Passenger for Jerome

Jerome and I rode out to Keio SFC on Saturday morning where I had work.  He continued on over Yabitsu Pass.  An 80 km round trip for me, and much more for Jerome. Today he dropped off his front wheel for some maintenance, complete with a passenger on his bike.

Saturday was a gorgeous day for a ride.  This is within the Keio SFC campus.

As I start the return trip ...

Hoppy, Jerome's dog.

Hoppy likes to stay close to Jerome.

Sunday Ride with Jerome -- Takao, Otarumi, Route 76 to Doshi Michi, then Lake Miyagase and Yabitsu Pass

Lake Miyagase, from Kanagawa Route 70

Today Jerome and I went on a thoroughly satisfying ride in the areas west and south of Takao.  Weather was perfect -- cool but not cold, only a few sprinkles of rain and the least bit of sun.  Lots of road cyclists were out.

We parted after descending the south side of Yabitsu Pass -- he was continuing on toward Enoshima area for a "beach cleaning" event.  I went back via Route 246 and Kanagawa Routes 51/50 to Chuo Rinkan and hopped a train home.  For me 140 kms and either 1600 (Garmin) or 3600 (iphone/Strava) meters of climbing.  I think in this case the Garmin seems a lot more accurate!

The Yabitsu climb was beautiful -- new green growth and flowering trees.  And the South side descent had me grinning a wide smile.  I could only think "this is why we ride!"  I would greet many of the oncoming climbers with a "gambare!" or "fight!" cheer, and usually get a smile in return.

Rather than write more, I think the photos tell the story.

On the Asagawa path nearing Takao

At Otarumi Pass.  No Fuji view today.

At Otarumi Pass

A photo rest on Route 76

On Route 76, one of many flowering trees above.

On Route 76.  Photo rest stop.

At the Miyagase-ko Michi-no-eki

Miyagase-ko Park

On Route 76, fresh green on the hills.  Park below

On the Yabitsu climb

Yamazakura and stream on the Yabitsu climb

Flowering trees on the Yabitsu climb

River on the Yabitsu climb

River runs through it -- on the Yabitsu climb

Epic ... or at least Spectacular Winter Ride - Hakone/Gora, Ashigara, Yabitsu and Home

The Litt and Bouhet families stayed at an onsen hotel in Gora, Hakone, on Christmas night.  This morning, after breakfast and an asa-buro (morning bath), we each checked out of the hotel.  The Bouhets got into their car for the drive home, the Litts planned to explore Gora a bit more before returning by train ... except for Jerome and David, the fathers/husbands.  We got on our bikes and started to climb.

The plan was to ride back to Tokyo, and to find a more interesting route than just descending to Odawara and going along the coast.  Instead we took a mountainous route.

We climbed up along Route 733 to the Pola Art Museum, warming up from the climb despite sub- or near-zero (C) temperatures.  Then a quick descent to Sengokuhara and eventually onto Route 138.

On Route 138, instead of going through the long tunnel at Otome Pass and descending to Gotemba ... we turned off onto a rindo I had never taken but remembered reading about years back, carried our bikes around a locked gate, and climbed up the road around the shoulders of Kintokizan. The road, of course, was deserted and nicely paved.  Highly recommended.  We passed only a few workmen and one or two cars over the next 15 kms, first climbing several hundred meters elevation to a tunnel/pass, then descending, eventually to meet the course of the Nishi Tokyo brevet I rode in October, near Yuu-hi no Taki.

Spectacular conditions ... on the rindo climb.

Another photo of Jerome on the rindo climb

Just past the tunnel -- start of the descent

Looking toward the lower areas around Odawara

We followed the Nishi Tokyo Brevet course to Matsuda/Shin Matsuda, then joined the trucks on Route 246 for a brief stretch to Hadano, before the climb to Yabitsu.

Minami Ashigara - Home to the Kintaro folk legend?

Riding the Gokisos again today!

Great all-around performance.  A joy to ride.

Looking down at Hadano, from the Yabitsu climb

Jerome seems to have regained his cycling shape over the past week.  He did more than his share of pulls on the flats.  No he was not staying with me on the climbs, but who would, with a broken rear derailleur cable and "fixie" gearing for Yabitsu Pass!  I suggested we call off the mountain stage ... but Jerome would have none of it.

There were only very few cyclists today on Yabitsu, and none on the North side as far as Lake Miyagase (and beyond)!  We passed no cars on the Yabitsu descent until the car camp areas near the bottom.

Perhaps it was the black ice that kept people away?  We descended the North side between 2 and 3PM, but could already see the ice starting to form on damp areas of the upper part of the road.  A bit later and it would have been extremely treacherous.  Down below in forested areas there were a few ice patches, as there had been on Kintokizan in the morning. I was glad that, after around 500 kms with the incredibly light-weight low rolling resistance Conti Supersonics, I had switched to the grippier Vittoria Open Pave 25mm tires for this ride.  I rolled right over a few icy patches without incident, noticing far too late to stop, but careful not to turn or push at all. Jerome later reported that he had slipped and tumbled once, at slow speed, on the Yabitsu climb.

Deserted parking and turn around at Yabitsu Pass, in the shadows already before 230PM!

The Miyagase Michi No Eki -- only one shop open, and done for the day serving anything hot.  We did get some mikan.

I asked Jerome which way he wanted to get home from Miyagase.  "The fast way," he responded.  In any event, we took a straightforward route past Tsukui-ko, and then eventually took Yaen Kaido back to the Tamagawa.  We were home in good time, a bit after 530PM, having traveled 140 kms.

Was the trip really 3311 meters of climbing, as Strava reports?  No.  I would be surprised if we climbed as much as 2000 meters.  300, 300, 700, and lots of little bumps along the way.

Does this qualify as an epic ride?  A close call.  But it felt epic, leaving our families at the start, heading into the cold weather that kept nearly all other cyclists off the roads, the spectacular rindo stretch and deserted North side of Yabitsu, all the normal services shut down, and Jerome doing most of the ride without a functioning rear derailleur!

Old Men on Bikes

Today Jerome and I went for our first ride since David and Juliane's visit, as Jerome is finally back in Japan from a lengthy business trip.  It was the nicest weather for a bike ride in several months.  Partly cloudy skies, temperatures in the mid 20s (C), and a nice breeze that did not ever become a really ugly headwind.

There were lots of old guys out on bikes, taking advantage of the weather for a spin.  No, I am not talking about myself or Jerome, but lots of 70-  and 80-somethings riding along the Tamagawa bike path and elsewhere this afternoon.  And plenty of 60- and 70-somethings on road bikes further out.  Of course, there were some young guys as well, and a number of teen and pre-teen road cyclists on Yabitsu.  Indeed, I cannot remember ever having seen as many cyclists on Yabitsu as today.

We headed out from my house before 8AM.  Jerome rode his new randonneuring bike, the bette noire or "black beast".  I lent him one of my front wheels that has a disk and carbon clincher rim, with dynamo hub, so he could try it out for the 1000 km Brevet we will try in late September.  He still needs to get SPD shoes/cleats for these pedals, but today rode in running shoes.

Jerome with the Black Beast

Jerome had hoped for rain today ... to demonstrate how I will now be able to sit on Jerome's wheel without getting crushed.  Instead, we just got nice weather!

Before starting the ride, I had noticed that my rear tire was low.  I pumped it up but knew it would bear watching.  On the way out Onekan, after the first hill and descent, where I had made a minor breakaway from a pack of Japanese riders, and Jerome, the tire was almost flat.  I changed the tube and pumped it up ... but saw a bulbous protrusion from the tire sidewall at one point.  Then a realized I must have put the wrong tire on this wheel, the one that had given David J. troubles at Nozawa Onsen 3 weeks earlier after a long descent with the brake pad rubbing against the sidewall.  We decided to try the Cherubim / Konno Seisakujo shop in Machida, and if it was not open, then Cycle Base Asahi at Hashimoto.

The front door of the Cherubim shop was open, two employees were working on a bike, so we walked in and I found a Panaracer "Closer Plus" 700x25 tire -- a reasonably priced and very functional replacement.  This looks like an excellent "cost/performance" training tire.  

After wandering around the shop and selecting the tire, I noticed a sign on a stand near the door to the effect that the shop opens at 10AM, ... whereas we were there just after 9AM and walked right in the open door.  But they had no problem accommodating us.  The man who helped us asked about my S and S coupled Ti travel frame, wondering where I had gotten it.  And they brought out a floor pump for me as I was changing the tire on the sidewalk out front.  Very considerate.  I really do want to get a beautiful custom built Cherubim randonneur frame while I am in Japan.

The beast at rest near the Cherubim shop in Machida.

Since we had deviated from our "normal" routes out to Yabitsu to get the tire replacement, we headed west on Kanagawa Routes 57/54.  There was plenty of urban sprawl, traffic lights, etc., but once we crossed the Sagami River at Takadabashi -- the start/goal of many Brevets -- we found ourselves on a nice route climbing up the other side on Route 54.

This shows our route deviation from Machida to Aikawa/Hanbara as a straight line, as I forgot to turn the Garmin recording back on when we left our rest stop.  Our actual route swung a bit south toward Camp Zama at the crossing of the Sagami river.

Eventually we were on a steep climb through Aikawa/Hanbara area, and stopped for a quick rest at the Aikawa Solar Park a/k/a Sun Terrace Tobishima.  This Kanagawa Prefecture solar project looks very nice (and expensive)! Just the landscaping probably costs more than one of my company's similarly sized projects.

From here just a short climb and some tunnels and we reached the NE corner of Miyagase-ko.  I have been to Miyagase-ko countlest times, but never ridden this approach before.  Jerome said he had descended it once.

After getting some water and onigiri (rice balls) at the Miyagase michi-no-eki, we headed onto the Yabitsu climb.  Eventually Jerome pulled ahead of me and disappeared far ahead up the road, riding strong and fast.  Too fast, it turned out, as I found him resting and eating "kaki-gori" shaved ice with syrup topping at the restaurant/coffee shop about 100 meters elevation below the top, just before the steepest part of the climb.  He had run out of energy.  I joined him for a few minutes, to consume my last rice ball (having stopped to eat the first one mid-climb).  Then I went on and reached the pass ahead of him.

Yabitsu Pass is on Kanagawa Route ... 70.

Here comes Jerome!

We did not stay long at the pass, but headed back down to the kaki-gori cafe, for a basic pasta lunch.  There were cyclists coming and going the entire time.

The trip home was uneventful, except a Baskin Robbins "31" stop in Hashimoto.  On the way back, as usual, Jerome pulled more than I.  But I had plenty left in the tank and could take some pulls.  Plus, I realized, Jerome's use of street shoes seemed to slow his usual acceleration significantly, especially on short uphill stretches.  So I could step up the pace a bit, even attack on those stretches, and end up in front.  I am not foolish enough to think I will be able to do the same thing once he clips into the pedals.

All in all, a very successful inaugural P.E. ride for the black beast.

Yabitsu Pass in December

Most places in the northern hemisphere December 1 is long past time for riding over passes.  Not in the area around Tokyo, where we are blessed with relatively dry, sunny weather and fall foliage in late November through December.  Today was no exception.

My tire went flat here on the lower Yabitsu climb. I could enjoy the view while I changed the tube!

I took one of the shorter classic Positivo Espresso routes, just under 120kms -- out Onekansen Doro, the "tank road", Machida Kaido, the south to briefly join Route 413, then looping around the North side of Lake Tsukui, winding my way to Lake Miyagase, then up and over Yabitsu Pass (Elev 760m -- approx 2500 feet), and down the South side to Hadano.

Instead of taking the slow Odakyu train home, I rode in another almost 20 kms on Route 246, then hopped the Denentoshi Line train from ChuoRinkan Station.

Often photographed -- the Michi no eki and park at Lake Miyagase.

Both bike and rider rest at the top of Yabitsu.

Today's ride.  118 kms distance ddddand 1400 meters climbing logged.

Riding the Rindo on Fat Tires

On Saturday morning, I finally took the slick tires off my steel-framed cyclocross bike (the "Yamabushi") and tried out the Continental 700x35 "speed" tread cyclocross tires.  They roll with much less resistance than the Ritchey CX tires I got last Spring, which have big knobby grips for going through mud.

On Sunday, I rode out to Lake Miyagase, climbed the closed forest road between Route 64 and Route 70, and headed home.  The ride was around 140 kms, and I think my average speed for the day was only 1~2 kph slower than on road bike tires, making this setup a reasonable trade-off for the ability to ride on gravel and hit the occasional rock without slicing a tire or hearing that awful hissing sound of air escaping.

The weather was cool, around 10 degrees celsius / 50 fahrenheit for much of the ride, and in the countryside traffic was very sparse, weekend fall foliage crowd scared off by the forecast of rain for the afternoon and gradually darkening clouds.  I made it back at 3PM, just as the first drops started.

Continental "Speed" Cyclocross tires, on A23 rims, Chris King classic hubs, and 32 spokes 3X pattern, with the drive side DT Competition and non-drive side DT Revolution.  So far, so good.

On the way back in along Onekan, I came across Gunnar and his wife, Nami, and rode with them for a few kilometers.  Gunnar is still basking in the glory of his victory last week at Hotaka.  He said it was the first time Nami has ridden Onekan ... but she seems able to take the rollers at a good clip, and will no doubt be leaving the rest of us in the dust in no time.

Rindo Entrance off of Route 64 just down the hill South of Miyagase-ko

On the rindo, no traffic, and no people until I came across 2 hikers quite close to the exit at Route 70. 

The road was relatively clear at first, but eventually I came across leaf-covered sections, which made it difficult to see the randomly strewn rocks and some huge potholes, requiring a slow pace.  I was glad to have the fat tires.

The fall foliage is out ... and would be blazing on a sunny day.

At Tsukui-ko, I took the eastern bridge for the first time in several years, instead of the west-end bridge that connects to the forest road along the North shore.  I do not even remember there being a pedestrian span--on the right-hand side.