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Chiba Brevets 2011

Climbing in Chiba

The one time I traveled through the middle of the Boso peninsula was on a hike with a boy scout troop when I was in Japan in the 1980s as a student (I was working with one of the troop fathers that summer), and it was definitely very hilly, and the hike was at night, and it poured rain the entire time. So I'll grant you that it might not be flat, or easy.

But it still looks more like Noto hilly, not Nishi Izu hilly? The 400 km event that Jerome B. and I did in October (Numazu-Karuizawa-Numazu), had 4500+ meters of climbing (4870 meters according to Garmin Connect), including numerous long climbs (Shinshu Toge, Umagoe Toge, Saku to Nobeyama, Kofu to Shoji-ko), and the 400 km event I did the year prior started with a bunch of little hills, then Yanagisawa Pass and down to Enzan, then looped around Kofu and up the slope to near Yatsugatake, then back down to the west of Kofu, then lots of climbing up to Motosu-ko and around Mt. Fuji at night, past the Safari Park on the S. side, ... 5000 meters of elevation gain when my GPS battery died 40 km from the end ...

So unless the roads are really steep, I still think a very long series of up/down/up/down -- short climbs mixed with flat and rollers -- looks easier on paper, as it were, than either of those. If the weather and my schedule cooperate, I'll let you know.

Anyone else interested?
 
David,

Thanks for the heads up. Not too sure yet if I'm around for this one but I've signed up just in case ! Jeez, still got the 300km one to do ...

Cheers
Steve
 
Signed up

Rashly signed up for the 400km; given recent aches and pains there's a strong chance I'll be DNF but the nice thing about the route it'll be easy to cut it short anywhere in the middle section by simply turning back west to Sodegaura.

So unless the roads are really steep, I still think a very long series of up/down/up/down -- short climbs mixed with flat and rollers -- looks easier on paper

Well, I'm not going to say which is the "hardest" brevet out there, but having ridden a bit on the west side as well as the east, I'd definitely wouldn't pick this particular route because it was easy! You'll get close to the same total elevation, but without any of those long, km-eating descents. But as you say, weather etc probably plays a bigger role anyway.

(Also, moving this thread out of Racing. I don't know why I put it there in the first place... :eek:)
 
Chiba -- cannot join

Well, I've got some urgent work over the next few days and so cannot spend all night and most of Sunday riding my bike in Chiba.

Also, Steve T. sounds like he also cannot make it.

I was really looking forward to this.
 
Ah, sorry to hear you can't make this David - how does this affect qualifying for PBP ?

Myself, yes as you stated, I won't be doing this either - in the last couple days the swelling from last weekend's crash has actually come down quite a lot: but I'm not sure I want to risk it suddenly flaring up again in the middle of Chiba at 2am...
 
Ah, sorry to hear you can't make this David - how does this affect qualifying for PBP ?

I will need to do a different 300km ride. Most of them are full, but I signed up yesterday (last day for sign up) for the Chubu 300km in 2 weeks (March 12). I will end up taking the full weekend since I'll need to get to Nagoya for an early Saturday start ...

For the time being, there are also still 300km Brevets with openings for Shizuoka or Miyagi in April. All the ones nearer to Tokyo (Saitama-this weekend, Aoba, Utsunomiya) -- fill up very quickly.

Then there is the Chiba 400km Brevet on March 26.

Then for the 600km it is either Saitama sponsored 600 on 4/23-24, or Aoba on 5/14-15. I'll try to do the Saitama one (sign up starts on March 1) since with Easter Weekend I hope it will be quiet, at least for cross-border work, and I really want to get these out of the way so that in May and first half of June I can focus my training toward getting the best performance at Tokyo-Itoigawa and then Transalp, and doing a 600km ride in close proximity to either would not be ideal.
 
Brevet Schedules

Well, a lot of Brevets have been cancelled or postponed. The Chiba 400 is currently pushed back to 4/29. ... but who knows if that sticks or not.
See generally:

http://www.audax-japan.org/BRM-calendar.html

I am going to try to complete my 300, 400 and 600 as follows:

April 2 -- Shizuoka 300
April 23 -- Aoba 400
May 7 -- Saitama 600 (course TBD -- NOT going to Fukushima as originally planned).

If I do not complete either April 2 or 23, for whatever reason, then I've got sign ups for the Chiba 400 (now April 29) and the Chubu 300 (now April 30 -- postponed from March 12) in reserve. I won't do either of those unless I need to.

What are your plans?

Best,
David
 
David,

Now the 400km has been moved to 4/29 I won't be able to make that either as it clashes with my GW cycle-camping plans. With injury, work and schedule clashes I just don't seem to have been able to pull any of these brevets off.

I still want to try one of these (hell, I even bought reflective ankle straps and a bell) but I think I'll wait for things to settle down a bit and review again after Itoigawa --

Cheers
Steve
 
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