January 10 is the birthday of Yukichi Fukuzawa, founder of the university where I teach and the gentleman whose visage adorns the 10,000 yen banknote. So the university is closed on January 10. Happy Birthday, Yukichi!
I have time conflicts and cannot ride this weekend, so I decided to seize the opportunity of the local holiday, ignore the stacks of papers to grade and other work not yet done, and instead take a training ride with a bit of climbing. I hopped the shinkansen from Shinagawa for the 45-50 minute trip to Mishima at the NW corner of Izu Peninsula. It seems like every time I go here, I get bogged down taking photos of Mt. Fuji in the distance across the bay. It is irresistible. It happened to me when I rode this coastline before Christmas, and every time I can remember before. So I have plenty of photos of Mt. Fuji from this route. Do I really need more of these photos? No! I need to FOCUS on getting in shape for Tasmania and PBP.
So today I was determined -- minimize the photo stops, get in a quick ride, if possible a loop out along the coast to Toi Onsen, then Route 136 east over the pass (well, not the real pass, but the tunnel at 500m elevation that cuts through the line of mountains above west Izu's coast), and the long gradual descent to Shuzenji, and back North along the Kano River to Numazu/Mishima, and get back to Tokyo mid- or late-afternoon!
I did quite well, really, for awhile. I was able to resist any photos for the first 25+ out of nearly 110 kms, until I stopped to remove my top layer jacket. This was not even a photo stop, right? It was a stop to remove excess clothing before the climbs to come. Doesn't count! And the photo was, well, spectacular, but not up to par for this course. Too little variation between the color of the water and the sky -- just different shades of blue, yawn -- too little snow on Fuji, nothing interesting on the water. I won't even post it in large size. If you read this blog, you've seen it before.
Then another quick stop for a bathroom break on a side-spur of a road, where the clouds and trees merited a photo. Also not a real photo stop. But the sky and trees were getting a bit more interesting.
Then I lost it. I took some photos briefly on the hill above Osezaki. One quick photo stop.
Then another one looking back after the first climb. Wow. I thought Fuji would be gone, around the corner from here, but there it was ... and an interesting foreground too, the village of Ita (井田).
Then more photos just after Heda. Last June (broken crankarm ride) and in December, I had not made it to this hill just past Heda ... and the mountain is perfectly framed ... and surely this is the last view of Fuji I would get from along the coast. So just for old times sake ...
Then I climbed more, longer hills on the 15kms between Heda and Toi. I was pretty much alone. The only roadies I had seen were far north and heading home to Numazu. I saw at most ten moving vehicles on this entire 15km stretch, mostly locals in "kei" trucks. As I emerged on the South side of one of the tunnels, a blast of wind hit me. There were whitecaps below -- and the wind and waves were coming not from within a protected bay, but straight from the Pacific to the South.
I remembered Assynt, the Rapha image film of hard men riding in rough weather in northern Scotland under dark clouds, rain spitting at them as the entire branding campaign "jumped the shark". I could almost hear the deep sonorous Scottish accent announcing "the shipping forecast ... there are warnings of gales". Could I, here on the rugged west Izu coastline, be livin' the Rapha dream lifestyle? I checked my clothing. No Rapha. And even worse, the pavement was dry, and the wind quieted as I descended. Disappointed, I continued on.
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| Sun reflected on the ocean through a break in the clouds |
A few kms before the center of Toi, there is another small town, Odoi. As I passed and rounded a corner toward Travellers' Point (旅人岬), the wind hit -- full force! I was standing up and on the bike and barely advancing on the pedals. There was an old lady walking at the side of the road, leaning steeply into the wind as she edged ahead slowly. .... and I edged past her on my bicycle. We silently acknowledged each other's efforts. Now that was more like it! And I remembered, yes, under my shoes, inside my "windblock" shoe liners, yes, I was wearing Rapha socks! Ahhhh.
Anyway, soon I was at Toi Onsen. I checked out the foot bath, the tourist info place (typically, they did not steer me toward any one restaurant, but just gave me a map and circled the places they thought were open). I ended up getting a rather basic and slightly expensive "mixed fry" teishoku lunch. This stop put me way behind schedule.
The climb was steeper than I remembered. The last time I did this climb was with Steve Ridgely back in April 2015 on the R Tokyo 400km brevet. That time it was already dark, and I was exhausted, so it seemed like a hard climb. This time it was mid-afternoon daylight, the road was dry, and there was even a tail wind at points. Yet, it was still a hard climb. 500 meters up over 8kms. There is some variation, with a few stretches in the 10% range and some nearly flat. Anyway, it was good exercise.
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| Starker than in April 2015 when many trees on the hillside were flowering. |
I could enjoy a nice 13km descent to Baird Beer's brewery along the river just south of Shuzenji, where I stopped off to say hello to my friend from the Chicago alums group, Baird business manager John C. My plan for Olympic cycling involves the velodrome at Shuzenji and the Baird Beer brewery tap room, restaurant and campsite in the valley nearby. Further behind schedule.
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| Bike leaning |
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| River and very blue sky without bike leaning |
Finally, I hopped the train and was back in Tokyo just after 6PM.
Strava track available here (minus the first couple kms).
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