Philip
Speeding Up
- Feb 15, 2007
- 765
- 11
Christoph and I headed out to Yabitsu Pass along R246 this morning. The plan was to head north from Yabitsu Pass to go over Nokogiri and return home along the Tamagawa - see the course map if interested http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/japan/tokyo/592349213
The pace down R246 was fast - we were above 40kph most of the way. At Hadano (55km) we turned onto the road that leads steeply up to Yabitsu Pass. We had Yabitsu Pass to ourselves - no cars, no motorcycles, no cyclists, nobody! My last visit was in bright sunshine, but todays rain did nothing to detract from the beauty of the area. After the 15km climb you are rewarded with a long, fast, twisting descent.
Towards the bottom of the descent there was a soft 'pop' from the rear tire and I had a puncture. Upon inspection I had a 0.5cm tear in the rear tire. That's when we heard a hissing sound coming from the front tire. Two simultaneous flats front and rear. How lucky is that!
Christoph changes tubes like a guy who has worked in a factory for 50 years putting tires on bikes all day long - so we were soon on our way. However, 5 minutes later there was a huge 'BANG' from my rear tire. Christoph nearly fell off his bike laughing. The 0.5cm tear was now 1cm tear enabling the tube to poke through and the tube had obviously exploded like a balloon.
After patching the tire and changing the tube we had one tube remaining between us and Christoph's antique patch kit whose expiry date had long since passed. We decided to cut our losses and head back to Tokyo.
Someone had turned R246 into a car park. No problem for two maniacs, heads down, bums up, snaking their way back to Tokyo through the rain on bicycles. I suspect the conversation in the stationary cars was something like this; "Look at those two idiots". "Yes dear, but they will be in Tokyo a long time before us!".
An so we were, until Christoph pulled-up with puncture number 4 just before Futako Tamagawa. The irony was we had passed Christoph's turn-off because he had been kind enough to escort me home in case my tire finally gave way! With the final tube used we said goodbye and headed our separate ways with the hope that 4 punctures in one day is unusual but 5 was surely impossible.
The final score: 4 punctures. A fast 150km. Home before 13:00
Result: A happy wife
And the moral of the story is - alls well that ends well! :angel:
Cheers,
Philip
The pace down R246 was fast - we were above 40kph most of the way. At Hadano (55km) we turned onto the road that leads steeply up to Yabitsu Pass. We had Yabitsu Pass to ourselves - no cars, no motorcycles, no cyclists, nobody! My last visit was in bright sunshine, but todays rain did nothing to detract from the beauty of the area. After the 15km climb you are rewarded with a long, fast, twisting descent.
Towards the bottom of the descent there was a soft 'pop' from the rear tire and I had a puncture. Upon inspection I had a 0.5cm tear in the rear tire. That's when we heard a hissing sound coming from the front tire. Two simultaneous flats front and rear. How lucky is that!
Christoph changes tubes like a guy who has worked in a factory for 50 years putting tires on bikes all day long - so we were soon on our way. However, 5 minutes later there was a huge 'BANG' from my rear tire. Christoph nearly fell off his bike laughing. The 0.5cm tear was now 1cm tear enabling the tube to poke through and the tube had obviously exploded like a balloon.
After patching the tire and changing the tube we had one tube remaining between us and Christoph's antique patch kit whose expiry date had long since passed. We decided to cut our losses and head back to Tokyo.
Someone had turned R246 into a car park. No problem for two maniacs, heads down, bums up, snaking their way back to Tokyo through the rain on bicycles. I suspect the conversation in the stationary cars was something like this; "Look at those two idiots". "Yes dear, but they will be in Tokyo a long time before us!".
An so we were, until Christoph pulled-up with puncture number 4 just before Futako Tamagawa. The irony was we had passed Christoph's turn-off because he had been kind enough to escort me home in case my tire finally gave way! With the final tube used we said goodbye and headed our separate ways with the hope that 4 punctures in one day is unusual but 5 was surely impossible.
The final score: 4 punctures. A fast 150km. Home before 13:00
Result: A happy wife
And the moral of the story is - alls well that ends well! :angel:
Cheers,
Philip