Flèche Kumamoto 2018 - Back in the Saddle

From the "shimanami kaido" bicycle route.

I've had a bit too much travel and not nearly enough riding in February and March, so I was very happy to start (again) the process of getting in shape for rides later this year and beyond.

More from the shimanami kaido -- climbing to the Shimanami Ohashi, the largest and longest of the bridges.
This bicycle entrance ramp -- with its own loops and reinforced concrete supports a hundred meters up -- must be the most expensive bicycle ramp in the world, ever.

The annual flèche nationale in Japan is patterned after the Flèche Velocio and not to be confused with the Flèche Wallonne. Of course, "flèche" means "arrow" in French, so these are all point-to-point "one way" cycling events! The Flèche Velocio format requires 3-5 persons to ride together, on a pre-agreed route, over 24 hours, at least 360 kms. All teams converge on a finish location, and hold a party to welcome Spring and the real beginning of the year's cycling adventures.

Looking down the slopes of Mt. Aso -- which is mostly just a huge open crater, the "mountain"
being the edges of the caldera. The largest active volcano in the world.

Our "regular" Flèche team, Messrs. Tanaka (team leader), Kozakai and Higuchi, of Chubu Audax, joined by Jerome and I, had planned to join the Kumamoto-sponsored Flèche in 2016. The Kumamoto earthquake -- a week before -- led to cancellation of that event, so we planned a "revenge" entry this year.

Our route was ambitious, starting with the best-known cycling course in Japan, the "Shimanami-Kaido", across islands and bridges from Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture to Imabari in Ehime Prefecture (on Shikoku), and ending by traversing Mt. Aso on Kyushu. Many tourists will enjoy a weekend riding the 75km Shimanami Kaido course, stopping on an island at an inn for the night. Of course, we did it faster, started at 9AM, and were past the last bridge and on the western outskirts of Imabari around 1230PM, in time for lunch. Still, with fresh legs,* beautiful weather, and spectacular flowering trees we could relax, take it all in, and stop for plenty of photos.

Arrival in Imabari -- everyone looking and feeling strong!

*Okay, Jerome's legs may not have been fresh, since he rode his bike a good part of the way from Nagoya (as far as Himeji) the day before. But the rest of us had fresh legs.

Higuchi-san and I on the ferry to the start

Jerome, Kozakai-san and other cyclists on the short ferry from Onomichi

Looking back at Onomichi

Early in the ride.

We stop for some Sakura pics

The first bridge is the only one with an under-bridge bike/moped route. The least nice.

We ride together.

An early attempt to stop Jerome's derailleur from rubbing.

Sakura! A few days earlier or later ... would be totally different. Timed perfectly this year!

Sakura and Bridge

These islands are full of shipbuilders and dry docks. The blue hull in the distance is under construction.

More sakura!

Descending the bicycle ramp into Imabari -- more shipbuilding here.

On the edge of Imabari, we ate at a little cafeteria with "teishoku" (set meals) for 600 yen each. The place was full of younger men "sagyoufuku" (work uniforms) when we arrived, even on a Saturday, so we knew it would offer decent "cost/performance", if lacking in refined taste. They were nice to us as obvious outsiders, and gave us some free sets of photo postcards of the Shinanami Kaido (that i guess have been sitting around some years as the photos are starting to fade a bit).

Dog looking contented soaking up the sunshine.

The server also seemed to pack a huge amount of rice into my rice bowl. I made the mistake of eating nearly the full bowl, as well as a "nanban" chicken fried dish, and regretted it after about 15 minutes back on the bike. Come to think of it, this is a classic "first day" problem for me on Audax events -- stomach troubles after the FIRST real meal while riding. My digestive system just does not handle it well. In fact, I think I can remember similar issues ... general unease, bloating, bordering on nausea but not quite, as long as I don't push too hard ... on past Flèche events. I was fine as long as we were just cruising along on the flats, but not good if I pushed it.  Or was it my weight -- at least 5% more than on prior flèche attempts -- that caused difficulties?  Anyway, I recovered, eventually and then was fine. My digestive system adjusts and on a multi day ride rarely complains at all after the first day -- in fact, if anything it seems to be resilient and do better than normal after the first 12 hours of riding have passed, as if quickly remembering the hundreds of thousands of years when humans engaged in very strenuous activity their entire waking hours, rather than being desk jockeys.

Anyway, we continued along the NW coast of Shikoku. We had ridden less than 80 kms at lunch but needed to get to 208 kms to catch our ferry from Mizaki at the western tip of Shikoku to Oita in eastern Kyushu. The ferry leaves every hour on the :30 minutes, so we aimed for the 8:30PM sailing.  We stopped in Matsuyama, first at a bike shop to see if we could get Jerome's front derailleur adjusted a bit (immediate repair declined), then at a convenience store. Lots and lots of traffic lights.

Bike shop in Matsuyama ... tried to persuade the attendee to take a look at Jerome's front derailleur.

At one point west of Matsuyama we met 3 young locals on road bikes ... probably high school or university students ...  and chatted a bit. We mentioned that we were headed for Mizaki. The response: "hills"!

Yes, the 35-km section between Yawatahama and Mizaki was hilly -- our route went along the spine of a steep ridge of a peninsula, with several climbs, and not easy after nearly 200 kms in the saddle and with a bloated stomach. Fortunately, this road was designed for cars to travel quickly from end to end -- with no really steep sections or sharp turns, but gradual climbs, tunnels and bridges to smooth things out. And the last 10-15 kms was gradual downhill and very fast. In the dark, we could see lights of small towns and various facilities on the coast near Ikata, but the recently restarted and then enjoined/shut down again Ikata nuclear reactor was hidden on the North side of the ridge as we passed.

Ferry from Mizaki to Oita

Bikes secured on board!

We made it with plenty of time for the 830PM sailing, and lay down and slept a bit during the 70 minute transit. In Kyushu, again we were on a relatively flat stretch. I was still the only member of the group grumbling and complaining. Would I quit? I opted for a convenience store "ebi gratin" while the other members got ramen (or, in Jerome's case, meat and gyoza) across the street.

Moon visible during endless climbing ... pre-dawn.

Tanaka-san pointed out that we had a very tough section again, all hilly until the crest at nearly 1000 meters elevation around 330-340 kms into our route. His plan -- if we could get NEAR the crest by our 7AM checkin, then we would have no difficulty in clearing our required 360kms by 9AM. Of coures, the ferry TIME is included, but DISTANCE is excluded, so looking at the route on RidewithGPS, we would need to get to almost the 390 km mark by 9AM to complete the challenge.

This led to a discussion -- should we press on or dare we try to get a short rest at a day spa (open until the wee hours) just ahead. I felt I needed some more rest if I was to continue. Higuchi-san also said he needed rest. The others agreed to one hour -- arrival just after 1130, departure at 1230AM.  We were around the 260km mark (231 not counting Ferry), and would need to get another 90 kms in by 7AM to hope to clear the minimum.  6:30 hours to go 90 kms ... sounds very doable, right?

Wrong!

The first hour or two out from the onsen it looked as if we might make it. We slogged along. I recovered, actually. At one point we passed a 3-person flèche team.* They looked younger (all in 30s?), well-equipped and as if they should be lapping us. But in the dark after 1AM, they were slogging, one weaving a bit as he climbed. We made sure to be in a beautiful 5-rider formation and sailed by!

*Each 3-5 person Flèche team designs its own course. The end points are all close by, but each team starts at a different time and place. Still, it is not uncommon in these events to see at least a couple other teams.

One of our checkpoints. Already light out .. we should be passing here in the dark!

Then we turned onto a local road, Route 239 ... which we took as far as local Route 412, then local route 30, then local route 131.  For tired riders, these roads were death. Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, and up ... over many hours creeping from sea level to around 250 meters elevation, then again to around 600 meters elevation, then finally to around 900. At least the LAST few climbs were out in the open, with some visibility further than the next ridge.  Some climbs, I struggled, some Higuchi-san, some Jerome, who needed to rest and could barely make forward progress at one point (and mumbled something about the "pre-ride" having been a bit overambitious). Kozakai-san struggled early, but then seemed to pep up and was very strong. Tanaka-san was our rock. He had planned the course and kept trying to cheer us on "only 3 more dips, then the climb should level out and be very gradual" (in fact there were at least 5 more dips), "only another 10 kms and we should be on the plateau near the top" (okay, more like 15-20 kms).  "If we can just do 15 kph we should get far enough for the final 2 hours, and we can easily cover 40+kms in the last 90 minutes descending" (actually, the start of the descent was much farther on).

At one point I stopped briefly to rest and take a snack from my bag, and as I climbed again, I passed a team member walking his bike up the slope. On the next steep section, I did the same for awhile -- it seemed easier on the body and just as fast as riding.

When we finally got to our 7AM check in point, and took our group photo (proof we were riding together, as needed for the Flèche rules), Tanaka-san again argued that we could make it!  "Only another 10 kms before the descent starts, since my GPS says we have already gone 10 kms further than this point, so we can make it". I felt obliged to point out that from the map it looked as if it really was still another 20 kms to the crest of the the climb (the landmark had not moved, just we had recorded some extra mileage somewhere along the way), and we were out of time.  We slogged on the rest of the 24 hours, but were nowhere near the 360km mark. I did not even start going down the hill until after 9AM. Indeed, it was a route too hard.

Many controlled burns on Mt. Aso.

Looking down from the slopes of Mt. Aso into the populated crater.

We gathered (having spread out) and rested at Ni-ju Touge, and decided to ride to Ozu just west of Kumamoto. It was indeed a very fast descent, and 20 minutes/13 kms later, Jerome, Tanaka-san and I were loading our bikes for the train home, via Kumamoto where we stopped for a delicious, hearty bowl of Kumamoto-style ramen.

If only:

... I had eaten a much simpler lunch, or no lunch and many smaller feedings, and my stomach had not acted up.
... Jerome's derailleur rubbing had not taken so much time to fix properly (new bike, tight tolerances).
... we had started at 9AM sharp instead of wasting precious time (okay, less than 10 minutes) fiddling when we had arrived at the start 30 minutes earlier.
... we had skipped the onsen.

But, let's face it, this course was just too hard for this team in our current condition. I don't think it was 5000 meters of climbing as the route GPS suggested, but in fact it was at or close to 3500 meters, much of it in the last 1/3 of the ride, in the dark of night, and the constant up and down making it impossible to get any kind of rhythm or momentum. This is the risk of designing and committing to a course in an unfamiliar location. We had a learning experience, as well as one heck of a ride.

I hate to give up, and I hate to "DNF" any event, but this time I felt as if I got my money's worth. We did ride the full 24 hours, and I did ride more than 360kms including the trip to Ozu and from our hotel to the start (and from Shinagawa back home). And DNF'ing because the route we picked was too hard ... that is somehow better than a "DNF" as a result of a mechanical problem, an accident, illness, etc.

Kumamon greets visitors at Kumamoto station.

As I write this on Monday morning, having gotten 4+ hours sleep on the train and another 8-9 hours overnight, I am in post-Brevet heaven. My body is 90% recovered, deeply relaxed, the mind is clear, and I cannot wait to ... do it again!*

*Randonneurs call this phenomenon "randonesia" -- we forget the pain and suffering almost immediately, and remember only the good things.

Our actual route is here:
 https://ridewithgps.com/trips/21758969

Paris Brest Paris 2015

PBP is an incredible event.  Over 6000 cyclists gather at the National Velodrome in the SW Paris suburb of St. Quentin-en-Yvelines, ride to Brest, and back, over 1230 kms, in under 90 hours.

This year's PBP organization was impressive -- much better than I remember it from 2011.  The volunteers were great.  And the townspeople lining the route were fantastic.  There are so many great write-ups and summaries of this event that I do not feel the need to write one, nor have I found the time.  Two of the U.S. randonneur reports I liked a lot are:

1.  Eric Norris' 30 minute video summary of the event is here on youtube.

2.  Jenny Oh Hatfield's series of blog posts with great photos.  You can find the "main" post here, with links at the bottom to the other posts that touch on topics such as the people, bicycles, landscapes, architecture etc.

3.  Strava has some nice photos in its post here, especially the last ones.

So I will only offer some brief highlights of my PBP:

1.  The last supper.  Jerome invited our entire Fleche team and another friend (Steve R.) as well as members of Jerome's family, to a dinner the night before the event.  It was great to get one formal, very nice French meal among friends before the basic "refueling" meals during the event.  We even got an authentic grumpy French waiter!  Thank you, Jerome.

At sign-in, we got our commemorative jerseys.  Very nice:

A photo with team Japan ... I snuck in front of the ladies for some pictures with them.

Fleche team minus leader plus Saitama Audax interloper.  Ready to go!

Suzuki-san and Maya Ide hamming it up.

2.  The start.  Ready, set, go!  I was in the 5:30PM start group, first among the 90-hour participants riding "normal" road bicycles.  The 80 hour start groups had gone earlier, and the 5:15PM wave was for the "special" bikes:  recumbents, tandems, velomobiles, trikes, and even a group of ElliptiGOs.  I arrived early enough so that I ended up in the second row of the 5:30PM riders.  A group of young Italians in matching club jerseys took off in a line, and another 5~7 of us followed.  We quickly separated from the rest of the 5:30PM starters and were out in front.  

 After 15-20 kms, one of the Italians dropped something and they pulled off to wait as he went back to pick it up.  The rest of our little group continued.  Soon I was passing recumbents, mini-bikes, tandems, elliptigos and velomobiles, still on the FRONT of the 90 hour starters.

I had carefully planned NOT to go out too fast, but to pace myself. I had an MS Excel "ride plan", carefully prepared and partially memorized.  But it all went out the window in the excitement of the first 10 minutes.  Here I was in FRONT of the 90 hour group at PBP.  If I could STAY in front, no worries about crowds anywhere along the route, ... or at least in the first few controls where I had worried especially about crowds.

I made it through the first 100 kms in a little over 3 hours.  Way too fast.  I was way ahead of my ride plan at Mortange-au-Perche (140kms), and at Villaines-la-Juhel (220kms).  At Villaines, I ate some overcooked pasta (it was sitting in the steam table awaiting riders) in a deserted cafeteria.  

It goes without saying, but I suffered for my lack of early control.  I ended up extremely tired on the leg after Villaines, my time slipped back toward the plan, and I needed to sleep for 90 minutes at Fougeres (310 kms), much earlier than I had planned.  

Somewhere in Brittany on Monday Aug 21

LED dynamo-powered bicycle lights of returning 80-hour riders in the fog of Tuesday morning.
Just before dawn on the last stretch into Brest.

Dawn on Tuesday morning as the fog clears

Dawn Tuesday.

This bridge means we are entering Brest and essentially half way done!

Photo of me crossing the bridge into Brest -- thank you, Inagaki-san!

3.  The Angel of Sizun.  On Tuesday morning the fog and descent from Roc'h Trevezel chilled me.  I started to get cold AND sleepy just before the town of Sizun.  Sizun was one of many towns on the route that turns this event into a 24x7 festival for a few days as the riders come through.  It just takes the effort of a few families, or one or two cafes in the village square to do so.  In Sizun, as I pulled in, I saw a large urn of coffee outside of the local butcher's shop.  I pulled over and purchased a cup of hot coffee for 1 Euro.  There was a single, solitary chair inside the warm shop.  I asked the proprietor if I could go inside and sit while I drank the coffee, to warm up and rest.  "Biensur!"  I sat down and took a sip.  30 minutes later I awoke, warm and still clutching the half empty cup.

On the way back, I stopped again  The proprietor's nephew was serving pasta (macaroni) with cream or bolognese sauce.  I ordered one, and got a photo of my savior and his nephew.  Thank you, Sizun!

Across the street from the butcher's shop in Sizun

Just after Sizun, I passed Jerome and Yutaka, in the 84-hour group still heading out.
They had started 12 hours behind me ... and were much closer now having made up good time.

Jerome and Yutaka -- first ride together since the winter trip from Tokyo to Kansai a few years back?

4.  The return legs.  

A.  Chaos at Quedillac.  The only place I saw a bit of chaos was late Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning at Quedillac.  This is not a "control" where you must get your card stamped, but it is a major food and sleeping spot.  I arrived at 2AM or so, and it seemed so did every other rider in the event.  There were space blankets with what seemed like dead bodies under them.  I sat down, put my head on a table, and slept 90 minute until a cold wind through the door awoke me, shivering.  I warmed up by a fire and pushed on to Tinteniac where I could get a bed and better rest.

B.  With Steve R. to Fougeres. From here on, the event had a bit of magic to it.  I found Steve R.  and rode the next segment with him, both of us in a bit of a haze, but helping each other make decent time.

C.  With Vincent to Villaines.  At Fougeres, I met Vincent, who I had not seen since Seattle last year.  Jenny's blog post names him the "philosopher king of rando".  I would have to agree.  It was great to catch up a bit, and ride with someone strong and experienced.

Vinnie, and Jeff from NC

A rest stop for ice cream at Varenne.  See Jenny's photo of Vincent here.

Exhausted riders at Villaine.

D. Return to Fresnay-sur-Sarthe.  In 2011, I crashed out of PBP in the town of Fresnay-sur-Sarthe. On the outbound leg we went around the town on a bypass.  I was curious to see the town in the daylight, and to exact a measure of revenge.  But first, we traveled along towns on a gentle ridge, with flowers.

When I stopped for photos, this VERY drunk local alcoholic wanted to help me find my way.
At least I think he wanted to help.  I could tell the ladies across the street were a bit embarrassed
that he would be representing the town.

Finally, I approached Fresnay-sur-Sarthe.

There it is!  The bump on the far side of the cross walk that burst both my tire tubes and sent me onto my side in 2011.
And the marble gravestone that snapped my carbon handlebars.

This time, I stopped at a hotel just down the street and around the corner and enjoyed a really nice salad bar/buffet dinner.

E.  With Tanaka-san to Mortagne.  Shortly after I started to ride again, just after I took this photo, a train of 10~12 Japanese riders went by following the Goto-san couple on their tandem.  Tanaka-san, our Fleche team leader, was among them.  We rode together to Mortagne, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, the tandem train.

F.  With the TPP (Tarheel Party Posse) to Dreux and beyond.  The hardest stretch was the last night from Mortagne to Dreux.  There were riders everywhere weaving and pulled off, flat on their backs.  It started with some long (seeming) hills.  Pitch darkness other than our lights.

I was saved by a train of riders from North Carolina.  I hopped on with them and held on for dear life. They were vocal, shouting warnings, rotating pulls.  It was great.  I never would have gotten to Dreux without them.  And they were great.  Ian Hands' story about his Paris visit before PBP, the stories other riders told me about Ian's Dad Adrian, it inspired me to push on.  At one point a bit of a gap opened in front of Ian as he made some adjustments -- riding at very high cadence with his fixie (!?!) and right leg slightly out to the side.  I asked he if wanted me to ride in front and "close the gap" a bit.  He declined my offer with "No need. I can close ANY gap."  I rode with the TPP under cover of night and the morning rain, so I did not get any good pictures.  For much more about them and a photo of Ian's wild tie-dyed jersey you will need to visit Jenny Hatfield's blog entries.

Near Rambouillet, as I start to lose the TPP

More near Rambouillet.  The rain is starting to pick up now!

Then it was over.  In the rain, I was too cold to hang around the finish for long.  I went back to my hotel and warmed up in a hot bath.

A great event, a great atmosphere, and a celebration for riders from around the world.  Will I go back in 2019?  I hope so!

UPDATE:  February 21, 2016.  The randonneuring community is shocked to learn that four North Carolina randonneurs were seriously injured, two in critical condition two in stable condition, after a car ploughed into them during an early season 200km brevet.  Two of the riders who pulled me through the last night of PBP -- Mike Dayton (now President of RUSA) and Christopher Graham -- were among the group.  A local news report is here (as long as the link remains).