What's new

Ride Aug 4 Sun - mountain stage

for the record, my recommendation is to take the train at ikebukuro, as it is the starting station, rather than joining somewhere like wako, with the bike in tow and when the train is already full. hopefully we can stack bikes at the empty space of the 1st carriage and sit close by to keep eye on them. coming in later would mean standing with it, inconveniencing people and worrying about the bike all the time
 
If I can get up in time, I'll see you at Ogawamachi just before 9. I won't do the whole ride, I'll probably do the first climb with you guys , drop down the poppy field descent with you, turn left then head up Sadamine when you guys go towards Chichibu.
 
Ok great. We'll be there as expected at 8:49. See you soon
 
Will you be taking pictures of the area? Sure like to see some.

Here are pictures from my ride there last year, including Mitsumine shrine. That day it was foggy and cool, quite unusual for this time of the year and a far cry from what @luka and friends must have experienced, temperature-wise.



I loooove the Mitsumine loop!
 
Here are pictures from my ride there last year, including Mitsumine shrine. That day it was foggy and cool, quite unusual for this time of the year and a far cry from what @luka and friends must have experienced, temperature-wise.



I loooove the Mitsumine loop!

Wow! Fantastic pictures. This is one reason I like biking. Stop and shoot.
 
sorry I don't take much photos. nothing worth sharing today, but I'm sure others should have some. thanks for coming out everyone. @leicaman and @Mfebrian arrived early and waited - sorry about coming on time eh. @leicaman did the first climb and convini stop with us, and then very wisely retreated while @thooms @sean-e @Mfebrian and myself pressed on to tackle the mitsumine climb. I won't say anything about the heat, because any sane person would have seen the forecast and being out and about these days everyone knows what's the deal. so why climb 13 km in such conditions? the question has crossed my mind a lot today, and I don't have a proper answer really. because it's there?

in the end we made it back down to chichibu but after the somewhat cool conditions we've just experienced up there, getting back into the cauldron of chichibu valley we called it a day and took the train there, abandoning the bonkers plan of doing another 30 km and a sizable climb to get to ogawa machi. sorry about hurrying you guys with your ice creams for the train etc. it was a veritable life and death matter by then. in the end, the train from chichibu wasn't as bad as I've had, probably the hikers etc return a bit later on (4:30-5?).

next weekend I can't lead any rides as I'll be assembling my new bike hopefully, but if it's done I might join someone else's ride for the shakedown. but with these temperatures and humidity.......
 
Good ride out yesterday. Thanks to @luka for organising it. Unfortunately I couldn't do the whole ride so I rode out to Ogawamachi to meet them coming off the train. Temps at 6am we're Too bad at all, although I still got a sweat on. I only climbed the first climb with the guys before heading off in another directing for another climb, then home. Nihongi is quite open so climbing 3.6km @ 9.3% average in the sun was fun.

@leicaman did the first climb and convini stop with us, and then very wisely retreated
There was nothing wise about riding back down the Arakawa in the mid afternoon sun. The sun was relentless and it felt like I was a boil in the bag meal. Cycling inthe high mountains would've been preferable. A 20kph headwind all the way back added an extra challenge. Decided to play it safe and kept it at 30kph.

And now some photos


6F3E25E9-60D9-4726-BEEF-4F8486525E90.jpegD1783980-883A-4960-8E5E-05A7D9AB6C12.jpeg6B10BFCE-E242-437F-947E-1F6C570BD2E0.jpeg16261A39-F5CD-4593-9DE9-D6ABFF980F81.jpegE2D7559A-CBBC-4F24-BD40-41C0F3BC745F.jpeg8778FE61-EBFF-4F38-A9A7-830F13A5042A.jpegB2D046EB-353C-4338-AA44-73D392875876.jpeg2DF0473A-B1E8-4A6F-ACDE-DF327099DA80.jpegDFEEE8CD-C322-4BA3-8FC1-145060CDE6FC.jpeg
 
It's Nihongi pass, around tokigawa-yorii area. Both sides are open and steep, but also lots of sharp turns so not as fun as I thought it's gonna be, descending there. Much more braking than I prefer, and I even offshoot a corner once, with a bit of drama to regain control over the bike. Fortunately nothing came up the other direction......
 
@leicaman Which road is that in the photos? It looks quite open on the descent (i.e. fun).
As Luka said, it's the nihongi climb from the east side. The road is the 361 which branches off from route 11 (Sadamine).

The descent on the other side is fantastic. Lovely sweeping bends and some great hairpins.
@luka always descend well within your comfort zone. You got lucky yesterday that there were no cars coming the other way. Only takes a fraction of a second to lose concentration. Take care out there 👍🏻
 
Last edited:
They are some magnificent views! (Lots of good pictures after this weekend). Wish I was a mountain goat!
 
Back
Top Bottom