Tagesarchiv: 28. September 2009

After visiting the Keirin track on Saturday to watch Michael’s non-ride and enjoy some of the sprint event, and then traveling up and back the hills of Onekan-sen on my fixed gear track bike to get to the Starbucks at the very far end with Michael, I had a good ride on Sunday, leaving early with Jerome, getting to Higashi Oume by 7:45, and then pushing on to Yamabushi. We parted at Yamabushi … Jerome to return via Shomaru, a dip down to Rte 299, and a loop back South over the next pass along the same ridge as Yamabushi via local Rte 395, to get home by 1PM.
I had more time (though I needed to get home by around 6PM), and Jerome had lent me his fast NFCC wind-breaking vest so I could ride even in sprinkling rain on descents. I traced Michael/Michael/Graham’s route through Chichibu City, onto Rte 140 and then cut North via local Rte 37. After a short cut via local Rte 297 and a connecting „rindo“, I headed west on Rte 299.
I guess I should have realized it from all the blog posts by others, but Rte 299 west of Chichibu city is a delightful road, no trucks and almost no through traffic, gradually climbing to a pass at around 780 meters elevation at a short tunnel in the border with Gunma.
Rte 299 about 10-15 km west of Chichibu city. … no danger of getting hit by a truck if you stand in the middle of the road and frame your photo carefully:

There were cyclists resting a both ends of the tunnel on the border, including a team of at least 8-10 riders putting on an extra layer for their descents.
It was almost Noon … and a quick [mis]calculation suggested that despite having gone 125 km and made it here in good time, I could not make it NW to Saku/Sakudaira or Karuizawa and likely be home by 6PM, even with the benefit of Shinkansen … so I opted for a shorter ride East/North East down Rte 462 to the now famous Waseda Hongjo station.

The valley is spectacular, until arriving at a reservoir that is at least 10 km long.

The reservoir and dam are spectacular in a different way … but really do ruin what was probably once a very nice stretch of valley:

Honjo Waseda … what more can be said. These photos are of the „main“ North side of the shinkansen station (trains to Tokyo stop at 2:50, 3:50, [4:50]PM, for future reference).
I arrived at 2:20, with lots of time to buy tickets and pack my bike.
The South entrance … is now closed. The women at the convenience shop inside did not even laugh when I remarked that this was a very „shizuka“ shinkansen station.

Today’s route map should be here.

I hope I will get a chance to do the full Rte 299 ride to Saku, Nagano this fall, before the weather gets too cold for Chichibu/Gunma/Nagano riding.