Archiv der Kategorie: Mob

von | 2. November 2009 · 04:30

Seven Hours in Motegi

„And this is the brake, yes !???!“
„No, there you can shift the gears.“
„So, where is the brake, then?“

Should one be worried, if the rider next to you in the pit during a bicycle race is getting instruction from the friends like this? Well, the weather was fine in Motegi and the course has wide roads, so all kinds of beginners and the usual assortment of fluffy animals, kappas, ultramen and riders dressed as cockroaches can be tolerated I guess.

Our team for the seven hours endurance race in Motegi consisted of David „Jerome“ Litt, James „Augustin“ Machin and me, Michael „Michael“ Kraehe. With the exception of James Augustin, who is 11, we were all at least 18 years old.

Therefore the objective was not to win the race, but to race as hard as we could and have a good time.What has the above and the below in common?


We started the night before at the Positivo shop where we had last minute maintenance to our bikes. Why?

Answer: The gravity zero wheels emitted more noise than the average right-wing truck. I bought this wheels some time ago from David Marx and they are not only the most wonderful wheels I ever had but also for sales. I was very excited when I unpacked them the first time and then I found the owners manual which clarified that „high performance = high maintenance“ and that every time I ride in the rain with these wheels I need to disassemble the bearings and re-grease them. So when riding home from the race in pouring rain with the bike mounted on top of the car I could hardly think about anything else than the bill Nagai–san from the shop will present me after having done his part of work on the wheels.

We left for Utsunomiya to stay at the Richmond Hotel. The next time we meet, please ask me how we parked in front of the hotel because the story is so long and complicated that it can only be verbally transmitted.

But it’s a nice hotel nevertheless and father and son can save a lot of money as a single bed seems to be wide enough to accommodate both of them. And in addition there is also space for our bikes in the room.

An early start next morning saw us crossing through an ugly Utsunomiya. This is not the pearl of the orient, in case you wondered. This is in fact really the problem mid-size towns in the Japanese country side have: They are not old, so nothing of historical interest or beauty is left in town. They are also not new: in times of prolonged economic crisis in the countryside (basically since 1990) and few investments in the last 20 years, everything is modern but old, poorly maintained and not built to last. There is also no natural beauty left. Go to any of these smaller towns in Japan and leave depressed.

Working for a Japanese construction company in the early nineties I had a superior who bought a house in Utsunomiya and commuted by Shinkansen every day to Tokyo. This made sense in pre-bubble Japan for two reasons: first land prices were still rising in the city and it was almost impossible to realize the dream of the own home close to the center and second, working for construction one needs his own own house in order to stay true to the system.

He was a particular bad tempered guy and after having seen Utsunomiya, his fate, I may begin to understand why.

Sorry for leaving the red line of this story, the only positive thing was that there was thick mist so not all of Utsunomiya was revealed to us.

We arrived at Motegi, secured a place in the pit and made some training laps. The course is basically flat, two difficult corners, 7.2 km long, I like it and it is the third time after 2006 and 2007 to race there. Also the weather was becoming better: warmer and blue skies.

I was the first rider at the start and as I was late I ended up pretty much at the end of the field, composed of more than 300 riders. But I could make my way up into the top 50 or so during the rolling start, which lasted for one complete lap. The race then started for earnest and I managed to stay with the top group and climbed up the first small hill at 30 km/hr+ always with the top 20 – 30 riders. So the second lap went good and the third lap as well. Slowly the top field was also becoming smaller and smaller. At the end of the third lap only 30 riders or so were left with the fast group. And you need to stay with a group as otherwise you loose so much time fighting alone against the strong wind.

But then the inevitable happened.

As I pointed out alreday the track in Motegi is very flat, expect for a small hill which can be easily over-sprinted. This statement is true, but only for the first three laps of the race (in total we made 36 laps). I am not sure, but one of the two things written below happened after lap #3:

  • Hydraulic mechanisms located under the hill and operated by the race organizers jacked up the slope for about 100 meters so that a relatively modest hill became a murderous slope for the rest of the race or
  • Tectonic movements had the same effect on the slope.

In any case, I was fighting my way up the hill and lost contact with the fast group in lap #4 and once lost and basically alone in nowhere land between the very good and the good racers, it is a lonely and futile fight against the wind. I handed over to Jerome in 36th position and he fighted the next four laps before handing over to Augustin who made one lap with Jerome providing draft for him.

The endurance races are very hard and one is pushed to the limits: One has constantly to motivate oneself and make contact with riders in front. And that is pretty much how the race continued: Having small breaks, trying to stay focused and motivated. Then out on the track, finding a good groups of riders to stay with.

I thought that the pit would close half an hour before the end of the race at 15.30hr, so I tried to squeeze in four laps between the closure of the pit before handing over to Jerome who would do the last three laps. This worked just perfectly, I made in about 30 seconds before 15.00hr into the pit only to realize that the pit closes only at 15.25hr. OK, but now it was Jerome’s turn to finish the race.

Which he did in a very good manner. I haven’t see the lap charts yet, but as usually I would guess that he would loose not too much speed compared to the start of the race because of his big, big stamina. Augustin was also doing very well, averaging 30 km/hr on his laps.

And then the race was over. I checked our position and we had finished in 50th position with 36 laps in 7:05:51 hours. Not too bad, I thought at first, considering that we only had three guys on the team, one of them (James Augustin) only 11 years old.

But more surprisingly, I checked against the performances of 2006 and 2007 once I was back home and I found out that:

Racing there in 2006 with Stephen and a guy called Larry Banks (actually a motorcyle guy) we finished in 39th place with 33 laps. With our 2009 performance we would have finished in 8th position, with the winner doing 38 laps. Not bad.

In 2007 our team consisted of Tom, Marek, Stephen and me and we finished in 11th position, also covering 36 laps, but one minute slower. OK, it was raining hard that day and the race would have been faster if the weather has been better, but nevertheless, we had beaten our strongest club team in comparison.

A 39th place in 2006 and an 11th place in 2007 adds up precisely to a 50th place in 2009 which is the weakest position so far but still the best race we made. The competition is also getting stronger, the winning team this time made 41 laps.

So there was much to talk about on the way home in the car, during prolonged hours of traffic congestion and at a nice yaki–niku dinner somewhere close to Tsukuba. It is really a joke, we raced almost 260 km in seven hours, and then it takes as 5 hours to ride home in the car 140 km.

We were all done but as usual proud of ourselves. And of course we can do this again any time (see next posting).

PS Sorry, I forgot to take my camera with me, so no photos this time.

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Cervelo Soloist, Jerome, Mob

von | 24. Oktober 2009 · 07:04

Hombeline et Thomas

Regular readers of this blog may recall that I have been approached by two French students from my class at university before the long October weekend if I could make some suggestions for a nice bike trip.

Well, being a demanding teacher providing new challenges fro my students, I suggested that they should ride out along the Tamagawa to Ome and continue to the Okutama reservoir where another nice road would took them over Matsuhime pass (1.250 meter) to route 20 and then, back over Otarumi to Takao and home in Roppongi. Nothing special, something we can do easily in a day on our bikes after having trained all year long.

Little did I know that they were attempting to make this tour on single-speed mama-chari. Without any training.

So when I came back to class after the weekend and met them I was very surprised that they made it and I was even more surprised that they were physically able to attend class after they have made it.

Please keep in mind that they came to Japan only at the start of September, speak almost no Japanese, had no maps, no previous cycling experience and acquired mama charis for a sum we pay when riding out and return from rides for a Shinkansen ticket.

The trip started pretty early in the morning and first rests were made along the Tamagawa.
So slowly they moved towards Okutama on day one of their journey on their steel frame single speed bikes – has cycling ever more pure?
Then, arriving in the rain in Okutama with no idea where to stay and believing that shelling out 8.000 Yen per person for a pension room would be pretty outrageous (after all, you can get a mama chari for this money), they decided to knock on the houses of the local inhabitants and asked them if they could stay the night there. Finally somebody showed pity and transported them and their bikes to a pension where they were allowed to stay.Thomas showing clear signs of physical (the left cheek !) and psychic (the eyes !) stress from the trip. While Hombeline looked like „Girl with pearl earl ring“ from Jan Vanmeer in Japanese surroundings (see above).

But in good mood both of them continued to the reservoir the following day, up Matsuhime and down to Otsuki where they spend the second night.
And as planned they rode all the way home on route 20 to the Tamagawa and then back to Tokyo on day three.

Some days later they became the first ever honorary members of the Positivo Espresso Team and owners of some rather cheap pairs of orange cycling gloves.

Life is lending us amazing stories and I am thankful that even if I cannot live them, I can write about them.

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Mob

von | 24. Oktober 2009 · 05:36

I Y

Dominic, Ludwig and me decided to turn Wednesday’s workday into a more pleasurable past time.

Ludwig and Dominic met for the first time on the train to Hashimoto, where Ludwig was pretending to read the Financial Times which caught Dominics attention as he was holding it upside down. Actually Ludwig has two reasons for that, first he wants to see rising curves on financial related charts more often and second it is just too easy for him to read a newspaper the normal way.

I was 10 minutes late but we started early at 7.30 in direction Tsukui lake, where we parked our bikes at a 7-Eleven to take supplies. (my one in the prescribed position).According to Ludwig that was the worse 7-Eleven he has ever visited, justified in particular by the missing assortment of Soyjoy bars. So we declined politely the official approval.

We then continued along Doshimichi and after finishing our pointless ride through Aone village (please check this club tradition which is now a must for every ride) we entered route 76.

Trucks have long been a source of cyclists dissatisfaction on the roads outside of Tokyo, but recently many improvements have been done to make the cyclists fate more bearable. Thanks to the support of the All Japan Truck Drivers Vehicle Beautification Association, cyclists can now enjoy the backside of trucks even more.

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Anyway, we moved further along the TCC winter shortcut to road 35 leading to Akiyama and Hinazuru tunnel.The manju shop passed approval procedure without any problems (although they only had anpan manjus, miso manjus were sold out). Dominic was surprised that, given the state of the building, the age and state of its inhabitants and the open fire burning in parts of the houses, that they actually owned a telephone.

He was also surprised to find his front tire punctured. Ludwig, who was anyway only in for the morning went ahead to catch a train from Otsuki, while we repaired the tube and buried the old one in the garden behind the manju shop as old Japanese cycling tradition requires.

A short climb up to Hinazuru, followed by a quick climb up to Suzugane, peaceful as always and a quick visited to a combini at Sarubashi resulted in a luke warm lunch at the resting place in front of the old Sarubashi.

And then after preludio (Hinazuru) and allegro (Suzugane) we started the main climb of the day, Matsuhime Toge (Furio). Dominic became recently stronger and stronger and we decided in view of the fact that he has applied for next years L’etappe du Tour that I will coach him for the event and that this would be our first training ride.

So from this point in time on I have the right to address him as „O-mae„, „Kimi„, „Baka“ or whatever I feel just, while he has to use the most intricate forms of „irassharu“ and „itadaku“ when daring to approach me while scrubbing my back in the local sento. For this I will teach him the secrets of cycling which, honestly, consist mostly of suffering.

So we were happily going up the road and I was pointing out to Dominic that the small grey strip up high in the mountains before us IS actually the road we will need to ride up. And suddenly we saw another cyclist about 50 meters in front of us. He looked like a short hippy with long grey hair and old fashioned glasses, on a bike with backtray, somebody left over from the occupation of Todai’s Yasuda clocktower in the sixties.

In turned out to be a women, I Y, as we later learned, who happens to cycle quite a lot and was not even very strong, (we could chat and ride up Matsuhime while Dominic had to stop and was much more silent in general) but who knows also every single road in the area. I mentioned some of the roads we have found out recently (Arima Toge, Haccho Tunnel, Nennogon) and she knew all of them and many more I haven’t ever heard about (Nijumagari Toge) which seemed to be the most interesting places.I must say that I was very, very impressed. Since 8 years or so she is riding out regularly two, three times a week with the bike and we have never met despite the fact that we have done more or less the same roads all the time. She would definitely become a good addition to our team, however unfortunately she does not race.

After having a short break at Matsuhime we took the road back to Okutama where we left I Y at the parking place (she clinged to my back wheel all the time even when I tried some macho accelerations) and Dominic and me continued towards Ome.

Dominic was quite done and every movement was accompagnied by an assortment of noises indicating pain and disaster. But these are the rides that make adults out of boys and separate the guys who are standing in front of the toilet or sitting on it.

In Ome we had our meal at the approved Aurore bakery and watched a group of foreign school kids running around the block. No Japanese school kids in sight, perhaps some kind of punishment or special training for the Ome marathon?

Then we made some Japanese local girls laugh when they saw our „Shingo Mushi“ mark on the back of our bib shorts.

And then we rode home by train.

Koyo leaves were beautiful by the way starting from 1.000 meter elevation. Temperature was just right and all in all it has been another beautiful day.

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von | 9. Oktober 2009 · 06:23

Approval Procedure

Some of you, in particular those who have joined for rides recently, might have noticed that nowadays I stop quite often in the vicinity of lamp posts and other metal surfaces at crossings, approved supply dumbs, mountain passes and tunnels. Unlike dogs, I do not do this to mark my districts. At least not in this fashion.

Well, some weeks ago I have finally received a parcel from the US with 1,000 of 5 by 6 cm all weather proof stickers with the Positivo Espresso logo and an appropriate approval [確認] sign. Some time ago I asked if there would be interest to have some, there wan’t so much reaction but nevertheless I ordered them [being a stubborn German].

I use the stickers mainly to outline our main routes so that also other riders can find them easily. When chartering new terrain one get’s so easily lost. I noticed this this season as we tried many new roads. One time, climbing up to O-toge I got completely lost and had to return the same way as I couldn’t find the right road to the top. In particular when riding with Ludwig that happened quite often, as our navigation and orientation levels is pretty low.

Imagine that both of us would be kidnapped, drugged, blindfolded and left in the middle of the Amazon jungle in the thickest of forest during the night with a beautiful woman. In the moment we wake up both of us would point in opposite directions and shout: „Let’s go. This way!“. Yes, that’s how good we are.

Also I use the sticker to approve our favorite shops. I don not think that it is a good idea to glue them on the windows and doors of the shop, at least without asking, but there is no harm done if they are on a lamp pole next to the store.
Aurore, the lovely bakery in Ome, was the first one to be approved.

The weather resistance is surprisingly good. Before the Yokohama race I had two stickers on my bike, one Positivo and one from the CMWC; the PE one survived well, the CMWC one was completely destroyed by the rain and the road rash.

If you would like to have some stickers, please let me know. I normally carry some with me on the rides. There weren’t exactly cheap so I would like to ask for your understanding that I have to ask some money for them.

The first who will benefit from this are two French students from my Temple University class. They plan to spend the three day weekend on a bicycle tour and asked me for a good route. I explained them the way to Ome along the Tamagawa and then further on to Matsuhime and back on route 20 over Takao to the Tamagawa again. So basically a tour which everyone of us will consider a good warm-up ride before getting serious in the afternoon.

Oh, did I mentioned that they want to do this on mama-chari? Well, they only told me after I send them the idea. If you see them along the road, please give them some bread, cheese and red wine.

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Mob

von | 8. Oktober 2009 · 17:44

Look who is doing all the work

Two Positivistas pulling at least seven Neutralicos through the rain and through the typhoon … so who is in the bloody A-Team ?

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Cervelo Soloist, James, Mob

von | 6. Oktober 2009 · 12:33

The Ducks of Endurance

Dear Mob of 2010,

This is the Mob of 2009 writing a letter to you on the evening of the Yokohama endurance race. I just would like to remind you that before you coax yourself and your friends into riding in the 2010 Yokohama endurance race you read this one. I am sorry for the shortness of the letter, this is due that every single of my bones seems brittle, my major muscle groups are still shivering in cramps and my tendons are squeaking and aching every time I try to get them moving. Yes, mob of 2009, I would like to remind you that this was not an easy race. Perhaps you forgot your experience from 2008 when you applied in 2009, but make sure to think about it when you consider of riding it again in 2010.

Yours sincerely

mob of 2009

If I would have known (or remembered) how hard this race is, I wouldn’t have registered in the first place. James has kindly written about all the racing aspects and our share of suffering and there is little to add but some personal observations:

When we registered, we met Fujikawa-San and his friend from Catteni Positivo; this being the other team supported by Nagai San’s Positivo shop. I met Fujikawa-San also last year at the race and we talked about the experience. These are nice guys and they also have their own blog where it seems that they are focusing more on brevet style rides.

Without wanting to appear to arrogantly I shall nevertheless remark that during the race we made it abundantly clear which is the Positivo A- and which the Positivo B-Team.

The next thing I remember was that James and me were standing in the starting field when the cheerleader performance began. I am not sure why, but endurance races in Japan do always field cheerleaders (Tsukuba, Yokohama) or at least Weider girls (Motegi) although the connection is not so clear for me.

„How was your last endurance race?“

„Great – we had a fantastic cheerleader performance“

Would probably be a perfectly normal conversation in Japan. Actually the ones which were performing in Yokohama were so bad, that even the rain stopped for a while. They also held posters with the words „Care“, „Fun“, „Joy“ and some others up (Not sure, I think the other ones were „lung cancer“ and „non-linear depreciation“) to inspire us.

The the race started. I tried to get into the first or second fast group, but had to give up after the third lap and from then onwards James and me stayed with the third fastest group. The first hour is always the hardest for me and when it started to rain really, really hard I was considering to throw the towel. I couldn’t see very much through my sun glasses as in the cavity between the sunglasses and the optical glasses inserts humidity was gathering, slowly obscuring any vision left. Luckily James rode in front of me and I could see his bright orange Positivo jersey, but some of the black clad („anti-globalization dress“, as David said) riders where hardly contrasting with the road surface at this point. I was very lucky that the rain stopped and I could regain some vision.

Next thing was, that I was leading the group and riding down the tight flyover from the stadium to the park. The rims were still wet and I braked too late and too hard: so suddenly my rear wheel blocked and I was fast going in direction of the barriers. But luckily I got the bike under control and could avoid a crash, but at the cost of stopping and getting out of the cleats.

„Daijobu ?“ I heard from someone of the Japanese riders in our group…. „Matte!“ I shouted in despair, clipped in and went in pursuit of our group. Luckily I could manage to hang on.

There were quite a few crashes, but not as manya and as hard as in Shuzenji in August. The amount of human suffering one sees at the ramp leading steeply (I guess 15%) up from the park to the stadium level is just amazing. Many riders were so exhausted that they pushed up their bikes; others took the initial swing to capitulate them up about a third and then they just stopped there and couldn’t go further on their own power.

My strategy was to stay in the outer front and shift down to my 27 teeth cog on the rear. That worked pretty well and I wasn’t so bad in sprinting up the ramp. But once I was up it was hard to accelerate from 20 km/hr again and than there is this ugly right curve leading into the stadium which takes the momentum out of the ride again.

This is not an easy course, unlike Hitachi Naka where you stay in the peloton all the time and go virtually straight for about 160 km. Yokohama requires constant acceleration and braking – add some attacks from the group – that takes it’s toll on the body.

One of my of legs after my semi-crash was cramping and I had a hard time to ignore that. Later on I was not able to let my leg rest in the highest pedal position when manouvering a corner. Cramps only stopped when I was pedaling.

So in the end I had no reserves and although we managed to decimate our group to only four or five riders over time, I couldn’t follow James when he sprinted away at the very end.

Nevertheless I was very pleased with our performance and I was sure that we had a good finish even before the results were released.

At the start to the two hour race in the afternoon I was so tired, I could have slept on my bike. I was also incredibly dirty but luckily I brought some equipment for exchange. And at least the weather was getting better and the rain stopped.

The two hour race was not as good as the morning one. In fact I was even a little bit slower than last year. All the fresh new riders were overtaking me to the left and to the right and I couldn’t found a good group to draft with after I have lost contact with James.

I was so tired and so slow. I was cursing that I shouldn’t do this kind of stupid races any longer. Really, I was so exhausted. Nevertheless I made it to the finish and in the end we had a splendid result.

As the Prince Figure Skate Center – the location in town where my daughter and my wife spend more time than at home – was just around a corner and I knew that there was also a 7-Eleven, we went there and had some food and drinks. Looking at the girls coming from the figure skate center and comparing them to what we have seen in the Yokohama stadium, we were wondering if we shouldn’t‘ put a different focus in our sport activities. OK, at this poin tim time we weren’t looking exactly attractive. I would say the only thing that looked more dirty that us were our bikes.

James asked if we should lock them. I thought that he made a joke, nobody at the figure skate center knows want I bike is and what it is good for.

By the way, we were noticed. My wife told me some days later that at least one ugly-duck-becomes-olympic-hero-educating-mother has noticed us and described as later as „dirty, foreign perverts handing around at the entrance to the centre“. My wife wisely decided not to disclose her relationship.

„Dirty, foreign pervert“


So after getting back to the stadium and checking the final results (Complete surprise that TCCs Naomi and Alan and their teammate were also riding in the event, I haven’t seen them at all) we rode home.
I asked one a the reception if James would be eligible for a price with his 6th place finish, but I was told that only the 1st place will get something in the King of endurance category. Naturally, there can be only one king. So we have to be conten with the title of dukes, or, as Laurent remarked, ducks of endurance.

Riding home after the event was a 5 km monster brevet-like trip along long roads and high mountains. So it seemed. Which completely exhausted me. And after having a business meeting and entertaining my family with heroic stories at the local Yakitori restaurant I felt asleep, dreaming and cramping until the early morning light.

The next day I went hiking with a group of German friends. We started at Mitake station on the Ome-Ouktama line an walked up the road to the cable station. This road is well known as „The mother of all pointless rides“ by James, Graham and Michael. From Mitake we took a hiking trail to Hinode mountain and then further on to Tsuru tsuru Onsen (on the road from Itsukaichi to Umenoki pass leading to Ikusabata at the Tamagawa West of Ome). Quite nice and very painful. Perhaps a new trail to be explored by Tom and his new bike?

Anyway, after a good soak in the water and some good food and beers later at the Ishikawa brewery (= Tama Jiman, Positivo approved) I was ready for my bed and didn’t woke up until late on Monday morning.

My muscles are still hurting and I am not completely unthankful that the rain is stopping all biking activities for the time being. I wanted to tell our heroic deeds to the students at university but decided later that history of the Japanese zaibatsu would be equally interesting for them.

3 Kommentare

Eingeordnet unter 2009, Cervelo Soloist, James, Mob

von | 28. September 2009 · 06:05

Performance by MC SpandX

Thanks to Ludwig for cheering me up after the the Cycling Messenger World Championship with this one. Too funny. Both sides.

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Mob

von | 27. September 2009 · 15:16

Silver Rides

The extened „Silver Week“ is now finally over and a lot of riding has taken place. It started exactly one week ago.

On Sunday Ludwig and me met in Ome, had breakfast with „Aurore“ the French mistress of the equally French bakery which is beloved by everybody and headed out in direction Chichibu. We tried to find Tom’s new road but had initially some problems. Not sure, neither Ludwig nor me are efficient explorers of new frontiers and we use google maps for the way to the toilet in our house.The matter was complicated by the fact that a Japanese rider tried to draft with us. When we let him do some work in the front he drifted against the curb in a right curve and almost fell just in front of me. That was enough: we increased the speed and almost had him completely exhausted when we noted that we had lost the way.But then we found the road and it was beautiful indeed. No traffic, lot’s of up and downs and a beautiful view into the main Chichibu valley leading to Yamabushi pass. After lunch a TT up to Yamabushi and a lunch at Shomaru we went down on the other side and up to Karibazaka. Many riders were out there and we continued along the green line to Sadamine pass, then took a turn North and went up the backroad over Kayunita pass to Nihongi. Boldly we decided to go further and discovered some new passes, such as Samugami, before we finally arrived at Nagatoro, the famous gorge which is mentioned in every sightseeing pamphlet about Saitama (although there aren’t many).

From there onwards we rode further North and rode over Mase pass, a somewhat harder than expected climb before we finally arrived at this Shinkansen Station which is supposed to actually have a meaning. Somewhat. I am talking about Waseda-Honjo.

A nice ride and something more of Chichibu discovered.

The next day I rode to Shibuya to register for the Cycle Messenger World Championship. An event which is tailor made for me. I realized this when I came to the registration bar: I was the only guy with a road bike and also the only one who demounted by moving the right leg over the rear wheel. Everybody else swings the right leg in front, get somehow ride of the hands and the handle and turns the leg over the handle bar. Still much to learn. I checked for the jerseys but they were sold out already – only S size left. Also the XL t-shirts were gone. At least I got a free snicker bar. The registration was chaotic. David also wanted to register, but despite the fact that he went there two times he couldn’t in the end.

My ID card was still in the made but I had to leave as I wanted to visit Positivo with my son and choose his new bike. We made a very reasonable choice (I hope). I would have loved to make the less reasonable choice.

On Wednesday Graham, Michael and me met at precisely the same spot in Ome and rode out in direction Chichibu again. WE took the fast run route this time. I „pushed“ Michael over Yamabushi, staying behind him and applying psycho-terror tactics in order to make him fast over the hill. That worked pretty well and he made it in about 20 minutes up.

After a fast run on route 299 and the Laurent/Dominic/mob 7-Eleven on road 140, we continued until the intersection with road 37 and made a turn to the North. From there onwards we found the perfect point to follow our main tradition „the pointless ride„.

You see, every time Michael, Graham and me are riding out, perhaps also in a group with other riders, we are obliged to do at least one stretch to an obscure location which involves heavy climbing and does not serve any other purpose than to arrive at this point for the sake of arriving at this point. We started this tradition this year, when I volunteered to show James, Michael and Graham the entrance to the incredible steep climb up on Mitake mountain, completely forgetting that the road to the entrance is already longer and steeper than anything we normally climb anyway. All of them were very favorably impressed and our bold undertaking and my leadership skills were the topic of many conversations made when the rest of the tour led the group up to Kazahari Toge in great pains.

So this time we decided to make a pointless climb up to Tsuchizaka Toge, a nice 700 m high pass connecting West Saitama with the Eastern Democratic Republic of Gunma-ny, famous for strong winds and tough women (Angela Merkel, and some 100 kg female hammer throwers, shot putter and discuss virgins). As the border was tightly controlled by tough women that hide so well that they were not seen AND this was our pointless ride anyway, we went back where we came from and rode further North to enjoy a fast lunch at a „michi no eki“.

Michael and me took a new Keirin „0,00%“ beer and when we tasted it we found out that was something missing. It was not only the alcohol but also any hint of taste similar to beer. I found also out that Graham is the other person in Japan who has read Julian Barnes. He is also the only person in Japan who has read „Peeling the onion“ by Guenter „Waffen SS“ Grass in a simplified English version.

And when we continued to ride and I wanted to shoot a photo, I was stil so dizzy by 0.00% of alcohol, that I forgot to un-cleat the leg I wanted to stand on and felt flatly on the road, much to the amusement of Michael who continued to tease me about the lack of alcohol resistance for the rest of the ride.

And then we made it to Nagatoro again. Beautiful and serene it is indeed. Actually it is so quiet, that almost all tourists who come there fall asleep immediately as we can see in the photos below. Also Michael, Graham and me took a nap and we woke up when we were kissed by a beautiful prince. But this is a different story. Again, a fast ride over Mase pass, one of my new favorites and then further on to Waseda-Honjo where we took the Shinkansen home, had a real beer in the train and made it home well in time for everybody’s mongen.

The following two days were stuffed with commuting 41 km to the university and doing a training ride for the track race event of the CMWC at the Tsurumi river close to my home.

And then on Saturday I rode to the Keio Kaku and wanted to take part in the CMWC race there. The usual bunch of gaijins and Japanese messengers was already there: more tattoos could be seen than on the bodies of the Kansai chapter of the Yamaguchi-gumi, piercings enough to supply raw material for the great leap forward in China and haircuts like I would have had if I would been 20 today. Fine.

Then they didn’t let me register because I was on a road bike. You can read the whole ordeal here on their blog site where I vented my complete frustration which these guys who are as flexible as the Hamamatsu police officials when I asked for my driving permit in 1998. OK, they are dressed differently, but the concrete in the head unfortunately remains the same.

Luckily David was there so I didn’t felt so alone and after we have watched the TT event we decided to ride out on Onekan, have a coffee and talk about our favorite subjects: International Law and Jerome.

I was still so angry that I decided to ride to Takao and try to achieve a good time at Otarumi, which I did – first time below 14 minutes despite the wind plus with a heavy rucksack on the back.

And as I was still angry I thought that I could also add Yabitsu on top of this, so I continued. I started the climb at precisely 5 PM and when I made it to the top it was already pitch dark. Strange noises in the Forrest, wild animals and „warumono“ cracking through the underwood … alone almost as scary as Sasago tunnel.Then down on the other side – very slowly in the dark and right into a big matsuri at Hadano. Luckily the famous bento capitol of the world was still open and I had an excellent Oknomiyaki for 240 Yen.

In the end it was a beautiful day. Or a beautiful night.
So what’s next : Yokohama endurance race on Saturday !

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Cervelo Soloist, David, Mob

von | 18. September 2009 · 12:05

Harvesting Time

Some photos from the recent ride over Umenoki, Yanagizawa and Dosaka as an inpiration to dive deep into Autumn feelings.

Starting with the Tamagawa valley where it is the most beautiful, between Ome and Okutama about. No speed bumps and barriers can be seen.Rice Paddies before the harvest in the Enzan valley after coming down from Yanagizawa. One could almost see Tom Cruise walking around.Before the harvest still to keep away the crows (not effective in case of German ones) but couldn’t keep away the storm.Ready. Everything neatly lined up on both sides of the field. After the work is done …….waiting for the bus home. It makes me nervous to see only people above the age of 60 working in the fields. Who will harvest all our food in 20 years to come?
… long is the approach up to Umenoki and many drivers have lost courage and given up in the middle of their undertaking.Luckily life has it’s compensations Like the fast viaduct supported run down from Yanagizawa. David will do this one on Saturday I guess.

That reminds me that I wanted to write something about Kosumosu, its absence or more precise about this song „Where have all the flowers gone“ which I was forced to learn as teenager wit my guitar teacher and which came very handy then when demonstrating against nuclear weapons and Pershing rockets in the Seventies and early Eighties. Joan Baez was a very prominent figure at this time and being a big bob Dylan fan in the Seventies I naturally hated her. OK, she had sang in Woodstock but she was much too old and too much this teacher type baby.

Luckily we Germans have the mysterious Marlene Dietrich who re-did the song in German :

“ Sag mir wo die Blumen sind, wo sind sie gebliiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeben.“

the length of the „iiiiiiiieeeee“ expressing Weltschmerz, unbearable sadness and of course dissatisfaction with the stationing of nuclear weapons on unholy German soil.

I once stayed at a hotel in a small fishing village in Iceland, run by a Romanian who has worked at the Tokyo Hilton previously. He showed me the „blue room“ where Marlene Dietrich has slept in the Thirties. She probably has seen better hotels but then she was on the escape from Nazi Germany.

I got five pamphlets about the hotel from the Romanian and was asked to distribute them in Japan „to penetrate the market“.

Later the day I went out with my son on a fisherboat whale watching while Kazuko and our newborn daughter stayed behind at a small cafe at the port of the village. Later Kazuko told me that an older American couple entered the cafe, sat down close to her and Karen. She could just hear the man saying to his wife: „Look, Eskimos!“ before the camera flash went off and took her and Karen frontal.
Marlene, where have you gone?
I was going to see an American company on Monday and while riding up the escalator to the reception on the 2nd floor I could see the office space of another Japanese company selling aromatic scents. Japan has come a long way in terms of cool biz business attire and also sheet metal furniture may be a thing of the past in a youthful and dynamic company setting.

But take a look at the seating lay out – nothing has changed at all.

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Mob

von | 14. September 2009 · 15:35

Where have all the flowers gone?


Put in another long ride today. I started at Hachioji, then moved over to Itsukaichi by Akigawa Kaido and climbed up Umenoki as a warm-up. I thought. This is much too hard for a warm-up, very similar characteristics to the Wada climb: First a slow approach along a river followed by a steep and brutal climb to the top. Much harder than from the North side. Therefore OWI : 1.0.

Along the Yoshino Kaido I rode to Okutama, but then made a turn on route 184 and discovered to my dismay that an identical long tunnel to the one of the 411 road side shortly before Okutama is also existing on the other side of the Tamagawa. Complete nonsense. After a break at the station I gave Yanagizawa Togebaka a try and made it in less than 2:10 hours thanks to the good weather and some tail wind. Being 10 kg less heavy than last year also helps a lot. Please check the Togebaka section.

A quick run to Ensan was followed by …. surprise .. a train ride to Otsuki. Yes, no fruit lines and Sasago horrors today, instead an attack on Dosaka and then home to Hashimoto via Doshi Michi.

A real loop, something that looks like a loop on the map not these balloons with attached strings (as part of the way and return is the same).

Summary: 154 km or riding, 2.800 m of climbing, still massive construction works everywhere and, yes, the absence of Kos(u)mos(u) this year is significant as Tom remarked?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Sag‘ mir wo die Blumen sind …..

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Eingeordnet unter 2009, Mob