POSITIVO ESPRESSO: 300km from Kamakura to Minami Izu and Back

19 May 2025

300km from Kamakura to Minami Izu and Back

Sunrise on the southeastern Izu coastline

After a trip to visit family in the USA, I was back in Tokyo and ready to ride -- to get "revenge" for my 400km DNF in the cold hard rain and dark of February 1. The 300km Kanagawa Audax ride from Kamakura to Minami Izu and back was my chance to do so.

I had done this ride some years earlier, in November 2021. My outbound leg then was at a blistering pace, one of the fastest of the group. I rested at the Shimoda foot bath near Sakamoto Ryoma's statue, and took the return more slowly ... but still finished in a decent time. I liked the 8PM start also -- it allowed us to complete 3/4 of the ride before there was significant traffic. And even in late November, the temperature never dipped below 10 degrees C, the sunrise was spectacular, and I finished just as the rain started.

Three years later ... was a bit of a different experience.

First, February in Japan is a LOT colder than November, with late February/early March being the coldest and wettest part of winter. This time Strava tells me it was 3 degrees C at the start, and it surely dipped near 0 C before dawn and hovered in that range until after sunrise. And with the wind Strava tells me it "felt like" -5 degrees C even when it was 3 degrees. Anyway, it was really cold. Cold, even with good winter gear while riding, definitely very cold while stopped. This time, unlike February 1, the rain did not come until an hour or two before the end. It was a hard, cold shower passing through, and it was already dark outside with cars racing down the coast road between Odawara and Kamakura. But I was not about to let it deter me when I was so close to the goal.

Second, this time the ride had an 11PM start, rather than 8PM. So I was already tired shortly after the ride started. 11PM is not as good for me as an 8PM start ... and with leaving home by train, getting to Kamakura, etc., it was not as if I could just sleep early and then ride. And a 3-hour later start also meant that we had traffic on the entire return trip.

(In June, I will try a 600km brevet that has a 2AM start. I will stay at an onsen about an hour away, sleep from 7-12 or so, then ride to the start and go. I hope that will be enough sleep. I hope I will not feel as tired then as I did on the Izu ride!)

The organizers had shifted the ride to February in order to try and time it perfectly to catch the Kawazu sakura, which usually bloom in late February, 4, 5, or 6 weeks before the "yoshino" sakura in Tokyo. We did see plenty of early blooming sakura in southern Izu, as well as some spectacular na-no-hana (rapeseed), ... but the sakura along the river in Kawazu, the very definition of Kawazu sakura, were not out yet.

Anyway, the ride still had lovely coastline and a memorable sunrise as well as the early flowering plants. And anywhere inland would have been even colder.

I took some photos after the sun came up, but was tuckered out by the cold. I was determined to finish, and I had decent gear to keep warm enough while riding, but I felt as if I was using a lot of energy just to keep my body moving. And did I mention that this ride has hills? Over 3000 meters of climbing on the middle 200kms; flat the first and last 50kms. No single climb was higher than 100m elevation gain, but the climbs seem endless. Izu is for climbers.

All those little 50, 75, and 100 meter climbs ... add up to over 3000 meters elev gain.

On the return trip, we were riding along a line of Sunday traffic ... sitting traffic ... all the way from Ito-shi to Odawara. I felt sorry for the drivers, and the passengers.

As on the February 1st ride, I had some stomach issues while riding. I ate too much or the wrong food at a convenience store stop? Or did not wait long enough before getting back on the bike? Or the cold had me in such extreme fatigue that I could not manage to eat what I used to be able to? I used to have stomach problems around 5-6 hours into a long, multi-day randonee, but they would be temporary and after a few hours I would feel fine ... and continue to be able to eat and ride, eat and ride, for the next several days. I'm not sure any more.

And I often have feet issues after hours in the saddle. This time they were minor, resolved by getting off the bike and resting briefly a few times. The RAMAX performed just fine. No bike issues, no tire issues.

All-in-all a successful outing, even if much slower than in 2021. I made it, despite the cold, despite the climbing, my stomach, my feet, and the nasty cold rain for the final hour or two. I just rolled it in and checked in with 20 minutes to spare.