That felt pretty miserable but as hardcore cyclists our codex didn't allow us to show our feelings completely, so we continued in direction Kawaguchi Lake and Saiko.Saiko was very silent unlike the JCRC racing day in November when I usually go there. As this might have been the last time to see the lake, I went to our favourite hang-out at Cafe M and said good-bye to the owner. We then continued to the next smaller Fuji lake (I forgot the name) and then took road 706 to the North in direction Kofu. This leads to a long tunnel first and the approach to that was looking like the swamps of Louisiana. And then we had a classic Ludwig comment which I would like to preserve for the blog readers:

Ludwig : "These are the worse road conditions here"
Me (assuming that Ludwig knows the roads ahead) : "It will not get worse up there?"
Ludwig: "No idea, these are the worse road conditions SO FAR."

I can imagine the spin-off of these words for future club-rides. Imagine riding over Otarumi to Kobu Tunnel, Kazahari, Matsuhime, Dozaka and Yamabushi to Yamanakako while stating on the top of Otarumi:

Experienced PE rider: "This is the worse climb."
Newcomer (thinking): "Oh great, the worse is over."
Experienced PE rider: "Well,so far"
Newcomer (thinking): "..sigh..."

Of course it wasn't by far the worse to come, but before we come to that we experienced a beautiful downhill ride from the tunnel at elevation 900 to elevation 400: Wide, curvy roads, nice slopes, not too much traffic allowed us to ride in the most enjoyable 40 - 60 km/hr bracket.

Then we stopped and discussed whether it would make sense to continue on road 358 through the long tunnel to Kofu or climb up on old road 113 (in use before the construction of the tunnel) to 右左口峠 (Right-left-entry pass). Of course I opted for the Right-left-entry-pass as I was eager to add more passes to my list and I desperately wanted to paste some Positivo Espresso stickers on the top.

So we rode back the road a little bit, then entered road 113 and were immediately greeted by a barrier to discourage normal human beings. Behind the barrier were some fallen trees on the road. Again, this might be discouraging to normal riders but for me it is like that there is the ghost of the road standing next to the barrier with a megaphone in his hand shouting "Ride me, ride me". Or "Roads shouting: ride me ride me" (RSRMRM) in reference to a long forgotten Japanese punk rock group : Seagulls shouting: kiss her, kiss her" (SSKHKH).

I could convince Ludwig and Fumiki that these trees had not fallen down there by chance, but that they have been intentionally placed there by the locals to discourage powerful cyclist such us as. So I crossed over and was greeted by another barrier of trees (perhaps not intentionally placed) and then by another and finally the asphalt surface ended and then a small gravel path was all that was left.I was some 20 meters ahead as I was scouting for the way when Ludwig and Fumiki tried to convince me to give up. But I didn't budged so they rode back to the tunnel while I moved along. Meanwhile I still had 190 meter elevation to climb and the surface was now made of snow and ice and landslides. So I couldn't ride up but needed to walk most of the time. A terrible thought stroke me: "What, if this isn't the road up to right-left-entry-pass?" Because I had fully relied on Ludwigs guidance, we haven't seen any signboards at all. And while I was sneaking up through the snow, already with a pretty empty stomach I wondered if this was really a good idea.

In the end I made it up to the top (naturally, who else would write this stupid post?) and there was the signboard indicating that this would be right-left-entry-pass indeed. I made some photos and then I realized that I had just climbed up from the village 上九一色、the famous hideout of the Aum-Shinrikyo sect who launched the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. In this place they established their secret gas-factory which, if I remember correctly, was called DAI-7-SATIAN (Meditation place number 7). When working for Schindler, we used to call our headoffice DAI-8-SATIAN all the time in reference. Well, that was close and despite standing freezing with wet socks and trousers plus empty stomach on top of a lonely hill in the middle of nowhere I was glad to have escaped such sinister place.

Now going down, would be a breeze I thought. Well, it is not easy to ride through the snow. In particular if you are going down and the snow and dirt clogs the brakes so even if you pull the levers fully to the handle the braking effect is virtually none. Well, I know know there is a reason for v-brakes on MTBs.
I ignored that however most of the time and before long I had a flat tire and when I checked more closely I also had lost a spoke somewhere (no idea where).
So in view of the road conditions I decided not to repair the tube as I had only one exchange tube, but walk down until I meet a decent road and then exchange the tube. This was again an endless walk through ice and snow. Sometimes footprints were on the trail, but as bears do not wear sneakers, I assume that they were made by human beings.

Finally I found the road, repaired the tube and rode for about a kilometer before finding a 7-Eleven and filling up with food and drinks. Ludwig and Fumiki have long arrived at the station in Kofu and were on their way home. They were so kind to call me from the station. After a seemingly long and boring ride free of obstacles through Kofu (I was by now so used to fallen trees and gravel road that a ride on a straight and flat four lane semi-highway seeming extremely boring) I finally arrived 2 hours later than them and took the express train home as well.

It was a very adventurous trip and I am happy to report that I have survived. Please don't tell my family about it and my apologies to Ludwig and Fumiki for my stupid insistence to go up that road.

Of course on the following Wednesday I made something similar stupid, but this will be the subject of another post.

THE BARA BARA RIDE

from right to left : Deej, Clay, Yair, Jules, two unrelated riders, Setsuko (perhaps)
No Davids in sight. Also no slot machines.

When we planned to organize a classic ride on Sunday, we didn't know that this would draw the biggest group in team history. And for some reason it comprised of only one David, actually the original one, now with beard. And, of course it became an undisciplined, unorganized "recovery" ride in the typical fashion of our team.

I woke up early in the morning still with very heavy knees as a result of the 200 km trip the day before with Ludwig where we circumferenced the Hakone mountains. Already on the way to the meeting point at the Tamagawa I noticed that I could barely ride 30 km/hr in the flat, neither force my heart rate to go over 155 BPM. But not to worry, as this was an official Positivo Espresso "recovery ride". So I expected some fast pace along the Tamagawa until everybody burned out and then a leisurely ride up to Otarumi and Tsukui.
Well I arrived on time at Tamagawahara bridge and already a large crowd has gathered, not only the usual Positivo suspects such as David, Jerome, Dominic (David), Bryon, Yair, James (David) and Michael on his Cervelo with new Shimano Di-3 (this is an upgrade from Di-2 which includes a small electrical assistance motor, invisble to the human eyes), but also Fumiki and his friends "Ko" and "Sho" (together they ride under the name 故障) and Deej and Jules from the TCC. I was tempted to collect participation fees and ride home (150 Yen for PE members, 15 million Yen for first timers) as a free and rich man.

And while I was talking with Fumiki as he casually mentioned "Everybody's riding already" and I turned my head just to see our group taking the first bend at the horizon. So we had to hurry up and chase behind the peloton. It was impossible to catch up as everybody in the front group pedalled as fast as they could and there was a strong headwind that we had to overcome. Finally at the bridge after Sekidobashi we caught up but at this point we have lost already Bryon and either Ko or Sho, not sure. The tempo was just murderous for me and I was looking forward to the point where everybody would relax; this was supposed to be a "recovery" ride.

We then rode the usual road along the Asagawa where we encountered a dispatchment of stormtroopers or perhaps baseball kids and where we left a mildly negative impression on the local population. Little girls were graping there teddy bears tightly and small boys looked up to there mothers, saying "Mama, when I am big I want to become a foreign bicycle rider." "Rather I will set fire to the house and kill the whole family."

We somehow made it to the Takao 7-Eleven where we re-grouped and linked up with Tom, Hiroshi, Nishibe and Clay from TCC. To the neutral outside observer we must have looked like a very fast group thanks to the strong additions from other teams.

I spoke with Jules and he asked me "Are you the guy with scars all over your leg?" How did he know? Where my lovely deadhead-diapers lurking out from the bib trousers? But I agree, scars on the legs are even cooler than shaved legs. And they hurt more. But the part of my body that hurts the most was my behind, as I did more than 400 km of cycle riding the last five days. I will refrain from posting pictures here.

Then we started the Otarumi TT and even before the official starting point Tom, James, Deej, Clay, Hiroshi, Fumiki and Jules went off like rockets while I stayed with Nishibe, Yair and David in a second group, followed by Dominic, Ko, Michael, Jerome.

On the top of Otarumi we took a group shot to document this historic event (more riders then average blogviews per day in 2008).

From there on we continued downhill and then took the classic turn to Tsukui lake. All of this still at very high speeds. Things became a little chaotic. I guess all of us took the left turn at the Circle K that leads to the Tsukui North road, but then not all of us went along the North side and definitely many lost track when we rode into Hashimoto. David proposed to ride his favourite backroad shortcut and I was hanging on for dear life, as I had no idea where I was and in case I got lost, it would have taken me days to find the way back to Onekan.

Somehow we managed to re-group at the Starbucks 7-Eleven at Onekan, but in the process we had lost Tom, Michael and Dominic who rode home on their own.

Deej, Clay and Jules started first on the Onekan, followed by Jerome, me and the rest of the pack. Just a few hundred meters behind the tunnel we saw Deej who was screwed. No, I don't mean that he was bonking, I mean, to be precise, that his tire got screwed by a app. 20 mm wooden screw, NiCr plated, judging from the look, probably made in China. After making sure that he was OK and had everything he needs for repair we continued along the Onekan and at one point I met David and Fumiki again while finally continuing leisurely with James along the Tsurumigawa home. Fumiki said that he enjoyed the ride-out but that he would now ride into the mountains to do some more serious things.

At least the last 20 km or so I had the feeling of a "recovery" ride.
So I guess it is time to propose two or three things here to "avoid confusion in the market place" (the most favourite quote by Japanese business executives when a company/competitor starts to do things differently than before):

RENAME THE POSITIVO ESPRESSO TEAM INTO POSITIVO ESPRESSO TEST TEAM

Well, the Cervelo Test Team is called so because in addition to racing, it also fulfils the role of testing the Cervelo bikes under severe conditions. We do not belong to a bicycler maker (well, Prolite, perhaps), and therefore we are not testing any bikes. But we constantly test the well being, patience, nerves and physical composure of all team members and therefore we rightfully deserve the name "test team".

DEFINE "RECOVERY RIDE"

Recovery Ride - As opposed to the common understanding of a recovery ride in standard cycling, a Positivo Espresso recovery ride is defined by the fact that most of the riders attending, will be recovered sooner or later from the roads by firefighters, ambulances or archaeologists eventually ("Hm, high BMI index and DuraAce 7800 group set - probably an investment banker from the early 21st century I would guess."). The average speed will be ridiculous high and climbs can be long and painful. However, regardless of distance and elevation, a recovery ride must include a statement in the official announcement that it will be finished in the early hours of the afternoon.

RIDE ORGANISATION

Again, if it comes to organisation of rides and freedom of individual members to do what they please, Positivo Espresso is second only to Bakunin. I understand that some of us are not happy with this and I can understand their point of view. On the other hand, the quest to get our unorganized, undisciplined team changed, i.e. to ride organized, perhaps even in a paceline (!) and stay together has been undertaken by many brave souls and not led to any success so far. I also feel that I am lacking the divine powers to change this. So perhaps it is more important to change expectations. An organized rides, in Positivo Espresso fashions means, that we meet in a somewhat organized fashion.

PE Half-day Otarumi Classic a.k.a. BARABARA JITENSHA JIKEN !!

Thanks everyone for joining this morning's ride & thanks MOB for having organized/coordinated this !


Screwed up the self-timer...apologies!! MOB, hope yours turned out OK....
("Framed version" of this pic here)

Sunday Feb 21st Classic Ride

I am thinking about doing the classic Ebisu - Tamagawa - Otarumi (Takao) - Tsukui North Lake - Tank Road -Onekan - Tamagawa - Ebisu ride this Sunday.

07:00 000 km Start Ebisu
07:30 010 km Meeting Point 1 : David House
08:00 020 km Meeting Point 2 : Tamagawaharabridge [Fumiki, James and me will join here]
09:15 048 km Rest Stop : Takao 7-Eleven
10:00 056 km Finish Climb HC Otarumi Time Trial
11:00 083 km Rest Stop 7-Eleven
12:00 103 km Split at Tamagawaharabashi
12:30 113 km Split at David House
13:00 123 km End at Ebisu

So 123 km loop from Ebisu, 103 km loop from Davids house and about 119 km loop from Yokohama roughly. 650m elevation up. Not sure about times before Tamagawaharabashi, I guess James, Michael and Dominic know much better how much time is required.

As this is the classic Sunday ride, I entered it at Mapmyride here.
Please let me know who is it interested to join.

The Dawn of the Davids

Imagine you wake up one morning and the world around you has changed completely. All your neighbors have become brainless zombies and you can only defend yourself by throwing Dire Straits LPs at them. Or suddenly, everyone you know goes by the name Dave.

From left to right: David, David, David, David, David, David, David, David and Phil.

"Oh, David, good that you made it. May I introduce you to David? David, this is David, David this is David."
"Hi David, Nice to meet you."
"Hi, nice to meet you too, David."

With David J. being back in England, David L. injured and David C. taking part only in short trips morning rides, one would assume that the amount of Davids that could be assembled for a ride in Bozo peninsular would be somewhat limited. Nevertheless, when Phil of TCC called for a joint winter ride in Chiba, all remaining cycling Davids and very few other guys turned up, eleven riders in total. We were quite a group: David Dachin (younger brother of James), David Denderson aka as Dominic Denderson and me, the D.O.B. were attending the tour on behalf of Dositivo Depresso.

Phil has warned us that this would become a leisurely ride, adding that we must make 30 km/hr average along the first third in order to be home on time, so we started rather fast and within no time we have also lost some riders of our group. But we always stopped and let the slower riders catch up so that we might have had a good speed average, however the overall progress was rather slow.

It is always interesting to ride in the countryside of Chiba, I believe that I can say that as an expert who has ridden there with Phil already two times. Every time and without him, I would be lost and probably still would ride clueless in Chiba looking for the exit between the vast stretches of land belonging to golf clubs. Nine years ago a Dutchman by the name of Kees Van der Werff got so much lost that he found Chibas' exit only after weeks (exhibit 1, at the bottom of this post).

It is also interesting to note that Chiba is not flat at all and consists of many hills, not a single one higher than 400 meters, but some of them quite steep and all in all we were able to do much more than 1.000 meter of climbing before we broke into two groups.

The riding is much different than on the West side. On the West side one picks a series of climbs with impressive elevations and connects them by dotted lines, trying to get us much of them in as possible. One knows the climbs, they are continuous and one is motivated to make an effort, go up fast and reach the top, followed by some leisure time riding downhill. It is like working as a public official in the accounting department and having a wild weekend affair. Riding in Chiba is more like the average marriage: The hills are not that high any more, but the sheer number of ups and downs adds up as well (or perhaps "adds down" in this comparative case) and leaves its mark on the spiritual and physical condition of the participants.

One climb was particular long and nasty and Phil took photos of all of us coming in one by one except for Tim and his fixie. As there was a road branching off to the right which went down and looked much more inviting, TruffleEater constructed a nice cryptic message out of some bamboo branches which should have indicated the proper road (up) to follow. All you needed to understand it would have been basic operative training in the CIA or MI-5 and an enigma machine to decode the message. The alternatives would have been (a) to block the wrong roads with some logs that were lying on the side of the road or (b) to write a message with chalk on the (wrong) road surface at the bottom of the hill some 200 meters down:

"U-Turn here, Fixie and up the other road!"

But being nice guys we decided something simple. We never saw Tim again that day.

Then we made another stop at a nice country shop (now PE approved) somewhere in the middle of Bozo. My guess what be that our group made not only 50% of the total turnover in that shop on this day, but also 100% of the not-alcohol related turnover. I saw some locals dropping in with their typical agricultural mini cars and every single one of them left with a crate of beers. And nothing else. That should give you some idea what people in Chiba do on their weekends during winter time.

It was nice and toasty (PE rule: The word "toasty" should be used in every post at least once between December and March.) in the shop that has provided us with a seating arrangement at least as nice as a snack bar and the only equipment missing was a Karaoke machine and some 60 year plus old bar hostesses feeding as with mizuwari from our drinking bottles, peanuts and gently touching from time to time our shaved knees.

We also took a group photo there in front of some old slot machines at the scrape yard next to the country shop.

A few kilometres later our group split, Phil leading the TCC guys back to Honda station and David, David and me riding along road 465 towards the coast to the town of Kanayamahma where we would take the ferry to Miura Hanto. Phil also suggested a smaller detour over a hill on a road (Ken 93) parallel to road 465. He suggested this climb in particular because he never did it before and wanted to know how it is.

We were cruising then at good speeds along 465 and enjoyed the tailwind as we had quite some headwind going South all day before. Unfortunately the reason why we had this nice tailwind was, that we managed to miss road 465 somewhere and we were now heading North on road 410 towards the very ugly part of Chiba, bringing as far, far away from the ferry port.

Luckily I had brought my Garmin Version (1.0, aka as a Chiba map) and we headed up to the village of Kururi where we took a turn on Ken 93 (where well hidden) and rode back to road 465. I started to bonk (no, not that) but luckily Dominic and James gave me a banana and a power bar so I felt much better than. It was the first time I ever ate a powerbar and I was surprised at the resistance it offers against being eaten. The consistency is similar to semi-liquid asphalt or dried squid and the energy required to eat it is more than the energy your body absorbs by eating it. Strange. But I felt better than.

And finally we reached the coast and some minutes later the ferry port. I have checked the departure times of the ferries between 12 and 2 PM, however we were so late because of the many stops we made and the pointless ride we included (living up to this great PE tradition) that we only managed to catch the 4 PM ferry.

This is a great ferry, designed in the Seventies and in service since then with plushy sofas, fancy chandeliers, toasty aircon and a strip show on the upper deck starting at 4.30 PM. Or we could have selected to see Tom Jones singing in the parking deck protected by a series of bulkheads.

Recently some of the ferries had sunken because the loads were not probably secured on deck. During the heavy seas which occur during the winter seasons in the bay of Tokyo, some of the vehicles have gotten loose, moved to either the starboard or backboard side and resulted in perpendicular inclination of the ferry.
As one can see on the photo my Heavy Cervelo Soloist (8.9 kg) required therefore much tighter fixing than the relatively light Pinarellos standing next to it.

In the middle of Tokyo Bay we saw the "Tokyo Express" container carrier by Hapag-Lloyd moving in which made my immensely proud of all the useless stuff from Germany and other European countries that is carried year by year to Japan and actually sold here. I must be the equivalent to trade beads of the 19th century and in return our ships come home loaded with Toyota Hybrids which will be immediately forwarded to Toyota dealers for recall.

In this context I would like to add that my son asked me yesterday evening if it isn't dangerous for Toyota dealerships to intercept Toyota cars on recall as they couldn't brake when entering the premises.

And when we arrived in Kuriyama after having enjoyed a good meal on board (thanks to the Smutje), the strip show and seeing Dean Martin after Tom Jones, it was almost dark. David choose the train home from Kuriyama while David and me took the straight road towards Kamakura. On the trip I have shared many stories about the legendary Helga, her two brothers (not named David) and the German Seacastle restaurant that they operate at Kamakura but we did not had the time to drop in despite being very fast on the last stretch. But it was already dark and we just made it to Ofuna, packed our bikes and took the train home to Yokohama.

142 km of riding and more than 1.500 meters of elevation. And, oh yes, we also met some very nice cycling Davids. Thanks to all of them for the nice trip.Exhibit One