18 May 2008

37th Tokyo-Itoigawa Fastrun 294 km -- Mission Accomplished


Before



During






After



Thanks to all for a great event yesterday, Saturday May 17. We started in the last group, at 6:30 AM (teams starting between 4AM and 6:30AM). Tom said goodbye about 1/3 of the way up the first hill (Otarumi) and was waiting for us in Itoigawa, having finished in just under 10 hours. The rest of us rode as a group and made it in a more relaxed 12 hrs and 25 minutes. The hill North of Lake Suwa was painful, as was the ride up a gradual slope and into the steady headwind North of Matsumoto. Our 4-cyclist long train pulled many smaller, weaker riders in its wake! The last 52 km, descending from Hakuba to Itoigawa through numerous tunnels, took just over an hour, as we averaged better than 40 kph., and overtook many, many cyclists who had started earlier than us. Nice to pass people going a good 10-15 kph faster than they are ... no chance they will try to hop on the rear and catch a ride.

Riders -- please add to this post!

TOM: Thanks everyone for joining this most memorable ride! The travelogue of mine was posted yesterday...take a look when you have time. Looking forward to reading Michael's version!

GPS map ... until the battery died just after leaving the Hakuba stop:


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