2 posts tagged “bike ride”
It was the last summer I thought I would ride to my parents' home at the bottom of the Yatsugatake mountains in Yamanashi prefecture. I remember I read the blog entry by Kondo-san who rode his bike for Kobuchizawa for his friend's wedding ceremony and I sent him an email to ask if the tunnel in the middle of the route was too dangerous for a novice rider like me. He responded immediately that it should be just fine because even a rude driver would take a little more care in his/her driving in a tunnel, especially when it is narrow without shoulder; I should just turn on the tail light and front light and it should go fine.
I wasn't able to go there by bike the summer, but it was always in my heart - that I climb all the way up to 1000 meter elevation where my parents live.
After attending the last video conference call before I started my golden week holidays, I rode my bike from the office to Yotsuya station where I packed the bike in a bag and caught Chuo Line Rapid Service to Takao. I then took a lunch in the next train bound for Kofu, which I got off at Otsuki Station around 12:30pm. It was another beautiful day at Otsuki while I was unpacking the bike and setting up eveything.
Starting from Otsuki station, the first check point is the tunnel I asked Kondo-san about - New Sasago Tunnel. It was a gentle climbing to the tunnel and in the tunnel was a gentle upslope too, where many big trucks passed me, sometimes so close to scare me a little. But it was not a dangerous ride in the tunnel and I appreciated Kondo-san's advice because otherwise I may have chosen to climb up the Sasago Touge, for no good reason.
After the tunnel, it was all the way down hill to Kofu city. Kofu city is a very flat land which is surrounded by mountains. I marked 55km/h on the road at which I was really scared - too scared I wasn't even able to put on the break. I was thinking about when I was watching the UCI World Championship Cycle Road Race on TV, in which the fastest a racer marked was near 90km/h. I was calling myself a wimp when I realized I missed the crossroad where I should have turned to the right.
Passing the closed grapeyards around Katsunuma, Isawa and Koshu, I arrived at Kofu at around 2:30pm. After taking a short break and called my parents to tell that I was still alive and well, I started again, this time for climbing. It was around Nirasaki where I missed the turn the second time, but I didn't realize until I finished climbing up the hill. My Garmin GPS told me to turn right again and again and I finally obeyed to its instruction and... went down the hill I just climbed all the way to the bottom of the Kiyosato line. It would be just like starting over.
Kiyosato line was also a steep uphill to as the name suggests, Kiyosato where a popular farm first established by a missionary who also introduced american football to Japanese, was. It was around 8km/h when I was pedaling to climb the last mountain. My legs cramped and my arms hurt. However I didn't feel hard to breath and I even felt easier and happier. It may not be the true second wind that came to me but it was a strange experience.
My parents' home and the streets around it had cherry trees and they welcomed the winner of the one-man tour with their late blossoms. I then went to a public onsen bath near there to relax and stretch. I was able to relax in the bath watching Mt. Fuji but was hardly able to stretch because my legs and my arms cramped too much.
Otsuki - Oizumi 2009 May | Road Biking | Otsuki, Yamanashi-ken, Japan | MotionBased Dashboard
It was literally "Sunday" finally in Tokyo after more than five straight days of pretty hard raining. After finishing all the laundry for the weekend, I could finally have a date with my girl for the first time since last week. The sun was there but some black clouds were also around, which made us decided not to go too far.
I knew for a while that the Tokyo Stage of the Tour Of Japan finishes Ooi Wharf/Dock which is under our eyes from the balcony. I looked down the overpass and saw "a lot" of bike riders passing by. Hey girl, we gotta go there and join them.
It turned out that 7 - 8 km for a go-around, no big traffic except bikes, no pedestrians and lots of fellows made the course very good for a training ride. The best of all, it was only a few minutes away from home, so I didn't have to worry too much about flat tires and other accidents.
Ooi Wharf Go-Around | Road Biking | Odawaracho, Tokyo-to, Japan | MotionBased Dashboard
Racers would ride 19 loops of the course before they finished the race, but I only did 2 laps after I found I didn't bring my bottle, towels, coins and everything. Since I now understood the course, and it should be sunny next weekend, I'll go for 10 - 20 loops next time. Fun!
