First Ride of Spring

Japan (and the rest of the northern hemisphere) celebrated the Spring Equinox this weekend.  In Tokyo, the weather was actually, well, appropriate for early Spring!  Sunday dawned cool (low of 4 degrees), but by midday the arm and leg warmers were off and I was riding in short sleeves/shorts for the first time this year.

Low traffic volume on the Akigawa

Jerome and I headed for the Akigawa and Kobu Tunnel.  I have had a nasty cold the past 10 days that still lingers, and my energy flagged on the shallow climb up the lower Akigawa.  I eventually turned for home, at the traffic signal where the steeper climb up to the tunnel begins.  Jerome kept on.  By the time I got home, I had managed 125 kms.  Jerome did 150 kms and more than twice the climbing.  Neither of us felt "in shape", but if we can do rides like this weekly and then the Fleche on April 12-13 we will get there before long.

Still, kind of depressing to only manage this short trip when I look at Tom Weilrunner's blog and see that this 3-day weekend he managed TWICE to do a Matsuhima/Kazahari loop, and on his middle (off) day made it up as far as the snow blocking the route along the Green Line in Chichibu!

This sentiment offset some kind of military memorial I passed on the way back down the Akigawa, where I stopped for a quite bite of a sandwich from my pack.  On the main memorial I could recognize the characters for 陸軍 (army) and 大将 (general), among others.

Early Spring on the Akigawa

Would have been a nice day for a barbeque along the Tamagawa, for a group of university students.  But fun is still banned!