Phil
Maximum Pace
- Sep 1, 2007
- 1,816
- 54
So, we are officially on for the Hilly Boso, an up-and-down back roads run down the spine of Boso peninsula. It should make a good opening salvo for the Tour de Kusatsu training season.
Travis has drawn the detailed map, incorporating AlanW's pioneering efforts from last year:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/japan/chiba/115035171
Starting at Chiba-eki, Route 20 will get us out of the city, and then a right at Honda (誉田) station takes us into the rural roads south. We'll cross Takataki Lake and turn onto 81, which follows the Yoro River into the Yoro Gorge and to Awamata Falls (栗又, not "Kurimata" which is what I called them earlier). After that it's some wilderness riding into the hills along 178, and then a number of loops on some real back roads weaving in and around the lakes of Kimitsu.
It's a fairly challenging route, but there are lots of loops in the southern end, so if we start to run out of time or energy, it will be easy enough to cut some out--as a last resort only, of course!
Not sure what the snow and ice conditions will be like; I rode part of the way down today and there was snow at the sides of the roads in the wooded areas, but the roads were generally clear--just a few ice patches on some of the less-travelled routes. I don't think we'll run into serious difficulties until we get down south of the waterfall and onto the back roads there; it all depends on what happens this weekend and next week.
Probably best to have two main meeting points:
Chiba Station
This is the easy-to-find option. From here you'd go straight out of the city along Rte 20 to Honda.
Honda Station
If you're coming on the train you can also change at Chiba and get off here instead, skipping 12 km of city riding.
Philip > By car, Honda is only a couple of kms from the Chiba-Togane highway, and there is a 500 yen parking lot by the station. Might be a better option than driving into downtown Chiba?
As for time, the earlier the better. These are all rural roads with zero street lighting, so we should try to aim to be back at Honda no later than 5 PM, I think.
If we could leave Honda by 8 AM or sooner that would be great, but some of you will have an hour or two of travelling before then. What say you all?
Anyway, that's the rough outline. So far confirmed/shown interest:
YellowGiant (co-leader)
Philip
Deej
chazzer
Phil
Looking forward to seeing everyone again!
Travis has drawn the detailed map, incorporating AlanW's pioneering efforts from last year:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/japan/chiba/115035171
Starting at Chiba-eki, Route 20 will get us out of the city, and then a right at Honda (誉田) station takes us into the rural roads south. We'll cross Takataki Lake and turn onto 81, which follows the Yoro River into the Yoro Gorge and to Awamata Falls (栗又, not "Kurimata" which is what I called them earlier). After that it's some wilderness riding into the hills along 178, and then a number of loops on some real back roads weaving in and around the lakes of Kimitsu.
It's a fairly challenging route, but there are lots of loops in the southern end, so if we start to run out of time or energy, it will be easy enough to cut some out--as a last resort only, of course!
Not sure what the snow and ice conditions will be like; I rode part of the way down today and there was snow at the sides of the roads in the wooded areas, but the roads were generally clear--just a few ice patches on some of the less-travelled routes. I don't think we'll run into serious difficulties until we get down south of the waterfall and onto the back roads there; it all depends on what happens this weekend and next week.
Probably best to have two main meeting points:
Chiba Station
This is the easy-to-find option. From here you'd go straight out of the city along Rte 20 to Honda.
Honda Station
If you're coming on the train you can also change at Chiba and get off here instead, skipping 12 km of city riding.
Philip > By car, Honda is only a couple of kms from the Chiba-Togane highway, and there is a 500 yen parking lot by the station. Might be a better option than driving into downtown Chiba?
As for time, the earlier the better. These are all rural roads with zero street lighting, so we should try to aim to be back at Honda no later than 5 PM, I think.
If we could leave Honda by 8 AM or sooner that would be great, but some of you will have an hour or two of travelling before then. What say you all?
Anyway, that's the rough outline. So far confirmed/shown interest:
YellowGiant (co-leader)
Philip
Deej
chazzer
Phil
Looking forward to seeing everyone again!
