Golden Week Takenoko Ride to Akiyama via Wada, Suzugane, and Hinazuru Passes

Extra large takenoko -- MacGyver'ed to the seat tube.

I did not ride that much over Golden Week, using the time to recuperate a bit from doing the full 200, 300, 400, 600 km series of brevets over the preceding month, and with other commitments on top of a normal class schedule at my university.

On Saturday, April 30, I rode the rebuilt Voyage Voyage to Chichibu with Jerome, Peter J, and Peter's friend Daniel. After a 90+ minute soba lunch stop, the three of them headed for Shigasaka Pass and a long loop and evening return. I went a bit further, but then turned around and headed for Honjo Waseda and the shinkansen back to Tokyo. 

It was a very nice day all around, including the solo ride. You can see the photos and ride route on Strava. 167kms in all. I left home 25 minutes late after some last minute bicycle tweaks, and pushed hard to catch the others (including a Strava "PR" and 60/2200 all-time on the oft-traveled 5km stretch of Setagaya Dori west of Sangenjaya), met Jerome first at the end of the Tamagawa path in Fuchu, and Peter and Daniel at Oume. 

As I neared the end of the ride, I even got to race a steam locomotive full of tourists at Nagatoro.

It was easy to keep up with the train on Voyage Voyage along a flat roadway. Eventually, after taking this video, I raced ahead. But of course, I knew that eventually the train would win the race. I thought of the ballad of John Henry, who competed with a steam drill at pounding railroad ties to lay new track, and died with his hammer in his hand. But which version of the song? Johnny Cash? Paul Robeson? Bruce Springsteen? BB King, narrated by Denzel? Harry Belafonte? Mississippi John Hurt? Pete Seeger (folk / labor activist)? Leadbelly (blues)? Billy Strings (bluegrass)? It is an American classic.

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The other 100km+ ride was on Friday, May 6, on the RAMAX. This was a Golden Week ride, but a few minutes after leaving home, I realized that it was no longer Golden Week! Friday was a workday and everyone was back at it. The early roads were full of trucks in town hauling massive pieces of buildings to construction sites ... but empty of vacationers in the countryside! Of course, Monday also had been a workday ... but had been nothing like this. Apparently many companies had taken Monday off, but all were back at work on Friday. Schools also seemed back in session -- not just my university but elementary school students heading on their commutes before 7AM.

A headwind slowed me, and was a few minutes late to meet Peter J at our regular starting point along the Tamagawa just northwest of Komae. We called Jerome. He was still in bed, having ridden several days mid-week, and was not coming along. Peter J said he would head out with me and then, as planned turn around so as not to push an iffy knee too much. We decided to head for Wada Pass via Daigo Rindo.

The last time I went up here, the road was partially washed away in places. Now it has all been restored with nice new asphalt. It is still a rindo, however, with moss, plenty of leaves and some rocks. I like to go up Wada this way (no traffic at all), but prefer other routes down. Peter J climbed with me to 500m elevation, then turned back for the trip home. I pressed on to the top (~740m elevation) and then down to the pass (~700m elevation). I did not climb quickly, but at least I did the entire climb without a foot down. The descent down the west side (Ura Wada) was exhilarating, as usual.  The RAMAX was "fun to ride" going both up and down.

No GW traffic on the rindo climb to Wada!

RAMAX at Wada Pass -- the classic photo spot

Koi Nobori on Ura Wada

I then faced a difficult issue. Where to go next? Kobu Tunnel? Or Tsuru Pass? Or Bijotani? Or head south to Route 76 and Doshi? In the end, I decided to head toward Uenohara and further west from there. Maybe I would go over Sasago Pass? Or I could try one of the climbs south of Sarubashi area that I had never done. Now that I was alone, I was aiming for a most-of-day ride, home before dinner. 

I decided to try Suzugane Pass, a route I had somehow never taken in all these years! I could see on my smartphone that after cresting the pass and descending to the south, I would need to then do the shorter climb to the tunnel at Hinazuru Pass and down through Akiyama in order to return toward Tokyo. This was a lovely route. The only real traffic after leaving Tokyo was on Route 20 between Uenohara and Sarubashi, and that was far lighter than normal. The weather was perfect. 

Looking back at Uenohara from Route 20

At Suzugane Pass

Maglev track descends valley, Hazy Fuji in the background

Looking back downhill and downstream, toward Tsuru

Once in Akiyama, I stopped at Tsuruya, better known to expat cyclists as "the manju place in Akiyama."  I ordered a Miso Manju. 150 yen ($1.15). It was , served with vegetables and green tea. I could digest fully while riding as the descent continued for at least the next 8-10kms.  There were flatter sections and -10% ramps--reminding me how hard this little valley is to climb up in the other direction especially on a hot day. I passed one tunnel entrance on my left that led back to Uenohara. ... I don't remember ever having taken that either. But I kept going down the valley. At the bottom, instead of climbing up the South rim of the valley to meet Route 76, as I have always done in the past, I continued on a road that would loop around to the North, eventually meeting the route I would have taken if I had gone through the tunnel ... in time to go through another tunnel and onto a descent to Uenohara. 

Tsuruya, The Manju Shop

Always lovely flowers here, and little/no traffic.

Vegetable and tea make the manju go down, make the manju go down

GW traffic on Route 35 in Akiyama

We used to call this spot "The Vending Machines" in Akiyama.
Now it is just another "Happy Drink Shop".

 

Beautiful Akiyama

Along the way, I came across an unmanned roadside vegetable stand. The only offering was takenoko -- bamboo shoots. 3 huge shoots, priced at 300 or 400 yen. Takenoko is my wife's favorite Spring delicacy ... so I wanted to take one home and see if I could learn to cook it. But I had not brought a rucksack, and the huge shoots were too big for my jersey pockets or my underseat bag.

One of the shoots, the thinnest of the three, looked as if it might fit inverted into my bottle cage. I deposited 300 yen in the coin box, and put the takenoko in the bottle cage, moving the empty water bottle to my rear jersey pocket. The inverted takenoko fit the bottle cage, but I realized it was so top heavy and large that it would flop around and fall out. But wait, I had some zip ties, for exactly this purpose -- to secure items to the bicycle! Two daisy-chained zip ties worked to secure the stalk, and I could ride, with only a modest rub of the takenoko against the inside of each leg.

By the time I approached Uenohara, I realized that I would seriously chafe my legs if I went too much further, ... so I decided to get a snack and hop the train. My timing was not great ... after I rinkoed the RAMAX and got to the ticket gate, I could see the next train was not for 35 minutes. I bought and drank a cold beer. Only 125 kms for the day, but real climbing up Wada (with its long 13-15% grades), Suzugane, and a shorter climb to Hinazuru Tunnel meant that I did get a decent workout. You can see the statistics and route here on Strava.

I bought the middle one.

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Bike and Takenoko, leaning.

Thank you!

The lower 2/3 of the takenoko was wrapped in plastic, but it was quite a sight for the other passengers at the back of the local Chuo Line train. The first few minutes of the journey, it kept falling over on the floor of the train. Eventually, one man who had boarded with me at Uenohara reached in his briefcase and handed me a large paper shopping bag. I could fit almost the entire stalk into the bag, and thanked him. One of the hikers across the aisle handed me a smaller plastic bag that I could use to cover the top of the stalk that still protruded from the bag. I thanked her also. Everyone in the back of the last train car felt better about me and my takenoko. The "wa" had been restored.

The next day, I got some "nuka" (ground up rice bran) at our local supermarket, and boiled the takenoko with nuka in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes to remove the "aku" bitterness. I could then slice the edible parts of the plant into pieces for grilling in a skillet. Grilling was the easy part, with some olive oil. They were served with salt to taste. The slices tasted pretty good, and my wife seemed happy with the saga.

Boiled and ready to grill

Grilled with olive oil and salted

Glorious "Jason Paul" Ride -- Important Nomenclature Update!

Cyclist heads up the Akigawa going for Tomin no Mori.

Last week I got an email from a student about an assignment. "Prof. David", it began. An unsolicited apology email came about 2 minutes later using my last name instead of first. After learning that Japanese almost never use first names with "san", nothing sounds less natural to me than "[first name]-san" as in "David-san". (well, I've been in Japan long enough so it sounds more natural now that it once did, but still ... only dogs, foreigners, and little girls get called "[first name]-san" in most settings.

A memorial in the Akigawa Keikoku (gorge) -- the flag reminds cyclists to obey traffic rules
And "manner up"!

A day later I needed to write a short recommendation letter for a student who wants to go on exchange from my university law school in Japan to one of our U.S. partner schools. Written in roman characters, the student's first and last names each is a common Chinese family name. And in Chinese and Japanese (and Korean) of course the common order is "family name" then "first name", no comma. I struggled a bit -- should I refer to the student as "Mr. XX", or XX-san, or just "YY" (the first name)? In the Subject line I used "XX, YY" with the comma the clue that family name came first, then in the body of the letter I first used "Mr. YY XX", then later on just used the first name XX -- more familiar and friendly -- to emphasize that I actually know the student.

On the western approach to Wada Pass.

This is a problem more widely for anyone whose first and last names are easily, perhaps intentionally, interchangeable -- family names like David, Duncan, Mason, Paul or many others (or, in recent decades countless girls' first names like Kennedy, Madigan, Monroe, Riley, Taylor ...). And don't forget the character from the book Catch 22, Major Major, who not surprisingly achieved the military rank of ... Major. And given the different ordering in Asia, the problem is far worse.

Ron Paul, the perennial libertarian party Presidential candidate, could just as well be Paul Ron. It is only due to his son, Rand Paul, becoming a Senator and then becoming even more famous by getting beaten up in a fight with his doctor neighbor over lawn mowing and other simmering neighbor feud issues, ending up with six broken ribs in the hospital, that we can remember "Paul" is the family name.

Only a hint of Mt Fuji's shoulder below the clouds looking bac on the climb to Wada Pass.

This brings to mind one of our favorite Positivo Expresso rides, the "Paul Jason", named after a mysterious visitor who joined us on one of our first attempts over this course on a sweltering day back in 2006 (or 2007). He is immortalized and given the honor of having the route named for him. The ride goes out Jinba Kaido, over Wada Pass, through the nasty short climbs of the Golf Course Hills of Uenohara (our name), then up Route 33 to the Kobu Tunnel, down the other side to the Akigawa and back toward town via Itsukaichi.

If you missed this weekend, you will need to wait until next year to see the sakura
 ... along the Tamagawa.

But we rarely ride the "Paul Jason". We enjoy far more the "Reverse Paul Jason". The East side of Wada is a miserable narrow and steep climb, plenty of 15-16%. It is terrible if you meet any traffic and must dismount. The west side is far better, if longer. Likewise, the Kobu Tunnel climb is short and manageable from the Akigawa to the North, but seems really long from the south.

So it was with these thoughts in mind that Jerome and I decided to do the ride yesterday. Why the "reverse Paul Jason", I asked? Why not just the "Jason Paul" ride? Jason could be the first and Paul the family name -- just like Ron and Rand! We took a vote and decided to implement the change immediately. Done.

Tachikawa, along the Tamagawa, still blossoms

Tachikawa. along the Tamagawa

Well, the actual ride took a bit longer before it was "done".  160km distance with 1750m of elevation gain for me.

We met at 810AM along Meguro Dori near Jerome's place, headed upriver and out to Itsukaichi. Jerome complained that his old Look bike was slow, and he was struggling. Something must have gone wrong with it after it bounced on the icy pavement repeatedly as he fell again and again while walking down upper Doshi Michi from Yamabushi Pass a few weeks ago. We raised the seat and made a few other minor changes, and it seemed better.

Random flowering hillside on the Akigawa

Where are the cars? Akigawa Keikoku

There are the cars -- stuck behind Jerome as he "owns his lane".

At the turnoff for the climb to Kobu Tunnel

More mokuren (magnolia) and nadarezakura (weeping sakura)

I felt quite strong riding out to Itsukaichi and up the hill from there. But I was weak by the time we got over the Kobu Tunnel. My stomach was bothering me (Maybe I should not have drank the full 500ml coffee/sugar drink at that Itsukaichi Family Mart?), and as the sugar wore off I was near bonking through the Golf Course Hills. Jerome gave me his "asa banana" spare supplies, and I ate my only energy bar ... enough power to get up the west side of Wada. Jerome again struggled on that climb, and at Wada I got a cup noodle dish and chatted with the only other cyclist up there while I waited.

On the descent of the Uenohara side of Kobu Tunnel

On the lower part of the Wada climb - sakura, tea plants, palms, and more!

It was all downhill from there, but with some gusty winds, sometimes headwinds, the trip was still hard. Anyway, a successful ride and good training for Jerome's attempt next week at the VCR Aoba "Super 400" brevet with its 6000m+ of climbing.

Jerome crests Wada

These nudes are holding up well -- here on Jimba Kaido since the first time I went up it in 2004.

The blue sheet and ropes are not lasting as well as the sculpture. She looks about to free her bonds. ...

Strava link is here.

The Perfect Paul Jason* Ride

Spectacular view of Mt Fuji from the west side of Jimba Kaido/Wada Pass

Satoyama bliss from the golf course hills of Uenohara

I love the lower stretch of the Wada climb via Daigo Rindo, beautiful stream, trees, traditional farm houses.

Today was just spectacular cycling weather. Cool enough to climb with ease, warm enough so I could descend without putting on a wind shell (though close at times). Clear blue sky, babbling brooks, like a dream sequence in a movie.

I did the Paul Jason* route -- out over Wada (but taking the Daigo Rindo - no traffic - route that climbs to the North and somewhat above Jinba Kaido, then the "golf course hills" of Uenohara, then Kobu Tunnel, and down the Akigawa. Since I rode out from Takanawa, I hopped the train back from Musashi Itsukaichi.

(gps track here)

I thought if I planned it right I might ride up the Tamagawa with the Tokyo Cranks, then catch a group that was leaving Takao at 8:15AM to do pretty much the same route. I was too late for the Cranks, and I think I passed the other group on the "golf course hills", as they took a longer (and flatter) route through Uenohara. I did meet two foreigners on road bikes as I approached Kobu Tunnel. They were named Paul and Jason. What luck!

Actually, they were named Alex (if I remember correctly) and Paul. They had been resting and photographing at a spot within a few hundred meters of the tunnel entrance, so I said my hellos and powered by as they started up. I did wait at the bottom of the descent from the tunnel and chatted a bit with Alex when he arrived. They were doing a "Half Fast" route, but said they were late to the start and on their own ... sounded familiar.

Crossing back over the Tamagawa just before hospital hill.

Crossing again at Prefectural Route 20 to take the Asagawa paths toward Hachioji.

The views of Mt. Fuji were so spectacular, I really thought that major companies should sponsor a photographic exhibit.

These would be some of the TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Company) sponsored viewpoints:

Sponsored by TEPCO -- they own the wires!

TEPCO - we obscure the whole horizon, not just Mt. Fuji!

And this one could be sponsored by the Keio Railway company:

Sponsored by Keio private railways -- that's our train in front of the mountaing!

And this and many other could be some of the Toyota ones:

Mt Fuji - Obscured by Toyota!

Anyway, not much more to say except that I felt good, did not push too hard, and loved every minute of the ride.  Yes, still too slow on the climbs, but better than during the brevet two weeks back, and the roads were so much better. The rest I'll tell with photos.

Baseball and fall cosmos flowers

Cosmos

At Wada Pass!

Hikers' guidepost.

After the golf courses, descending toward Yamanashi Rte 33.

On the Route 33 climb

Looking back down the Route 33 climb

This is actually the road angle ... but it is a side street off of Route 33.

*Positivo Espresso did this ride first as a group on a sweltering hot day back around 2006 or 2007, joined by a new Australian cyclist in town, Paul Jason. The climbs were brutal in the heat. He ended up horizontal in a shaded stairwell of an apartment building next to what is now the Lohas coffee roaster/cafe by Y's Road, at the time a 7-11. He did not come back to ride with us again, so we named the ride after him.

Some earlier reports of this route, from 2016, 2013, 2012, December 2010 and both summer 2009 and winter 2009.

Update. A few days after the ride, I moderated a presentation on Japan's energy policy by the editor / co-author of a new book on the topic. The cover photo was another "Mt. Fuji, Brought to you by TEPCO, We Own the Wires" photo. Laugh out loud, as they say!