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„The bike, then the car, and then the wife. In that order.“ – Sean Kelly

And before anyway gets too PC you don’t want to mess with Mr. Kelly. He is one of the hardest men around. Probably eats nails.

The photo below comes from the marvelous Big Ring Riding blog-site.

www.lifecyclesfilm.com/ Beautifully shot.

Another weekend, another Saturday ride … this time with a plan (achieved!) to return by the Noon hour.  Aurore bakery in Oume was closed, so we took that as an omen not to go into Nariki and approach the Holy Fountain or Yamabushi Pass.

Instead, we went via Ikusa-bata (Battleground), over the forest road climb to Umenoki Pass (approx 650M elevation) and Tsuru Tsuru onsen.  We took a slight detour to swing by Stephen and Ryoko Coady’s place near the bridge at Ikusa-bata.  Ryoko’s familiar bright red VW was parked outside and there were signs that the house is in active use (but it was early Sunday morning and no signs of activity stirring inside, so we moved on after a few minutes rest in the shade on their porch.)  Is Stephen still in Switzerland?  Back in Japan?  I’ve lost his cell number when my last phone died and was replaced, the data unrecoverable by normal measures.

At the top of Umenoki Pass, another in my series of photos of Jerome resting on concrete road surfaces:

My Cervelo … still with the bulbous saddle bag from last weekend’s Brevet:

The onsen is 2.8 km from the top of the climb.  The lower stretch of this descent on the S. side of the ill, after passing the Onsen, was one of the most delightful roads I can remember within the Tokyo prefectural limits, a classic 2-4% grade along a river/stream with very little traffic and lots of green.  It must be spectacular in April/May.  The climb up the North side had nice variety, mostly shaded, some very steep stretches but none that lasted for long, almost entirely in the shade, and on a closed forest road with no traffic yet a decent road surface (for climbing, anyway).  I’ve known about this for several years, but never managed to try it until now. (The entrance is not obvious from Yoshino Kaido on the N. side — you would miss it if you did not know where you are going or have a good map.

This may help for anyone who wants to try it and does not know where the entrance is:
http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/48576767

Jerome met me on Saturday the 4th at 6AM as planned and we drove out the Tomei Expressway and then through early morning traffic jams of trucks on Rte 16 to Sagamihara, finding the  god-forsaken, hot stretch of gravel along a riverbed where we could park for the Brevet.

Jerome was on his smart looking new Look 565 — replacement for the stolen 2004 Look 585. As an „unofficial“ entrant, Jerome made a good showing — with reflective vest, lights, etc.

We suffered through the first leg to Itsukaichi, made a short stop, then suffered through the heat on the way up the lower Akigawa.  Jerome took a break for a plunge in the river before the climb to Kobu tunnel, while I pressed ahead slowly and waited for him at the tunnel exit.  After a quick trip to Uenohara, we took an unscheduled convenience store stop in a desperate attempt to cool down.  To no avail.  I made my slowest ever ride up Rte 20 to Otsuki and was fortunate to have Jerome go ahead and scout out a route through several farmers‘ fields and down to the Katsura-gawa, where we could get into a river pool by climbing down a rope.  Temporary relief.

After only 10 minutes on the bike again, I felt just as hot as before.  We stopped at another convenience store past Tsuru, … no shade and heavy traffic on the climb up Rte 139 to FujiYoshida.  Time passed and we saw fewer and fewer Brevet riders, as we slipped to the back of the pack.  Jerome waited for me several times and we finally limped into the Kawaguchiko rest stop at 3:05PM, just ahead of the 3:15 cutoff.  At least it was cooler there at 900 meters elevation and with a few clouds.

After a long rest (almost an hour), we pressed on in the cooler climate, partially recovered and rehydrated.  We persuaded one Japanese rider, Hiroyuki, not to „retire“ and to continue with us.  Once we climbed up to Saiko, and rejoined the main road, we made good time to Motosu-ko, which was beautiful, with a breeze for the windsurfers on the far side, and some haze and clouds mixed with blue sky.

We then had a nice, fast, long descent down to the Fujikawa at the base of the western side of Mt. Fuji.  …. where it was again HOT and HUMID, even as the sun set.

We slogged on with Jerome pulling me and Hiroyuki much of the next 50 km, into a light headwind in the dark.  At Fujinomiya, I said my farewells and boarded the train home.  The combination of heat, serious sleep deficit and lack of training over the past 4 months, having defeated me.  Lacking a „rinko bukuro“ („bike bag“), I used my windbreaker as a „modesty cover“ for my bicycle on the train, at least to shelter passengers from any chain grease — which seemed enough to keep the train staff from complaining on a quiet Saturday night.  I recovered enough on the train to ride home the 15km from Shin-Yokohama, and at last got a decent sleep at night.

Jerome made the long climb up to Fuji Skyline at night (spectacular, as I had expected and hoped to enjoy …), saying goodbye to Hiroyuki and another Japanese rider after waiting repeatedly for them on the lower stretches.   He enjoyed the descent into Gotemba and then slogged back down Rte 246 to Sagamihara, getting there at 4:30AM, 30 minutes after the cutoff, but when there were still 5-6 other cars awaiting returnees.

Even if, for the first time in 6 attempts, I failed to complete a Brevet, at least I managed a ride of more than 125 km for the first time since my mid-May injury, and thanks to my riding partner I went far enough into the event so I don’t need to completely write off the idea of the two longer Brevets in October.

The gentleman with long hair is Sir Paul Smith himself. Sorry mob, not tweed.

Source: Bianchista.blogspot.com

On Saturday I return to the Brevet circuit (motto: „slow and steady wins the this-is-not-a-race“) after an absence of 4 months, for a 300km ride from Sagamihara around Mt. Fuji, including one climb up to Kawaguchi-ko, then back down the West side, then a climb in the cooler late afternoon/early evening from 200m up to 1500m elevation on the South side — might even need a windbreaker to keep warm on the mountain in the dark at that elevation.  Jerome is planning to join.

We leave the river at Sagamihara (start between 730 and 8AM) go out via Takao toward Itsukaichi.  For anyone who wants to ride along, the cue sheet can be found here (Japanese required).  Instead of getting to Sagamihara for a 7:30 start (we will drive out), you could join at the first check point — the Akiruno Togura 7-11 west of Itsukaichi (the „last 7-11“ before the climb to Kazahari), which we should pass through sometime between 9:00 and 9:30, before heading up the Akigawa to Kobu Tunnel, then via Uenohara, Tsuru and up to Kawaguchi ko and Saiko.  The second check point is near Kawaguchi-ko, hopefully sometime between Noon and 1PM.

I’m really looking forward to riding the low road around the West side of Fuji, along the Fuji-gawa, and climbing the Fuji skyline drive on the South side for the first time.  Then again, I’m also happy that much of the route is on roads I have taken at least once before, so we won’t need to focus much on navigating.  Stay tuned.

„In the case of running a red light, for example, car drivers can be fined up to 9,000 yen, but cyclists face a fine of up to 50,000 yen, and there is a possibility that they will automatically get a criminal record.

In April 2006, the NPA set up a program to promote road safety measures, and told prefectural police divisions to crack down on cyclists who violated regulations. In March 2007, while the Diet deliberated on a revision to the Road Traffic Law that would tighten enforcement of the regulation that in principle cyclists should not travel on sidewalks, police began to crack down on cyclists riding on sidewalks. After the revised law came into effect in July, the NPA told police to issue traffic tickets to cyclists for blatant or dangerous violations.

In 2006, a total of 268 cyclists were issued red traffic tickets, but this figure jumped to 598 in 2007, 903 in 2008 and 1,326 in 2009. The most common offence in 2009, committed by 436 people, was passing through closed railway crossings. Next was ignoring traffic lights, for which 358 cyclists were ticketed. Another 67 received tickets for riding at night without lights and 50 were handed red tickets for riding under the influence of alcohol.“

Over 1,300 cyclists ticketed for serious offences in 2009 amid police crackdown

I awoke at a reasonably normal hour for the first day following a flight from the US West Coast–at 6:30AM.  I took my time getting started in the morning … until around 8:30AM my email started to flash and I learned of a 10AM conference call.  Somewhat relieved of the excuse not to head out into the furnace, I jumped at my wife’s suggestion of a late afternoon ride as things started to cool down.

This gave me a great opportunity to try my new Mavic orange reflective jersey, and my „fibre flare“ rear flashing light, attached to my seat stays.

It was still hot at 4:45PM as I started my ride heading directly toward the sun, low in the western sky.

I was rewarded once I got part of the way up the Asagawa toward Hachioji, as a strange cloud appeared directly in front of the sun, blocking it except for a golden lining around the edges of the cloud.  This site had many pedestrians stop, point and shoot with their cellphone cameras.

As I passed Takao, some of the summer festivals were underway.  One group had their matsuri along the Asagawa path, in a nice spot.  Another decided to have their matsuri on Route 20 near a busy intersection, complete with police traffic escort (I think I saw some of the same elderly cops who handled the Tamagawa fireworks on Saturday — overtime pay bonanza this weekend.

Anyway, I skipped the Seven Eleven and kept going up the hill, turned around about half way up, and upon the return saw two motor scooters actually turn right into a newly constructed tunnel that has opened up since my last visit to the Otarumi climb hill, just at the location of the Ken-O-do expressway bridges early in the Otarumi TT route.  The tunnel had a sign indicating „Machida“ — a great find for me since I had been planning a return by Onekansen, and knew I did not have time to go West over the Otarumi hill and around via Tsukui-ko.  The tunnel was cool, fast and well lit.  It must have been 1.5 or 2 km long, and all of 2 cars passed me during its length.

Now the orange bullet really started to fly — down Machida Kaido, then Onekansen, with a slight tail wind to ease the pain. 

The reflective vest, and my flashing fibre flare, must have made me the most visible cyclist in Japan for a hour or more.  … unless the rider from the May 1 600 km Brevet who had a similar Mavic vest happened to be out at the same time.  Do people wear these in Europe?  The label said something about compliance with European Union requirements?  Why wasn’t Sarkozy in one of these for his cycling photo op?

The rider who had one of these won the award for „most visible“ rider in May … but will have competition if he happens to ride theChubu Audax October event.

In any event, I made good time, and after a quick water stop, enjoyed the ride down the Kawasaki side of the Tamagawa.  This afforded a good view of the Keirin track (Tokyo Oval Keio Kaku), which, like many other buildings, looked totally different at night.  Not better, not worse, just different.