Cold Wet Training Ride to Miura

Wet RAMAX leaning in Yokohama

Last weekend I rode the 200km Nishi Izu brevet. The 3 weekends before that I did rides over Nokogiri, Yanagisawa, and Mitsumine. The next 3 weekends are, with any luck (please, no more Covid-19 countermeasure cancellations, please), 400km, 300km, and 600km brevets I will do with Jerome.

So this weekend I could relax a bit, I thought. On Saturday I swam first thing in the morning and had music practice in the evening, so no ride. Sunday (today) I would get out on the RAMAX. Jerome, Peter J. and I made a plan to try Tsuru Pass and Matsuhime -- similar to a ride we did last October.  

But it was not to be. 

Tamagawa at Marukobashi

Wet pavement

Jerome with his 24x7 lighting - powered by SP Dynamo

The weather was on what the Japanese TV weather forecasters call a "kudarizaka" 下り坂. ... a downhill slope. Cyclists generelly enjoy downhill slopes -- they make it a lot faster and easier to go forward than a climb, but when used to describe the weather they are not a good thing. When I checked on Saturday night, it looked as if there would be rain in the afternoon Sunday, and the morning might involve a few drops here and there. 

Things looked worse when I woke on Sunday. There was a text from Peter J. that it was going to be raining all day west of town, and he was going back to bed. The pavement was damp and a few drops were falling, and the temperature (around 6C or 42F) was more like February than April for Tokyo. I also would have gone back to bed, but I am training for Cascade 1400, and that means riding sometimes even in less-than-ideal conditions.

I took a few minutes to check the weather forecasts all around Kanto. It seemed as if the best hope for a dry day would be to ride in Chiba or Ibaraki -- East of Tokyo. But there is no good way to get there quickly by bike from Tokyo. A train ride?  Then I had an idea. If we headed south toward Miura, a typical winter course, we might hop the ferry from Kurihama to the Boso Peninsula of Chiba and ride there, if the weather forecast held.

Jerome agreed to the change of plan, I left home at 630AM, and we met at Marukobashi at 7AM just as it started to rain. We checked the forecast again. Now it seemed as if there would be rain off and on everywhere, including Chiba. So the ferry would not be worth the extra time and effort, and might mean getting stranded in the cold and wet. We decided to just head down toward Miura and go as long as we felt okay.

At the south end of Yamashita Park

Sakura viewed over the top of a building (public toilet) in Yamashita Park.

Through Yokohama we climbed the slope and took the lovely hilltop road through Yamate, including a stop for the (very industrial) view. 

View from the hilltop park. This was probably a lovely vista 150 years ago.

After descending the south end of the hill/ridge and rejoining a quieter road parallel to Route 16, as we rode along in light rain, we saw a motor scooter accident on the opposite lane. The scooter must have locked brakes as it tried to slow and turn ... and the person riding fell with the scooter coming on top ... at slow speed. A pedestrian ran out to help lift the scooter. As we came up then crossed over, the rider, freed from the scooter, stood up ... but could not put any weight on the right leg. I could see a large hole in the right pants leg around the knee. Ouch. 

We could tell that it was a police scooter (with a white box on the rear for carrying paperwork to write up interview reports and issue citations that was labeled "POLICE"). But it was only as we got within a few meters that we realized the motorist was a police woman. We suggested she should stay seated and rest a bit before trying any sudden moves, and warned that often it takes an hour or two or even longer to know whether you are actually injured from this kind of fall (as a cyclist, I know it all too well).

Within another minute, a man and woman ran up with work clothes and caps that identified them as with the Yokohama Fire Department and asked what happened and whether she was okay.  She said that her brake had locked up. Then soon after came someone in a black dress uniform who must have been the local fire station chief.  He asked her if she wanted to report it as a traffic accident or not, as no one else had been involved. She said clearly "yes, I will report it."

As the authorities seemed to have everything under control, we headed on our way.  But I could not help but feel badly for the police woman. And not because she might have suffered leg or other injuries that would take time to recover. I felt badly for her because I could only imagine what a one-scooter accident might do to her service record. I had images of her being assigned to the reception desk or file room at her police station, for the next decade or so, whereas before she had been heading toward the detective squad. I worried that gender discrimination in Japan might make this a bigger black mark on her record than deserved. Then again, at least she did not need to worry about being terminated -- no regular employee in Japan does. 

When I used to commute into town down Meguro Dori, at the crossing in front of the Meguro Post Office, there was always a uniformed Tokyu Bus employee standing with a flag warning motorists to keep out of the Bus Lane (7AM-930AM).  I noticed that the SAME employee had this duty for many years. And last week on a morning spin as I came in Meguro Dori ... I saw that he was still on bus lane flag duty, though another five years have passed!  What did he do to deserve this? Maybe he never passed the test that allows him to drive a bus? Or a couple of fender benders early in his career as a driver? Some other failure? Or maybe something that made his boss really angry?  I hope he likes working outside. Anyway, I could not help think of him after the police woman's accident.

In the end, we got to Yokosuka and into a Gusto family restaurant before the rain got too hard. The forecast, again wrong, suggested that if we had breakfast, we might get another 3-4 hours of riding with a respite from the rain. We emerged 45 minutes later ... to more rain. It cannot be helped ... "Sho ga nai" ... the Japanese phrase.

South of Yokosuka -- last time I got out my iphone while riding. Rain got harder from here.

Finally, rinko'ed for the train from Kamakura

We did a ride around Miura in the cold rain, aided by a tailwind heading south,  fighting a headwind, and alongside heavy traffic, on the way back to Kamakura. As we pulled in to Kamakura Station after the wet, cold slog, Jerome said "I love cycling ... but maybe not to this extent." Then we enjoyed a wet bike-bagging experience, a cold train ride home, and, in my case at least, a hot bath.  I hope I will see the benefits of the past five weeks' training in the upcoming brevets!

The RAMAX performed well again. The Shimano disc brakes and Di-2 groupset, coupled with Panaracer Gravel King 700x28 tires, are trouble-free and offer a great deal of confidence in the rain.

116km of wet and windy fun!