Since I did not quite complete the lovely 1300km ride over last month's "Silver Week" holiday, I wanted to ride the "back-up" 600km event for which I had registered. The back-up was a Randonneurs Tokyo ride from Kawasaki to Kitakata, a town north of Aizu Wakamatsu in the same large valley in NW Fukushima Prefecture, and back. The theme title was a Japanese version of "let's ride to Kitakata and back to eat some ramen," as Kitakata is famous for its style of ramen. Kitakata is one of the 3 most popular ramen styles in Japan, along with Sapporo and Hakata (Fukuoka) ramens. Kitakata is not a big city, so I guess not a lot of people visit there for reasons other than its ramen, and it leads Japan in ramen shops per capita.
I did not choose this ride for the ramen, however (fortunately, as reported below). I chose it because this is the only weekend in October that I don't have a schedule conflict, and because it looked like another interesting trip into parts of Japan north of Tokyo, not dissimilar to last year's 600k, or this year's 1000k and 1300k attempts, all out of Yaita organized by Utsunomiya Audax. Also, October is prime riding season in Japan, at least in areas north and northwest of Tokyo.
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| The start of our brevet and a 300km event, at Todoroki, Kawasaki-shi |
One of the benefits of an R-Tokyo ride is the usual start location -- far less than an hour's ride from my house in Todoroki area of Kawasaki, just across the Tamagawa at Marukobashi. This is just over 11kms from my house, less than half the distance to the Aoba Randonneurs start, and about the same distance as a Nihonbashi or Tamagawa start. Just about all the other Kanto-based groups -- Saitama, Kanagawa, Chiba, Utsunomiya, among others--require either a train or car trip to the start and from the goal, utsunomiya typically requiring arrival the night before the ride given the distance from Tokyo. This time, I did not want to use/bring a rinko bag with me -- if I don't have one on the bike, then I won't be tempted to return home by train, right?
Another benefit of R-Tokyo rides is the large number of offerings. This time, they were offering a 300km and a 600km on the weekend when I could participate.
I felt good in anticipation of the event. I would ride the RAMAX again -- it had worked perfectly on the 1300km attempt -- except I would swap out the Ryet saddle for an older, trusty Fizik Arione. I brought the same combination of creams I had used on the 1300km, and those, the dry weather, plus the Arione seat, meant I could make it through in comfort, at least as to my butt. The weather forecast was near perfect -- cool at night, warm in the day, but not too warm, not summer hot. And no major headwinds in the forecast, nor signficant risk of precipitation.
The ride started at 6AM on Saturday of a 3-day weekend. It also happened to be my 64th birthday, and I figured it was my party so I could do what I wanted, and delay any other celebrations until the recovery phase. (My older sister called this my "will you still need me, will you still feed me" birthday after the Beatles' song "When I'm 64").
The 6AM start was great, especially after the 8AM start a few weeks ago in Utsunomiya. Why? It meant the first day could finish up before 10PM, instead of extending to after midnight. It also meant an hour riding at the start before there was significant traffic.
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| Entering Tochigi, at 10:41AM. No photos up to here. |
And oh boy was there significant traffic. The route north from Tokyo went through Tokorozawa, Saitama, near Kawagoe, and up into Gunma near Takebayashi and Sano, then over a modest climb and into the area around (just west of) Kanuma. The roads all the way through Gunma and into southern Tochigi were toward the awful end of the spectrum, in terms of heavy traffic and lack of shade or attractive features. At least they were fast and relatively direct. Then once we got over the hill and into the area around Kanuma, everything switched, 180 degrees. Now the roads were quiet, and much slower. There were even a few nasty little ramps on side roads in the forest. Maybe the course designer started out thinking "fast" and "who cares about the traffic!" then went out and had a delicious, filling lunch, and came back to continue the route plan thinking a "slow and scenic" route would be best. Anyway, I would hope the route planner would look at other Audax routes that go north out of Tokyo and toward this part of Gunma/Tochigi, and find a nicer option with less traffic.
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| The nicer country west of Kanuma, Tochigi |
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| Approacbing Nikko ... camera lens needs cleaning! |
The big surprise for me was the climb north of Kinugawa Onsen. I had been through the area around Nikko many times, but never headed north up the river beyond this major onsen town. Or should I say formerly major onsen town. The place is known for having a number of larger hotels that catered to group travel back in the 1960s-1990s, but have shut down or become dilapidated. At laast that is my strong impression. Stil, on a sunny Saturday afternoon of a 3-day weekend, the place was full of tourists and did not seem dead.
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| Kinugawa. Below is a video of the river further up on the climb. |
The climb up Route 121 north of the main part of Kinugawa town was lovely. It was mostly not steep, and it was something like 35 kms from the Lawson convenience store checkpoint to the border with Fukushima Prefecture, a climb from around 400m to around 850km elevation. The climb had plenty of flat stretches, including a ~10km long section with a reservoir (Lake Ikari), but mostly was just a lovely wild valley. Eventually, we reached a "T" intersection and joined Route 400 -- the same road I had taken out of Yaita into Minami Aizu on the Utsunomiya 600 and 1000km brevets this and last year.
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| Approaching the "T" intersection with the route from Nasushiobara to Minami Aizu 17:21 and light starting to fade. |
My feet still flared up, swelling and painful in the heat of day-1 afternoon around 135kms. The same happened again on the second day. I had zero issues in the mornings or at night, so I really do think my feet were swollen in the warm of the day, after some hours on the bike each day. I wore Lake shoes that fit well (with thin wool socks that would not constrain my feet even if they swelled in the heat), and with a custom molded insole. I lowered the seat a bit relatively soon after pain appeared, I used topical Voltaren, I loosened the shoes at rest stops, and the pain was manageable ... and went away not long after sunset, only to return late-morning on day-2. What is the solution? Is there one? Flat pedals and more cushy shoes ... as I ride on the recumbent? I will need to experiment further.
Jerome, who also joined the ride, broke the cable on his rear derailleur relatively shortly after we got to the nice territory west of Kanuma. This is the kind of thing I once carried spares for ... but I use an electronic shifting groupset and Jerome did not have a spare cable with him. Also, his bike has internal cable routing, so changing one is no longer as simple as it once was. We stopped for lunch at a "shokudo" in the countryside. We were the only customers and the food was uninspired ... but he could call and locate a bike shop ahead in Nikko. There was some up and down in the stretch before Nikko, and I actually saw Jerome walk up one hill -- a new experience. As we went through Nikko, we were further down the hill than we had been on the 1300k last month, but at one point crossed the course, and Jerome veered off to go to the bike shop, Kamiyama. I continued on to the check point at Kinugawa Onsen falls area, and then onto the long slow gradual and, at a cool dusk on an October day, lovely climb. I got a report from Jerome that he was done at the bike shop and back on course. He was 1 hour and 20-30 minutes behind me at the checkpoint, having lost that much time with the repair, but still way ahead of the notional time deadlines.
Once I got to the intersection with Route 400, I knew the top of the climb--and entry into Fukushima Prefecture--were not far. Once on the descent, my hard work for the day was essentially done. I had ridden 230kms from home, around 215km on the actual brevet course. I had another 85km to go before I would sleep, but it was only just ~6PM and the rest of the course was almost entirely downhill or flat, without headwind or rain. What a contrast to Day 1 of last month's Utsunomiya 1300k!
I got a dinner of convenience store pasta at Minami Aizu Tajima, and kept rolling. I arrived at the Kitakata checkpoint -- the "ramen shrine" -- around 9:40PM. All the ramen shops on the main street were closed! I was extremely disappointed with R-Tokyo for planning a ride to eat ramen and not giving any suggestions about where we might find it. I had asked at the start and been told if every place was closed in Kitakata, we could get some in Aizu Wakamatsu at a chain place open 24 hours. ... of course, we did not pass THROUGH Aizu Wakamatsu, the course went around. And we would not even touch the outskirts until 3AM on the return. And who needs to go to Fukushima Prefecture to eat chain-shop ramen?
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| The ramen shrine ... closed for the night |
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| Guesthouse -- I left the door to our room cracked for Jerome. |
Anyway, I sent Jerome instructions ... he had closed the gap a bit and was around an hour behind me in arriving at the accommodation.
I had planned to sleep until 2AM, but I was in and out of sleep repeatedly and my eyes open wide before 130AM. I gave up going back to sleep, got up, dressed, ate, and was on the bicycle and headed out.
The organizers had announced that they had modified the route on this next stretch -- the climb up to Lake Inawashiro -- due to bear sightings on the original planned route. Even worse, every electronic sign board since entering Fukushima Prefecture warned that persons should watch out for bears and check the latest reported sightings before going out. Of course, I had no time to figure out how to do this, and now I was riding alone toward a forested climb in the dead of night. Worse, I was not sure if my GPS had the original or the modified course, and I was not very enthusiastic about going up ANY deserted, forested climb in the dark in bear country given all of the warnings.
I decided I would just head up a climb up to the west and try to get onto Route 294 at its beginning. If I could connect with Route 94, I would be on a road with actual vehicle traffic, but not heavy traffic at 3AM. This conscious deviation from the course ... did not work. I climbed almost 150m elevation, through an industrial park then a mix of fields and forest. As I was traversing the fields ... I saw a pair of saucer eyes reflecting in my bicycle light from 100m up the road. Then as I got a bit closer, a small dog-like animal crossed the road and hopped across the field. Its hop was very distinctive -- bounding on all 4 legs as if it had springs -- as it went through the field of tall grasses. It was ... a fox! I had never seen a fox on Honshu before. They are secretive, nocturnal, carry a very dangerous (to humans) parasite, and are at the core of many Japanese folk tales -- foxes who disguise themselves as beautiful women or needy children, or one's aging long lost mother -- and who trick humans.
Anyway, the fox bounded on its way, and I found my road intersection and continued the climb. I got to a road that I thought would take me to Route 94 ... and after maybe 500m it started to wind down the south side of the slope I had just climbed from the west, twisting and turning. Eventually, I stopped and got out my google maps. I had lost at least 2/3 the elevation I had just climbed, and was approaching the bottom of the hill not far from where I had started the climb. I called Jerome -- he was already ahead of me and about to start the proper climb. I gave up my plan, went back to the bottom, back on course, and did the actual climb. Other than losing time and wasting energy, I was back on course, and still on track.
Quite a few riders passed me on the climb toward Route 294. On the one hand, this was reassuring that I was indeed on the correct route. On the other hand, I really regretted not sleeping longer, and my earlier detour. The climb was long but not steep, even if it seemed steep in the pre-dawn dark. Finally, I was up the hill and onto Route 294 ... but the climb was not quite finished. The next stretch of 25km or so along Route 294 was basically flat, but with enough up and down to remind me how tired my legs were. Then there was a climb up another 100m of elevation to a tunnel, then, finally, a 15km descent from 650m elev down to just over 300m. We had another 12-13 kms to the checkpoint, and could just roll it in well ahead of the notional closing time.
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| Glorious sunrise with fog in the valley below. Another spectacular dawn in Fukushima Prefecture! |
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| 6:25AM, down the big hill and now a much flatter road to Shirakawa ... except the upcoming climb(s). |
Except there was another climb -- nearly 100m of elevation gain over a few kms -- before the control point. I arrived exhausted. But I knew we would just need to get over the Fukushima/Tochigi border and then it would be a gradual descent and lots of flat areas in Kanto to get home.
I was a bit surprised that, after a small dip, we had a 10km grind climbing over 100m elevation to get to the Tochigi border. We were riding now on Route 4 -- the "main road" of Tohoku before the expressways were built. I usually avoid Route 4 like the plague, but I had never ridden this stretch and had no idea whether it would have heavy traffic or cars and trucks whizzing by. Most other brevets use a route that takes local Tochigi highway 76 -- a delightful low-traffic climb and nice descent maybe 5 kms to the east of Route 4. How was the Route 4 alternative? It was consistent with other stretches of Route 4. Lots of traffic at high speed whizzing by. Not a lot of fun for a cyclist. I guess it was slightly more direct than a detour to local route 76 ... but I have fond memories of a Chiba brevet where we descended Route 76 into Fukushima and down toward Shirakawa and ... stopped at a wonderful ramen shop that was open, served delicious and filling fare, welcoming a large group of cyclists in from the wet and cold. Route 4 held no such charms.
We finally exited Route 4 around 40kms from the Shirakawa checkpoint, in Otawara area. We took a nicer, more local road for over 20kms, then could "enjoy" another 5kms along Route 4. This time at least we were riding along an access road, not the main highway, so were not exposed to traffic. Here there were lots of election posters of a local LDP Diet member, Yana-sensei, the new Minister of agriculture. He has been in hot water over threats of cuts to the road repair budgets localities that don't support the LDP. After riding some of the roads that might not get repaired in the future, I must say that I am not a fan of Yana-sensei.
Jerome and I had been together since the Shirakawa checkpoint. As we came into Mouka, I started to look for the next PC. Jerome was ahead of me and rode right by it, thinking it was still 1-2kms ahead. Anyway, there were at least 10 other riders in the PC at the same time. We stopped briefly, then went down the street to a Mosburger for a sit-down hamburger lunch.
Our bikes -- especially the water bottles -- were warm in the midday heat, as we had parked them in direct sunlight where we could watch them as we ate at the Mosburger.
The next stretch was unremarkable. In fact, I don't remember very much about it - flat, boring, with traffic gradually building up.
By the time we entered Ibaraki, at Chikusei NW of Tsukuba, the holiday traffic jams were in full swing. Chikusei, Shimotsuma, Ishige, Joso, Moriya, and finally across the Tonegawa to Kashiwa and then the checkpoint at Matsudo. At places it seemed we were riding past lines of sitting traffic several kms in length, all to get to one red light "chokepoint". In Moriya, a group of kids on their bikes "raced us" for what must have been a kilometer, we on the road shoulder avoiding a line of cars, they on the sidewalk avoiding other sidewalk users. Eventually, we veered off with a right turn. I guess they won the race ... but I wanted to holler out "just try doing that for 500 or 600kms!" If you think the Straits of Hormuz are a chokepoint ... just check out Ibaraki's Joso Fureai Doro and local Route 47 over the Tonegawa on a holiday weekend!
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| A shoes-off rest at roadside, watched over by the jizo-bosatsu in the shed |
This congested course ... I do not pin blame for on the organizers. It is unavoidable riding pretty much anywhere between Tsukuba and central Tokyo on this kind of weekend. The roads are just too narrow, and never caught up with the population when it exploded decades ago. The only routes that avoid congestion tend to be along river levees, and the rivers were flowing perpendicular to our direction, so of no use to us.
Anyway, it was 7PM by the time we made it to the Matsudo PC. Jerome was still stronger than me, but he was slipping a bit in alertness and judgment ... missing a turn as he had missed the earlier checkpoint. He was doing 80-90% of the pulling when we were riding in tandem, but mostly we were just rolling it home within 50-100m of each other, often with decent separation. Frankly, at this point in the ride, it is safer to have a bit of separation.
Finally, we entered Tokyo Prefecture and the roads immediately widened. We rode down wide avenues, with thinning traffic in the evening, through Edogawa-ku, Koto-ku, and finally, Chuo-ku. We went over Eitai-bashi, passed the former Tsukiji fish market site, then Shinbashi and down Route 15 through Minato-ku to Takanawa, all very familiar roads and the last within a few hundred meters of my home. From here, we had only 7 kms to go to the finish, a convenience store on Nakahara Kaido just inside Kanpachi. We rolled it in, arriving with almost 30 minutes to spare (a bit less by the time I got my receipt for proof of passage).
After a short chat with other riders, we went across the street for Indian food and Jerome treated me to a kind of birthday dinner. I think I have never ridden more slowly into town on Nakahara Kaido than after that dinner, as I retraced the final 7kms to home.
I was glad to complete a 600km brevet this year, one that had a reasonable amount of climbing even if it had long flat, boring, and congested sections at beginning and the end. And there was no rush to the end or sense of desperation around time management or punishment to the body to get to the goal on time -- just a long ride back into Tokyo. The RAMAX again worked perfectly; no flat tires or other mechanical issues; no chafing; ... only that annoying foot pain. Still, I know that I will need to up my game substantially if I am to complete 1200k randonees in coming years. The Silver Week 1125kms and this ride have shown me where I am, and where I need to get to.
Strava links:
Day one: https://www.strava.com/activities/20528435703
Day two: https://www.strava.com/activities/20541510011
