Pre-rainy Season Spin on the RAMAX

This morning I woke early, as the light streamed in at shortly after 4AM. Tokyo really would do better if it could switch to daylight savings time for summer ... but apparently the elderly connect the idea to the post-WWII occupation, when it was briefly introduced. And salary-men do not like it, as they cannot imagine that they would leave the office before the sun sets. 

Anyway, I took a short spin on the RAMAX to/from and up/down the Tamagawa, home by 940AM to start my work day. Whenever I felt myself exceeding 75% effort, I pulled back. Just 2hr 30min of exercise on the bike. I tried to follow the advice that most of us train too hard most of the time and take it easy. I should do this 3-4 mornings a week.

The RAMAX really is just a bit easier to accelerate, easier to climb out of the saddle on, and just a bit more comfortable, than Voyage Voyage. There really has been a major evolution in Ti frame design with the ability to use "hydroformed" titanium tubing! I love it. 

Beautiful Lake Tsukui

I had time for only a half-day ride on Saturday, and did not get started until after 10:30AM.  So I decided just to head out Onekansen Doro to Lake Tsukui, then back via Yaen-Kaido.  I have always thought about this segment -- getting up the Tamagawa then out to the edge of the countryside--as the work one needs to go through in order to get to the reward of beautiful quiet country roads, climbs, vistas, etc. There is no way to get out to the nice bits without going through the sprawl of Hashimoto, Machida and/or Sagamihara area to some extent.  And there is the monotony of going up and down along the Tamagawa always, every time.

But Saturday was a spectacularly clear winter day, and gusty winds added a challenge to the ride. Traffic was not particularly heavy, and the views at Tsukui were beautiful.  Of course, I avoid the route over the Shiroyama dam and Route 413 along the South side, and instead do the quiet climb on the North side, then the "Columbia Drug Lord" road.  This time, I looped back along the south side then took a second bridge over the lake and a second climb to the North side. 

View from the North side of Lake Tsukui

I rode with 2 large water bottles and popped a banana and energy bar in my rear pocket, so I made it through a 93 km ride without any convenience store stops.  The stiff gusting winds, starting from NW and shifting to the N/NE over the course of my ride, made for a good training partner much of the way ... and shifted toward my back on the last stretch.  (The wind, along with my Gokiso wheels, allowed me to record my 2nd fastest of 34 Strava-logged efforts on the trip downriver 

Nice countryside ... not far from the Ken-O-Do expressway (?) approaching Lake Tsukui

One lane suspension bridge over Lake Tsukui

I considered a stop on the suspension bridge for the spectacular 360 degree view suspended high above the water.  But pressed on -- after all, this was supposed to be a training ride without stops -- and I am training to be a cyclist, not a photographer.  

Unfortunately, my rear tire tube had developed a slow leak from riding over a big rock at the end of the forest road, and I needed to pull over to change the tube anyway just a few seconds later, so took a much inferior photo of the bridge.  Still, the entire ride was 4:04, of which "moving time" was 3:42.  The (leisurely) tire change was 12 minutes, and the remaining 10 minutes of "non-moving" time was red lights.

So a fairly efficient trip from a time perspective.  Now I need to strap on a heart rate monitor so that I can actually "train" this year, instead of just "ride" when I do these kind of solo trips.