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Joined David and Jerome on their Chichibu ride after seeing the Positivo blog posting. Given my lack of mileage this summer, I wasn’t sure what to expect from my legs. The last few longer rides have been quite tough for me. The Masters Swim program has been very good, I am seeing weekly improvements, it doesn’t do much for power on the bike though. So I set out with some trepidation, not really sure how I would cope with the pace, the climbing and the mileage.

Dominic, David, Jerome & I left David’s house at 6am. We made very good time by setting a fast pace and were in Ome in about an hour and 45 mins. With the Aurore bakery closed at that hour we headed to a [Higashi Oume] 7-11 (Positivo semi-approved; TCC approved) for breakfast and to fill the water bottles.

We set off up Route 53 and made short work of the rollers on the way to the turn off found by Tom recently. Stephen joined us [at the entrance to the Tokyo Hill Climb course] and we were soon on our first climb of the day to 450m, and then onto the ridge. Which wasn’t flat. Tough work, but we were soon descending proper and then beginning our second proper climb of the day [to Nenogongen, at 650 meters+ elevation]. Much to our delight, well, trepidation really, we found the last 300m of the climb to the hill top monastery to be over 22% gradient and even with a triple crank I had to jump off and walk for a few minutes.

We soaked up the scenery at the top, snacked a little then began our descent. Given the gradient, brakes were in use continuously, and it was probably the heat from this that caused Dominic’s rear tire to explode. He did a fine job controlling his bike, especially given the rather nasty drop off into the forest at the side of the road. Unfortunately, in stopping the bike he managed to put a hole in both the sidewall and the main part of his tire. We rallied round with suggestions and soon had it patched up. Unfortunately it was to blow within moments of setting off again. We had to descend very slowly with him – moral support and all that – to the main road, and then to the nearest station [Nishi-Agano].

With Dominic packed off on the train with a stiff upper lip, Stephen decided it was time to head home. I felt the call of a return at this point very strongly, but given our location I thought it was a shame not to soldier on.

David and Jerome led us up another climb, this time with a more manageable gradient. This was in fact a great climb, although as I suspected my power isn’t what it was, but I was able to make a good steady tempo up to the top.

Watanabe-sans Soba restaurant! Positivo approved of course. Although after a short discussion, the Watanabe’s have been renamed Sato and Saito. For future reference. Perhaps one day we might find out their actual names, but where would the fun in that be.

So. How was the soba? Erm, the yakiniku was just great thanks. Genghis Khan special for three hungry cyclists.

Lunch eaten it was time to head home. 650m above sea level and all downhill home. Bloody great riding. The ‚rollers‘ into Oume were quite energy sapping this time round, but we but we blew through and were soon Tamagawa bound.

Jerome and David made short shrift of the headwind and I hung on to their wheels as best I could whilst we sped along.

Stopped at the Tamagawa 7-11 for sugary drinks and a few other items to see off the 30km home. I was struggling big time at this point and I wasn’t looking forward to the last section home. Jerome headed home solo whilst David volunteered to lead and boy, did I need it. Tucked in behind, stuck to his wheel at 30km/h+ as he soldiered into the not insignificant headwind. I thanked him profusely, bade him farewell and the gritted my teeth for the final 10km.

Home at 4:30pm, 2 hours later than planned, but mechanicals are what they are.

180km, 1750m vertical, with 8 hours of riding. Not too shabby.

Garmin connect details can be had by clicking here.

[David L.: I added a few notes above and photos below.]

[On top of the Haraichiba-Naguri Rindo ridge:]

Nenogongen (formally known as OiRinZan-UnDouIn-TenRyuuJi), a 1250+ year old site (founded based upon an event from the year 832 — something about a birth occurring in the year of the child, month of the child, day of the child, etc.).

[Some more photos below of the arrivals at Nenogongen. Jerome was grumbling that a passing driver had pushed him to the side and he had needed to dismount. I actually made it up the steep section! … and all the way other than one brief place after the steepest of it and the last turn, where the road was wet and my tire slipped badly, forcing a brief dismount.]

James smiles near the top (It’s all good!):

Dominic, at this point still on fully inflated tires:

J. Bernard Hinault:
Stephen C.-Roche:

[More photos from the cafeteria at Shomaru Touge (a/k/a „Okumura Chaya“, though operated by Mrs. Sato and Mrs. Saito) — hungry cyclists with gaunt cheeks, and closer-to-normal expressions. Please note that there is now an Italian restaurant within 1 km of the North side of Shomaru Pass, the „Garden House“. Is it Positivo Espresso approved? I think not, at least not yet — we owe our support to Mrs. Sato and Mrs. Saito, for their many kindnesses. They told us that their restaurant has no running drinkable water, then need to fill PET bottles at the spring below Yamabushi and bring them up in their car. So next time you visit, pick up an extra 2 liter bottle of holy water at the spring by the shrine and bring it with you up the hill — a much better training exercise!]

[David L. again: It is remarkable to get in almost 1900 meters of climbing in a ride where one never goes higher than 650 meters elevation. This demonstrates the nature of Eastern Chichibu–lots and lots of steep little valleys, fairly jagged ridges and almost nowhere flat!]

Over the last 2 weeks a click sound emanating from my bottom bracket has been getting worse and trying to resolve this issue nearly cost me over ¥60,000.

Now any sane cyclist when they here are sound around the drive area of the bike will automatically draw the same conclusion as I did, “The bottom bracket is either lose or need greasing and packing”.

But after doing this twice and still not being able to resolve the issue I decided it was time for Pinarello to take a look at the bike. The mechanic who looked at it I would trust with my life and I was a little shocked at what he did to my beloved Carbon Pinarello FP3.

Putting the cranks in the vertical position, he put one hand on the stem the other on the seat post and his right foot on the pedal, he turns and looks at me with an angelic smile put his full body weight down on the pedal and flexed the frame about 5cm off its centre….before I could protest he flipped the bike to the non drive side and did the same.

Next the forks and bars, which flexed a good 3cm! All the time keeping an air of innocence and calm…. I however was close to creating body count or curling up in a small ball in a corner whimpering. (I think it was the later as I think I blacked out)

But with a few softly spoken words he announced that the frame was perfect, and seeing that the blood had drained from my face patted me on the shoulder and informed me that it would need a lot more than that to crack or fracture the frame. So he went about the bottom bracket before as I had and yet again re-greased and packed the bottom bracket.

Next morning off I went again and within 5km the clicking was back, GOD! Now it’s getting to the point where I am ready to ditch the FSA Carbon Crank and ceramic bottom bracket and shell out ¥60,000 on the Dura Ace 7950 set and then burn and purify the FSA as it is obviously possessed by evil spirits!

So this morning I’m working on the new bike and putting the bottle cages on, half way through I realized that I should put some Loctite on the threads as they have a tendency to loosen up when you are constantly taking the bottle out and putting it back in and decided to do the ones on the Pinarello too. Halfway through the job a friend calls and asks if I can meet him at the station… So as I have the bike ready I jump on the Pinarello and head down to the station… HANG ON!

No clicking and creaking! It turns out the cause of this terrible noise was the bottle cages flexing and rubbing against the frame and transmitting into the cranks. I return home, clean off the debris and grime for the underside of the bottle cages, add some Loctite and a little grease between the cages and the fixing points and low and behold… SILENCE!

So if you have a problem and you can’t fix it… Check the bottle cages, they be evil!

Jerome and I will leave my house 6AM Sunday. We plan (subject to amendment, revision, clarification and alteration) to ride to Oume and then into Chichibu. I would like to try the quiet route along Tom’s „brand new“ (well, newly discovered) Haraichiba-Naguri Rindo and head North from it Rte 299, then climb up to the Green Line, along the Green Line to the NW and back South via Yamabushi Touge and along Nariki-Kaido. We could add on Ikusabata/Jerome Hill for the return if time permits. The plan is to be back at Futakotamagawa by 2PMish, no trains.

Let us know if you want to join at the start … or along the route.

On the Transalp, one of the nice things was how courteous most of the drivers were in Germany and Austria … and only a bit less so in Italy. When they saw a bicycle coming, they got WAY out of the way, not just assuming the cyclist would keep going in a straight line but really wanting to avoid any close proximity in case the cyclist swerved. This contrasts to Japan, where the drivers are generally polite, but the roads are narrow and there is little margin for error. And the U.S., where suburban moms in big SUVs barely notice you in mid-mobile phone conversation as they brush you over onto the edge of the road … but the road may have a nice, wide shoulder.

At least when Lance Armstrong rides around Austin Texas with his friends, the police don’t arrest him, as cyclingnews.com reports happened recently to Walter Perez of Argentina, Beijing Olympic gold medal winner in one of the Madison track events, when he joined a group ride down one of the few „rideable“ streets in Buenos Aires. (Note to self: avoid extended business trip to „B.A.“ — just remember Mark Sanford).

There is no video of the ride itself, but tempers were hot during the arrest.

What is the LEAST bicycle friendly place you have ridden/lived?

David L. added … then there is THIS story from Wisconsin … always watch before you start up when the light changes … don’t assume the car will actually stop just because there is a red light.

Jerome and I met Ludwig just past Komae and rode together to Ome where Michael joined us, having come by train. After the P.E. obligatory breads/pastries at Aurore we headed upriver and then over Nokogiri-san (*not to be confused with the other Nokogiri-san in Chiba) from the North side. As Ludwig and Michael had heard, the landslide that blocked the road (and the Ludwig had carried his bike over) earlier this year has now been cleaned up and the narrow forest road was in better condition than the last time I tried it a few years back (though still not great — Nokogiri-san never will be). Traffic on the ascent — exactly one motorcycle climbing past us.

Jerome arrives at the summit–suffering up the first hill as usual, but somewhat the worse for wear after a week with his boss in town and not enough sleep Friday night):

On the way down, we stopped to soak in a cool pool:

Then it was up the N. Fork of the Akigawa and onto the Kazahari Rindo. The road was blocked on the lower slope by a paving operation, but we could carry our bikes a few meters and continue up — again with no traffic beond that point.

We did find an ambulance just before the start of the TCC-approved timed portion, a convenient place for Michael to collapse:

Ludwig and Michael climbed ahead, but Jerome and I also made it up to Kazahari pass, suffering in the heat on the lower slopes and on the many 15%+ stretches up to the Kinoko Sen-ta (the „mushroom center“). Ludwig made it in 27 minutes, a personal best. Michael followed, and Jerome and I were 15 (16?) minutes back. But at least I made my goal — up both Nokogiri and this slope without a foot down. After replacing Jerome’s rear tube, which flatted at the top, we quickly moved on to Tomin no Mori for some sustenance.

Food first:

Conversation later (including more details of Ludwig’s successful effort to „talk his way through“ the no-bicycle tunnel from Chichibu to Enzan):

After a descent down the Akigawa, we parted ways at the turn off for Kobu. Michael and Ludwig wanted to go via Kobu Tunnel (then Ludwig via Wada and Michael … not sure, maybe by train from Uenohara?).

In any event, Jerome and I went straight down the valley and home from Itsukaichi. Ludwig and Michael will need to tell us what happened on the Kobu/Uenohara route. The humidity along the river was oppressive, but less headwind than normal for the afternoon trip home, and we averaged just under 33 kph over the 80 kilometers from Tomin no Mori to Futakotamagawa, wrapping up a classic Positivo Espresso ride of 175 km and 2000 meters of climbing.

Route Map:

<a href=“http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/japan/tokyo/528125155022554876″>2009-08-29 Futako Ome Okutama Nokogirisan Kazahari Rindo Akigawa</a><br/><a href=“http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/japan/tokyo“>Find more Bike Rides in Tokyo, Japan</a>

Jerome’s family is away this weekend + my family back into school year weekend routines + hot weather with rain forecast for Saturday evening/Sunday morning =

A long ride starting early on Saturday.

We leave my house in Kaminoge at 6:15AM (Futakotamagawa 6:20AM), and could liaise with others upriver.

We want to go out at a reasonable (not too fast) pace, keep stops to a minimum, and get over some higher climbs — hopefully Otoge, Kamihikawa, Yanagisawa or something similar. I’ll do some map study tonight.

Michael was very kind enough to help me get sorted for the race on Sunday, getting me signed up, kitted up and picking me and Tsukino up on the Saturday for the race…. It all felt very nice to have a manager and driver and it must be how pro riders feel.

The van was an old beat up Toyota, but with a Lockheed Supersonic jet engine powering the thing we flew down the express way and too our horror through the mountain roads to CSC Shuzenji. As you can see from the speed blur and the look of horror on my face and Tsukino in shock we were traveling at about Mach 3 in an attempt to get to CSC Shuzenji before they closed.

To Michael’s credit we arrived before closing time and all in one piece and Michael was able to intimidate the staff in to letting us do a practice lap.

On the way to the hotel we discussed how drop bar style steering wheels and disc wheels could have shaved seconds off our time to the race venue the following morning. The hotel was a great place and I kicked myself for not bringing the rollers so we could do our own TT events in the room, we could easily fitted 10 riders in there!

The next morning with the Van kitted out with aero bars, disc wheels and an orange go faster strips we rocketed to the event with plenty of time to get the bikes ready and do some warm laps.

With the duty of official cameraman, phone watcher and baby sitter waited for the races to begin, along with the rising tension and apprehension of my race to come, slowly becoming worse as crash victims and DNF riders coming into the staging area.

I was starting to get worried!

Ludwig had kindly agreed to look after Tsukino while I was racing and kindly gave her his professional wisdom which she used to great extent and proceeded to fall of her bike…. But this saved her later on as a lesson well learned in her race, when a young lad decided that he wasn’t going to lose a placing to a girl and rammed her, shaken up by the attack she stayed on the bike .

The call for the X-class riders was called and they kindly allowed us to ride through the most technical part of the course that had claimed several riders already and many more through the course of the racing.

Finally we reassembled at the start line with the 3 minute call going out.

There were 58 people in my race and everyone was looking very professional and serious about doing their best in the X-Series and straight as the starting gun fired everyone one set off at a very fast pace up the first mountain climb of the race.

I managed to break away with the lead group of 10 riders as we crested the first climb and into a very fast and dangerous descent with a lot of tight turns. The lead rider was a little way ahead with 2 others, when all of a sudden his front tire exploded sending him crashing off his bike at what must have been 70kmph!

Because he crashed across my line I had to break hard and swerve to avoid crashing and lost valuable places and worst of all speed for the climb up the next mountain. By this time I must have dropped to about 20th place and the next descent down the mountain I was able to catch a couple more riders. It seemed that a lot of them were taking care on the downhill’s to avoid crashing and I knew If I risked everything I could make up some serious time and catch many of the riders that over took me.

Lap 2 was more of the same and there were several more crashes that I didn’t see and although my pace slowed down to just over 28kmph hour I was still catching riders on my Kamikaze runs down the hills.

Lap 3 I picked the pace up again to 30kmph for the lap and really went at the downhill’s hard…. the final climb is the hardest and by this time I had overtaken many riders and was trying to place in the top 10. I managed to catch another rider but he was proving hard to shake off and on the climb I was on his tail once more.

He was not happy and darted from left to right trying to shake me and make his break thus preventing me from taking his position. With 50 meters to go and me still on his tail, he made a critical mistake and darted infront of another rider.

Disaster!

He just touched the front wheel of the rider and although no crash occurred he did have to apologize and for the split second that he turned his head to look at the poor rider who he hit i took my chance. Exploding out of the saddle and rapidly changing gear, accelerating up the remaining part of the hill climb. The hapless rider tried to pursue but realized that I had out smarted him and the few seconds advantage cost him my tail.

Summiting the climb there was one last downhill and I took every chance I could. Tucked down low over the saddle I went wide on the final bend almost in the grass and then twitched the bike tight over into the apex of the bend rocketing into the final climb at over 75kmph.

The finish line is on a hill and after my speed from the downhill subsided I was back to pumping up the final climb to glory. I suddenly realized that I shouldn’t be too happy that I was almost at the line and took a look under my saddle to see if anyone had used the last hill as i did and as I predicted 2 other riders were sprinting hard to close me for the finish line.

So once more i gritted my teeth, got out of the saddle and thought of Cavendish pumping hard I felt like I was stomping down on jelly and my legs were screaming at me that there was no way in hell i was getting anymore out of them. But ignoring the pain I raised my speed back up to 30kmph.

Again peaking under the saddle and behind, I saw the gritted teeth and look of defeat on the two riders that had tried to deny me of my glory and slowly drawing back as know that their attack was futile.

Crossing the line in 11th position I punched the air for my own for the small battles I had won on the course and my own personal victory! Rolling in to the post race area and mechanic zone I realized that I had a manic grin on my face and was looking forward to doing it all over again and soon!

Many thanks to Michael for setting everything up for me and coaching me from entry to driving us home, without him this weekend probably wouldn’t have happened!

Also a big thank you to Ludwig who kindly looked after Tsukino during my race as I know he was eager to get out and adventure around Izu!

Glorious 5 hrs of riding of 120km and 900m vertical (UPDATED from 1400m via the Elevation Police) today.
Michael, Graham & I headed over Yabitsu, meeting Tom on his way down, whilst David & Dominic headed back to Tokyo along Route 20 after joining us along Tank Road first thing.
Took some video with my ContourHD camera throughout the ride, although using the bike mount there was far too much vibration. I took a 12min clip from the descent into Hadano and my Mac needed 2 hours to „Analyze for Stabilization“. You can see the results below. We returned via Shinkansen from Odawara which added a useful 20km along the coast to our ride plus was far more time efficient in getting home. Thanks guys, good day.

First ‚Tank Park‘
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6231912&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Second ‚Yabitsu Descent‘
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6232367&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Jerome and I had a very good ride this morning. We did the „Paul Jason ride“ as a counterclockwise loop — up the Tamagawa, then to Itsukaichi and up the Akigawa, with a left turn to the Kobu Tunnel, then through the „golf course hills“ of Uenohara, up the back side of Wada Pass, and home. We were home before 1PM, and even though the heat and humidity was very oppressive for the trip home along the Asagawa and Tamagawa, it was not that bad during the ride out or the climbs. We both felt strong and lucky to be able to get in this ride (145 km+ and plenty of hills) done in a half day.

Jerome did not show for our 6AM start time at my house, and I thought if he overslept, I really should let him rest. After giving him the benefit of the „15 minute rule“, I headed out with my ipod on to fight the monotony of a solo ride up the Tamagawa … and so missed his call to my mobile phone until I checked messages at Sekidobashi. He said he was „one bridge behind me“ so I continued at a relaxed pace until we met at Rte 16. After another phone call to confirm location, I stopped to wait for him. I re-emerged from a conveniently located public rest room just in time to see the orange bullet disappear across the river, turning right at the far end of the bridge — leading to a frantic few minutes to chase him down.

We stopped at the traditional Itsukaichi 7-11 (last convenience store before the Akigawa climb), as usual resting on the pavement in front of the store, and confirmed we would „take it easy“ on the climb to Kobu Tunnel. Of course, it was not to be. At Honjuku crossing, we passed a Japanese rider who had left the 7-11 ahead of us, and he hopped on our tail. I pulled the group through the gradual slopes of the lower climb as fast as I’ve ever done that stretch. The Japanese rider (who we will call Mr. Aerobar Anchor) finally pulled ahead of us slightly on one of the last, steeper stretches before the Kobu turn off. Riding behind him, I saw that his leg muscles were a good clue that he would not be easy to stay with–plus his steady pace and lack of indicia of exertion. Mr. Anchor also turned off for Kobu Tunnel and we started the real climb. I quickly fell back, but Jerome managed to stay with him to the top.

We made it through the golf course hills (the road construction from earlier in the year is done) and took our second rest at the intersection for the Wada climb. Jerome found another comfortable place to rest–on concrete in the road.
We made it up Wada close together (I climbed without a stop, Jerome stopped mid-climb for some water, but caught and passed me again within 50-75 vertical meters of the top.) Then it was down the front of Wada and again we were together with a solo Japanese rider most of the way down the hill, until we finally pulled away about 5 minutes before Akigawa Kaido. We are definitely seeing more fast Japanese riders than a few years ago.

Once we got off the steep slope, we rode as fast (without tail wind–in fact some headwind along the Tamagawa) as I have ever done this 50+km stretch home, with the exception of a third rest stop, in Hachioji, again with a comfortable spot for Jerome to rest, complete with concrete pillow and mattress.

Yes, the astute observer may notice from the blue and green stripe on the glass that this is a Family Mart in Hachioji, rather than a P.E. Approved 7-11. In my defense, I would note that all of the 7-11’s on Jimba Kaido are on the wrong side of the street for a trip heading into town. Also I’ve been stopping at this convenience store since B.P.E. (before Positivo Espresso) and so invoke the grandfather clause exception. Lastly, as you also can see the adjacent store is a tire shop where, in a pinch, we could pick up a steel belted radial in the event of a flat.
The map:
Akigawa Kobu Tunnel Uenohara Wada Tamagawa
Find more Bike Rides in Tokyo, Japan
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/jp/tokyo/100125103147834001