Long Slow Distance - First Brevet of 2020/21

The last time I completed a brevet was sometime in 2019. In fact, it was before PBP -- I did 2x200, 300, 400, 2x600 to get ready for PBP, including the Tasmania series. But that was a long time ago. Japan Audax cancelled all brevets between March and August ... and I did not sign up for any in the Fall (of course, even if I had, my broken collarbone would have nixed that).

So I was eager to show I could still do one, or two, and signed up for the 1/9 and 1/11 200k events sponsored by Randonneurs Tokyo.

The 1/9 ride was from Nakahara Kaido (as it crosses the Nanboku Line) to Ajiro, a town just south of Atami, and back. They have instituted a "remove brevet card" system and flexible, online, sign-in that involves snapping a photo of your convenience store receipt and uploading it. Start was possible anytime from Midnight to Noon ... but with last week's announcement of a Covid-19 emergency and soft curfew, they asked people to finish and get home by 8PM. Also, we needed to download the government's Covid tracking app, COCOA, and upload a screen shot showing two weeks of no "close contacts" with Covid positive persons.  Other than this, all was normal.

It was cold (-2C). Jerome and I met at 7AM on this side of the river and headed for the start. At the start, my 7-11 receipt showed 7:14 and I was done uploading it and on the road by 7:25AM. 

Well, emergency or no, Nakahara Kaido is still the same slog, with LOTS of traffic, and trucks on Saturday, and nasty diesel emission smell in the cold. And there is lots of up and down on this route out of town.  Chogo Kaido was little better, but at least no nasty short hills. So the first and last 40km was not pleasant. 

But the stretches out toward the countryside were not bad. Route 1 along the coast between Ninomiya and Odawara is tolerable. Izu traffic was heavy going out, much less so coming back especially as we took the lovely "high road" past Enoura. Also, the area from Atami south to Ajiro was quite nice where we road along the edge of the hillside (cliff?) rather than through tunnels. And the weather was lovely after the morning cloud -- chilly, yes, but not TOO windy, and never overheated or got cold. 

So, overall, a mixed bag. Most important -- done and dusted.