I bagged 8 tiles yesterday after the Tsuru ride with Akira, Peter and Andrei. We met up at Takao station at 8:30, with me leaving Setagaya around 6:15. I didn't originally plan it as a tiling ride, in fact I had no firm idea how I would ride home from Tsuru toge. I could descend to Otsuki with Peter and Akira and then somehow ride back via Rt35/Akiyama (I rode Otsuki to Uenohara on Rt20/Koshukaido once and that was enough). Or I could turn towards Okutama and down to Ome, like two weeks ago.
We turned off Rt20 as early as possible, taking a small hilly route above and near Chuo expressway. At the Daily Yamasaki in Uenohara we met a cyclist on a recumbent bike.
The pace was a little more relaxed than on the Tsuru loop two weeks ago, which to me made it more fun. We took a scenic detour following the river instead of Rt18 before Tsuru toge. A little before Kosuge we discussed further plans. Andrei decided to head back directly via Okutama, while the rest of us had lunch at the Kosuge Michi no Eki (nice pizza!). From there Peter and Akira headed through the Rt139 tunnel down to Otsuki to catch a JR Chuo line train, while I headed for Okutama, with some tiling on the way.
I had not prepared any canned tiling route. All I had was Google My Maps on my phones with a KML from VeloViewer showing my virgin tiles as empty squares superimposed onto Google Maps. There was one square I could get near Mitake simply by taking Rt45 on the south side of the river instead of the main road on the north side that I usually always take to Ome. All other tiles involved some detours, mostly with some climbing.
Several tiles were to be found on or near Rt411/Daibosatsu line. So after the bridge after the restaurants by the lake near the Boob turn-around T-junction I made a left turn and headed west, back into Yamanashi. The road passed through the south-west corner of a tile, so I could get those three tiles easily, but the fourth tile of the intersection was mostly across the lake with no road access, only its corner touching the lake shore below the road.
So I scrambled down the garbage-strewn forest, with old partially collapsed rock walls hinting at former use as terraced farm land. I came across a relatively large flat piece, where a farmhouse may have stood before. I hiked all the way down to the water and back and forth as much as seemed safe, to make sure the coordinates fully registered. Then back up again and back on the bike.
After Okutama town center I turned from the main Rt411 onto Rt184 and from there up a steep slope to cross into another tile. I was surprised about the size of a village that I found high up there, making use of any semi-flat pieces of land. There is a lot of these hilly areas that you never get to see if you just follow the roads at the bottom of the valley floor.
Before Kori and at Kawai I turned left to head up a valley and touch a tile. Not much climbing was needed for these. Then I crossed the river and used Rt45 to bag the last tile.
There was another tile near Rt193 before Ome that I had meant to get last weekend but had to skip due to a navigation problem. Again this time I didn't have enough daylight for it.
After dinner in Ome I cycled back to Setagaya, with a few extra km near the house because I was already over 190 km and a ride over 200 km will help my Eddington number (which now stands at 112 for miles).
