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Thanks, Michael, for the effort to get these designed, ordered and delivered! They are a big improvement on last year’s model in design/style, sizing, and safety (the orange is very safe/bright — even my mother would approve)!

P.S. — please someone replace this photo with one taken in better light, with less haste, and with a more attractive model! No time for perfection — gotta pack!

For those with a Garmin 705..

„The Garmin 705 has just gotten a big update, with the Firmware bumped to up to 2.8. This big update fixes lots of things, including the recent bug where the history folder became unreadable. The update is so large, in fact that it wipes all of the data off of the device, so be sure to back up your Garmin before giving the 2.8 update a whirl.“

Garmin 705 Update Fixes Boo-Boos – bikehugger.com

Over the last few years I know I have tweaked and fiddled with my bike set-up to the point where I am no longer 100% confident it is correct set-up anymore. For this reason I wanted to get a professional bike-fit done.

Some internet research led me to Aoyama-san at Sports Bikes HiRoad today. He is an ex-employee of Y’s bikes in Akasaka, but branched out on his own 2 years ago, setting up his shop in Koyama 18 months ago. He provides professional bike-fitting analysis and advice using www.bikefitting.com.

Firstly, he completely readjusted my Look cleat positions after measuring my feet and checking the exact position of the ball of my foot whilst wearing my cycling shoes. The result was to move the cleat forward and in. This in itself was probably worth the visit to his small store.

He conducted a short interview to learn a little about riding style, then did a set of very precise body measurements. This data is sent to the database in Holland, after which it returns the optimal bike geometry measurements.

He then sets this ‚perfect‘ bike on his simulator. On the simulator you can try out the set-up. Aoyama-san uses his experience to talk you through cycling technique, lower body physiology and upper body position. He then ‚tweaks‘ the simulator to try a few different positions, eg. lower bars, more forward, higher, etc.

Before the „shoulder“ explanation

After the „shoulder“ explanations

The http://www.bikefitting.com set-up. Gripping firmer. It is a bit too far and we revised it.

Revision 1. Slightly easy. 0mm vertical and 20mm closer on horizontal slides.

Revision 2. Slightly agressive. 20mm lower vertical and 10mm closer (10mm further than revision 1) on horizontal slides.

Once comfortable he measures the rig and then produces a comprehensive pdf file for your reference and to adjust your bike to.

The whole process took 3 hrs. The outcome was to raise the saddle significantly (very surprised), move it backwards a touch and drop the bars.

It feels great. Noticeably less weight in my hands and definitely a feeling of more power transfer and control. I am looking forward to my ride tomorrow!

If you are interested Aoyama-san speaks excellent English and his website is http://hiroad.biz/

Saturday20th
As you may know, Jerome and I are training for the Transalp. We will take our last training ride (really, honestly, this is the last one) leaving my house at 5AM Saturday — heading toward Matsuhime (South approach) or Kazahari (front/East approach) pass, route to be confirmed after departure. Let us know if you want to join at the beginning or somewhere en route. Stephen C. — hope we will see you later, coming from Oume direction?

Sunday21st
James, Dominic and Michael are meeting at Ebisu stn at 6:30am for a ride of about 130km(ish), 6hrs (ish) on Sunday morning. Usual routes, unless we become inspired and brave enough to go somewhere new. Thinking Tank rollers, reverse Otarumi, front Wada, Route 20 and river home. Yawn? Let us know if you want to join at the beginning or somewhere en route.

„Yatta!“ Jerome and David L. celebrate their successful climb to Odarumi Pass, Elevation 2361 meters (approx 7750 feet) on the border between Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures — the highest mountain pass in Japan accessible by paved road.

Many Positivo Espresso riders and fans will remember past last August’s „Odarumi attack“ event, a two-day ride, with the first day involving a ridiculous series of climbs in blistering heat (Wada, Uenohara hills, Tawa, Tsuru, Imagawa and Yanagisawa Passes) with riders dropping like flies along the way (I turned back at the top of Wada and barely made it home, Michael K. turned back after Imagawa), a hot bath, plenty of food and a good night’s sleep at a ryokan in Enzan, and then the main event, a climb of Odarumi Pass (with an almost completely different group of riders, other than Tom).

Did I mention that Jerome and I are training for the Transalp Tour? With only two weeks left, my training is pretty much done, for better or worse, and at least I have boosted my mileage and climbing significantly this year, even if I am still carrying a heavier body up the hills than I would like.

In a break from the past, Jerome has decided to actually train for this event — I guess at age 42, it is no longer possible to just launch into a multi-day event or run a marathon with NO preparation. Jerome’s training consisted primarily of (1) our ride over Sasago Pass and Yanagisawa Pass 3 weeks ago, and (2) whatever he does this weekend. Next weekend we will be in recovery mode (cheese and wine included). So we needed one big ride, and he proposed a day of „Jumbo Mountain Training,“ at least as tough as the toughest day on Transalp, Stage 6. To head off an anticipated comment, let me note that „Jumbo“ refers to the size of the mountains, not the size of the riders!

We left home shortly after 4AM. I really, really could have used another hour or two of sleep, but agreed to the ridiculously early start, pulled in by Jerome’s enthusiasm — what are training partners for, if not to inspire one to train and brush aside excuses — to get up when it would be easier to just turn off the alarm, roll over and go back to sleep? … which, come to think of it, is exactly what Jerome had done. He awoke with his alarm at 3:30, despite having had a big office party with plenty to eat and drink, … but promptly went back to bed. My 4:10 call to his mobile remedied the situation. And his delayed start meant that I was able to ride at a very relaxed pace until he caught up to me at the Seven Eleven near Y’s about 20 km upriver.

We pressed on, taking the near-deserted roads, met Stephen Coady at 6:30 or so, just off of Yoshino-Kaido near the Ikusabata bridge over the Tamagawa, about 5~10 km west of Oume.

The long climb to Yanagisawa was uneventful, Tabayama-mura remarkable for the dense green of its hillsides at this time of year. The most frustrating part of this climb is the long stretch after Okutama-ko where, despite many little hills, almost no vertical progress is made. At 70 km into the ride, we had reached Okutama-ko and were at 530 meters elevation. At 90 km into the ride, we had attacked many little (30, 50, 75 meter elevation) hills, gone well up the river valley toward Yanagisawa Pass … and were at 658 km elevation. Every little hill seemed followed by an equal descent. These hills are not „rollers“. They turn upward suddenly, with an 8 or 10% (or 12%) grade for a short while. Jerome and I had suffered over these in the opposite direction, into a headwind, 3 weeks earlier.

Finally, the road turns upward for good, the gorge narrowing, the road passing through several tunnels, hugging a steep edge, and then switch-backing to get out the top of the gorge where it steepens (photo). Jerome had stayed back with Stephen at Okutama-ko, so I pushed on alone and was first to the top, with an excellent Touge Baka time of approximately 2:20 (approximate because I used a timer that paused when I stopped once for this photo and to scarf down a Winder gel, so I am assuming a 3 minute stop. I will list it at 2:22.12 on the Touge Baka records, just behind MOB’s presumably accurate 2:22.11). In any event, this was the easiest climb up Yanagisawa I’ve ever done, and I recommend trying this long, dry climb early, before the midday heat.

Jerome joined me at the top for a serving of curried rice, followed eventually by Stephen. I was still in need of that extra hour or two of sleep, and put my head on the table. Soon after Jerome rolled in, a special surprise guest stopped by — Tom S., having followed us (at his usual much faster pace) up to Yanagisawa. He still had many passes to go and was planning a route he could complete without taking the train home, also as usual, training for the Utsukushigahara hill climb. Nevertheless, he agreed to act as our guide to take us to the bottom of the climb to Odarumi Pass, as neither Jerome nor I had ever been there.

Stephen headed back for Oume, and Tom, Jerome and I descended to Enzan and the heat of the „Fruit Bowl“ area. Tom led us up another slope out of town, and pointed out two roads — the alternate routes up the first half of Odarumi. I chose the longer route and headed that way without waiting for debate, on the assumption it was less steep and based on Tom’s assurance that it had some cold drink vending machines, etc., whereas the other route did not. This approach offered several advantages for Jerome, most importantly that he could blame me for the miserable heat and lack of shade on the lower stretches, as well as the nasty steep stretch (14% grade warning on the sign) just after the route turned into a forest road around 800~900 meters elevation, while at the same time getting the advantages of a less steep climb in the beastly heat of the lower stretches, and benefiting from the kindness of the motherly old lady who gave us snacks, route advice and let us rest in the shade outside her store as we consumed cold drinks from the store’s vending machines. And of course, after we reached Yakeyama-Touge (burnt mountain pass!) and needed to DESCEND from 1535 to 1485 meters elevation to join the other route to the top, I had to admit the longer route did have that disadvantage, making us climb that 50 meters twice … at least I admitted it until I saw on the descent that the shorter route ALSO involved one area where there was a dip/descent of nearly the same length (at the dam/lake around ~1400/1500 meters.

In any event, Jerome suffered on the lower slopes of the forest road section, and again briefly near the top. I suffered on the upper stretches, saved by a nearly flat section of a few kilometers around 1700-1800 meters elevation and a 10 minute eyes shut rest on the grassy shoulder of the road near the end of that section. Thereafter, the road turned up for a steady climb of 7-9% grade the last 600 meters of elevation gain. The cicadas (crickets?) were deafening and small butterflies (moths?) were everywhere up to around 1500 meters (maybe it was the butterflies/moths chirping away that made all the noise?). Then the woods became much quieter.

Helpful signposts told us how far we had left, and let me calculate that we had an approximate 7% grade on the remaining section. The view from near the top was spectacular, as the mountains near the pass are a craggy, looming presence. The weather on top part of the climb was perfect — a cool breeze to refresh, but no need for extra clothing until we were ready for the descent. We each stepped off the paved road and over the border into Nagano Prefecture (for the Monday office talk „I rode to Nagano“ sounds better than „I rode to Yamanashi“).

The descent was … fun! Not overly technical, with an excellent road surface, plenty of curves, very little traffic (I counted only 4 cars coming up the hill at us over the first 15 kms of the descent). And by the time we got to Enzan station for the train home, we had ridden almost 200 km and climbed at least 3800~3900 meters, and were done with our jumbo mountain training.

Konstantin 1:22:07
Chris D. 1:28:24
Ono-san 1:29:45
David L. 1:34:07
David C. 1:34:33
James 1:34:50
Michael 1:43:25
Dominic 1:43:54
Chris O. 1:49:46
Mark 2:02:20
Graham 2:02:30
Augie 2:11:04

Results can be found by clicking here and entering Race no.

Full-size, full quality photos can be obtained here http://allsports.jp/event/00011174.html

(David L.’s trip report)

The view from the top of the Mt. Fuji Hill Climb (5th stage — top of the Mt. Fuji Subaru Line):

A great event again this year. This climb is only 4-5-6% grade much of the way, after some longer 7-8% sections during the first 5 km, and some shorter ones near the top (including the last 500 meters). Just in case anyone wants to check this year’s time against last, the 2008 BGC team times can be found here . The 2009 official times should be posted in a few days (James – please let us know if you see them), but I think I improved from around 1:41 to the 1:33~1:34 range. Christopher D was up in approximately 1:28. Konstantin, who rode last year on a mountain bike, had a sleek Look racing bike this year and told me that he went from over 1:40 to something like 1:22~1:23.
As usual, the mountain did not show itself fully the day before.

But unlike last year, the registration was conducted without pouring rain, and we were able to walk around the exhibitors and find our good friend and Assos importer, David Marx. Stephen Coady and I each seized the opportunity to buy some essential items. And despite a discouraging email from Ludwig/Manfred when he decided on Friday morning not to join the event–something about how he wished us luck but it was going to be really shitty weather to be riding on Mt. Fuji and so we were all going to die from hypothermia–the view was spectacular from the staging area on the morning of the ride, and overall the weather was close to ideal.

*(I think this photo is worth the extra click to see it at full size — it give the appearance of everyone and all the bicycles anticipating the attack on the mountain … though in fact they are just looking in that direction to listen to the introductory speeches and usual warnings about riding safely, slower riders staying to the left, etc.)
Everyone was in good spirits, including a slim Michael H. and a very strong looking Konstantin. I’m not sure why Dominic is smiling, since he said he has not ridden in months … but must have been staying in shape by other means.

Denis, who Stephen reports has taken a job in Hokkaido, and so will be cycling different routes for awhile.

David L., in his law firm’s cycling kit.

Even the long line queuing for the portable toilets seems in good cheer, with a spectacular mountain view and sculpture.

Jerome and his son Augie, who wins the „youngest participant in the men’s road race division“ award … or maybe youngest overall or youngest ever, since he is only 11 and the rules state that participation is only open to those 12 and up.

I raced back to the hotel (figuratively), packed my rucksack, and headed for Tokyo via Yamanakako and Doshi michi. I made good time, not stopping after the convenience store next to the hotel, except to fill my water bottle from a roadside source in Doshi, until I arrived at Hashimoto Station and hopped a train to my office, spent a couple of hours doing work essential to make Monday tolerable, then rode 15 km home for dinner.

Please add your thoughts.

(James K.’s report:)

„I attended for my third time. I can say that this event does not get old. It is very well organised every year, and with the bus trip up there and the nice hotel close to the shuttle buses I think we have it down.

I rode without my Garmin this year, thinking that a ‚Zen‘ approach might be kind of interesting. I have absolutely no idea how I did and am looking forward to the official results with great anticipation.

Highlights for me were:
Chianti Fiasco.
Augustin’s ride, truly impressive.
Konstantin flying past me – with three small Japanese riders tucked into his slipstream (they must have thought it was Christmas!) – after starting one group back.
Dominic’s claim that it was the hardest thing he had ever done, delivered with a huge smile.
Chris (Orr)’s astonishing and continued ignorance of sunscreen.

Following my Kyushu exertions the other week I have been suffering with what I can only describe as some sort of tendonitis or repetitive strain injury behind my right knee. It was very sore over the initial stages of the climb, but became less so as the ride progressed. As soon as I stopped, it was back and so I decided to err on the side of caution and very sadly abandon the ride home. Need to get this fixed.

David ‚The Pillow‘ Clinch took over the ‚ride home‘ leadership responsibilities very well and led Dominic, Michael and Konstantin off to Tokyo.

Post ride comments included,
„Nice ride but still quite challenging“ – Dominic Henderson
„Home at 18:05. Totally knackered. I weighed 2Kg less than on Friday!!“ – Michael Hancock
„I’m bringing in a special seat cushion at work today!“ – Konstantin Prodanov
„My calf muscles feel about 5cm shorter this morning!“ – David ‚Lube Boy‘ Clinch

Graham, Mark, Ono-san and I hopped on the bus and after a brief stop after Hachioji were dropped off in Tokyo around 2:30pm. Home at 3pm, much to the delight of my wife, daughter and dogs.“

Jimmy Shinagawa.

A brief trip down memory lane to the 2008 Fuji H.C. with Team BGC (sponsored by James):

We stayed at the Fujikyu Highlands hotel, just down the street from the MGM [Grand] Casino (?) and the Westin (West-Inn?) … showing that trademark „piggybacking“ is alive in Japan:

The 2008 Tokyo-Itoigawa team was reunited, only a few weeks after their triumph:

Anticipation:

Mission accomplished. Really.

.. then a very fast tip back down Doshimichi to Tokyo!

___________________________

Due to injury, piano recitals, visiting relations and general apathy I have up to *6* (5 plus 1 from Bryon) entries for the Fuji Hill Climb race this year.

BGC – my firm – will lay on a bus to go up there Saturday, return Sunday and cover the entry fee. Accommodation is down to you. But I can book rooms at Fujikyu Highland hotel with everyone else if you so desire.

First come first served. All are welcome.

*UPDATED. 3 entries remain.*

Here is the PowerPoint presentation that Craig put together for anyone that is interested in seeing some more detail of our recent tour. I put together a video although it doesn’t include (yet) the 10GB of photos that the support crew took!

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4911303&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Tour of Kyushu 2009 from Knotty on Vimeo.