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Hello from London - thinking of visiting Japan Oct 2010

Jenny J

Warming-Up
Jun 29, 2010
4
0
Hi y'all. Jenny J here in sunny, sweaty London.

I'm a member of a cycling club (Rollapaluza) and a forum (lfgss) here in the UK. Like long bumpy road rides, short fast track sprints, and pottling about the city on my lovely Bromton.

I have a half baked idea about visiting Japan with my road bike to get some miles under my belt whilst enjoying some splendid new views. (Prompted by a general fascination with the place and by reading too much Murakami). Is October a good time to come? Will there be any Keirin to see? Where's the best riding? Easy to get riding buddies or should I bring my own?

Any advice welcome (pretty much)

Cheers!
 
October is usually good. The end of the typhoon season if you are lucky. Winter approaching but not cold at all. May get beautiful early autumn leaves happening as well.
Can get very cold in November...
 
Welcome to the TC of C.
I have a half-baked idea about visiting Japan with my road bike
So bake it properly.

October/November is a great time for cycling here, I'd say. But at any time of year there's always plenty going on at the weekends around Tokyo and beyond. And there seem to be members here who have little to do on weekdays too (you know who you are!)

You'll find it not so hard-boiled. Or maybe you'll find it is. Bring your own bike; rental road bikes are as common as wind-up bird $hit.

--HF Mike--
 
October is pretty much prime time. I wish I had the whole month off to just ride. It's cooler, and as Edo mentions, typhoons are relatively uncommon (and those late ones blow by faster and drier, they're possible but not much to worry about then). Lots of people get out to see the colors, the timing of which varies by where you are north/south, elevation, the wx for that particular October, and so on. So roads and places to stay tend to be busy and booked up, especially weekends. Also, Oct. 11th is a holiday, and it would be hard to stumble upon any last minute available accommodation over that weekend. (in any scenic area)

Some of the highest passes could have a chance of some snow, tho since you mention a road bike, that may not be an issue for where you might go.

If you haven't come across them, some other sites list various routes and reports:
http://www.kancycling.com/KANcycling/Welcome_to_KANcycling!.html
http://www.japancycling.org/v2/cguide/part1/
The latter did have a good touring Q&A forum, but it went down a few weeks ago. (A lot of good info there may have been lost.)
 
Well, my 2yen is come on over (leave the bike behind) score a nice Kinfolk or Kalavinka - ride around T-Town on the fixed gear (you can take it to Shuzenji, too and hit the 400m track), and take home a lovely 'made in Japan' NJS memorbilia! I'm only saying this cause I think Rollapaluza is keen on track, no? If you want to join up - happy to give you a mini tour of some builders and, if ur really lucky, you can drag a tire with us down the river!
 
All sounding quite tempting. Specially the idea of picking up a new bike (always love a new bike), and yes, Rolla do like track riding, but I'm no pro.

Still baking....

Will look into flights/buddies/general logistics...
 
Its exactly what it reads.... attaching a car or moped tire vai a rope to the back of your bike and then dragging a long....its old school resistance training
 
Hah!

I think its fixed gear inuendo. I like the idea of buying a track bike when you get here. I am tall so nothing is in my size just laying around any shop here so if you are adveradge to small you should definitly indulge in a steel beutyy, although your brompton might not be a bad idea unless you have a bike bag to ride the train with. good luck!
 
Change that

No after checking out GSA s link, he really wants to drag a tire. I like it. Your awesome GSA
 
Thanks! tire dragging is a good way to get constant resistance training while at the same time enjoy the <relative> scenery of the Arakawa - at least in 5km chunks. There are quite a few makers here you could order any frame size from. If you have time in advance - like Jenny, then just submit your sizing way beforehand. What's really cool are some of the smaller atliers who are doing beautiful retro steelies - man I saw some nice ones on the Fuji ride...

1) Brompton in bag - check
2) New Kalavinka or... building - check
3) Garmin - check

Thats about all you need. TCC and the conbini gods will take of you from there.
 
Its exactly what it reads.... attaching a car or moped tire vai a rope to the back of your bike and then dragging a long....its old school resistance training

Yikes. I'm only a partial masochist...one for watching, not participating, me thinks.

So. Any classic rides I should be doing if I come over?
 
YES!

FUJI! for shure. I went to the race this year, and I really wish I was there just to do it by myself at a leasurly pace! It really wasnt steep and smooth road the whole way. SUCH a GREAT VIEW up there (There are different sides, I traveled to the 5th station in the race) It was 28 km from where we started, all climbing, but I gather you would start from your hotel near the train station in town there, making it close to 32km.

Have fun and dont forget the camera!
 
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