Shonan Coast Beauty

Today I did my 4th ride of the "Festive 500". Ride 500kms from Dec 24 to Dec 31. As of evening of Dec 28, I am at 419 kms. So should be easy peasy from here ... as long as I can avoid injury of last minute mechanical failure.

Nils, Andrew and I planned to meet at Minami Machida station on the Denentoshi Line at 8AM. I left home around 640-645am and made very good time, arriving around 8:05. They took the train from Futako Tamagawa and arrived a few minutes later. Andrew had picked Minami Machida because it is very close to the Sakaigawa, a river that has a bike path along it 95% of the way to Enoshima. This is as good a way as any to get to Shonan Coast - train to Minami Machida (to avoid racing trucks on Route 246 as I did early this morning), then down the riverside.

After a few kms we joined the route that I once rode on my commute to teach a weekly class at Keio SFC campus. I was leading the way this morning, knowing each corner, where there was traffic or not, where a rider needed to slow or even unclip from one cleat to get through a barrier, having ridden this probably 50 times over a 3-year period. 

The first stretch was nice and semi-rural, lots of fields. Then there was a more suburban section. Then there was a section of depressing public housing. And more variety, then we were in the town of Fujisawa, across Route 1, in an urban area, and finally to the water! Wow! It was glorious today.

We snapped plenty of photos, then headed west, trying to ride the sandy-but-paved path along the beach as much as possible, instead of the faster, but less scenic, road. I have never seen the Shonan coast as beautiful as it was today. Dramatic clouds and sun, waves, surfers, Mt Fuji partially visible in the distance. What a scene!

Anyway, we stopped for lunch about 14 kms before Odawara Castle at one of Andrew's regular haunts for a delicious, reasonably priced lunch, then continued on to Odawara and toured the castle grounds by bicycle (no other cyclists riding around ... but no one stopped us).

Andrew and Nils continued on toward Atami. I rode up to Hakone Yumoto and checked out the beginning of the Kyu-Tokaido, just to think about using it on upcoming rides out of Odawara this Winter/early Spring, when weather permits. Then it was back to Odawara 103kms total, and a quick (27? minute) 3000 yen shinkansen trip back to Shinagawa. Almost too easy, too glorious.

GPS track is here.

Map below.