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Best of the West on September 10th (Saturday)

Travis, I do appreciate you thinking of me, but I have to confess that I am definitely not a morning person so the (for me) hyper early start in conjunction with extended train rides is just too mendokusai to be fun for me. I would love to be there with you all, but unfortunately I am not going to make it. I sincerely hope we can get a big group together like this again for something that allows me wake up at a bit more of a humane hour. :D

I hope everyone has a great and safe ride and I look forward to reading the post ride reports!
 
Hi , I'm on this. BTW - there is an express from Shinjuku that leaves at 5:15 and arrive directly at Shin-Matsuda at 6:50 - is there a 10min grace period? This is more convenient than platform jumping at Hon-Atsugi.
 
I should be with Fumiki at Noborito Station around 5:00am tomorrow. Climbing is not my forte, but looking forward to the challenge and meeting some more TCC members.
 
Can I join Tim in begging to be allowed to arrive on the 6:50????

It would make my connection MUCH easier. Please, Please? :confused:

Aaron
 
If you guys keep to the course - it will be fine. Even 640 rollout - I will catch you. It's only 10min ahead - and I'll have my bike ready to jump from train.
 
OK, I've conferred with Sergei who sends his apologies for not chiming in as he is frantically trying to finish some work.

We have permission to arrive at Shin-Matsuda on the first Express train out of Shinjuku, i.e. arriving 6:50. Yeah! However, we need to be able to get rolling literally within three minutes of arriving. This means if any of the following applies to you, you need to take an earlier connection, however inconvenient that may be:

- You need to change into different gear after exiting the station

- Your bike is in a bike bag which takes more than a minute to remove, fold up and show away

- You need to eat and drink after you arrive at Shin-Matsuda

- You need to visit the rest room for big business :eek:

- You are otherwise a slow starter :(

If you know you may not be ready to roll by 6:53, make sure you know how to get by JR Gotanda Line or else by bike on route 246 (and side roads) to the foot of the Mikuni climb.

Also, if you are not sure you will be able to keep up throughout the day, make sure you have studied the route, brought your own maps or GPS and know what to do in case the group is nowhere to be found. There are plenty of bail-out options, but you need to know them.

I'll post an updated roll call later this evening, hopefully with more confirmations.
 
Hi all,
If you leave from Noborito station - let's arrive around 4.50am, assemble our bikes and meet on the platform, rear end.

C u all tomorrow!
 
Thank , Ludwig - off to bed, see you all tomorrow. Barring any misfortune - will be there. If not - don't wait - if I'm late , then I'll catch you on the way.
 
On the train!

On the 5:00 train from Shinjuku.
In the REAR carriage.
Due to arrive in Hon-Atsugi at 6:10.
See you all there! T
 
hello early birds

i wanna join this but i missed the first train by a hair which leaves Shinjuku at 5.00:(.
So, i'll take the next one which arrives Shin-matsuda at 6.50.

i have today's route in my GMN and will try to catch up.
See you there.

Takaaki
 
I'm running to schedule and am with Takaaki on the Express arriving at 6:50, ready to cycle right out of the train. No sign of Tim - hope he is on an earlier connection or in a different part of train.
 
Just back and in recovery mode. What a roundhouse of Toges! I am completely, utterly, totally spent! I could barely pedal the few km back to my house from the station. Thanks for organizing such an outstanding ride and to all for participating and making it a great group ride.
 
Too bad I missed you and the rest Tim ! I timed my arrival at Saruhashi Kohseiya supermarket a bit too optimistically. Anyways, even solo and a bit less in elevation gain, I thoroughly enjoyed the Best of the West! Thanks Sergey for the gutsy ride plan :cool: and thanks also Ludwig for the remote mid-ride reports :) Here's how I rode.
 
This thing was brutal

Tim, good to hear you made it home alive :)
Sorry for leaving you to finish off the ride, which I was supposed to lead, I'll know better before trying to do 6 toges in a row after 3 weeks off the bike.

I hope everyone else is ok too and having a nice glass of beer to mark the end of todays madness :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for organizing Serguei. It was a memorable ride, and I never would have attempted anything so bad-a$$ unless you had set it up. Back home safe and sound, beer in hand, and looking forward to getting some shut eye.
 
Great meeting everybody today - ten in all, even if only five of us (Thomas, Tim, Fumiki, John, myself) survived until the end. We completed the tour just as planned: 3,900m of climbing, 179km. We all returned home by train from Itsukaichi, as it was getting dark.

It was not an easy ride. 700m straight up Ashigara Toge just out of the train, in very high humidity and without even a hint of a breeze, was tough. The sweat was burning in my eyes. Then Mikuni Toge, hardly any better. Each climb until the supermarket stop in Sarubashi became easier for me as I was finally digesting a rather too big breakfast and entering the central European time zone with my jet lag.

Then the long climb to Matsuhime Toge became really painful for me - incredible back pains which forced me to stop rather frequently. Kazahari Toge was of similar torture. Somehow the fast descends were always a relief. It was great how all five of us put the hammer down from Tomin no mori to the station. Tim ended up beating us all (so much for being spent...).

Chapeau to John, Fumiki and Tim who put up new person records in climbing (and distance?), at quite a pace. And Thomas who is unbeatable on the climbs even though he hardly rides in mountains.
 
Ten Little Indians

Serguei, thanks for organising this tour de force and sorry you couldn't finish it with us. Great to see so many familiar and so many new (to me) faces turning up.

And Thomas who is unbeatable on the climbs even though he hardly rides in mountains.

Red Bull, that's all. :D Seriously, the TCC polka-dot jersey has to go to Fumiki who relentlessly attacked where ever possible and who flew up Tomin-no-mori effortlessly.
 
Thanks guys for a great ride yesterday. Good to catch up with everyone and see some new faces too. Looking forward to our next outing:D
 
2 out 6 ain't ... terrible

Not considering one of the two was Mikuni-toge.
Still, it was great seeing so many of the original TCC faces, as well as some newer ones.
This truly is one beast of a ride, and it goes to show that if you're not in top form, it really is very difficult to complete.
I ended up riding all the way back to Tokyo from Yamanaka-ko with Takaaki (Kawa), with 150km for the day.
Next week, I propose the Okutama "Figure 8", affectionately known as Travis' Loop:)

And the week after that, an O-toge Time Trial:D
 
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