Golden Week Takenoko Ride to Akiyama via Wada, Suzugane, and Hinazuru Passes

Extra large takenoko -- MacGyver'ed to the seat tube.

I did not ride that much over Golden Week, using the time to recuperate a bit from doing the full 200, 300, 400, 600 km series of brevets over the preceding month, and with other commitments on top of a normal class schedule at my university.

On Saturday, April 30, I rode the rebuilt Voyage Voyage to Chichibu with Jerome, Peter J, and Peter's friend Daniel. After a 90+ minute soba lunch stop, the three of them headed for Shigasaka Pass and a long loop and evening return. I went a bit further, but then turned around and headed for Honjo Waseda and the shinkansen back to Tokyo. 

It was a very nice day all around, including the solo ride. You can see the photos and ride route on Strava. 167kms in all. I left home 25 minutes late after some last minute bicycle tweaks, and pushed hard to catch the others (including a Strava "PR" and 60/2200 all-time on the oft-traveled 5km stretch of Setagaya Dori west of Sangenjaya), met Jerome first at the end of the Tamagawa path in Fuchu, and Peter and Daniel at Oume. 

As I neared the end of the ride, I even got to race a steam locomotive full of tourists at Nagatoro.

It was easy to keep up with the train on Voyage Voyage along a flat roadway. Eventually, after taking this video, I raced ahead. But of course, I knew that eventually the train would win the race. I thought of the ballad of John Henry, who competed with a steam drill at pounding railroad ties to lay new track, and died with his hammer in his hand. But which version of the song? Johnny Cash? Paul Robeson? Bruce Springsteen? BB King, narrated by Denzel? Harry Belafonte? Mississippi John Hurt? Pete Seeger (folk / labor activist)? Leadbelly (blues)? Billy Strings (bluegrass)? It is an American classic.

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The other 100km+ ride was on Friday, May 6, on the RAMAX. This was a Golden Week ride, but a few minutes after leaving home, I realized that it was no longer Golden Week! Friday was a workday and everyone was back at it. The early roads were full of trucks in town hauling massive pieces of buildings to construction sites ... but empty of vacationers in the countryside! Of course, Monday also had been a workday ... but had been nothing like this. Apparently many companies had taken Monday off, but all were back at work on Friday. Schools also seemed back in session -- not just my university but elementary school students heading on their commutes before 7AM.

A headwind slowed me, and was a few minutes late to meet Peter J at our regular starting point along the Tamagawa just northwest of Komae. We called Jerome. He was still in bed, having ridden several days mid-week, and was not coming along. Peter J said he would head out with me and then, as planned turn around so as not to push an iffy knee too much. We decided to head for Wada Pass via Daigo Rindo.

The last time I went up here, the road was partially washed away in places. Now it has all been restored with nice new asphalt. It is still a rindo, however, with moss, plenty of leaves and some rocks. I like to go up Wada this way (no traffic at all), but prefer other routes down. Peter J climbed with me to 500m elevation, then turned back for the trip home. I pressed on to the top (~740m elevation) and then down to the pass (~700m elevation). I did not climb quickly, but at least I did the entire climb without a foot down. The descent down the west side (Ura Wada) was exhilarating, as usual.  The RAMAX was "fun to ride" going both up and down.

No GW traffic on the rindo climb to Wada!

RAMAX at Wada Pass -- the classic photo spot

Koi Nobori on Ura Wada

I then faced a difficult issue. Where to go next? Kobu Tunnel? Or Tsuru Pass? Or Bijotani? Or head south to Route 76 and Doshi? In the end, I decided to head toward Uenohara and further west from there. Maybe I would go over Sasago Pass? Or I could try one of the climbs south of Sarubashi area that I had never done. Now that I was alone, I was aiming for a most-of-day ride, home before dinner. 

I decided to try Suzugane Pass, a route I had somehow never taken in all these years! I could see on my smartphone that after cresting the pass and descending to the south, I would need to then do the shorter climb to the tunnel at Hinazuru Pass and down through Akiyama in order to return toward Tokyo. This was a lovely route. The only real traffic after leaving Tokyo was on Route 20 between Uenohara and Sarubashi, and that was far lighter than normal. The weather was perfect. 

Looking back at Uenohara from Route 20

At Suzugane Pass

Maglev track descends valley, Hazy Fuji in the background

Looking back downhill and downstream, toward Tsuru

Once in Akiyama, I stopped at Tsuruya, better known to expat cyclists as "the manju place in Akiyama."  I ordered a Miso Manju. 150 yen ($1.15). It was , served with vegetables and green tea. I could digest fully while riding as the descent continued for at least the next 8-10kms.  There were flatter sections and -10% ramps--reminding me how hard this little valley is to climb up in the other direction especially on a hot day. I passed one tunnel entrance on my left that led back to Uenohara. ... I don't remember ever having taken that either. But I kept going down the valley. At the bottom, instead of climbing up the South rim of the valley to meet Route 76, as I have always done in the past, I continued on a road that would loop around to the North, eventually meeting the route I would have taken if I had gone through the tunnel ... in time to go through another tunnel and onto a descent to Uenohara. 

Tsuruya, The Manju Shop

Always lovely flowers here, and little/no traffic.

Vegetable and tea make the manju go down, make the manju go down

GW traffic on Route 35 in Akiyama

We used to call this spot "The Vending Machines" in Akiyama.
Now it is just another "Happy Drink Shop".

 

Beautiful Akiyama

Along the way, I came across an unmanned roadside vegetable stand. The only offering was takenoko -- bamboo shoots. 3 huge shoots, priced at 300 or 400 yen. Takenoko is my wife's favorite Spring delicacy ... so I wanted to take one home and see if I could learn to cook it. But I had not brought a rucksack, and the huge shoots were too big for my jersey pockets or my underseat bag.

One of the shoots, the thinnest of the three, looked as if it might fit inverted into my bottle cage. I deposited 300 yen in the coin box, and put the takenoko in the bottle cage, moving the empty water bottle to my rear jersey pocket. The inverted takenoko fit the bottle cage, but I realized it was so top heavy and large that it would flop around and fall out. But wait, I had some zip ties, for exactly this purpose -- to secure items to the bicycle! Two daisy-chained zip ties worked to secure the stalk, and I could ride, with only a modest rub of the takenoko against the inside of each leg.

By the time I approached Uenohara, I realized that I would seriously chafe my legs if I went too much further, ... so I decided to get a snack and hop the train. My timing was not great ... after I rinkoed the RAMAX and got to the ticket gate, I could see the next train was not for 35 minutes. I bought and drank a cold beer. Only 125 kms for the day, but real climbing up Wada (with its long 13-15% grades), Suzugane, and a shorter climb to Hinazuru Tunnel meant that I did get a decent workout. You can see the statistics and route here on Strava.

I bought the middle one.

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Bike and Takenoko, leaning.

Thank you!

The lower 2/3 of the takenoko was wrapped in plastic, but it was quite a sight for the other passengers at the back of the local Chuo Line train. The first few minutes of the journey, it kept falling over on the floor of the train. Eventually, one man who had boarded with me at Uenohara reached in his briefcase and handed me a large paper shopping bag. I could fit almost the entire stalk into the bag, and thanked him. One of the hikers across the aisle handed me a smaller plastic bag that I could use to cover the top of the stalk that still protruded from the bag. I thanked her also. Everyone in the back of the last train car felt better about me and my takenoko. The "wa" had been restored.

The next day, I got some "nuka" (ground up rice bran) at our local supermarket, and boiled the takenoko with nuka in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes to remove the "aku" bitterness. I could then slice the edible parts of the plant into pieces for grilling in a skillet. Grilling was the easy part, with some olive oil. They were served with salt to taste. The slices tasted pretty good, and my wife seemed happy with the saga.

Boiled and ready to grill

Grilled with olive oil and salted

Start of Spring Training - Tokisaka Pass and Nokogiri Mountain

After not much cycling in January and even less in February when at least I swam over 75 kms), Spring training started with a short Onekan ride on Thursday morning, and a somewhat longer, much harder, classic ride up the Akigawa to Tokisaka Pass, then over Nokogiri and back from Okutama-machi to Oume. 

Looking back from Nokogiri (elev ~1000m)

I met Peter J. at "the toilets" (aka Komae-Shi Nishigawara Park) at 730AM. We headed up the Tamagawa, crossing at Route 16, continuing past the Takigahara baseball fields, then up the Akigawa via Mutsumibashi Dori. After a food stop at the Family Mart on Hinohara Kaido just before Tokura, we continued to make decent time to the "T" intersection at Hinohara Village Hall (Mura Yakuba). 

Tokisaka is a lovely climb -- very low traffic (except some places where hikers were walking on the road), varied gradients, varied scenery, and a real reward at the top.  The 300m vertical gain are enough so that, even if you need to turn around and head for home, you can feel like you did some real work. 

We chatted with some hikers, cyclists, and a couple who had arrived by car. Two young women hikers took Peter and my photo, and we took their photo.  We offered the same service to an older male hiker, but he declined. 

Just after the pass, there was a bit of an obstacle course. The first part was a logging operation that stretched entirely across the road.  But the loggers did not seem to mind our marching through carrying our bikes.

Then there were more obstacles --  a big mound of gravel at the beginning of the descent, snowy/icy areas, rocks in the road of all sizes and shapes. A lot more walking was required than the last time I went down this hill. And I still hit a smaller but sharp rock and got a flat.

Eventually we were down this descent and headed back along the Kita Akigawa to the turn-off for Nokogiri. After a gentle climb for the first few kms, the route became steep and the surface very bad -- lots of gravel and other crap entirely covering the road surface. Peter continued to ride ... but I walked quite a long way. I was slower, but not THAT much slower than if I had ridden. At some points there was snow and ice.  Anyway, it was a slog. I remounted and rode a few kms, but needed to walk again high up for at least 5-10 minutes. Finally, we could see the top, then look down from it!

That visible roadway is just one short switchback from the top.

We relaxed a bit at the top -- not TOO cold. I worried that we might need to return down the south side, if the north had more snow. Peter said a motorcyclist he had spoken to informed him that the north side did NOT have snow or ice, except the first few hundred meters. That proved accurate. 

The north side - snow/ice for a few hundred meters, then relatively clear.

It was still a slow descent, sitting on the brakes way too much, trying to be sure to avoid any rocks and handle the steep, technical sections without coming off the bike (it reminded me of the Gunma descent where I DID come off the bike in September 2020 and broke my collarbone ... at least this time it was dry weather and still hours of daylight).

We ate in Okutama-machi, just across from the train station at the "Hikawa Service Station". a lunch place with soba/udon and a delicious ki-no-ko-gohan (mushroom rice).

After lunch, I never really got my engine restarted. I made decent time with Peter back to Oume, but felt the jet lag from last week's travel and waking up at extremely early hours since. I hopped the train. Including the ride from Yotsuya home, the total was around 116kms, with just under 1500m elevation gain. The average speed was very slow due to all that walking and crappy road surface. 

But it was a lovely day on the bike. If I can do a ride of this difficulty, or greater, every week for the next few months, while interspersing some longer brevets (200, 300, 400, 600, and a couple others), I hope I will be able to get ready for Cascade 1400. 

Cycling the Forbidden Rindos around Miyagase-ko on a Beautiful Autumn Day

 

Cyclist mimicks pictogram. 
At Ogurabashi on Route 510 in Sagamihara.

I have some work this weekend so took a ride in beautiful weather on Friday (again!), another spectacular Fall day.  I left home around 5:50am heading to meet Peter J. at "the toilets" (Komae shi Nishigawara Park). I had put the Gokiso wheels on the Parlee, but had not yet adjusted the carbon rim brake pads or other items. 

On the first downhill, a minute from my house, the brakes screeched loudly.  I stopped to adjust them, aiming the front brake shoes inward (pigeon toed). The rear ones ... could not be adjusted well, as the brake shoes I had picked were flat against the brake assembly arms. Oh well, at least I fixed the front screech, and 70-80% of braking force is applied to the front.

Anyway, that was the extent of problems with the bike. it was a lovely ride. 

At the rendezvous.

Dynamo hub cable and connector taped out of the way for the time being.
I will need them again soon.

Fall color already on the first climb of Onekansen Doro. Peter J. zooms ahead.

Peter and I took each other's photos here.

Peter J. went along as far as Route 412 around Hanbara/Sagamihara, then turned back for a late morning commitment. 

I continued on to Miyagase-ko.

But first I stopped to admire a temple and the lovely morning weather, a small river (the Kushigawa) running through the valley. It was one of many photo stops today.

Kushigawa below.

A temple en route. Kintokuyama Komyouji.

Then it was up through the hamlet of Toya and then to the north side of Miyagase-ko, where I turned right and immediately came up this signage.

Road closed!

The road is closed ... but not really. It suggests a closure ahead, but invites investigation. So I went on.  Just over the next rise, on a downhill before a long bridge, I came to this.

Not only was the fencing without any obvious gaps, but there were men working inside (on a Friday), and it seemed truly closed.  So I looked for a route around. This is what I found -- an 18km rindo detour.  I know that some others have taken and know well the rindos around Miyagase-ko, but i have not, and did not know them until scratching the surface today.

I passed some athletic facilities -- what looked like a field for horse competitions with adjacent stables, another for baseball -- and soon was at another road closed sign, this one for a rindo.

Road closed to vehicles due to fallen roads and slides -- there were none.

I continued along this road ... no problem at all passing and only a very few rocks in the road ... Eventually I got to the end of the closed section, where looking back I saw this sign.

No one except construction-related persons allowed!

That was clearer than a ban on cars/vehicles (is a bicycle a vehicle?).  Then after a short stretch of "allowed" road, I was at more signage. This indicated the the rest of the rindo around the lake was open only to "authorized" personnel vehicles. 

Yet another closed road. This one was unlocked ... although workers emerged after a few minutes and locked it behind them.

Bike leaning under momiji grove.

Big blue bridge (closed at the other end).

Bridge viewed from afar.

More momiji. Dappled sunshine all the way.

Glimpses of the closed "main" road at various points.

Finally I was back on the main road, just at the area where Miyagase-ko's restaurants and park are located. I pressed onward, only to pass a sign warning of the Yabitsu road closure.

That was no concern since I did not plan to take Route 70 today. Instead, I rode out over the lake and then down to the dam.

I have never seen Miyagase more beautiful than today.

Looking out toward Yokohama from the dam.

Looking back up the lake from the dam spillway toward mountains of Tanzawa.

The dam spillway.

Leaving the dam, I took the road that goes along the North side of the lake ... away from the lake and down the hill to the East, switching to smaller, local roads eventually and then joining Route 412, repeating a short segment covered earlier with Peter and continuing to Tsukui-ko and Zebra Coffee fo an early lunch.
 

After the Zebra stop, I went home via Yaen-Kaido and down the Tamagawa, well-traveled paths -- home shortly after 2PM, 136kms in total.

I stopped at RX Bike on Meguro Doro to look for a new front tire. Someone noticed my PBP Seattle Randonneurs jersey and asked me about brevets, and soon I was chatting with 3 people hanging out at the shop.  One of them told me he is a cycling illustrator and will hold an exhibition December 9-12 at a new exhibition space in Daikanyama/Ebisu area. Reminds me of, well, reminds me of life before Covid-19. Details below.