Just a short ride to the start at the Nihonbashi bridge, the
literal zero mile marker for Tokyo. Already there’s plenty of people there and
portrait photos are being taken. The mood is light, jovial even as riders
banter and talk gear, routes and about their expectations. I get my portrait
taken and then resume quietly shitting myself. I put on a smile and a laugh but
inwardly I’m pretty nervous, this is a big ride and whilst I am confident in my
riding and going the distance I’ve never come close to something like this
before.
We finally line up a little after the scheduled 5am start with the sun creeping up and slowly illuminating the quiet city around us. Photographers flashes peppering us and we’re all laughing because Stuart is pointing the other way with his “full value” odyssey mission taking him another direction to the rest of us. Go is called and we’re away!
I turn right straight away, immediately separated from the
pack after two metres. From yesterday’s ride I know I can follow this for 10km
and be out on the riverside path. Everyone else seems to be going a slightly
different way but the river paths are most people’s aim. Being 530am its pretty
quiet in Tokyo and taking full advantage I run (carefully) every red light and
jump every pedestrian crossing. Someone said at the start if you wait for every
red light in Japan you’ll need 4 weeks for the ride and they weren’t wrong! I
keep checking the side roads to see if I can see the other riders diverging
away from me but I see no one and continue to the river.
After crossing a small bridge and rolling down to the river
paths I settle into a rhythm and take a mental snapshot of where I am and what
I am doing. Trying to “smell the roses” if you will. Sadly these rarely stick
in my head but the feeling of an adventure ahead, the sun on your face and
nothing to do but ride is exhilarating.
The river is familiar after yesterday and pretty quiet,
after a while I see three of the riders up the embankment and we exchange a
shout and a wave, they’re coming down but I’m not waiting and press on.
Eventually I find some local riders heading out of Tokyo on the trail, we don’t
exchange words, they look at my setup and me with a slightly cocked head as if “wtf
are you doing” but I tuck in behind them and they tow me a decent way out of
town to where I need to turn off the paths and onto the road again.
The sun is warm and there’s a light wind to keep me cool, I’m
snacking on Carmens bars I brought from home, my favourite riding snack. I’ve
only got five though and after that there will be no more muesli bars so I
space them out. Turning on to the main road I’m nearly out of water but it’s
not concerning, there are conbinis (convenience stores) everywhere in Japan.
Eventually I pull over at one and get some quick food and water, while
refilling my bidons Daniel J rides past and I give him a yell, he spins around
and come over for a chat. After he’s gone and I’m reloaded I make it my mission
to chase him, setting small goals on a massive ride is important but I’m not
going to pop myself doing so, riding within my set power threshold. Eventually
I do catch him and we roll together for a bit before I pull away, he’s a seasoned
rider and doesn’t chase me. Sensible.
McDonalds for lunch, stopping for some A/C and food, the
first of several stops like this where you get the slightly bemused looks of
locals at the giant Gaijin (foreigner) in lycra and a loaded bike. I check the
tracking site and see I’m in the top 3 currently, which means nothing, its
120km in and it’s not a race but it does feel good knowing I’m riding to plan
and it’s going well.
From here we start to head uphill, I can see the mountains
in the distance and they look big! First checkpoint for me is Mt Haruna, a
volcanic mountain with a crater lake at the summit. In my planning I looked at
the 3 main roads heading up to the summit and selected mine because it was
shorter but a bit steeper, figuring I’m going to be in granny gear anyway might
as well make it brief.
On the way up I was looking for a conbini for some more
water and riding food, there is always another I’d say to myself as I passed
one each time. Finally when I was ready for one there were no more. I saw a
woman getting out of her car in her driveway and I pulled up and asked in my
best Japanese if there was a conbini ahead. She shook her head and pointed back
down the road. Bugger! I thanked her and continued up the hill, about 2km later
there was a small shop and I was able to reload water and get some snickers
bars. They’d become my go to choc bar as pretty much the only recognisable
label in the sweets section of conbinis.
As I get to the final 4km of the ascent the gradient really
ramps up, a volcano is bit like a convex line where it just keeps getting
steeper til you reach the top. I was grateful for each and every tooth on my
36t granny ring on the back! Out of the saddle for some 20% pinches and
constantly winding back and forth up the hill. I pass some casual riders on
hybrid bike walking their bikes up not going much slower than I am but I’m
determined to not walk.
Finally I summit and the view below me is magnificent. In
the crater is a glistening blue lake dotted with paddle and sail boats. A large
swan boat (yes a boat with a huge swan shape) for taking tourists out on the
water sits at the dock. Across the water I can see a huge chalet like building
that wouldn’t be out of place in Austria. I smile and begin the short descent into the crater.
It’s cooler up here but not cold, the breeze of the descent brings some relief from the heat of the climb and I follow my garmins purple line to the checkpoint at the base of the chairlifts to the proper summit. I pass Tom riding the other way, he’s already been to the checkpoint. Riding around the lake there are tourist shops everywhere, 3 foot ice cream cones outside every shop indicating “soft cream” is available. Contemplating an ice cream I dismiss it and get to the checkpoint.
It’s a little exciting getting to CP1 and I get a selfie
snap and head on. Riding out of the driveway I see Steven taking a picture next
to the lake, deciding to say hello I pull over and we take pictures for each
other.
In my morning haze I had forgotten to check my tyre pressure
and deciding they could use a little air I pulled over at a bicycle hire shop
and asked if I could borrow a pump. The man gives me an ancient looking floor
pump and with one look at it I know it’s not going to fit my valves. I thank him
and go to leave but he’s very insistent and attempts to fit this pump to my
tyres without success and lets 60% of the air out in the process. I’m a bit
frustrated but take the lesson to be more firm next time and get my frame pump
out and re-inflate my tyre.
Climbing back up to the lip of the crater gives me a final
view of this beautiful hole in the mountain before I stick my earbuds in, turn
the music up and begin the descent off the volcano. Not knowing at the time but
this would be one of the rare enjoyable descents of the whole ride. Wide roads,
fast bends and my favourite tunes it was a real thrill. The next goal for the
day was CP2, Mt Kusatsu-Shirane next to the onsen (hot springs) town of
Kusatsu.
Geeting to the next CP I faced my first navigation challenge as the route I was on had a road closed and I needed to find a way around. Checking my garmin and phone and probably faffing a bit too much I found an alternate and got going again.
The weather started to turn though with the clouds coming over first, then the first spatterings of rain. I pulled into a service station that I did not realise was roped off and nearly went straight into the rope, luckily seeing it at the last moment I braked hard and touched it with the front wheel before stopping. Near disaster averted I pulled on my rain jacket and Velotoze (shoe covers) and continued. 10 minutes later the skies opened and the heavy rain started.
The weather started to turn though with the clouds coming over first, then the first spatterings of rain. I pulled into a service station that I did not realise was roped off and nearly went straight into the rope, luckily seeing it at the last moment I braked hard and touched it with the front wheel before stopping. Near disaster averted I pulled on my rain jacket and Velotoze (shoe covers) and continued. 10 minutes later the skies opened and the heavy rain started.
CP2 had a closing time on the road which for some reason I
thought was 8PM, I pushed hard passing a huge traffic backup of cars and trucks
queueing to get into Kusatsu and burnt some matches getting up the mountain in
the rain. Just as I got to the road gate they were dragging the barriers
across! No! I pleaded, begged and explained with Google translate what was
happening and that I absolutely needed to summit this mountain tonight. The
warden was having none of it though and refused to let me past saying it would
not re-open until 8AM tomorrow. I had banked on completing this CP today and
booked accommodation in Kusatsu at the base of the mountain thinking I can just
roll down to it after the CP. So I had two options, forfeit my accom and bivvy
and the gate or roll back down 600m of vertical and stay in the accom. It didn’t
take much convincing with the rain and a proper bed to go back down to Kusatsu.
Plans already thwarted I checked into my hotel and did my
routine which I had committed to memory for every sleep stop. Strip, wash,
drink, stretch, eat, charge. Kusatsu is a bit like Daylesford, it’s a hot
springs town and very popular with Japanese tourists. It was a long weekend too
so the place was packed. I put on my walking around clothes and went out of the
get dinner and have a looky look. I was stuck there til the checkpoint opened
so may as well make the most of it.
Dinner at 7/11 and an Italian place followed up with
chocolate milk and an ice cream filled the hole while I had a little walk, the
centre of town in an open pool of the hot springs and the sulfuric tinged steam
wafts through the whole town. It wasn’t overly unpleasant but it wasn’t great
either. Japanese people were getting around in Onsen robes as you can go from
one hot spring place to another easily and try different places. I’d love to go
back for a lazy weekend soaking. Returning to my hotel I used their very “functional”
(read: basic) onsen to have a hot soak and stretch.
I should explain what an onsen is for anyone not familiar.
Essentially it’s a Japanese bathing ritual. Separated into male and female
rooms, you nude up and with a small modesty towel (which turns out is not strictly
required) to cover your front you go and sit on a low stool and using either a
bucket of water from the onsen pool or a shower you have a scrub on the stool
and get clean and rinse off then get into the hot water pool and sit. I had
this one all to myself but I’m not uncomfortable getting nude and bathing after
our European experiences. Feeling pretty good I got to bed and listen to rain
on the roof determined to be at the gate at 8am on the dot in the morning.
Annoyingly my data corrupted and didn’t record properly so
some approximations:
Distance: 220km
Vert: 2800m
Calories: 7300
Normalised Power: 242 watts
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