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Etape de Fuji HC

Oops?

Oops. Something wrong here. Ashigara Stn. is nowhere near the start of the Fuji climb. I estimate about 35kms including a serious climb over Ashigara pass or Hakone...
 
Trains

Has anyone figured out the trains for this one yet ?

Charles aka chazzer
 
Trains

This seems to work - need the shinkansen from Shinagawa to Odawara etc.

09:04〜09:32 From Shinagawa


1駅 JR新幹線こだま541号 1,280円
小田原

09:46〜09:49 From Odawara


小田急小田原線・新松田行 120円


Any other ideas ?

Charles
 
Ignore Previous Post

wrong destination in Kanagawa ken - SORRY !!:eek:
 
Try again

This works.....

品川 Shinagawa
08:34〜09:01


1駅 JR新幹線こだま539号 1,280円
小田原 Odawara
09:10〜09:19


小田急小田原線急行・新宿行 210円
新松田 地図を見る地図 飲食店情報を見るグルメ 求人情報を見るバイト
09:22〜09:23


徒歩
松田 地図を見る地図 飲食店情報を見るグルメ 求人情報を見るバイト
09:25〜09:54


4駅 JR御殿場線・沼津行 320円
足柄(静岡県)

Any other ideas anyone ?

Charles
 
OK Charles. I'll try and join you for this train. Guess that it's a 10 o'clock meet rather than a 10 o'clock roll out....

I'll be getting on the train at Nakano, changing to the Yamanote line at Shinjuku.

That should hopefully give me enough time to get the Shinkansen ticket. I might even pop there this evening to the eki to get it, if I find the motivation.
 
Nakano

7 45 should be OK. Lets meet at the usual place then.

Charles
 
>Chazzer
>Richy152

I will be going from Eda st. - looks like there are no shinkasen transfers on my way:
- Eda (at 7.45) -> Nagatsuta -> Machida -> Matsuda -(walk)-> Shinmatsuda -> Ashigara

You can get to Eda from Shibuya using Den-en-toshi line.

>Pucci
It`s a pity, next time then.
 
With Charles having to abandon the mission, Sergey and I managed to rendevous at Matsuda station, having both experienced some difficulties with the trains. After topping up our bottles at the Familymart in front of Ashigara station we set off on our way towards Fuji. This was a thirteen kilometre "warm up" ride with an average of 3% so it was a bit draining as it dragged on.

After the 13km, and next to the Jieitai land at the foot of Fuji we stopped to have some drinks and food before beginning the ascent. I dumped my rucksack in some undergrowth as I didn't fancy taking it on the climb (I miserably realised on the descent that this was in the fastest stretch of the road).

We then set off. It started off quite gently and the 3% warm up had prepared us for this, but after the first corner things started to get a bit more serious. As Deej has noted elsewhere, many climb descriptions can be filled with hyperbole, and I will try to resist that, but to be frank, Fuji is one hell of a tough climb and possibly the toughest I've experienced in my limited experience to date.

Sergey was characteristically on form and disappeared from view soon after the second or third corner. I was on my own so pushed on as best as I could, having to stop a couple of times to take on some gel and retighten the screws on my rather irritating seat post. Retaining speed was also a challenge and I got the wobbles a couple of times on some of the sharper bends as I was clipped in but going too slow.

Finally I got to the top to be greeted by a shivering Sergey who looked like he'd been there for ages, but politely insisted that he'd only been there five minutes. Thanks Sergey!.

We stopped for a cup of tea and eventually met one of the chaps we'd passed on the way up. After posing for photos we began the descent. At the top it was pretty cold and although I'd taken my winter gloves I'd rather foolishly left them in the rucksack at the bottom. However, I think normal summer gloves should probably be ok and I will only take these for the race.

The descent was a bit hairy with a rather bumpy, poorly surfaced road. The various signs were suggesting 9% and 12% here and there. I was also tailing a bus which wasn't much fun and Sergey had swooped past this and was reaching advanced speeds with the freedom of the road to himself. Rejoining at the foot of the hill we then made our way along the busy 138/9 (?), stopping at Jonathan's restaurant before dashing down 413 to Hashimoto.

After Mikune, I learnt that psychology can play a large part in hill climbing. Fuji was very tough but I'm glad that we took the time to go up it yesterday. How I'll manage to weave up the hill when surrounded by other riders I'm not yet sure.

Thanks for the ride Sergey, and it's a shame you couldn't make it Charles.

Stats for the day:

Time: 5 hours 4 minutes
Distance: 107.4km
Av. Speed: 21.2km/h
Max Speed: 67.5 km/h
Av. Cadence: 60
Max Cadence: 104
Av Hr: 142
Max Hr: 169
Kcal: 3870

Lee
 
Thanks for the report, Lee! I can only add how it looked from my side.

Well, it was a "mountain of hell" indeed...
All the time during the climb I was thinking "i am not ready this thing... i am not ready for this thing...". And though my time didn't look too bad - 1h 19min, I was not satisfied with my performance at all. My goal was to at least go all the way up without stopping. But no matter how hard I tried, I had to dismount (almost falling out of the saddle, no energy left to even unclip the shoes) and choke on my handlebars - 2 times, at 6 and 7 km marks. I looked at the grade later and it seems that this is exactly where the steepest section of the climb is.

What did I lack? Strength? Fitness? Oxygen? Experience? Compact crank? - No idea, maybe everything :)

On the top I was really surprised to see Lee on his brand new Zephyr within 10 mins. after me - I am not being courteous, man :) - you did great... Now, where did you get those power bars?

We'll manage the race somehow, and, I hope, better than this time.
 
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