Monatsarchiv: August 2009

von | 22. August 2009 · 08:59

Global Reach, Local Domination

Henry and I went out for a quick spin today, and who should we see but Laurent D., returning from his morning trip.

An hour and a half later, as we returned, it was Jerome and Oggie. All of us wearing appropriate attire.

We rule the Tamagawa route … even if it is a miserable, hot stretch of concrete.

Sunday Ride — Jerome and I will leave my house at 6AM. Laurent is riding with Tom — not sure their time or place but it would be great to coordinate. Let me know if you want to join Jerome and me at the start or en route.

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von | 21. August 2009 · 04:43

Feign Death

Japan Today describes (today) a new strategy how to avoid arrest by the police which might also be usefel when running a red light on the bike.

Man feigns death for 3 hours to avoid police questioning in Osaka

Friday 21st August, 08:47 AM JST

OSAKA —

A 22-year-old man, who was arrested Wednesday night for assault and obstruction of duty after he rear-ended the motorcycle of a police officer, feigned death for about three hours, police said Thursday.

According to police, Yuji Matsumura of Sakai City was riding his motorcycle with some friends when he ran into the motorcycle of the police officer. He tried to escape but was apprehended about 400 meters from the crash.

Seconds after he was handcuffed, Matsumura collapsed and pretended to be dead. Police called for an ambulance even though his breathing and heartbeat were normal. Matsumura put on a good show, however, and didn’t even flinch when medics inserted a catheter into his urethra. A doctor who performed a CT scan found no abnormalities.

This went on for three hours, police said, until Matsumura’s mother came to the hospital to identify him. He returned to his senses at the sound of her voice.

Matsumura was quoted by police as saying: “I was tired, so I just went to sleep.

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von | 20. August 2009 · 14:17

S C A R Y T W O

Last night I dreamt that my father was checking my body temperature. I had a high fever and so I called Tom, who had taken a day off from work, to cancel the planned North side Ootoge ride. That was how I scared I was.

Of course I had no excuse not to come and to undertake a renewed approach on this monster of a climb in the middle of nowhere, with hornets big as A380s, bears on amphetamine and silent strangeling monkeys.

So I dressed up in complete Positivo Espresso wear, kissed my sleeping wife and children, put the files with the life insurance policies on my desk so that my wife would find them easily, deleted the history of my web browser and left for the station.

As usual Tom was riding out on his bike while I took the train and we met at Saruhashi Station. Then we proceeded quickly up the slopes in direction of Matsuhime Toge until we reached the picnic place and tunnel at elevation 650m that is the entry to Ootoge. Riding up as a pair is much less scarier than riding up alone. Although Tom was as usual in good form and went to ride in front which I thought was OK because then the bears wouldn’t be so hungry when they met me and might be content with an arm or (worse) a leg.

Luckily we went up on a weekday, when the road is not that crowded by monkeys, snakes, deers and foxes driving with their families to the river in the valley. Also the trucks driven by bears, transporting food for the hibernation period up on themountains can be a real hassle.

And so Tom and me were completely alone.
We climbed up the first 600 meters until we reached the gate and we started to discuss how to proceed, left or right. Tom was in favor of going left, I was also in favor of going left because going right is definitely very scary; but the map mounted at the side of the road clearly indicated right. Then suddenly we heard a noise: No, not bears raping Japanese hiking groups or a swarm of hornet in low flying attack formation, but the sound of a car. A Tokyo Power (Tepco) 4WD was moving down the road in our direction and stopped at the gate. So we asked one of the guys where to go and they said that going right was impossible and that we should turn left. This used to be the right information at precisely the right moment, almost like a miracle. Thank you TEPCO. I will take care from now on to pay my electricity bills in time.

Then the rest of the climb was a piece of cake, only some 250 meter up with a splendid view on the mountains in less than 30 degree temperature before we reached the gate at the top of Ootoge. We had made it. By the way, there are no „semi“ (cicada) up there so the noise environment is completely different than on the normal lower climbs.
We went down on the South side where the road is in much better shape and also much wider, also like a race track. But definitely is the North approach the more beautiful one.

After a lunch of cold Soba in a nice traditional restaurant close to Otsuki station (The type of restaurant where they have photos of the emperor in his car .. driving by) we continued on Route 20 and then climbed up Suzugane Toge and Hinazuru Toge following road 35 and 517 all the way to Hashimoto. As I said, Tom is really in good shape and he had to wait all the time for me, but it wasn’t that long that he had grown a beard or so. I mean, this is the pleasure of riding out with friends one knows now for so long, such as Tom, David, Jerome and Ludwig.
As a final piece de la resistance we added a North Tsukui lake ride before coming to Hashimoto where I took the train home and Tom made a final run on the One Kan.

More than 200 km for Tom and slightly more than 100 km for me, but close to 3 km of climbing up for both of us in the sun made this a very exhausting and happy day.

Once home, I put the insurance files back in the shelve and called my father.

A more factual account of the day is written here.

Also Tom and me had the same idea, that we should make some investment to enjoy future trips by having something like this. I heard that every Belgian has one, it is like Takoyaki grilling pads in Osaka. As I have studied in Aachen, city borders touching Belgium, I might also be eligible to buy one.

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von | 17. August 2009 · 06:04

POSITIVO ESPRESSO GLOVES

Somehow and very surprisingly the Positivo Espresso Gloves arrived from F2P today at my home. All sizes are availabe from S to XL. I checked the sizes and for myself I would need XL, so I would say the sizes tend to be rather on the smaller side.

The design is not great but OK, it would have better to have the logo bigger and placed more in the middle. The quality of the gloves is good with a frottee part and gel inserts. There is no mesh on the outer side so they are a not the ideal summer gloves.

But hey, all of you who have ordered a jersey or bib short will get them for free.
I will not send them out by mail, but hand them out during the rides. In case you need them NOW, please let me know, so I can see what I can do.

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von | 17. August 2009 · 05:06

O BON

This is a follow-up to the Sunday-ride invitation from David below. Please continue to read if you are interested in Sunday rides (as opposed to weekday rides).

David had invited two friends to join a typical Positivo Tour from his house, something along the lines of going incredibly fast the first 10 km to erase all doubts who are the masters of the universe, then loose the newcomers somewhere in the mountains, find them eventually dehydrated in front of a convenience store, pass by without stopping and say „Hi, see you next time.“

In order to protect the innocent and because both of them are lawyers I will not reveal their true name but call them MONOPOLYMAN and LAVAWOMAN.

I met them at the 7-Eleven in front of Takao station and we decided to give Wada Toge a try. This is always a good road for newcomers, because it cannot possibly get worse and after Wada all roads of the world look flat in comparison.

Obon is the official Umeboshi drying week in west Tokyo and we saw many of these hellish pickles laid out in front of the houses along the road.Some people seem to have left for vacation and upon return their house will be covered completely with letters and pamphlets.While LAVAWOMAN was ploughing her way up on the approach to the Wada entry, MONOPOLYMAN had a chance to take a good look at the sculpture garden.Then the climb to Wada started. We didn’t wanted to do anything crazy, so all of us rode up at a slow speed. Jerome stayed with LAVAWOMAN to protect here from unwelcomed advances from other cyclists while David and MONOPOLYMAN went ahead. I stayed with LAVAWOMAN first to protect her from unwelcomed advances from Jerome, but as he behaved and, worse, other cyclists were overtaking me, I started to climb up faster. While overtaking some of the other cyclists again, I gave confusing hints: „Don’t give up, only 300 meters left – vertical, of course.“, in order to compensate for my lack in power and my plus in weight.

David and MONOPOLYMAN were already at the top when I arrived and while we were waiting for the others to come, we told MONOPOLYMAN about the witch in the tea hut.

And here they came, Jerome visibly suffering, but LAVAWOMAN still motivating him and shouting „Don’t give up Jerome, you can do it!“. Then LAVAWOMAN bought a bottle of water from the witch, something we would never dare to do and remarked: „She was quite nice“ Ah, LAVAWOMAN, you must be more careful, you were already subjected to the treacherous magic of the witch. Not even your lawyer charms will work here.

We then took the obligatory memorial photo and asked another cyclist to do this. It took Jerome about 15 minutes to get up from his sleeping place and join us for the photo. Time means nothing in France.
And then we went down to route 20. Took another photo at the Fuji viewpoint. Fuji was barely visible. I thought it would be nice to have a better view on Fuji with all the blue sky today.

Meanwhile, one of the riders has managed to break a spoke on his front wheel.
Jerome has offered one camenbert cheese free of charge for the first one who can guess his name.

We managed to fix the spoke with some tire repair patches back to the rim so that at least it stopped making noise.

When I took some more photos suddenly everybody had gone ahead and as I felt still good I called David, left a message that I would part and continued to cycle along route 76.

I arrived at Doshi Michi and continued to ride to Yamanakako to see my Fuji. The roads were pretty crowded and it was hot but not that humid. And I found a very nice shrine on the way and bought some Ema for home.
Finally I arrived at Fuji Yoshida Station (Bubble -ugly building) and took the train home via Otsuki. Probably a mistake, could have ridden down road 139 to Otsuki on the bike, would have been faster most likely.Chaned in the wrong train at Hachioji and went to Ebina. Back to Hashimoto, then finally home after spending four hours in the train. Sat next to a girl who wore a t-shirt reading „Fuck me please“ on the front. When she got up and left she had „Fuck You“ written on the backside. Probably on the way to the Glay concert in Shinyokohama.

Nice day, nice suntan.
By the way, David, Jerome and me went riding Otarumi and Bijotani on Friday as well, then returned over Wada from the backside to Hachioji. David had to go back to work early and I returned by train. When I arrived at Shinyokohama the station building has been taken over by group of elderly people wearing green hats.

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von | 14. August 2009 · 16:36

Sunday ride 7:30AM David L’s house

Well, it is Friday night and the weather looks dry and hot for the weekend.

As mentioned previously to some of you, I've invited a Japanese friend (former colleague) and his girlfriend, both bengoshi (lawyers) and younger than me.  They do some triathlons, and this Spring did the Kuruma-zaka Touge hill climb and are riding at Norikura in Nagano next weekend ... so I think we should be a decent match.  I can pull on the flats and they will wait for me at the top of the hills.

We are planning a half-day ride -- similar to what Michael and I did today (otarumi - bijou tani - ura wada).  I would really like to get to (and into) a cool stream -- the river on the approach to Yabitsu, or the Akigawa or Doshi or elsewhere, to cool down mid-ride. 

I believe we are meeting Michael K. a little after 8AM at Tamagawaharabashi upriver.

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von | 13. August 2009 · 08:35

S C A R Y


I tried a longer ride yesterday from Uenohara station over Tawa and Tsuru pass, then over Imagawa to Ome Kaido (411) and then looping back to Matsuhime pass. All in all mid-range distance (120 km) but more than 3,000m of climbing. Why?

Because I had the wonderful idea to add the climb to Otoge from the reservoir on the road to Matsuhime. That means the backside Otoge approach and not the front side from Magi intersection at Kokudo road #20.

The road starts at a gated tunnel close to a picnic area at the lake and is in fairly good shape as long as it leads to the facilities of the dam. There are a amazing number of inspection tunnel entries, transformer stations and power lines in the vicinity of the dam – a true feast for the civil engineer in all of us, but especially inside myself.

There are also a lot of animals: I almost run over a snake curling on the road. Then the conditions of the road are becoming worse but some stretches have been repaired recently so it is possible to continue to climb.

The climb is very long, almost 900 meters to the top from elevation 600 to 1.500 meters. There was a second gate at 1.250 meters elevation and then the road forked into two with no indication where to go. This happened two more times and I had no idea if I was still on the right one. Going over 1.400 meter I was also in the clouds and visibility was very poor.

Then I arrived at a tunnel, perhaps 300 meters long, no light. There could have been an army of bears sleeping inside and I wouldn’t have noticed it. I saw some bats later. Scary, no idea where I was going and how the surface was and only a faint light at the end.The photo was taken almost at the end of the tunnel.

More mist after the tunnel and then a landslide that delivered half of a shotcreted rockface on the road below. Must have happened recently – perhaps because of the series of earthquakes. Another landslide, now I had to take my bike in both hands and start to climb over some really big rocks.

Another landslide. Hey, am I really on the right road or have I found my way by chance to the Tomei? I cross this one as well.
Another one. I can not even see how the road continues on the other side. So I lay down my bike on the right and start to climb and explore the area. The guiderails are handing free-fall in the air, but there seems to be some road on the other side … I go back to my bike and try to pick it up, when I feel a sudden strong pain in my left hand …. hornets are flying around me (I assume that they were hornets because they were bigger than mosquitos and had orange/black stripped bodies). They were attracted by the orange handlebar tape and they also seem to like my Positivo Espresso jersey very much.

That finally broke my spirit and I went down the same way I rode up. I am still not sure if I went up the right road; Google maps is of no help as it doesn’t indicate the tunnels in the area. Has anybody any experience?

Anyway, that was one of the most scary rides I did – much scarier than crossing Sasago tunnel with Tom – and I shouldn’t have done this alone. Next time I will ride out on a double love suicide mission with Tom, Ludwig or David.

Otherwise the trip was very pleasant. Here are some important updates:
The roadworks at the Matsuhime / Tsuru intersection leading to the brand new tunnel are almost finished. In future, busy cyclist and drivers will be even more faster travelling between nowhere and next to nowhere, at least by the fraction of a second. As the shortcut has been built in a place where another road intersects the old one, I can only assume that the old road will be kept as well, leading to the slow but complete asphaltation of the village and huge budgets for road maintenance (which seems to be more required at Otoge), therefore many jobs for years to come.
Here is a picture of the responsible politician from Kosuge village. Much to my surprise it seems that the glasses which used to be worn by EVERY president of a traditional Japanese company in the Nineties are still very much in fashion out there in the country. They were also OK for department heads of bigger organisations, but definitely out of question for section heads (McArthur rayban likes were OK) or for rank&file salaryman (contact lenses).

How I wished times would never change.

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von | 8. August 2009 · 09:04

Henry’s New (Used) Bicycle

At my recent 25th college reunion, I was struck by the number of classmates who, when polled to offer some „words to live by“, responded with old saying „Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!“

It sounds great. Like something our boy scout leaders would have said in my youth, Troop 7, Columbia Pacific Council, Portland, Oregon. On the other hand, I would like to believe the perhaps contradictory (or at least slightly hypocritical) theory that anyone over age 45 who „gets out there“ to exercise regularly deserves the newest and VERY BEST GEAR available to humankind. … a perspective that could be challenged in an era of slow (or negative) growth, higher taxes and an aging populace. Positivistos — What do you think?

Today Henry L. (not to be confused with Henry K. or any other Henry’s within the orbit of Positivo Espresso) and I finished building up the used Gios frame/fork/headset that we got on Thursday. I did probably 80% of the work, but got help from Henry L. with most steps. We took a short test ride along the Tamagawa. The Gios seems like a very good solution to getting him a reasonably priced and decent quality ride that he may outgrow, and does not need to worry too much should it get scratched.

We needed to return to Positivo today for a Mavic spacer so that the Shimano 10-speed cassette fits properly–the old spacer is probably sitting in a wheel bag or maybe in a dark corner on the floor of our garage. We also got Nagayama-san’s help in extracting part of the old rear shifter cable from the right hand shifter/brake hood. Otherwise, the completed bike is all the fruit of our effort.

It comes signed by the master, Alfredo Gios, and with an Italian racing stripe of sorts on the downtube.


Of course trademark Gios color blue. And tubing that is BOTH „aero“ and „lite.“


Add my 2004 Mavic Ksyrium SL wheels (rear rim replaced by Nagai-san in 2007, at least 7 spokes replaced over 5 years, including 3 this year), Ultegra 6600 drivetrain (10X2speed, with 12-25 and 39-53 gearing), Ultegra 6500 brakes now in use on their 3rd frame, very slightly worn Vittoria Open Corsa CX tires with red stripes, Fizik Alliante saddle, Ritchey Pro 44cm handlebars and 110mm stem, bottle cages … all the above „used“ except the 12-25 cassette, a new chain and some „new“ cabling that had been sitting in my toolbox left over from previous similar efforts. Add some padded, basic black bar tape received gratis at a forgotten cycling event (Saiko? Noto? 2008 Fuji?), and some black plastic electrical tape to keep the bar tape end sealed (37 yen at Seiyu across from Positivo, for a large roll), … and the result is a decent bike consistent with the new ethos.

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von | 7. August 2009 · 16:01

Global Reach Part 2

Woodstock

In 1990 I saw a photo of the couple in the foreground and what has become of them. It broke my heart and I stopped believing in love & peace. So sad.

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von | 7. August 2009 · 10:10

Sunday beginner’s ride

As mentioned to a few of you, I’m taking one of my colleagues and his girlfriend on a beginner’s ride, leaving my house Sunday around 9:15 or so. Target – an early lunch at Ishikawa Brewery/restaurant in Fussa. My sons will join, and also one junior colleague who apparently rides and is tall, thin and much younger … a dangerous combination.

Henry and I stopped by Positivo yesterday evening and picked up a used Gios aluminum road frame Nagai-san had said he could get for me (it was 15,750 yen, including fork, headset and seat clamp, and will be a good solution for Henry until he outgrows it). If all goes well, we will finish building it up on Saturday, so Henry can ride it on Sunday.

So if anyone is interested in joining (with family or friends), let me know — I may try to call this evening to reserve a table at the brewery for an early lunch.

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