WhiteGiant
Maximum Pace
- Nov 4, 2006
- 1,233
- 395
Edit: Since the original post, it looks as though there will be 6 checkpoints!
I have edited the "turn-by-turn" to include distances to each of the checkpoints as well - Unfortunately, it has made it look more complicated than it really is - sorry.
Edit: Please find attached at the bottom of this post, a modified version on the full course .gpx file, complete with check point markers.
I went out to Hotaka yesterday (Sun, Oct 6th), to do a reconnaissance ride of the course. If you've read the official "Hotaka" thread, you will have heard Alan mention that some of the turns were "not marshaled" - ie. There were no volunteers standing on the corner to tell you that, "This is where you should turn!"
Alan wasn't the only one to miss that turn the first time (in 2007). I think that year, nearly half the field missed that turn-off. And it wasn't the only turn that people missed! About 40km farther on, I found myself in a group of riders who had somehow managed to find our way over on the wrong side of the lake. There were other times where you literally had to just "follow the leader", and if the leader made a mistake, you were all doomed - If you found yourself in no-man's-land, you were, for all intents and purposes, lost! The following year (2008), most of us were more wary - Alan, in particular (who won that year!) - but I have to admit to taking a totally different route between the first & second checkpoints than the year before (due to getting lost the first time).
So this year, I set myself the goal of "not getting LOST!" Hence, Sunday's ride.
Hotaka Course Recon Ride
I wanted to get there as early as possible, so I caught the Shinkansen to Jomo-Kogen, about 11km south of Minakami. I would use Minakami as my start/finish point, as I could utilize the coin-lockers there. I rode a bit further up the road than necessary because I wanted to check out the run-in to Minakami from the Rte.63 turn-off. Once I was clear on where to go, I doubled back, put my stuff in the locker there, and set off at exactly 10:30. I also wanted to time myself, to get some idea of how I might perform on race-day - More on that later.
Anyway, Minakami is at the 75km-mark on the map, and I did the full loop from there, although I didn't go up to the "Official Start" position (113.6km turn-off on the map), as it is just 5.7km up & down the same road - unnecessary for what I wanted to achieve. By cutting off that section, my loop was shortened to 108km. I had one 10-minute break during the entire ride, at a 7-11 (12.7km-mark on the map), and I made it back to Minakami at 15:10 (Riding time, 4hr:32min).
Rather than talk about "my ride yesterday", which will just put everyone 75km out of whack, I'll shift my position as if I had started at the official starting point, and continue my way around from there. That way, you can read it as though from the start of the race.
First of all, I have also prepared a "turn-by-turn" guide, and will attempt to give some explanation to the road conditions that follow each - Climbing distances are marked in red.
1 - (5.7km) - 5.7km Left Turn
2 - (4.0km) - 9.7km Left Turn
3 - (6.1km) - 15.8km Left Turn
4 - (8.4km) - 24.2 Left (13.3km to summit)
5 - (7.6km) - 31.8km Left (Rte.63) - downhill.
6 - (5.7km) - 37.5km Summit - CHECKPOINT 1
7 - (3.4km) - 40.9km - CHECKPOINT 2
8 - (12.5km) - 53.4 No turn - Open-sided tunnel.
9 - (12.1km) - 65.5km Dam - CHECKPOINT 3
10 - (5.9km) - 71.4km Left - onto main road.
11 - (1.8km) - 73.2km Left down sharp - CHECKPOINT 4
12 - (1.9km) - 75.1km Right - Concrete Bridge
13 - (3.6km) - 78.7km Straight - Join main road.
14 - (1.1km) - 79.8km Left - CHECKPOINT 5
15 - (5.5km) - 85.3 No turn - Summit.
16 - (3.7km) - 89.0km Left - 300m to Tunnel
17 - (1.7km) - 90.7km Right - Sign to Kawaba
18 - (6.3km) - 97.0km Left thru Kawaba Vill (11.4km to summit).
19 - (8.0km) - 105.0km - CHECKPOINT 6
20 - (3.4km) - 108.4km - Summit.
21 - (5.3km) - 113.7km Left - Final sprint to finish.
22 - (5.7km) - 119.4km - GOAL
(1) The start: Distance to the first turn: (5.7km) - 5.7km.
It goes down steep for about 80m, then there's a quick zig-zag - First right, then left (Deej missed that one in 2008, and had a slight crash). Then it's downhill nearly all the way to the T-junction at the bottom.
(2) T-junction to Rte.120: (4.0km) - 9.7km.
Downhill all the way. Quite fast! There's one very tight left-hand hair-pin about halfway down. Almost at the end, about 150m before the Rte.120 turn-off, it starts going up around 6% - The stronger riders will try to pull away here.
(3) Rte.120: (6.1km) - 15.8km.
This stretch is basically uphill, but not so steep - 2~3% most of the time, but there are some (short) steeper sections. There's a 7-11 at the 12.7km-mark (where I stopped for my break), but it's way too soon to stop there on Race-day.
(4) Rte.401: (8.4km) - 24.2km.
Firstly, this road turns off Rte.120 to the left, and immediately crosses a large bridge. It starts off quite fast, but eventually turns uphill very slightly too - It's not quite as steep as the previous (Rte.120) section, so you can pretty much stay in the outer chain-ring, and keep a descent pace.
(5) "Hatomachi-toge": (7.6km) - 31.8km CLIMB START - 13.3km to Summit!
This is "Alan's accursed turn-off" - This is the start of the main climb. It's 13.3km to the summit from here, but there's a turn-off 7.6km up the road - See (6). The sign at the bottom says "Hatomachi-toge" (*Note: We do NOT go to "Hatomachi-toge" - Our destination is "Konroku-toge", on Rte.63). Anyway, this is a strange climb - Most of us are used to a road that "just goes up, without letting up". This is different - It wavers from about 2% ~ 7%, but then goes downhill a bit, and then uphill again - It's all over the place.
(6) The turn-off - 7.6km in, what looks like the main road going straight is Rte.260 (going to "Hatomachi-toge"). Then there is a smaller road going to the left, Rte.63, which goes "downhill" and the sign says to 坤六峠(Konroku-toge)- THIS is our road -It's a little counter-intuitive, as you don't expect the turn-off to a hill-climb to be going downhill. Yet, that's what it is. For the next 40km or so, Rte. 63 is all you need to remember! Anyway, it's 5.7km to the summit from that turn-off, and at the summit will be the first checkpoint.
I have edited the "turn-by-turn" to include distances to each of the checkpoints as well - Unfortunately, it has made it look more complicated than it really is - sorry.
Edit: Please find attached at the bottom of this post, a modified version on the full course .gpx file, complete with check point markers.
I went out to Hotaka yesterday (Sun, Oct 6th), to do a reconnaissance ride of the course. If you've read the official "Hotaka" thread, you will have heard Alan mention that some of the turns were "not marshaled" - ie. There were no volunteers standing on the corner to tell you that, "This is where you should turn!"
Alan wasn't the only one to miss that turn the first time (in 2007). I think that year, nearly half the field missed that turn-off. And it wasn't the only turn that people missed! About 40km farther on, I found myself in a group of riders who had somehow managed to find our way over on the wrong side of the lake. There were other times where you literally had to just "follow the leader", and if the leader made a mistake, you were all doomed - If you found yourself in no-man's-land, you were, for all intents and purposes, lost! The following year (2008), most of us were more wary - Alan, in particular (who won that year!) - but I have to admit to taking a totally different route between the first & second checkpoints than the year before (due to getting lost the first time).
So this year, I set myself the goal of "not getting LOST!" Hence, Sunday's ride.
Hotaka Course Recon Ride
I wanted to get there as early as possible, so I caught the Shinkansen to Jomo-Kogen, about 11km south of Minakami. I would use Minakami as my start/finish point, as I could utilize the coin-lockers there. I rode a bit further up the road than necessary because I wanted to check out the run-in to Minakami from the Rte.63 turn-off. Once I was clear on where to go, I doubled back, put my stuff in the locker there, and set off at exactly 10:30. I also wanted to time myself, to get some idea of how I might perform on race-day - More on that later.
Anyway, Minakami is at the 75km-mark on the map, and I did the full loop from there, although I didn't go up to the "Official Start" position (113.6km turn-off on the map), as it is just 5.7km up & down the same road - unnecessary for what I wanted to achieve. By cutting off that section, my loop was shortened to 108km. I had one 10-minute break during the entire ride, at a 7-11 (12.7km-mark on the map), and I made it back to Minakami at 15:10 (Riding time, 4hr:32min).
Rather than talk about "my ride yesterday", which will just put everyone 75km out of whack, I'll shift my position as if I had started at the official starting point, and continue my way around from there. That way, you can read it as though from the start of the race.
First of all, I have also prepared a "turn-by-turn" guide, and will attempt to give some explanation to the road conditions that follow each - Climbing distances are marked in red.
1 - (5.7km) - 5.7km Left Turn
2 - (4.0km) - 9.7km Left Turn
3 - (6.1km) - 15.8km Left Turn
4 - (8.4km) - 24.2 Left (13.3km to summit)
5 - (7.6km) - 31.8km Left (Rte.63) - downhill.
6 - (5.7km) - 37.5km Summit - CHECKPOINT 1
7 - (3.4km) - 40.9km - CHECKPOINT 2
8 - (12.5km) - 53.4 No turn - Open-sided tunnel.
9 - (12.1km) - 65.5km Dam - CHECKPOINT 3
10 - (5.9km) - 71.4km Left - onto main road.
11 - (1.8km) - 73.2km Left down sharp - CHECKPOINT 4
12 - (1.9km) - 75.1km Right - Concrete Bridge
13 - (3.6km) - 78.7km Straight - Join main road.
14 - (1.1km) - 79.8km Left - CHECKPOINT 5
15 - (5.5km) - 85.3 No turn - Summit.
16 - (3.7km) - 89.0km Left - 300m to Tunnel
17 - (1.7km) - 90.7km Right - Sign to Kawaba
18 - (6.3km) - 97.0km Left thru Kawaba Vill (11.4km to summit).
19 - (8.0km) - 105.0km - CHECKPOINT 6
20 - (3.4km) - 108.4km - Summit.
21 - (5.3km) - 113.7km Left - Final sprint to finish.
22 - (5.7km) - 119.4km - GOAL
(1) The start: Distance to the first turn: (5.7km) - 5.7km.
It goes down steep for about 80m, then there's a quick zig-zag - First right, then left (Deej missed that one in 2008, and had a slight crash). Then it's downhill nearly all the way to the T-junction at the bottom.
(2) T-junction to Rte.120: (4.0km) - 9.7km.
Downhill all the way. Quite fast! There's one very tight left-hand hair-pin about halfway down. Almost at the end, about 150m before the Rte.120 turn-off, it starts going up around 6% - The stronger riders will try to pull away here.
(3) Rte.120: (6.1km) - 15.8km.
This stretch is basically uphill, but not so steep - 2~3% most of the time, but there are some (short) steeper sections. There's a 7-11 at the 12.7km-mark (where I stopped for my break), but it's way too soon to stop there on Race-day.
(4) Rte.401: (8.4km) - 24.2km.
Firstly, this road turns off Rte.120 to the left, and immediately crosses a large bridge. It starts off quite fast, but eventually turns uphill very slightly too - It's not quite as steep as the previous (Rte.120) section, so you can pretty much stay in the outer chain-ring, and keep a descent pace.
(5) "Hatomachi-toge": (7.6km) - 31.8km CLIMB START - 13.3km to Summit!
This is "Alan's accursed turn-off" - This is the start of the main climb. It's 13.3km to the summit from here, but there's a turn-off 7.6km up the road - See (6). The sign at the bottom says "Hatomachi-toge" (*Note: We do NOT go to "Hatomachi-toge" - Our destination is "Konroku-toge", on Rte.63). Anyway, this is a strange climb - Most of us are used to a road that "just goes up, without letting up". This is different - It wavers from about 2% ~ 7%, but then goes downhill a bit, and then uphill again - It's all over the place.
(6) The turn-off - 7.6km in, what looks like the main road going straight is Rte.260 (going to "Hatomachi-toge"). Then there is a smaller road going to the left, Rte.63, which goes "downhill" and the sign says to 坤六峠(Konroku-toge)- THIS is our road -It's a little counter-intuitive, as you don't expect the turn-off to a hill-climb to be going downhill. Yet, that's what it is. For the next 40km or so, Rte. 63 is all you need to remember! Anyway, it's 5.7km to the summit from that turn-off, and at the summit will be the first checkpoint.
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