Archiv der Kategorie: Mob

Is there anything more beautiful and charming in the world than a traditional Swedish Midsummer Festival? Well, after watching an imitation in the cafeteria of the IKEA Kohoku store while trying to blog, at least 42 things come to my mind immediately, including complete silence in a Japanese Zen Buddhism temple, Marunouchi Japan Post Office Building and firing live shells from an automatic rifle at a shooting range in Northern China.

Really, it is hard to blog seriously if by chance one has chosen to sit just in front of a live performance aimed at four year old and their mothers, imitating Swedish ducks and porks which according to the IKEA instructors, make different noises than their Japanese counterparts. But as I have chosen to have my weekly round of roast beef at IKEA and test my new HP subnote I have no choice but to stand and deliver.

By the way, I also have nothing against Sweden and the Swedish. IKEA is a great Swedish invention and when I was a student I always felt comfortable when visiting the apartments of other students as they had exactly the same IKEA furniture as myself (BILLY cupboards and TED chairs mainly). My definition of „making money“ was equal to „when I will buy furniture that is not from IKEA“. Unfortunately just as myself, IKEA also matured, making better quality furniture so I am still stucked with them.

I also know one sentence in Swedish:

„SÖMEBÖDY HAS STÖLEN MY VÖLVÖ“

[I hope that you can see the special characters on your screen, otherwise, I am afraid, it will be not funny at all].

Now, where was I? Oh yes, I wanted to write about my first longer ride into Chichibu after the accident. So after converting my racing bike unintentionally into a single speed, I took my jinxed bad boy for the first time on a longer trip. The wastelands of Yokohama were as boring as usual and the same is true for the stretch on the Tamagawa which led me from Tamagawaharabashi to Ome and, who would have guessed, to Aurore bakery and the 7-Eleven in front of the station. What a bore! I was glad to be back on my bike, but I was really really bored by riding through Yokohama and along the Tamagawa for the n-st time of my life. I decided spontaneously not to do that any longer. The risks of an accident are just to high and it is no fun. From now on, I thought, I will rely on the service of my bike bag and the good office of Japanese train companies.

So I started again from Ome station and crossed over the Ome line railway and through the tunnel into Chichibu land. What a relief, every time I pass from the valley of Ome into the neighboring Chichibu, I am amazed by the beauty and timelessness of Chichibu. It is like riding into a different country, a Japan almost untouched by the craziness of our modern civilization. I am sure that I have written this many times already on the blog, but I just cannot stop it to write it again and again.

I noticed also that the bad boy is pretty heavy and I am still very untrained so the climbs were becoming much harder and slower than before. But luckily I have still stamina, so I am slow but I will never ever dismount my bike on a climb. Ever.

But then, on the downhills the bad boy is just wonderful. With it’s very stiff frame, heavy wheels, dampened front fork, hydraulic disc brakes and wide handle it is much easier to steer through the curves and it stays in the line like a bullet on a string. Perfect, I was almost as fast down as David is normally. I mean, I was not as fast as these guys, but going well over 60 km/hr on the first downhill after Ome and not feeling unsafe at all. Sadly, the bad boy does not have a standard crank, nor a compact crank. I don’t know exactly what it is, but feeling-wise I would describe it as a „nano crank“. So there is no way that one can gain additional speed by pedaling downhill.

So I rode at slow speed up to the holy fountain at the beginning of the climb to Yamabushi and Shomaru Toge and I was starting to feel better. Of course, the dump trucks at the beginning of Chichibu are a real drag but otherwise there was very little traffic and the roads were quite and silent.

All right, Yamabushi Toge was approaching and I thought that I will give it a try and check my time. When I made it to the top, I counted 28 minutes, which is about 8 minutes more than my best time – wow that is really bad! I guess that about 10 – 15% is due to the bad boy (as compared to my Cervelo), another 10 – 15% to my training level and the remain to fate, weather and general jinx. But I made it and I felt OK so I continued to scale Shomaru Toge where I took a very brief break and rode down in direction road #299.
Then I decided to scale Karibazaka Toge which I did and my speed dropped into single digit levels. The climb lasted for almost 43 minutes, I am lucky that this one is still not recorded as an official Togebaka climb.
By the way, the wooden shed on the top of Karibazaka is gone now and replaced by a gravel field. Hope it will never rain there.And from there I rode over Ono Toge, Shiraishi Toge to Sadamine Toge where the local Soba shop was closed, perhaps mother and her daughter are still in Hawaii.

It was beautiful to be back on the bike again and I was glad that I selected Chichibu for the first trip. There was zero traffic on the roads and one could hear the sound of birds and other animals in the woods. Some stretches of the road were still damp and wet from the rain the previous day and there was a strong aromatic flavour from the flowers and trees in the air.

On the way up to Karibazaka I encountered two roe deers that didn’t hear me coming. And on the way down in direction Chichibu from Sadamine Toge, I met a monkey on the road. This was only the second time in Japan (the first time on the road down from Matsuhime in direction route 20).The remaining ride through Chichibu city was less fun. All in all I did 120 km and app. 1.600 meters of climbing in 6 1/2 hours. This is not fast, but I did take only one longer break at Ome, went up Yamabushi, Shomaru and Karibazaka in almost one go and all of this on the bad boy. I was really happy to be back on the bike, although my left hand was hurting and I would never have made it without dampened front fork and hydro brakes.

120 km, thereof 54 boring kilometers to Ome and 8 inside Chichibu city, so roughly half of the distance. That mustbe improved in the future.

Anyway the confidence is back and I went to the post office today and filed an entry application for the Hitachi Naka Race in two weeks. Four hours individual endurance. Definitely not on the bad boy.

[… to be continued …]

Finally after more than four weeks of a forced break I was able to get on my bicycle again and do some shorter rides. Excellent, otherwise I would have died pf boredom or buttock soreness because of my home trainer. But I was not really lucky somehow. The following blog entries are describing some of the things that have happened.

JUNE 8 TH

The cast on the left hand is history now. But I have still no power to grab something, so simple and frequent tasks like holding a glass of beer can only be performed by my right hand. On the racing bike that means that I cannot shift or brake with the left hand. So I should be faster, right? Left: Riding with the traffic is a little bit risky so I take a spin along the Tsurumigawa close to my house and my favourite super short ride training ground. I am still a little bit shaky, but at least a start is made. I am slow as well.

JUNE 9TH

After trying yesterday I feel comfortable enough to make a mid-range ride into the beloved Chichibu territory. But first the wastelands have Yokohama have to be travelled. There’s a lot of time available, I do not have a „mongen„, nor an ambitious plan. So when I saw some excavators which are disguised as environmental friendly excavators I stopped and took a photo.
The gear shifting on my bike wasn’t smooth at all but I am not that worried. From the main road I took a turn to the right where there is a small road with 10% plus of slope leading me to the local vegetable wholesale market. I got out of the saddle and started to put power on the crank. The next thing I heard is a noise like a tank is driving over my Cervelo bike – it cuted right through my heart.

What happened? I demounted from my bike and the sight is just plain terrible. when I shifted at the start of the slope into the lowest gear, the chain got stucked between the biggest rear sprocket and the spokes of the wheel. As the wheel still turned it dragged the rear derailleur from the adaptor plate which bended and broke. Then the rear derailleur moved further on and ended up entangled in the spokes of the rear wheel. It looked like this after I got it out from the wheel.
My first single speed bike, obviously. OK, so no Chichibu today.I decided to take the bike to Nagai-San in the evening and ride with my Bad Boy hybrid to Bic Camera in Yokohama to check out the new subnote lap tops. The Bad Boy is also a good bike for me right now: The hydraulic disc brakes do not require any power and the dampened front fork, which can be switched on and off, is giving relief to my left hand. The road from my house to Shin-yokohama is just spectacular.

No, this isn’t a joke. It is possible to ride from my house to Shin Yokohama always entirely using low density roads along the rivers in the area. There is one particular part where the weeds on the road are almost a meter high but still there is a good trail of compacted earth in the middle to ride. And in the background one can see the UFO like shape of the Nissan Stadium.Heiko introduced me once to this road and it became my favourite trail in the area. From there on it takes me only another 30 minutes to Yokohama. The subnotes are great and I decide to buy one the next day at Yodobashi Camera in Shin Yokohama as they have the better sales staff.

It has been a while since I have been to the Yokohama centre and since I am now a citizen of this town, I decided to ride around a little bit and explore the area. There is a nice canal with Yattai wooden boxes lined up on the side of the road parallel to it. I decided to go there with friends when I have a chance next week.

Note : I went back the following week with Tina who is supposed to leave Japan after staying here eight years. I own a lot to Tina as she took me with her to many punk rock concerts in Tokyo where I saw fantastic bands such as Penpals, Potshots and Mad Three. I forgot my age and pogoed with the masses, sticking out from the audience like a light tower in the mob of 16 year old girls, approximate average height below 1.5 meter. My wife never understood why I had so much lipstick smears on the back of my t-shirts.
Conclusion : Every single of this Yattai is selling Oden. I like Oden („Oden to the people“) and also did you know that Japan is levying 1571% import tariffs on Konnyaku? One can get rich with Konnyaku smuggling I guess. But it is not the right food to say goodbye.

Then it happened: a flat rear tire. Of course I have nothing with me to repair the mess. So I must ride home by subway and return in the evening instead of handing my Cervelo to Nagai-San. Another spoiled evening, really unlucky to have two mechanicals in one day.

In the evening I returned with my bicycle repair kit (for the importance of bicycle repair kits I suggest you take a look at James in Japan). I have only one cartridge with me, a proud Positivo Espresso tradition which was invented last year in Izu. Of course there is a leak when I attach the cartridge to the adaptor and I have barely enough CO2 to fill into the tube. Somehow I make it home. Then I realize that I have another rear wheel tire. I check both tubes, find the holes (pinch flats) and repair them with a pro repair kit. After inflating them again, I find out that there are even more holes, also pinch flats at other locations of the tube. Why is that?

Anyway. Nagai-San has his weekly day off on Wednesday. I visit him on Thursday morning. Actually I thought that this could become an excellent opportunity to upgrade my bike to the new Shimano Ultegra. Do I need the new Ultegra : Yes definitely. I mean, just as Campagnolo, both wires from the levers are now hidden underneath the handle bar tape – an important advantage in terms of aerodynamics.

But then Nagai-San tells me the bad news: The sales for the new Ultegra only starts in mid July. Also I do not need only new levers and a rear derailleur, but also a new front derailleur, a new chain and a new crank set as the new Ultegra is not a standard compatible with everything else in this world.

So I ask him to buy me a 105 rear derailleur for the time being and fix the bike so I can ride at least for the time being.

Note : So I called him today (Monday). The rear derailleur is there but it will still take until Thursday to fix my bike. This is so frustrating.

After returning from Nagai San I take my Bad boy for another spin in direction Shin Yokohama. I arrive at the river and have another flat. What is wrong with my bike? Why do I have flat tires every 5 kilometers?

PROBLEM: My Cannondale Bad Boy Hybrid Bike [2005 version] has nice set of heavy Mavic wheels with many, many spokes. The fork is quite massive and it also has disc brakes attached at the front and at the rear. But the tires are just like racing tires, 700 x 23C. The idea is too use them in the city and to have another set of wheels with thick tires for exchange when going out into the country side. Both wheel types should fit with the same fork.

I normally ride it only in the city for shorter distances. It is too heavy for the mountains and the easting position and handle width is not comfortable for longer rides. But for the city it is fantastic. Good braking power, front fork with damper so it is easy to ride up and down the cobblestones.

I had no problem with the bike for almost four years. Then, about half year ago I changed both tires as they were pretty much run down. The front wheel is still doing fine, but I have one flat tire after the other on the rear wheel. Normally I ride with app. 6 bars. When I check the tubes they are all pinch flats, sometimes even in more than one location.

I bought another tire for the rear wheel. I exchanged the rim tape inside the rear wheel and checked for sharp edges at the rims. I exchange many tubes. Still, more punctures.

Why is that?

Is there any logical explanation, accept that I hate Mavic in return their wheels hate me? That the bike is jinxed? That I am just plain unlucky?

[to be continued]

One of the great demerits of riding out on the weekend is that time is always limited. Sometimes I really would like to stop and explore the area, take photos of buildings and situations are just ride to a point where no steep climb or senseless long ride is required to do before.

Luckily I have broken my left hand and while everybody else is out there training for the Transalp tour or JCRC 2009 series I had plenty of time „on hand“ to try something new. So on Tuesday after enjoying a ridiculous assessment center the day before, I went out hiking to Mitake-san in Okutama with Kathrin.

I have passed countless time the entry to Mitake on Yoshino Kaido between Ikusabata and Okutama-Ko but I never could make up my mind to go there. So this time without training, my left hand still numb and without power, we didn’t even bother to check if we could climb up the mountain but straight away took the cable car to the top. The peak of Mitake is at app. 930 m elevation, but the shrine and the small village on the top, actually surprising big, is at about 800 or so. So this is quite a difference in elevation to the road below running along the Tanagawa at elevation 300 meters more or less.

We were surprised to see quite a number of Minicars on top so when we were getting ready to return to base, we asked the local guys if there is a trail down. Yes, there is one so we walked about 3 km and 500 – 600 elevation meter down.The trail is quite steep and even walking down gives you an OWI of more than 1 (Open wada Index). And much to my surprise, the whole trail is asphalted and in very good shape.

So, this is the perfect training ground for those of us who are bored with Wada and looking for a new challenge.

Actually you can take your bike up or down with the cable car at extra charge (quite steep). Which might be a good idea because I cannot imagine that riding down there will be much fun.
Let me know if we should include this in in Toge Baka.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/jp/okutama/352124407950438622

It went (almost) unnoticed that we had 10.000 hits on the Positivo Espresso website some days ago. So I checked: For the first 5.000 hits we needed from 14.11.07, the start of the site to 26.09.2008 precisely 316 days, for the second 5.000 hits we only needed 228 days. It is also very encouraging that we get comments from readers outside of the „core group“.

Let’s not fool ourselves, app. 5000 hits are from Tom, David, James and me, checking every 10 minutes on an average day what has happened. Also I am a lttle bit suspicious about the counting algorithm, probably counting only hits on the main page, but not on the posts.

But hey, also Apple was not founded on one day and we have much more modest goals.

Sorry to blog about this peripheral topics, but my rides on the home trainer are even more boring.

Crashed into an autobike on Kan One while riding out with Ludwig on Sunday. Result: two fingers of the left hand broken, perhaps surgery and at least six weeks out of action. Will be back mid June if rehab goes well.

In the meantime I will read all your posts and hear you talking about riding and racing. I will become very envious which in turn will hopefully speed-up my recovery.

Looking at the weather forecast, I realized that Monday would be the last good weather day of the Golden Week. As I did not enjoyed some serious riding so far, I thought that this would be my last chance. I felt inspired by Tom’s Kazahari-Matsuhime loop.

But still there was a lot of work to do, so I could leave the house only at 11 and headed for the Tamagawa. The cycling road along the Tama was extremely crowded and I was happy when I could take the shortcut via „Charles Village Road“ to Itsukaichi. Finally after 2 hours I arrived at the 7-Eleven before the start of the Kazahari climb just outside of Itsukiachi. I mean, where else would I take a rest?

Met two other riders there, one of them, Greg, I met three or four years ago exactly at the same place and also last year at the Itoigawa Fast Run where his girl friend drove his „support vehicle“ and I was totally envious (of the service of course, not so much of his girl friend). I guess the chance that my wife will support me on such race is slightly lower than that Germany will occupy Poland again by force within the next few weeks.When I said that I wanted to climb up Kazahari and Matsuhime (it was later than 1 PM already) they looked at their watch and I decided, yes, definitely it was time to go.

Instead of going all out from the beginning, a tactic which is also called „litty approach“ after a famous rider from the Positivo Espresso team who blasts along the Tama at the start of each ride [the opposite being called a „froggy approach“, after a Positivo Espresso rider who gets better and better with the distance of a ride. Then, to list them all, there is the „spilly approach“ which is going all out for 24 hours, regardless of climbs and distance] I tried to do my own tactic: Staying in the 150s BPM range for all of the climb and then exhausting myself on the last 3 kilometers.

So when I came to the Y junction, the fork to Tomin no Mori on the right and Kobu Tunnel on the left, I was running at slightly below 20 minutes. Which is good, but there were times when I was glued to the wheel of Tom and I made it in 15 minutes. It is more difficult to do alone.

The second part, up to the tollhouse was done in less than 32 minutes, which is very good indeed. All the way I could keep the tension and I was able to keep my legs pedaling all the time.

Then the third part, from the tollhouse to Tomin no mori is here I normally run out of steam. But today I had my best time ever there, it only took me less than 13 minutes, including a furious sprint at the end.

DONE. 1:04:25 min is a very good time for me and probably hard to beat without loosing much more weight. This is not as fast as Tom, but at least it is a time which allows me to see Tom picking up his ordered Soba noodle from the shop, rather to see him sitting outside with the finished bowl in front of him.

After a very brief stop at Tomin no Mori I continued to climb up to Kazahari. A lot of stupid racing bikers were assembled on top, navigating the curves with their knees on the asphalt, friends and girlfriends taking photos.

But the road down to Okutama are now in perfect conditions and I reached 66 km/hr going down. Instead of taking a break at Kosuge, the village before the Matsuhime climb, I decided to eat while riding which saved more time. When I arrived at the village there was some kind of local festival (matsuri) going on. I never saw that many people in Kosuge, which was for me so far the typical 過疎村 (deserted village), only consisting of farmers in their seventies. The village is in a valley along a river and a huge number of big carp streamers 鯉のぼり was suspended from a steel wire fixed between the hills on the East and on the West side.Very beautiful, but also a lot of traffic. As I was very tired from the trip up to Kazahari, I took it easy but I tried to maintain a constant pace. After all the traffic and people in Kosuge it was nice to be alone in the mountains. Although still a lot of bikes and cars up the road, even some strange tricycles were overtaking me.

After a very short break on the top I descended down, always careful of the traffic. Arriving at the lake I checked out for the entrance to the O-toge road which I easily found. But by now it was already past 5 PM so I decided to head home and took the easy way down to road 20 and then further to Torizawa Station.Traffic on road 20 was a complete mess. also I had to wait 30 minutes for a train bringing me back to Takao – unbelievable, these are German conditions! Have you ever waited for a train 30 minutes in Japan ?

Anyway, a nice ride and at least some compensation for not going down to Izu.

Mount Fuji as seen from the road on Western Izu autumn 2008

We are scheduling a club ride down South on Izu Hanto during the Golden Week. Here is the plan:

07.15 Meet at Shinagawa Station, Shinkansen Entrance
07.34 Departure Kodama 635
08.20 Arrival Mishima Station
08.45 Start riding in direction Shimoda along West Izu coast [proposed route]
12.30 Lunch break somewhere, somehow
13.30 Crossing the famous Jaishi Toge

Going up Jaishi Toge can be very hard with a bowl of ramen in your stomach

16.00 Arrival Shimoda, Visit Kanaya hot spring :
20.37 Last train leaves Rendaiji (station next to Kanaya) for Shinagawa
23.09 Arrival Shinagawa

Alternative 1 : Return the same day home. Perhaps we can squeeze in a dinner at Sunny Side as well.

Alternative 2 : Have dinner at Sunny Side Cafe at Shimoda Beach, stay the night at James’s house (if OK with James, so this is still open, also depending on feedback)

Some more cycling the next day, to be decided on the spot. Return by train to Tokyo then in the afternoon.

What you would need :

– Bicycle bag, repair stuff, tube, pomp, wind breaker, you know, the usual stuff.
– Definitely lots of CO2 cartridges – Izu is a jinxed place

WHO IS JOINING SO FAR ?

The West Izu Team in 2006

Yes, for sure : michael (1 day), Michael (open)
I think so : David (1 day), James, Ben

If anybody else is interested, please post in the comments section. In case we have the chance to do a two day trip we need to do some preparations :

– Luggage per takyubin to Shimoda
– Grill reservation with Sunny Side
– Shinkansen tickets (anyway it is GW)

Hurry up, there is not much time left.

The 13th Tour of Japan, a professional race will take off next month, and also this year it will be linked with a „amateur race“ in Tokyo. It is time to register and seize the opportunity to crash right in front of your house door.

Yes. After a look at the course map (if there is any), you may think „Hey this race is dead flat and looks quite easy – even I could win that.“ That is what we all think. And not even us, but also about 12 Million other Japanese citizens as well who might think that they should try their luck at a first cycle race. And why not? It is hold in Oi-Futo, the port of Tokyo where riders flock on the weekend to show-off their new carbon bikes and race against others on the wide streets normally crowded by container trailers.

Well, everybody can win this race, provided he is of average strength with the field AND he arrives at the finish in one complete piece, bones, organs, flesh and muscles all orderly lined up in the right order as they should be.

Because this particular race has, and I can say this from the experience of attending it the last two years, some major risks :

• A lot of idiots are attending and serving crazy over the course like there is no tomorrow. Never, ever think about racing in the beginners field.
• The track does not only have some sharp turns, but also probably more drains, manhole covers, uneven asphalt surfaces, metal sheets and corrugated steel covers per kilometer than there are cobblestones plastered between Paris and Roubaix.
• And, if in addition the race is hold in pouring rain, like last year, the risk that you slide in a twisted amalgamation of riders right into some guide rails is multiplied by the factor ten.

But after making this rather factual statements, let’s come back and dwell a little bit more on the details: As every year the race is organized by Nikkan Sports, the popular sports newspaper which publish these fantastic articles about baseball, horse racing and groping techniques on the Saikyo line. Nikkan Sports has a huge distribution and attracts a lot of its readers to attend the race. so be no surprise if the guy racing next to you thinks about baseball, horse racing or other things while riding straight and at high speed into the hairpin curve.

The track is 7 km long and has to be passed three times, making the total race distance to 21 km, which is about the common flat type race in Japan. One nasty U-turn, three other technical turns but at least the finishing straight is very wide and almost free of obstacles.The right track is the one in question. The left track is the one used by the pros before they spin some laps at the end of the race on the right track.

One can attend in four classes (plus women and seniors) which are „High grade“, corresponding to S and A grade JCRC riders, „General 1“ (B,C), „General 2“ (D,E) and „Beginners“ (scum). For some reason which remained already last year a mystery to me, the most popular category is „General 2“, which is therefore divided into three groups (2A, 2B, 2C, so far, so clear) and you must submit your registration for one of them (2A, 2B or 2C, but they are anyway all the same). Of course it makes sense, for example if you have problems to get out of the bed early in the morning, to join the 2C group, as this one starts at 9:19 AM, as opposed to the earlier 9:17 AM start time of the 2A field.

In each General 2 field there are 70 places and you might want to register fast with Nikkan Sports. Registration has started on April 11th and tend to be completed very fast. A Japanese post offer transfer from can be downloaded here and after filing some basic information and paying 6.000 Yen the formalities are dealt with. If anyone would like to race against me – please opt for 2A. I am an early bird by the name of Kraehe.

By the way, the race is on Sunday May 24th and it might be a good idea to go there and spin some laps before the actual event to get accustomed to the place. The crowd is one of the biggest in any event (except of course for the famous Positivo Espresso New Year Ekiden Training Session) as they come to see the pros and not you.

If it does not rain one can also be tempted to watch the pro race afterwards.

A more detailed report about last year’s race is published at this blog, however I must warn you that I wrote this post under the influence of a book „English as a second language“ and you may not want to look at it on your office screen.

So I would be happy to meet many at you on the day in the port, if possible still in one piece.