A Ride in The Dark -- and a WUCA Record Established?!?!

After my ride across Honshu last year, I have wanted to try a few other WUCA (World Ultracycling Association) unsupported record attempts, to try and get this concept established in Japan. 

Since I did my unsupported Honshu WUCA record ride, supported/crewed WUCA records have been set in Japan by 32 yr old Yaofeng Cheng, a Japan resident woman rider going North-to-South and 35 yr old Australian Jack Thompson going South-to-North, in each case including Kyushu and Hokkaido as well as Honshu. But no one has duplicated the unsupported Honshu-only ride. Of course, Thompson, who did Japan South to North in just a smidgeon over 5 days, has a number of other records around the globe, and rides complete with sponsors and a full crew. No desk job. It looks as if Yaofeng Cheng had a full crew of Japan Audax riders and other cyclists with her.

Anyway, this year I am not in as good cycling condition as previous years. I never got in my SR series this Spring, having missed several due to schedule issues, and DNFed (recurring stupid mechanical issues) my 300km ride, and then DNF'ing a Golden Week 1000km ride (lack of preparation mostly). 

So I have had limited ambitions for the Fall. I have tried to build up some more base since August, at least, in order to try a shorter record attempt.

WUCA also registers records for major city-to-city pairs, and for going across a region, or state/prefecture. I thought -- why not go across Tokyo Prefecture. Set forth below is an extended version of my "narrative" ride report to the WUCA.

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Start.  I started at 10:50PM on October 26, on National Route 411 at the Yamanashi border near the far western end of Lake Okutama.  There is a small bridge over a gulley with a stream into the river. The Eastern side of the bridge has Tokyo border signs, while the western end has Yamanashi Prefecture and Tabayama Town border signs. I started just off the western end of the bridge inside Yamanashi.

Conditions

The conditions were near perfect for this ride.

I wanted to do this ride late at night to avoid traffic. The main challenge of riding across Tokyo Prefecture – population 14.1 million – is congestion.  Many of the most direct routes are no fun to ride during the day, fighting with trucks and cars. The first third of the route to Oume is mostly rural and so congestion is not an issue, absent roadwork, but once you get into the city, congestion would add time to this ride and make it unpleasant. Late at night, with very low traffic volumes, it could be much faster, safer, and a lot more fun.

I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out the best route.  Should I go the straighest line 98.13kms?  
( https://www.strava.com/routes/3273251512526534248 ) 

Or perhaps make a minor alteration and take Inokashira Dori into town - a fast, flat, straight, and low traffic alternative that I know well 101.67km? ( https://www.strava.com/routes/3283272140791505062 )

Or swing north and avoid central Tokyo to instead go down the Arakawa 102.98kms
( https://www.strava.com/routes/3273258823699968166 )

Or even go through Saitama (Tokorozawa ... Wako) and a longer stretch of the Arakawa to avoid traffic lights and take a very fast, dark Arakawa path 105.81kms?
( https://www.strava.com/routes/3283278143772050928 )

Or down the Tamagawa and in Meguro Dori ... to maximize the no-light stretch along the Tamagawa and then be on familiar roads through town 110.99kms?
( https://www.strava.com/routes/3283461428696622960 ) 

In the end, I opted for a compromise -- familiar roads, and a route with a slight dip to the South, around 103kms.  Rte 411, then Yoshino Kaido, then Ome Kaido, then Shin Ome Kaido, then Rte 20 (Koshu Kaido) through Fuchu/Chofu and all the way to Shinjuku, Yasukuni Dori east to the Sumidagawa and R 14 beyond to the Edogawa.)  

Strava Link

https://www.strava.com/activities/12751175085

I think that route worked out well. In town on Rte 20 and Yasukuni Dori then Rte 14, I could see the traffic lights far ahead, see the walk signal change to flashing green then red, accelerate or relax depending on whether I was going to make it. And when I missed a light, I decided to enjoy the brief respite. The only section where I got really frustrated by the lights and constant stop/start was on the stretch between the Imperial Palace and the Sumidagawa (Sumida River) – the old central Tokyo downtown.

I think a faster rider could do better with the route through Saitama then down the Arakawa. That is only a few kilometers longer and offers 25kms of nonstop time trial down the Arakawa.  But I did not have time to vet it carefully for the stretches between Oume and Wako, and also, is it really a ride "across Tokyo Prefecture" if you take large stretches through Saitama. Somehow that does not seem in the spirit of the challenge, even if it would not violate the rules (I was told I could take any route, as long as the end points are clear). 

The weather was fine -- warm for late October. It was 14 Celsius (57 fahrenheit) and cloudy at the start and this remained nearly constant (12~16 Celsius) even as I rode from the mountainous interior to the plain adjacent to Tokyo Bay.  As I planned the ride, I was concerned that it might be quite cold at the start deep in the interior mountains, even this time of year. So I did not want to ride too late in Fall. On the other hand, the Tokyo weather can remain hot and humid into October and I did not want to ride it too early.  I ended up with Goldilocks weather – just right! 

There was a breeze from the NE at times – it felt a bit as if I was riding into a headwind on Route 20 around Chofu as the road turned from ESE to ENE direction -- but the breeze was not strong and never directly in front.

Why This Record

I wanted to do this to “lay down a marker” so that someone else will beat it. There are plenty of Japanese cyclists who could do it faster than I can, some much faster, some in my age group, some who ride recumbents, and many younger road cyclists. I hope this will encourage them to try.

Equipment Used

I rode my Pelso Brevet “carbon high racer” recumbent. I am slow climbing on the Pelso, but this was a largely flat and downhill course with very little climbing. I now have a 48-tooth oval single front chainring and an 11-50 rear cassette, with a 12 speed SRAM mountain bike derailleur, but it is otherwise set up the same as for last year’s long ride across Honshu.

Since the ride would be entirely at night I used my SP Dynamo hub front wheel, as well as a Busch Mueller Icon IQ/XS front light and several battery-powered rear lights. I experimented some with LED powered front lights, but could not get any to work as well as the dynamo-powered Icon IQ/XS. So it is a no brainer choice – set and forget – even with some very modest drag from the dynamo.

I rode in relatively leg-hugging running shorts, cycling jersey, wool short-sleeved inner layer, reflective vest and ankle bands, and running shoes with wool socks, with rain/warm gear stowed in my Radical Designs rear seat bag just in case.

Eat and Drink

I left home around 1PM and rode the 89.4kms (and 640m elevation gain) to the start.

A quick stop at Y's to replace a bell that broke a few kilometers beforehand.

A cloudy, hazy, and warm (for late October) afternoon climbing from Oume.

The start of Yoshino Kaido, at Kori. I will head down there tonight.

It was after 6PM and pitch dark by the time I approached the west end of Okutama.

I was feeling pretty drained even before leaving home from lack of adequate rest over the past week, and I could feel some burning in the legs at times as I climbed toward the start at Lake Okutama. My Garmin smart watch told me that my "body battery" was empty already that morning ... as it had been the day before. So doing such a long ride to the start was not ideal, not at all ideal … but I had planned to do this effort entirely alone, the Pelso is not easily carried on Japanese public transit, and the logistics of leaving a car at the start and returning to pick it up later were not great, so I just rode to the start and then home from the finish.

The minshuku where I rested, as it looked at 10:45PM.

I booked a room for JPY3000 ($20) at a very basic inn very near the start. I arrived at 630PM and planned to leave around 1030-11PM. The inn seems mostly to host groups of hikers, who do their own cooking. They do not serve food, and most of the nearby restaurants  (including Yagyu-tei where we often stop when we ride the west end of Okutamako) serve only lunch to passersby. So I knew I could not get dinner anywhere near the start. Instead, I ate (carbonara pasta, a rice doria, etc., etc.) on the way out, one stop in Oume and again at the 7-11 at Kori, and took some sandwiches and Japanese convenience store basics with me to eat after arriving at the inn. 

The innkeeper and his wife were both in their 90s, and I was their only guest Saturday evening. I was quite impressed with the 93 year-old innkeeper who spryly walked up several flights of steps on the outside of the building to show me my room. I ate my sandwiches, rested and even got an hour of sleep. In this perfect weather I could have rested without an inn, but in any other conditions the inn would have been a lifesaver. And given my exhaustion I really needed some rest.

During the ride, I ate maybe 4 half-sized “Kind” nut/energy bars, some bite-sized 7-11 apple danishes, and a Snickers bar, with more similar food in reserve.  I carried a 950mm water bottle with a mix of water and sports drink, and another 500mm water bottle in my bag. I felt somewhat de-hydrated from the climb up to Lake Okutama, so I drank a lot of water at the inn to try and re/pre-hydrate in the 4+ hours before the ride. Of course, I wanted to do this sub-4 hour ride without any convenience store or other stop to take on food or drink, and was able to make it. Ideally, I would have had a bit more sports drink with me, but the cool weather and nice downhill section early in the route meant I could manage without. My only stops were traffic signals, plus 2 quick bathroom breaks at roadside (a side effect of having drunk so much liquid before the ride).

Best Part

The best part of this ride was that probably 75% was on familiar roads, ridden in ideal weather and low traffic. I love riding in Japan at night when traffic is low. It helps to have relatively smooth and unobstructed roads and good lighting.

Hardest Part

At the start ... very quiet, but there were actually some people around,
and some cars driving along Lake Okutama late on a Saturday night.

The start was really difficult.  Lacking adequate rest, I felt drained, even after a couple hours of rest. The first stretch along Lake Okutama had me wondering if I should not just give up, relax, ride home, and try again another time. Every time I pushed it a bit, I needed to back off the throttle. But I recovered on the long downhill and so, by the time I needed to really start to work harder again on the remaining two-thirds of the ride, I felt okay.

Entering Chiba, at the sluice on Kyu Edo Gawa

Finish.  I finished at 2:37AM on October 27, for 3 hours and 47 minutes.  I finished just on the eastern side of the Kyu Edo River at the Edogawa Sluice.  Tokyo Prefecture follows the Edo River and, after they divide, the Kyu Edo River, and this is the furthest east crossing into Chiba that I could locate. There is a wide cycle/walking path over the river here (on top of the sluice) that is closed to cars but regularly used by cyclists and pedestrians. Even at the end of my ride at 2:37AM on Saturday night, there were 3 younger men fishing off of the sluice and talking.

I chatted with them a bit, explained that I had just come from the Yamanashi border and was happy to get to the Chiba border.  One of them said that there is actually a dispute between Tokyo and Chiba as to which of them controls the bit of land on the island at the east end of the sluice. ... but Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and others all show the border where I was standing as Chiba.

After the finish, I stopped at a nearby convenience store for some food and a cup of coffee, then rode back to and across the sluice, and home slowly. On the ride home, I went right down the middle of the Ginza -- Chuo Avenue -- the bright lights of the stores on even at after 3AM. The blocks are short and each one has a traffic signal, and they all turn red and green together. It makes for a nice effect ... but that is one street where it is impossible to time the traffic lights!

Approaching Ginza, at 3:30AM.

This felt a bit odd to report this ride to WUCA. It was not my toughest ride this year, not my longest, and I am not in my best shape. But at least I've put down a marker and now someone else can beat it!

World Record?! And If I had to do it all over again ...

I received my WUCA "Record Certificate" now that the ride has been validated. It is nice to get a record certificate from the organization that validates the HAMR (the Highest Annual Mileage Record) -- currently held by Amanda Coker of the USA, at 86573.2 miles, and the 24-hour record -- currently held by Christoph Strasser at 1026kms. I should get a certificate from Guinness as well within the next month or so. 

The overall speed of 12.15kph, over 5 days and 17 hours 16 minutes, is shockingly slow ... but I guess once you get very tired and start sleeping overnight, your average speed plunges.  That is recognized by events like PBP, where you need to maintain 15kph the first 600km, but only 12kph on the second 600km. I think Randonneurs Mondiaux cut the average further for events over 1200km. Because this ride did not have any such time limit even, I dawdled at times when tired, losing a bit of that "not a moment to lose" spirit of a randonneur and deciding I really wanted to take that photo, or rest and recover just a bit.

Anyway, the record should easily be beaten by one of many ultra-endurance cyclists I know here in Japan. Many others could easily break 5 days, I think, or perhaps even 4.

That said, overall my Honshu end-to-end ride was a success.  I made it, at least, and could enjoy some spectacular sections of the ride and make it through the less spectacular ones. As I wrote on Facebook, I cannot imagine a better place than Japan to try something like this, and I felt a lot of support along the way, even though it was a solo, unsupported event. 

If I were to do it again, I would try to make some minor changes to optimize it.

1. Training.

I have ridden the standard Super Randonneur series this year - 200, 300, 400, and 600 km events - so I meet the basic condition to do a longer ride. Box checked. But only the 400km event was done this year with the Pelso. The rest were done with a normal road bike. I did ride the Pelso regularly in January for 3-4 weeks, and more recently on a few 100km training rides. But I have never done a multi-day ride on it.  And I really should have done another 600k or even a 1000k on it before attempting to do this ride. It is a big jump to go from a 400km ride to a 1667km ride on a recumbent. 

That said, I was happy that the reclined position and headrest really did mean I had no back, neck, groin or other pain ... except my "burnt toast" leg muscles, some ankle pain (that resolved each time when I pulled over and stretched my ankles some), and minor swelling of my hands the last day and for a few days after I finished.

Still, I should have done at least a 600km ride on the Pelso, and a 1000km ride on ANY bike this year, before trying to get a decent time on this long an event.

Also, I should have trained enough to lower my weight to "best" historical levels, in order to make the climbing easier and offer a somewhat better power/weight ratio.  My weight at the start of the ride was close to my typical peak winter weight, probably due to two 5-6 week U.S. trips in late fall and winter.

2. More rest in advance; An earlier start in the evening.

I did not start this ride fully rested.  At least I got decent sleep the last few nights before the ride, but on the morning of the 26th, I woke early, went to my university and taught an 830-1030AM law school class, met with some colleagues, then took the shinkansen all the way to Shimonoseki (5+ hours including a transfer to local train at Kokura), went to my hotel, walked 15 minutes to Yamato to pick up a large box with my wheels and seat, carried the large box all the way back to the hotel, spend the next 90+ minutes setting up the bike ... and before I knew it, it was time to leave and start the ride. I did get some "rest" on the shinkansen, but no sleep, and I ended up doing work on the train that I needed to complete before starting the ride. So while the excitement of starting the ride kept me going past dawn near Hiroshima, I was really, really tired the remainder of the first section to Okayama. 

If I did this again, I would arrive a day in advance in Shimonoseki, get at least 10 hours sleep, spend a relaxed day including naps, and start at 7PM instead of 8:43PM. Traffic volumes were already dropping by the time I carried my wheel box back to my hotel, and I really would have liked to get past Hiroshima a couple hours earlier and all the way up into Higashi Hiroshima before morning rush hour.

3. Routing - dead ends, non-paved roads, high traffic volumes. 

I did not "pre-ride" any sections of this trip. I used Strava's route mapping feature to select the "most direct", "least elevation" options, and only made minor tweaks from that course before transferring to Ride with GPS and importing from their to my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt.  Overall, it worked out very well.  And I had ridden at least various sections of the route before so as to have a good sense of many of the roads. Misawa-san (Philippe) warned me that Route 2 from Higashi Hiroshima to Mihara was not a good selection ... and he was right. There were too many trucks, and not enough shoulder. It was difficult to feel safe at times ... I walked up one hill just because of the trucks zooming by. If I did it again, I would look for an alternative route between Hiroshima and Mihara/Onomichi, if available.

Also, the coastal road just north of Tsuruga, Fukui, felt scary in the early evening after dark, with trucks and cars roaring by and no shoulder. But there is no better option I can find, and once I got 15kms or so from the Tsuruga, my route continued left along a deserted coastal road while 95% of the traffic headed right and up a hill on the main highway. From there north the route was awesome. But I would prefer to do that busy section just north of Tsuruga before dark, or maybe in the wee hours when there would be low traffic and trucks could pass by going far into the opposing lane.

Finally, I would have should have tried harder to avoid Route 2 in eastern Hiroshima, Okayama, and western Hyogo. There are parallel roads or even paths along rivers in some places that would be better, as I was basically stuck in traffic jams. I tried to "time the traffic lights" in many places, watching when they turned green or red, cutting my effort if it looked as if I would arrive to a red light, accelerating if I thought it might get me through before a green light changed. But it was impossible in heavy traffic of eastern Hiroshima and western Okayama prefectures.

There were a number of places where the Strava routing sent me onto a gravel rutted path. Once or twice this worked and proved a good alternative to a busy highway. Other times it was a big waste of time and required me to backtrack or hunt and peck in the dark for a route when the highway would have been much faster. A couple of times, Strava's route directed me to turn off a road and ... proceed through the middle of a field or flooded rice paddy. Other places, when I missed a turn and got slightly off course, Wahoo tried to route me back to the course by sending me ... along the edge of a dirt field that dead ended into a thicket of jungle, still 100 meters or more from the road I wanted to get to. Overall I wasted an hour or two with these kinds of issues.

I split the entire route into 5 sections for loading onto my GPS unit, but each of these was too data heavy for Wahoo to load "turn by turn" instructions. I should have split it into more sections and gotten the turn-by-turn instructions to save time when I was exhausted and missed a non-obvious turn. That tweak, plus an evening or two online going over the route very carefully using Google streetview etc and tweaking it, could have saved me an hour or two, at least.

4.  Bike and gear.

The Pelso is a good "all around" recumbent. It is not the fastest, but it is relatively practical, relatively comfortable, relatively aerodynamic, and it survived the 1667kms. I do not have experience with other recumbents, and this was my first ride longer than 400kms on the Pelso, but I would make a few tweaks if I tried something like this again. 

a. Steering column and handlebars. The steerer column protrudes quite far above the frame of the bike. I think I could cut this down 10 cms or more and it would help the aerodynamic profile of the bike a bit, still with enough room for my feet around the double "J" shape handlebars.  The manufacturer confirmed that I could do this without affecting the integrity of the bike, but I did not have time to try. Another idea would be to replace the double J shaped bars with a steering "tiller" that protrudes less and allows one to ride with arms tucked in, thus lowering aero drag. But I would not want to do that without ample time for experimentation.

b. Wheels. I thought about potentially using a disk rear wheel ... or at least covering a wheel with monokote to fashion a home-made disk wheel, for better aerodynamics. I was glad I did not do this, given some strong gusts and cross-winds at many points along the way.  But I would have liked a compromise -- a deeper-rimmed rear wheel with aero spokes. Also, the Velocity Aileron rims I used are optimized with 28mm wide profile tires, while I had 30mm ride tires.  So different rims would have likely been faster, and more comfortable. This optimization could make a bit of difference that adds up over time. That said, I would keep my SP Dynamo front hub. On a ride of this length, the 5 watts or so of drag from the dynamo hub is more than compensated, in my view, by 24 hr x7 day bright front and rear lighting and no worries about batteries.

c. Helmet and clothes. Likewise, I did not use an "aero" helmet on this ride, but might if I wanted to save a few more watts. Riding a recumbent does not require cycling bib shorts -- no pad -- as you are not sitting on your groin area. Most days I wore running shorts. These were comfortable, but I should have chosen shorts that hugged my legs tightly, for aerodynamic purposes. I did have good arm and leg covers that are designed not to cause aerodynamic drag, at least.

d. Water bottle placement. When I ride the Pelso I usually place a water bottle in a holder that protrudes from the side of my Radical Designs rear bag. This time I pulled that holder closed with safety pins to reduce drag and instead carried two bottles in water bottle holders on the underside of my seat.  Unfortunately, the bolts I used to attach the bottles protruded too far and scratched the bottles every time I tried to pull them out or return them. By the end of the trip, one of the bottles was leaking. The other probably has a very limited life left. Some more care setting up the bottle holders would have solved this problem. I think the under-seat location is ideal in terms of aerodynamics, even if harder to reach.

e. Tubeless tires. I was generally very happy with my tires -- Schwalbe Pro One 700x30mm TLR. They roll with low resistance and are comfortable. I lost air once in the rear tire just before Niigata, and in the front in Aomori. The first was likely due to a big dent in my rear rim. The second was some kind of puncture and IRC "respawn" sealant quickly sealed the leak. Overall, this was less trouble than one might expect on a ride of 1667kms, including two nights riding in the rain. Before I would do this again, however, I would try to get some experience "plugging" holes in tubeless tires. At least now I know how to use the "respawn" successfully.

f. GPS. My Wahoo GPS unit recorded the ride flawlessly. The battery life was plenty to make it through my 350km segments with only a short "top up" recharge mid-ride, and never got near empty. That said, I really should have run a parallel/back-up GPS recording in case of trouble, and would do so if I ever try another long ride to be validated by GPS. Over the course of a ride this long, as often as not there is SOME trouble with part of the GPS recording. And in this case, a GPS issue would have invalidated the record attempt.

g. Tighten bolts and check daily. The seat on the Pelso is attached directly to seat stays and frame, and it forms an important part of the structure of the bicycle. When I put the bike together in Shimonoseki, I tightened everything properly. But a few days later, in Niigata (or was it Akita), when I checked again, many of the bolts had worked a bit loose and I could retighten them at least several turns. I think this actually resulted in somewhat diminished confidence in bike handling and a "squishy" feeling at times that was accentuated when I was very tired. In the future I would check and tighten all the bolts daily.

h. Groupset. My Pelso has a 1X SRAM 11-speed groupset. 1X is ideal for a recumbent, as it simplifies the chain line, and avoids a front derailleur and double chainring sticking up on the front of the bike, and with the long chain I think the typical 1X problem of a chain that is consuming more watts drag when in the innermost or outermost gear is largely avoided.  When I had my bike turned upside down to clean the chain and frame before leaving my Niigata hotel, I bumped the bike ... and the right (rear) brake lever mostly snapped off.  From that point, I survived without any problem on a front brake and an at best a 25% functioning rear brake. ... The brake lever looked like a cheap piece of crap. Not sturdy. And the 11x46 rear cassette is probably near its replacement date ... though a clean chain helps it to last longer. The chain came with the bike and now has over 7000kms on it also. Anyway, if I want to experiment with a steering "tiller", I might as well upgrade the levers and even get a better grade of rear derailleur ... perhaps even electronic shifting? The Pelso is due for a bit of an upgrade. 

Meanwhile, I will focus on riding my road bike(s) until I am done with Paris Best Paris!