For Sale [SOLD]: Klein Quantum Race

Klein Quantum Race, 56cm, Dura-Ace components, Shimano r700 compact crank, Rolf Vector Pro wheelset, Deda Synapsi bars.

Might suit a new rider if anyone knows someone looking?

Looking for an intelligent offer to make space at home.

20.000 HITS

Clstrmap statistics will report today that we have exceeded 20.000 hits on the Positivo Espresso web site; the main page that is, as we count only the direct hits there. The intervalls between 5.000 hits are geting shorter and shorter:

0 - 5.000 hits from 14.11.07, the start of the site to 26.09.2008, 316 days,
- 10.000 hits to 21.05.2009, 228 days
- 15.000 hits to 18.11.2009, 181 days
- 20.000 hits to 21.03.2010, 123 days

Today is rest day.

MOB's SAYONARA RIDE & PARTY

During the past few days, I received quite a few valuable comments...one being that the Party participation fee is a bit on the high side (my mistake ) while a few people understandably also did not like the idea of having to cycle home from Tamajiman after dark has set in.

Accordingly, I have taken the liberty and wish to inform all of you that :

(1) Starting time from the Takao 7/11 has been moved up by 1 hour and a half 12:00 → 10:30

(2) Arrival time at Tamajiman should therefore be before 16:00.

(3) I have "negotiated" a more "deocratic" price being a Yen 5,000 per person two-hour NOMIHODAI course including food.

Hope especially for MOB too that there will be a big turnout... and that we will be blessed with weather like today (a little bit less windy though).

Mitake Attack

I had a lot of correspondence to finish in the morning, so when I finally left the house for a ride It as already 14.30hr and naturally I chose another stupid target for the day: Mitake-San. With Bad Boy.

Originally I had much bigger plans for the day but the bed was so cosy and the wind blowing strongly from the wrong direction.

Mitake-san, for those who don't know, is the mountain on the left side of the Yoshino Kaido just after the entry to Umenoki-Toge in the vicinity of Ikusabata. There is a road leading from Yoshino Kaido through a bright red gate up to the cable car station, about 1.5 km away. From there onwards is a very small and extremely steep road leading up to the small village on top of Mitake-san. Mini-cars can drive up and down but normal cars are impossible, although the whole road is asphalted.I was blessed with a nice tailwind, so I could ride out fast from Yokohama to the Tamagawa and then along the river. At Wachi's bicycle store I crossed over to the other side of the river and rode along Yoshino Kaido. When I finally arrived at the road leading to the cable car station it was already 10 past 5, so I didn't wasted much time to start the TT (see Togebaka #20).

This climb is only 1.5 km long and Jerome had ridden it in less than 11 minutes this week. "Ha", you might want to say, "I can walk 1.5 km in 11 minutes!". Well this might be true, but on this type of road there is hardly a difference between walking and riding.

The first 400 meters are rather easy and flat, but after that the road becomes steep and the surface shows the famous "donut" pattern which seems to be a must for concrete roads with a slope of more than 10%. And after that it is getting steeper. And steeper. And steeper. There seems to be no end to the increase in steepness. Unlike many other roads there is no place where you can rest and you just pray that the cable car finally appears around the corner.

Which it does at one point an than there is the final and steepest piece to climb waiting. I was so glad that I was on my Bad Boy with a triple gear in front, otherwise I must have zigzagged up on a normal road bike. It will be interesting to see Ludwig doing this one with his SRAM 28 cassette mounted.So my original plan was to ride up also the road up to Mitake-San, but it was already too late and honestly, my fighting spirit was very much broken by this 1.5 km.

So I rode back to Ikusabata and checked the house of Ryoko and Stephen which I haven't seen since last summer. The house looked ... lonely. Just like nobody has been there for ... months. So I gave Ryoko a call but couldn't reach her.

I then made my way back to Ome on the other side of the river and took the train home. A completely pointless ride.

The earnest Positivo Espresso blog reader might have noted, that the climb to Mitake is actually the mother of all pointless rides and was first attacked by James, Dominic, Graham, Michael and me last summer when we were on the way to Kazahari. Still to this day it remains, completely ... pointless .......

.

TCC Yabitsu Ride

On Wednesday I joined a ride organized by Sergey from TCC attacking Yabitsu from the South.

In preparation for the ride I did two things: First I spend the night before with a friend drinking beer and eating yakitori at a very nice establishment on Roppongi-Toge and secondly, I made a post on the TCC blog what I would do after I have ridden up Yabitsu.

So the next morning I had a hard time to get out of the bed. Tuesday was a wonderful spring night in town, or so it had seemed after a lot of beer riding back on the bike, so I left the window of the sleeping room open. It was very cold in the morning and I had to dress with additional layers before I left the house.

I met Sergey at Hadano station, by chance he took the same train and soon after Mike and Dale arrived as well. We started almost on time in direction Yabitsu pass and pedaling ahead full speed. I immediately made the pace in the front, so when I looked back everybody was gone. Later I learned that they have stopped to look for water but in this moment I was feeling like a miniature edition of Deej.

Then we made a very brief stop at the road 246 crossing which is the official start for the TCC Hall of Fame South Yabitsu Time Trial (and now is also the same for the Positivo Espresso Toge Baka). Although everybody said that they would not race and take it easy, I fell back almost instantly on the steep slopes at the beginning and couldn't possibly keep up. So, I felt like a miniature edition of mob.

I hate to get out of a train, assemble the bike and immediately start climbing. I need a proper warm-up, if possible 40 km. A long time ago David, Juliane and me got out of the Shinkansen, assembled our bikes and rode up from Atami to Atami Toge and that was one of the hardest rides I ever did.

Yabitsu is mean at the start but then it gradually gets flatter and I enjoyed the ride more and more. I was going steadily in the 10 - 15 km/hr bracket, I could constantly keep the tension and even accelerate on the flatter parts. When I made it to the top all three riders were waiting for me and I clocked a time of less than 48 minutes. Which I found very respectable, given the fact that there is much more elevation to cover than on the North approach, so being faster up on the South side seems pretty good.

Note: Of course the North side is much flatter and much longer: 18.6 km compared to 11.7 km.

But then, looking at the TCC Hall of Fame later, I noted that there is a notorious rider from the club who went up the South side in 31 minutes. And all the other good TCC riders are up in 40, 41 minutes so I really felt very weak again.

Anyway, I said goodbye to Sergey, Mike and Dale who have provided good company at the station, at the top of the pass and app. 3 minutes during the climb.

Then I rode down Yabitsu on the North side, a little bit of snow was left on the sides of the road, but basically the road was free of snow and water. I wanted to explore a new forrest road which is roughly halfway down and leads to road 64 (the fast road down from Miygase lake to Hon-Atsugi). I have watched cyclists coming out from there from time to time and one can see a nice bridge of the road from the Yabitsu main road.

There was a barrier which was no match and the road went down. From Mike's post onthe TCC blog I expected a road leading down all the way, so I was surprised when I had to climb up 100 meters, then go down again, then climb up again. The road conditions were not good, typical rindo but much better than right-left-entry pass some days before. At one point I encountered a huge wild boar on the road, first I thought that this would be a small bear. Luckily it had no interest in me. The road went on forever and I easily added another 300 meters of climbing before I made it to the gate at road 64. In the end the road went down to elevation 200m and so I had to climb up road 64 for another 150 meters before I came back to Miyagase Lake.

I then followed the road on the other side of the lake through a continuous series of long tunnels and bridges before I arrived at Tsukui. After all this slow riding all day long I was glad to find a nice, wide and fast downhill road and speeded down at more than 60 km/hr.

Yeah, that felt good. But suddenly I noted that almost right in front of me there was a white passenger car on my side of the road. It was completely unclear what he was doing there, trying to overtake a car that was parked on the opposite lane or making a right turn. I braked as much as I could so that the bike was heavily swearing to both sides and I braced for the inevitable impact if the car would make a right turn indeed. Luckily it just had intended to overtake the parked car and moved back to his side of the road, so I flew by through the opening but it was very, very close and I was screaming.

I could have been dead or seriously injured if I would have gone faster and missed the time window when the car moved back to the right. I felt like the hero in one of the strangest movies I have ever seen called "Jacob's ladder" about an American guy (Tim Robbins, great as usual) who leads a normal living but has terrible hallucinations about Vietnam until at the end of the movie it is revealed that he had died already in Vietnam and that all of this was his dying hallucination.

It reminded me also of the first time I climbed up Jacob's ladder on my bike which was 2005 in Hawaii when I mistakenly rode up the ramp to a highway (having lived in Japan for such a while I couldn't possibly imagine that it could be so easy to enter a highway) plus I was so stupid, as the entry was on the left side of the highway, to cross over the complete four lanes to the right side before finally finding the next exit and disappearing in white smoke. Cars were honking and people were looking at me if I were crazy (understandable) and I am sure I made it into the radio news.

Anyway, after that my spirit was completely broken and I sneaked along through Tsukui North lake road (The druglord had visitors and I also noted that he had planted cactus plants on the other side of the road) to Hashimoto where I recovered eating a large bowl of ramen noodles.

After that I rode the tank road and Onekan home, it just wasn't fun any longer and I was glad to be home again.

But thanks to Sergey, Mike and Dale for the invitation and good company, I wouldn't have made it out of the bed otherwise and that was good.

Some other news, before I forget: I went to Nagai-San from POSTIVO to fix my Zonda wheel that was damaged in the attack down from Right-left-entry pass. He told me that he will move his shop to a bigger location on Meguro Dori, close to the crossing with Kamapachi Dori (at the entry of Daisan Keihin). I think the move is planned for May.

And Jerome did a Togebaka approach from Yoshino Kaido up to Mitake Cable Car station. Not knowing that this ride hasn't been included in the Togebaka List yet. James, Michael and Graham will remember that this is the mother of all pointless rides, which started the venerable tradition to include pointless rides in all unorganized club rides last year.

Tunnels, Ice and Snow

A little bit late perhaps, but I don't like to miss the chance to report about the ride of the splinter group on Saturday after saying Sayonara at the Doshi-Michi / Yabitsu Entry. Ice and snow will play an important role so as fallen trees.Well, while Jerome, James and Dominic were happily chatting and riding in direction Yabitsu, our social ride came to a sudden end when Ludwig, Fumiki and me continued on Doshi-Michi in direction Yamanakako. As usual Ludwig picked up the pace and Fumiki could easily follow him, while I was taking a more "legere" approach. Sometimes Ludwig stopped along the roadside to stretch his back or do the opposite with his bladder and so I could close up again.All around us was snow and there was a lot of water on the road, sometimes flowing downwards on the slopes which we were riding up, giving us the impression that we were very fast if compared to the asphalt surface.But soon we had climbed up to Yamabushi Toge, the last pass before Yamanako lake and then descended on the other side. Meanwhile the accumulated water on the road and the additional spray we have received from passing trucks and cars had completely soaked our socks, legs and behind with water. That felt pretty miserable but as hardcore cyclists our codex didn't allow us to show our feelings completely, so we continued in direction Kawaguchi Lake and Saiko.Saiko was very silent unlike the JCRC racing day in November when I usually go there. As this might have been the last time to see the lake, I went to our favourite hang-out at Cafe M and said good-bye to the owner. We then continued to the next smaller Fuji lake (I forgot the name) and then took road 706 to the North in direction Kofu. This leads to a long tunnel first and the approach to that was looking like the swamps of Louisiana. And then we had a classic Ludwig comment which I would like to preserve for the blog readers:

Ludwig : "These are the worse road conditions here"
Me (assuming that Ludwig knows the roads ahead) : "It will not get worse up there?"
Ludwig: "No idea, these are the worse road conditions SO FAR."

I can imagine the spin-off of these words for future club-rides. Imagine riding over Otarumi to Kobu Tunnel, Kazahari, Matsuhime, Dozaka and Yamabushi to Yamanakako while stating on the top of Otarumi:

Experienced PE rider: "This is the worse climb."
Newcomer (thinking): "Oh great, the worse is over."
Experienced PE rider: "Well,so far"
Newcomer (thinking): "..sigh..."

Of course it wasn't by far the worse to come, but before we come to that we experienced a beautiful downhill ride from the tunnel at elevation 900 to elevation 400: Wide, curvy roads, nice slopes, not too much traffic allowed us to ride in the most enjoyable 40 - 60 km/hr bracket.

Then we stopped and discussed whether it would make sense to continue on road 358 through the long tunnel to Kofu or climb up on old road 113 (in use before the construction of the tunnel) to 右左口峠 (Right-left-entry pass). Of course I opted for the Right-left-entry-pass as I was eager to add more passes to my list and I desperately wanted to paste some Positivo Espresso stickers on the top.

So we rode back the road a little bit, then entered road 113 and were immediately greeted by a barrier to discourage normal human beings. Behind the barrier were some fallen trees on the road. Again, this might be discouraging to normal riders but for me it is like that there is the ghost of the road standing next to the barrier with a megaphone in his hand shouting "Ride me, ride me". Or "Roads shouting: ride me ride me" (RSRMRM) in reference to a long forgotten Japanese punk rock group : Seagulls shouting: kiss her, kiss her" (SSKHKH).

I could convince Ludwig and Fumiki that these trees had not fallen down there by chance, but that they have been intentionally placed there by the locals to discourage powerful cyclist such us as. So I crossed over and was greeted by another barrier of trees (perhaps not intentionally placed) and then by another and finally the asphalt surface ended and then a small gravel path was all that was left.I was some 20 meters ahead as I was scouting for the way when Ludwig and Fumiki tried to convince me to give up. But I didn't budged so they rode back to the tunnel while I moved along. Meanwhile I still had 190 meter elevation to climb and the surface was now made of snow and ice and landslides. So I couldn't ride up but needed to walk most of the time. A terrible thought stroke me: "What, if this isn't the road up to right-left-entry-pass?" Because I had fully relied on Ludwigs guidance, we haven't seen any signboards at all. And while I was sneaking up through the snow, already with a pretty empty stomach I wondered if this was really a good idea.

In the end I made it up to the top (naturally, who else would write this stupid post?) and there was the signboard indicating that this would be right-left-entry-pass indeed. I made some photos and then I realized that I had just climbed up from the village 上九一色、the famous hideout of the Aum-Shinrikyo sect who launched the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. In this place they established their secret gas-factory which, if I remember correctly, was called DAI-7-SATIAN (Meditation place number 7). When working for Schindler, we used to call our headoffice DAI-8-SATIAN all the time in reference. Well, that was close and despite standing freezing with wet socks and trousers plus empty stomach on top of a lonely hill in the middle of nowhere I was glad to have escaped such sinister place.

Now going down, would be a breeze I thought. Well, it is not easy to ride through the snow. In particular if you are going down and the snow and dirt clogs the brakes so even if you pull the levers fully to the handle the braking effect is virtually none. Well, I know know there is a reason for v-brakes on MTBs.
I ignored that however most of the time and before long I had a flat tire and when I checked more closely I also had lost a spoke somewhere (no idea where).
So in view of the road conditions I decided not to repair the tube as I had only one exchange tube, but walk down until I meet a decent road and then exchange the tube. This was again an endless walk through ice and snow. Sometimes footprints were on the trail, but as bears do not wear sneakers, I assume that they were made by human beings.

Finally I found the road, repaired the tube and rode for about a kilometer before finding a 7-Eleven and filling up with food and drinks. Ludwig and Fumiki have long arrived at the station in Kofu and were on their way home. They were so kind to call me from the station. After a seemingly long and boring ride free of obstacles through Kofu (I was by now so used to fallen trees and gravel road that a ride on a straight and flat four lane semi-highway seeming extremely boring) I finally arrived 2 hours later than them and took the express train home as well.

It was a very adventurous trip and I am happy to report that I have survived. Please don't tell my family about it and my apologies to Ludwig and Fumiki for my stupid insistence to go up that road.

Of course on the following Wednesday I made something similar stupid, but this will be the subject of another post.

MOB's SAYONARA RIDE to feature 2 hillclimb races (after all)

"RIDE PROGRAM "

Saturday April 24th at 12:00 (noon) : RdV...everybody assemble at the Takao 7/11.

12:15~ START From Takao's Seven-Eleven, we will do a slow approach to the foot of Wada and then organize - in good Positivo Espresso tradition - a little hillclimb race.

Following this race, we will slowly ride together again as one group doing the Yuzurihara/Hinohara golf courses readying ourselves for another little hillclimb race this time up to the first Kobu Tunnel.

We then again wait until the last rider arrives and proceed slowly in group to Tamajiman (arrival time 17:00?) for the party to start.

JCRC Series: Stage1 - Kawagoe

Sunday morning was an early start for everyone as we wanted to get to Kawagoe early to ride the course and check for potential danger zones, places to attack and see if my wheel selection was going to work in the extremely strong and gusting wind.

We left the house at 5am and took the express way all the way rather than run the risk of getting caught in traffic along Route 16. Kaori as usual was driving and told me that it would be ok for me to sleep and conserve energy for the race. With an elevated heart rate, adrenalin as thick as custard coursing through my veins and the serious lack of leg space for my 188cm frame made it impossible.

We arrived with good time to spare and I was able to ride 4 laps of the course before they closed it down for the race preparations. I’m seriously glad I did as Ludwig who raced here last year warned me about the white bands going across the road, I’m not sure what they were covering but they were slightly elevated and when I hit one on the straight at 45kph I got air off it and almost lost control as it took me by surprise. The practice laps also showed me where the race would be won which was obviously the long straight that finished in a tight, narrow turn with a 200-300 meter straight to the finish.

The plan therefore was to position myself just before the second to last corner so that I would be in the 1st, 10 riders of the Peloton giving me the advantage of being slipped streamed by the front riders and seeing where the attack on the final corner would come from and thus launch my own attack.

With all this new found knowledge floating around in my head I went to work as a domestique for Kaori and Tsukino who were also racing today.

Kaori sporting her new gear looked awesome out on the track but the lack of training and the ferocious headwind quickly drained her and several other riders that got dropped by the peloton. She continued at her pace and started to catch other riders that had dropped off the back of the main group, whom were setting an impressive pace and with as is such with criterium races the leaders quickly lapped the stragglers.

Kaori knowing what would happen if lapped put in a valiant effort and managed to keep them at bay till the final corner where they swallowed her and 3 other riders whom for all their efforts received what many felt an unfair a DNF result, but hey rules are rules!

Tsukino was next up in her 3km race for Primary School 1st - 3rd Grade category and was chomping at the bit to get going. This was the biggest group she has ridden in with 21 riders and the fact that she has recently taken the plunge to SPD pedals and shoes made her a little cautious and nervous.

On the off,Tsukino not 100% used to her SPD’s panicked and had a little trouble inserting her left foot. But fortunately didn’t crash and found the sweet spot to engage and she was off dead last with 400 meters between her and the next rider and as she disappeared around the first corner we were very anxious to how she would do out there alone.

We had to wait in bated breath for her to complete the first lap an come out of the final straight before we knew if she had made any ground. We counted the riders as they came through and started to worry after rider 12 had gone through. Then head down teeth gritted Tsukino shot out of the final corner bearing down on the next rider, with a bellow from me to change gear (Some thought Mt. Fuji had erupted and proceeded to the local emergency relocation zone) she shot out of view and we had to wait for her to complete the final lap before we knew where she was.

The older boys impressively flew down the finishing straight and we counted them in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th in quick succession, 6th, 7th the first girl, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Where was she?

As soon as 11th had fully cleared the corner Tsukino came gunning though head down again chasing hard, she quickly caught 11th and 10th drawing on her last reserves caught 9th place and taking a top 10 position overall and 2nd in the girls.

Amazing effort by her and we were all very proud of her performance!

Next up was our latest recruit Yair Bauer, whom only started riding last year. Again Yair had to battle against a very strong headwind and managed to find his groove with 3 other riders who grouped together taking pulls at the front to keep the peloton from gaining any ground on them. Having watched Yair race last year at Saiko, I must say I’m very impressed with how far he has come in such a short time and the winter rides seem to have paid off.

The sprint finish was pretty exciting with Yair pulling out wide to prevent anyone from drafting his wheel and was just piped to the post by another rider coming in a very respectable 27th.

Next up was Idan, Yair's son who was racing in the Milky race... the pace was pretty impressive by these young riders and if they stick with it they'll go on to be serious contenders on the Pro Circuit!

The young lad raced his heart out sporting a shark helmet and placed 4th overall!
With my official domestique and cameraman duties officially over it was time to get myself prepared for the race at 12:30pm, although the time had been pushed back 15-20 minutes due to some very serious accidents. This was highlighted by the fact that the race officials asked us not to remove our hands from the bars upon finishing the race and doing so would result in disqualification. The reason why is because earlier in the day a rider who had finished and saluted his victory was hit by a side wind and created a rather nasty pileup on the finishing line.

At last year’s Saiko Stage in Yamanashi MOB and myself got a very good warm up ride by doing the 10km Time Trial. This really warmed up the muscles and helped me when actually racing so one of the strategies this year is to take my parabolic rollers with me to every event to get a good warm up ride before each race. Using the 2hours spare before my start time I had a light lunch and also did a 40km warm up ride just spinning a long with a few sprints to see how my legs were.

At 12:15 I headed to the assembly point to make sure I was able to get a good position at the front of the peloton, as the further back you go the more inexperienced the rider. The warm up lap was very good natured with the riders complaining about the cold and the blustery winds.Positioned at the start line the officials went over the rules again, reinforcing that they would disqualify any riders taking their hands off the bars to call home, shot cameramen, point to god or pretend to be an American Indian shooting arrows. They also explained the sprint point system and what laps would be for points… I couldn’t work out if it was when the buzzer sounded or if it didn’t so I decided to attack every lap just to be safe!

The first 300m was a very gentle pace to negotiate a narrow chicane that then opened up on to a wide section of the course that looped around the back with some minor curves, this is where the pace quickened and we were soon at race pace humming along at 43kph with the riders of Bex Isox and Whirlwind setting the pace.

The first sprint lap arrived and the pace quickened and I entered the final curve at 50kph and taking 2nd in the first sprint followed by 3rd, 1st, 4th and the win on the final lap placing me at 37 points for the race with the closest rival taking 25 points.

All in all it was a great day for everyone who attended from Positivo Espresso and I’m excited to see how everyone does at Shuzenji this weekend, especially Tsukino.]

Also a BIG thank you to Hiroshi-san for shouting encouragement and advice to me throughout the race and for taking some excellent photos!

I will add more photos later

"Let me show you the back roads to Odawara...."

Got up at 5:40am and was accompanied by Humphrey, my biggest supporter who thinks I must be the best rider on the planet as he knows no others, (see photo) to do my usual weather check while he conducted his morning business. Unseasonably warm so no need for warm clothing. When I met Jerome at the Komazawa-dori-Kanpachi junction just before 7am I assumed he had reached the same conclusion as he was dressed in full PE kit (shorts, short-sleeved jersey and matching team gloves). In hindsight it could have been sub-zero and he would not have felt anything thanks to a vast imbalance in his alcohol-sleep ratio. James joined us a few minutes later and off we went. Note that in the interests of saving 10 minutes on a 6 hour ride James now prefers not to come to the traditional Ebisu meeting point but rather go direct to David L's house.

We set off to the Kawasaki side of Tamagawaharabashi to meet Herr Professor MOB, Ludwig and Fumiki-san who was making excuses about being hungover, but on any ride it is expected that at least some members will be/should be hungover. Very little sympathy for the following reasons: 1. he is very fit, 2. he is only 26 yrs old and 3. he is basically a lung on a stick and loves mountains. This impressive train which included 2 JCRC champions set off along the Onekan. As this was the first decent weekend in a while lots of cyclists were out and as we know from experience, members of Japanese teams decked out in full matching kit have a problem being overtaken by gaijin so felt they had restore some pride and blast past many of us. Some dude in shorts but pretty red booties (why on a day like this?) flashed past me and probably felt better about his masculinity as a result.

From Onekan to Tank Road to Lake Tsukui, past the drug baron's villa with the cool Land-Rover outside and the obligatory pointless detour (trademarked by MOB) which in this case was to the Tsukui road northern extension which requires climbing equipment or a small bulldozer to clear debris from landslides). Eventually the group split at the turning off to Miyagase. The Professor of International Cyclology, Ludwig and Fumiki-san (lung-on-a-stick who climbed Fuji in 75mins last year) kept going towards Yamanaka and then on to Kofu. It is assumed they got there but nothing has been heard of them since we took a group photo and parted at 9:30am on that beautiful Saturday morning. As tradition has it and PE rules stipulate (need to refer to rule book to confirm), riders must stop at Miyagase-ko to refuel before the assault on Yabitsu Toge. Future riders of this route should be aware however, that leaving central Tokyo (Ebisu) at 6:30am gets you there too early for the steak on a stick or noodles. Power bars and, in Jerome's case, hard-boiled eggs are no comparison to the steak on a stick. We waited and it was worth it.

Just before turning on to the Yabitsu road, emboldened by steak on a stick and eggs, Jerome announced he was going to 'have a go' up Yabitsu. Perhaps hearing that recently Ludwig had become the first PE member to break 50 minutes spurred him on. When we turned the corner to be greeted by a very strong headwind our Gallic hero may have reconsidered the challenge, but any doubts he had were kept to himself and off he went. Things got worse when the wind was funneled through the tunnel and almost brought mere mortals to a standstill. Before arriving there had been some concern that there could still be ice at the top. Although the weather on Yabitsu deteriorated, it was still warm enough to melt the ice and snow, causing torrents of water to flow down the road. Added to this were the roadworks (residents of Japan know only too well that in March there is a rush to spend the public works budget before the end of the fiscal year) which turned parts of the road into mud creating a scene similar to the old photos of the Tour de France when men were men and rode single gears and roads were unpaved. After dodging old men directing non-existent traffic at work sites and mud and snow, our Gallic hero in his fetching string vest reached the top in 58 minutes achieving his first Togebaka listing - similar to being mentioned in dispatches. His support team swerved to avoid a large frog and were 4 minutes behind.

Terrifying descent in windy conditions as I couldn't stop thinking about Gert Steegmans who was lifted off the ground by a whirlwind while descending at 75kmh in the recent Paris-Nice Prologue. He'll be out for a while..... At the bottom of the descent our Gallic hero's fine senses picked up the smell of fresh donuts and screeched to a halt. When getting cold on a descent one thinks of things like hot baths, beer and donuts. Piping hot and delicious. Had we had a supply of PE stickers we would have used several on the donut shed. All riders to Yabitsu are recommended (required?) to buy donuts at the bottom. Emboldened by 2 donuts, our Gallic hero uttered the fateful phrase: "Let me show you the back roads to Odawara". We turned right at the conbini and were already thinking of the first beer on a 1:30 or 2pm train. That beer was to come rather later. Have you ever been to Shibusawa High School? Nor had we until then. And then the pretty road through the orchards that was reminiscent of something from the Spring Classics in Flanders. Since the Tomei Expressway has a junction at Odawara and the Tomei was right in front of us, all we had to do basically follow it. We went over it and then under it along a road that turned into a single track and ended under the girders of the Tomei itself. Our Gallic hero's suggestion of "just climbing down to the road below" were declined. I would not go down a 100m 60 degree concrete and mud slope with hiking boots on yet alone with bike cleats and a bike on my shoulder. After retracing our path and riding up a short 21 degree slope we found our way down to the village below and on to a road that eventually took us the long way to Odawara, but not before stopping an effete man with a strange hairclip to ask directions. Rather stunned that he had just been approached and conversed with 3 velo-gaijin he immediately whipped out his phone, presumably to share this, the highlight of his day, with his friend or mother. Raided the bakery, hopped on the Shinkansen and opened the beer.

Post script: rather than carry the bikes through Shinagawa station James and I reassembled them on the platform with a view to pushing them through the station. Schoolboy error? A uniformed man with a baton came running over to say we cannot do that. Sensible James walked off doing the gaijin thing but your author decided to ask why it was not allowed. Despite admitting I understood why a bike needs to be in a bag on the train (narrow space etc) I challenged the man several times to explain why I could not push the bike through the station and was told each time: "it is not allowed in the station!". I suppose that's all the manual said and it was not for him to ask why way back when he was in Japan Railways School.

Inviting MOB Sayonara Ride ideas....

After reading David L.'s Utsunomiya burube Brevet story below, a crazy thought just occured: "how about doing a mock/sham/mogi Takao→Itoigawa ride*1 when MOB is back in town?

Another idea for a Sayonara Ride would be the (somewhat shorter) "Jason Loop"*2....

Any other ideas ?

(*1 with stay& partying in Itoigawa)

(*2 a.k.a. "P++l Jason Loop")

In memory of one of MOB's numerous tragicomic jewels:

"Sure it's OK for newcomers to join us on a ride out in the mountains."

Translation: You are lured into the moutains and left in a place from where you have no idea how to ride home. One of the newcomers, Paul Jason changed his phone number and e-mail address after the ride. You might want to consider to do the same before.

Brevet 3/14 200 km - No Photos

No time for a long post, but wanted to offer a brief report of yesterday's Utsunomiya Audax group's 200 km Brevet (actually, 210+ km).  A few notes:

1.  The start/finish at Utsunomiya Forest Park (rinshinkouen) is where the Japan Cup pro race  is held each autumn -- the only time "known" European pros from Pro Tour/Continental teams race in Japan each year.  Looks like a nice place for a criterium-style race.  Plenty of up and down!

2.   Utsunomiya is a long way away from Tokyo -- I somehow think of it as a suburb like Saitama, but it is further than Saiko on empty roads at 4-6AM.  And yes, they have traffic jams getting back to Tokyo on the Tohoku Expressway on Sunday night, with all the skiers.

3.   For some reason, the trucks stay on the roads even on Sunday in Tochigi/Ibaraki.  The Brevet's route was typical Japanese countryside, with mixed dry fields, forests, hills, long flat stretches with rice or vegetable plots, lots and lots of scattered houses and little factories, and some (but not much) pachinko/car dealer sprawl.  Traffic was heavier than I would have liked, especially in the afternoon coming back from Tsukuba area on the flat.  If not for this event, I would not recommend the "return" part of this course, though the Northern "outbound" part and the many rollers of the "Beef Line" heading South through some hills, had some nicer sections.

4.    I went out (too) fast all the way to the first checkpoint at 70 km. Then I flatted (and struggled with my tubeless tire for a 15 minute repair, giving up on the "self sealing" goo I had inside the tire that I hoped would plug the leak, and inserting a tube instead).  Then I close-to-bonked on a hill a few kilometers after that, and the rest of the ride was one long hard slog.

5.    There were several "mountains", which involved starting a climb at 50 meters above sea level, going up at an average 8-10% grade to 300 or 350 meters elevation, then right back down.  These and the many steeper "rollers" were extremely painful for me, at 8 kgs over my "fighting weight" from last year and not having done any serious riding since November.

6.  The Utsunomiya Audax group is incredibly organized.  They had multiple types of queue sheets, maps, GPS data sets, a thick downloadable rule book.  They prepared an updated report on every pothole.  I managed to download their GPS history of each of the 4 legs of the ride, and used this during the event -- it took me from start to finish without any need to pull out map or cue sheet.

 David T. from TCC (who was on the Boso ride with Michael K. last month) joined, as did another foreigner (Simon P.) who lives in Hitachi.

"Rule Destroying Speed Machine"- place your orders

The world’s first bike designed and hand-built by Formula One engineers is currently on display in the London Science Museum, and on sale at Harrods.
Factor 001, the creation of engineers at BERU f1systems, has been described as both a ‘rule-destroying speed machine’ and a ‘mobile sports laboratory’. Riders are promised rapid acceleration with minimal exertion, thanks to the lightweight and extremely rigid carbonfibre monocoque structure, with ‘twin-vane’ architecture that can be adjusted to within a millimetre to suit the rider’s measurements and typical riding position. You can even opt for carbon ceramic disc brakes.
“Our twin-vane design provides substantially improved lateral stiffness and therefore more of the power generated by the rider is transmitted into forward motion,” explains John Bailey, managing director at BERU f1systems. “A conventional frame, even one made of carbon composite, flexes when the rider applies force to the pedals, which absorbs energy and reduces acceleration. Our twin-vane frame almost completely eliminates this problem, delivering an exceptionally responsive ride.”

The standard bike costs £22,000 but a version with integrated electronics is due to be released in April, at a price of £27,000. The multi-channel electronics package offers an amazing array of ergonometric data collection, logging and analysis. It can simultaneously correlate biometric data from the ride, physical force data from the bike and environmental data to offer what was previously possible only in a laboratory. The rider can record everything from skin temperature, respiration rate and individual leg power output, to atmospheric pressure and humidity. The data are displayed via an LCD touch screen, and can be downloaded later for ‘post-ride analysis’.
Factor 001 customers will additionally be invited to an in-depth cycle fitting and analysis session, lasting two to three hours, to assess the rider’s cycling physiology, technique and alignment.
“Each model takes six highly skilled engineers a week to make. With only a limited number of bikes due to be built, we expect Factor 001 to become a desirable collectors’ item,” concludes Bailey.

Like spiderman

Itoigawa Training Run -- April 17 Noborito to Naoetsu ... or maybe the other direction toward Izu???

UPDATE:

The course for this ride has been been completely changed due to snow still on the mountain passes in Nagano.

The start is in the same place (I think 1-2 km. up the path on the Kawasaki side of the Tamagawa from where the Odakyu Line crosses the river -- I will confirm before the big day).

The ride goes out Onekan-sen, then eventually up Doshimichi to Yamanakako, then around the west side of Izu to Shimoda and back up to Ito on the East side.  
Still 300 km and, if anything, more up/down than the other route, though the highest points are a lot lower -- the passes before and after Yamanakako.

You can download the GPS from this site

_________________________________________________

Five weeks before the Tokyo-Itoigawa classic, there is an organized 300 km "Brevet" from Noborito (Odakyu Line just S/W of the Tamagawa) to Naoetsu on the Japan Sea.  Applications are still open, but participation is limited to 100 riders.  Start time is a ridiculous 4AM, but Noborito is a lot closer for most of us than Takao.  Of course, no need to register for this if you just want to ride to Naoetsu and don't need an "official" entry (if, for example, you are collecting Brevet mileage for PBP 2011).

Manfred will be pleased to know that this ride across Japan goes via the Jerome Hill, Ikusabata, Yamabushi Pass, Chichibu City, Gunma, Jukkoku Toge, Saku, Nagano route, and beyond.

Read about it here:

April 17 Brevet - Noborito to Naoetsu 300 km

Entry via Sports Entry:

http://www.sportsentry.ne.jp/event.php?tid=20555

Team Positivo Espresso (High5 Pro-Lite) Announces Tokyo Itoigawa Starters

Tokyo (March 11, 2010).  Positivo Espresso today announced its nine man squad for the 39th Annual Tokyo-Itoigawa Fastrun Classic, scheduled for May 22.  The members will be:

Yair B.
Jerome B.
Christopher D.
Dominic H.
C.J. H.
Kevin J.
James K.
David L.
James M.

Since the team is not on the Pro Tour roster this year, they will need to enter the lottery to get a spot in this year's Classic, and should find out within the next few weeks if they have been accepted.  Said retiring team captain Michael K., "I'm disappointed I will be racing in Europe in May and so unable to join the Fastrun Classic.  You will need to rely on David 'GPS' L. for instructions.  David led us into the dead end temple street in Suwa, Nagano two years ago, so I hope he has learned his lesson."

David L. did not comment on the fact that Team Ace and last year's JCRC and Japan Cup "D" Class Champion, Manfred von Holstein, was missing from the list.

University of International Cyclology : Professor MOB

I have spoken briefly with some of you about the possibility earlier on, but it is now almost official that I will be appointed Professor of International Management at the University of International Economics and Logistics in May.

In Bremen, Germany that is which will have some very unpleasant activities, among them moving from Japan to Bremen in April this year. On the one hand I feel proud that I will become the first professor of the Positivo Espresso Team and I am excited about the forthcoming changes in our life. But this is very small hand indeed.

On the other, more bigger hand, I feel extremely sad about all the things cycling- and friend-related here that I will eventually miss in Germany. There are no mountains in and around Bremen and winters, cold springs and autumns are long and only interrupted by 15 days of summer in August every year. I also doubt that it will become member of such an amazingly unorganized and unorthodox team as Positivo Espresso is. All sad things indeed.

There are still about six weeks left in Japan and I hope I can utilize them to do some more good rides with the team. Thanks for everything.

German Winter Cycling

A short visit to the North of Germany revealed the following characteristics about the German Winter Cycling Scene:

• Lots of snow
• Bicyles seems to have a minimum weight of 15kg (not including the obligatory 5kg chain lock)
• So called "Holland Cycles" are still plentiful
• Road bikes still have downtube shifters
• Colnagno and Pinarello are not even mentioned in German cycle magazines
  

Cycling 1937

An interesting article about German cycling tours in Great Britain, 1937 from the German new magazine "Der Spiegel" (in German only).

Similar article from Bike Radar in English (thanks, Dominic).

Can even be used in snow for burning fat....now available in special PE version!!

Sony To Sell Advanced Bike Navigation Device

Sony Corp. recently announced that it will roll out a water-resistant navigation device for bicyclists on March 13, a gadget that can point the way to bike-friendly roads and parking lots.
With the NV-U35, the latest addition to the "nav-u" series, Sony is looking to tap demand among the growing ranks of health-minded consumers. The gadget includes a calorie counter for those serious about burning fat.
The NV-U35 can display streets that are wide enough for bikes but too narrow for cars, and can help cyclists find parking areas and roads designed for them.
Its 3.5-inch screen will also indicate speed and distance traveled.
The device's water-resistant design means it can be used even in rain and snow. It is powered by batteries, and can run for roughly 11 hours at a time.
The product will be available in black and two other colors.
The NV-U35's price is open, but Sony expects it to retail for around 37,000 yen. The company will also offer a mounting piece for bike handlebars; the expected retail price is 5,000 yen.
(Source: The Nikkei Business Daily March 1 edition)

The Honeythieves

After the rained-out weekend I met with Ludwig yesterday at Hashimoto to do a short but climbing-intensive trip over some new roads in the Route 20 / Doshi area under heavy police surveillance.We started on time at 7:30hr in front of Hashimoto station and tried a new shortcut that eventually brought us to the North Tsukui lake road. I wanted to show Ludwig my new discovery, the NORTH TSUKUI LAKE TRUNK EXTENSION which is very silent but in rather bad shape as you can see in the photos. But it has all the ingredients of a wonderful road: Three huge barriers which are shouting at you "Climb over me, please!", complete lack of any human activities, landslides, and great views. And all of this very close to Tokyo.
From there on we road to road 20 (the origin plan included to ride up Bijotani but I thought that wouldn't be a good idea in winter, given the conditions of the road).

Ludwig thought about a nice shortcut from road 20 to Akiyama, but we were stopped by some construction works. We tried to convince the guys there that it would be OK to let us pass, but we couldn't. In the end they were helpful to show us an alternative road which brought as to Akiyama as well.

We then started to climb Kando-Toge (not Ganda-Toge, it seems) which Ludwig has done already once from the Doshi-Michi side and Tom has reported out first in his heartwarming-story about the honey farmers of Doshi who in the 18th century cut this path into the rock with their bare hands in an effort to get access to the free market economy in the villages at road 20. Only to get raided by corporate M&A lawyers on the pass who forced them to integrate their operations into huge Doshi Honey conglomerates, lease the assets to dubious investment backs and sell the not performing bees as sub-prime collateralized debt obligations to the local pension funds. Oh sorry, I come back to cycling now.

The climb up covers about 500 meter elevation difference and the pass is about elevation 800 meters plus. On the top we were greeted by snow, a very much different scenery to the first signs of springs at Tsukui lake.

I wanted to pee, but because of the honey thieves the whole area is still very much under remote police surveillance. I found the only possible place to pee only after some serious thinking (please enlarge for maximum effect).Mount Fuji was now clearly visible between the mountains and after riding down on the other side, we continued to Doshi Michi, and then to road 76 and Makino Toge which I also had climbed only once last year.

After that we continued to Miyagase lake and started to climb up Yabitsu as the cul de sac of the day. When I started the clock, Ludwig said "We don't do a time trial, do we?" And I answered: "No, but I don't want to slog up as well" So we started pretty fast, kept steady and after we saw another cyclist in front of us we went even faster. After 20 minutes I lost Ludwig who was speeding ahead and I went up my own pace. I wasn't that good but also not too shabby when I reached the top where Ludwig has waited already for 4 minutes, probably setting a new Togebaka record (which needs to be entered on this blog).

The descent was rather fast, although I was careful on the site of my crash some weeks ago. But I reached more than 69 km/hr on the stretch after the donuts slope which was good enough to reach Hadeno station on time and take a train home.

Incredibly, the whole ride was only 111 km long, but with almost 1.800m of climbing it was pretty intensive and a good start into the week.
Off to Germany now any minute.