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Greetings TCC , Looking forward to rides in Japan

j-sworks

Maximum Pace
Feb 5, 2012
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Hi,

I am a rather new roadie from Vancouver, Canada, were I just started to ride road bikes in 2010 (after years of coercion mixed with harassment from my buddy)

I will move to Tokyo in late March with my Tarmac and some some clothes etc. where I hope to get in some great riding, but I will need some help finding decent roads. Of course I will need to know where I will live before I can look ask "where the hill climbs at!"

Here is to a good summer!
J-sworks:bike2:
 
Welcome to TCC and unlike Vancouver here the hills are located west aboat two hours away. If you have any questions just ask eh!
 
Hey there,

Yes, as kiwisimon says, there are a load of mountains to the west.

Looking forward to riding with you when you arrive.
 
2 hours..?

Wow so I guess it will be local rides for the time being; I have seen pictures of many people riding by a river, and it looks pretty flat.

I think we are looking in the Hachioji/Fuchu type areas, "come on nice roads!"

My wife is from Nagano, the roads there look pretty epic

I am happy to go ride anytime Owen
 
Greetings!

It is definitely an adjustment if you are from the West Coast (I am from Victoria) but you should be able to carve out some good routes for yourself. There is a definite lack of hills within Tokyo, but how easy it is to find hills will depend on where in Tokyo you live ;)
 
Hi J-Sworks,

In Hachioji you'll have hills at your back door in all directions.

In Fuchu - just cross Tamagawa to the south and you're in the land of hills - Yomiuri land, Onekan-sen, Tama, even route 246. Nothing epic, but you can't call them flats either :)

For bigger stuff - go west, Yabitsu, Takao, Okutama, Chichibu - all give access to some big mountains
 
Welcome. As others have said, you won't be wanting for hills! Especially if you're in Hachioji - you're that much closer. Have a look at the Hall of Fame to see just a few of the hills that we regularly hit.
Lots of river ride photos recently because the high passes are snowy or icy at this time of year, but in a few weeks (fingers crossed!) they'll be ice-free and safe to ride.

AW.
 
Welcome!
When you are already here and ever wanna meet Canadians outside of Tokyo area, you're welcome to shoot over the mountains to Chichibu. We are surrounded by the mountains and there are great places to climb here, short and long, steep and gentle. There is something for everyone.

Bart Z.
 
Greetings!

It is definitely an adjustment if you are from the West Coast (I am from Victoria) but you should be able to carve out some good routes for yourself. There is a definite lack of hills within Tokyo, but how easy it is to find hills will depend on where in Tokyo you live ;)

Hey, I think we are pretty lucky in the wet coast with the amount of terrain and ease of getting to it, so really don't expect to be able to do that type of riding.

I think we will be outside the 23 wards, perhaps Hino-shi.

I have seen some excellent roads in Vic, my buddy wants to do a road trip over there to ride the quite long twisty roads.

Thanks for the greeting
 
With Hachioji you'd be pretty close to the mountains already, while the flat Arakawa / Edogawa rides are further away than from central Tokyo (23-ku). What sort of riding have you been doing so far?

S-Works Tarmac? Looks like you have a pretty nice bike:
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=45875&menuItemId=0

Yeah we are looking in those areas as my wife will likely work in the Hachioji area, so I can see that the hills look pretty close.

I have a S-works Tarmac SL2, the Saxo Bank edition, so its actually not on the specialized website. I lucked out and my buddy that owns a roadie shop wanted to sell his ride and I just happened to the right size and looking to get into a carbon!

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/photos/2009/tech/features/giro09_stage_one/Saxo_Bank_Tarmac.jpg

This is pretty much my bike, minus the the drive train and sick wheel set
 
Welcome. As others have said, you won't be wanting for hills! Especially if you're in Hachioji - you're that much closer. Have a look at the Hall of Fame to see just a few of the hills that we regularly hit.
Lots of river ride photos recently because the high passes are snowy or icy at this time of year, but in a few weeks (fingers crossed!) they'll be ice-free and safe to ride.

AW.

It sounds like there is a thaw going on in parts of Japan so hopefully you can get to the high parts!
 
Welcome!
When you are already here and ever wanna meet Canadians outside of Tokyo area, you're welcome to shoot over the mountains to Chichibu. We are surrounded by the mountains and there are great places to climb here, short and long, steep and gentle. There is something for everyone.

Bart Z.

Cheers Bart!

If I get over there I will send you a message beforehand and we can meet up for spin.
 
I am from Victoria. Beautiful place, but to give a bit of perspective, it is not uncommon for many TCC'ers to do 160 to 200+ km one-day rides, and, as you can imagine, a lot of terrain is covered. Back home, some people struggle to drive their cars over the Malahat (350m). More than a few members look to do rides between 2,000 to 4,000 meters in a day. Often times people bike from home, but it seems that putting one's bike in a special bike bag, and taking the train to get to and from the destination or, more frequently, back is becomming more popular.

Not everyone is at that level, and there are lots of cycle paths along rivers that you can enjoy. Once you get established over here though, I think you'll never want to leave, and that is not just because of the wicked cycling opportunities.
 
I am from Victoria. Beautiful place, but to give a bit of perspective, it is not uncommon for many TCC'ers to do 160 to 200+ km one-day rides, and, as you can imagine, a lot of terrain is covered. Back home, some people struggle to drive their cars over the Malahat (350m). More than a few members look to do rides between 2,000 to 4,000 meters in a day. Often times people bike from home, but it seems that putting one's bike in a special bike bag, and taking the train to get to and from the destination or, more frequently, back is becomming more popular.

Not everyone is at that level, and there are lots of cycle paths along rivers that you can enjoy. Once you get established over here though, I think you'll never want to leave, and that is not just because of the wicked cycling opportunities.

A friend of mine did the bike in a bag deal when I lived in Nagoya but I just rode to where I was going, but now with the roadie I just want to find some nice local stuff to hit 4 times a week, and probably not paths as I hate to slow down or stop (sometimes unavoidable on a busy street)

I started out at about 70 km per week in my first season, last summer I was averaging 150 km thanks to my group and my bud.

There for sure are some additional benefits to the Japan life ;)
 
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