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HT7 - (KT7 re-run)!

WhiteGiant

Maximum Pace
Nov 4, 2006
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Saturday, November 1st. Odawara, 10:30.
Odawara station - Ashigara-toge - Mikuni-toge - Yamanaka-ko - Gotemba - Odawara.
Five of us (Deej, Lee, Ben, Aaron & myself) did this as one of the last training rides for Kusatsu, earlier this year:
https://tokyocycle.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=696

And the map is here:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/japan/odawara/860687720

102km, over 3 biggies!
Last weekend, I bit off more than I could chew (so to speak), and as this weekend is the last opportunity to get into the rhythm for Hotaka, I'm prepared to do the same again.

Start time from Odawara will be 10:30am. The reason for the extra half-hour lateness, is because the bakeries there don't open until 10:00, and we'll want some carbs first;)

Hopefully, "AlanW" will be able to finally join us for this one, as well as anyone else who has missed some of the previous training sessions (I've already missed three, myself).

All are welcome, and don't let "Mikuni" scare ye!
Travis

P.S. >Mike: Will update the "Hotaka" thread tomorrow! T
 
To the undecided...

Is no-one riding this weekend, or is it that you just don't like the course?
The only problem I can see is that a lot of the potential riders have a "train phobia", and that Odawara is just too far.
I'm still gonna do it - just for myself. Whether anyone else wants to do it too is all up to yourselves.
Travis
 
Am keen and it would be a good comparison ride - but am not sure about work yet. Will let you know by Thursday.

Lee
 
Sorry Travis, I'll be going to a Halloween party starting early afternoon, so I'm out for this one. Enjoy!
 
Alas ...

I won't be re-running this one with you. I enjoyed it so much the first time, but pitiful fitness and child minding duties are my own two hills that are a bit too steep to climb right now. Have a great day guys! I'm a regular TCC lurker now and hope to re-join the fray outside of cyberspace before too long. B
 
Looks like a great route and would love to join you on this but I'm out of the big rides for a while due to work. Have a good one!
 
Travis, I'm afraid I will be riding a little closer to home on Saturday. Because I would have taken the train out, it would have limited my miles. I think I will do a repeat of last week's loop to test myself and get a better gauge of my fitness. I was disappointed in my performance last week and hope to see an improvement.

Sorry, T. I hope somebody joins you for the ride!

Deej
 
Two More

Travis,
Naomi-san and I will join you for this HT ride.

I'd prefer an earlier start - it's a holiday weekend and if we leave it too late the trains will be packed. I don't ususally eat directly before a ride anyway so the bakery status is not important to me. What do you say to a 9am start?

AW.
 
O.K. How about a 9:30 roll-out from Odawara?

>Alan, Naomi, Clay: To get to the station by 9:00, you can catch either the "Tokaido-line" from Tokyo, or the "Odakyu-line" from Shinjuku.

From Tokyo: http://www.jreast-timetable.jp/0811/train/085/088551.html

From Shinjuku: http://odakyu.ekitan.com/norikae/N3

I'll probably be catching the train from Tokyo; will PM you all my Ph.No by tomorrow.
See you there! Travis

OK; rolling at 9:30 am sounds good. We'll be on the Tokkaido line. I will PM my new keittai denwa bango to you.
AW.
 
Hi Travis,

I would like to join this one, please count me in.

Thanks!
Chris

P.S. Hope you have recovered weel from your recent crash..
 
No way. No. Not even a little bit.

Chronic fatigue seems to be my own personal mountain I have to conquer right now. Mikuni a week before the race would not have a positive effect at all. I will just do a spin over Yabitsu instead.

Have fun guys. See you in Hotaka.
 
Ironsword Strikes Back

Look out Thomas, Deej aka Ironsword will be going for your Hall of Fame time on that loop, and then after getting it he might just go home via Mikuni and pip my time:(
 
Full report...

Sorry about the late write-up… Busy weekend!
It sounds as though while we were hitting Mikuni again, Deej, Philip & Sergey were out in Okutama again. Anyway, here's how our ride went.

I arrived at Odawara station at 9:00, and was soon greeted by Clay (echothree). Chris then called to say he was running a bit late, but would meet us en-route to the first climb at around 10:00. Elvis and I met on the stairs as I was on the way to the coin-lockers, and Alan & Naomi turned up about 10 minutes later.

We rolled out at 9:35, and headed towards "Daiyuu-zan" – at the foot of Ashigara-toge – where we met Chris at about 10:10. The six of us then turned almost immediately left onto Rte.78 and began the climb.

Alan set the pace with Clay, Chris and Naomi hot on his wheel. I was content to pace myself (after not even being able to finish the ride the week before), and it wasn't until I was almost at the top that I finally caught Elvis.

The ride down from Ashigara was stunning with views of Mt.Fuji, and we were at the 7-11 in Oyama – the last stop before the fabled Mikuni-toge – at about 11:10. We were rolling again by 11:30, and at the "Official time-check" start 30-40 minutes later.

From over 1km away, I was able to make out Chris turning the corner about 30m behind Alan, who was already some distance behind Clay.

>Mike, Deej, Thomas, Philip, Sergey, Tom: The only "Official" time recorded was Alan's, at 38:10. His first time up Mikuni, by the way.
That Clay (echothree) – A fellow Aussie, Mike – was 2 minutes ahead of Alan should be all you need to know!

I on the other hand, had my worst ever day on a bike (actually, mostly OFF the bike); Just after the 20+% circles, I started feeling my quadriceps (just above my knees) start cramping up with every turn of the pedals. I tried to concentrate on just using my hamstrings, but could only keep that up for 100m or so. I then found myself walking the last 2km to the summit – On a few of the steeper sections, I could feel the cramps as I was walking; and was actually scared that I may even make it at all.
Total time, 1hr:03min.

Once we were down at the other 7-11 by Yamanaka-ko lake, I had to choose which sports drink/gel would be the best for alleviating cramps – Alan said anything with salt. I was thinking, anything with VitB & protein. I finally decided on "Amino Vital – Super Sports"… AMAZING! And some deep-fried chicken.

We left there a little before 2pm, for the final run back to Odawara. Once over the lip over the crater that contains the lake, we had one of the most exhilarating down-hill runs along Rte.138, all the way to Gotemba. From Gotemba, we had our last real climb – 6km up to Otome-Tunnel… I finally beat Naomi to the top of a climb. One out of three:eek:uch:

Once we were through the 810m tunnel, we had a long sweeping downhill before we had to turn left onto "Kuno-Rindo – better known as Pucci's road". It's about 3km of ups & flats before finally coming twisting & turning downwards in quite a heavily wooded forest that was dark even at 4pm.

We all finally made it back to Odawara station at 4:15 – 45 minutes quicker than it took the last time we did this course (and despite my having to walk); We only really had two proper breaks, and they were both quite brief.

Still, I think everyone enjoyed themselves, on what is a very challenging circuit.

My main goal for Hotaka now is just to "make it to the finish-line".
See you all there!
Travis

P.S. >AlanW: Still waiting for those photos, o-negai-shimasu!
 
Thanks for the writeup, Travis. Sounds like it was a good ride (not the cramping part, of course). I really enjoy that route and look forward to doing it again.
 
P.S. >AlanW: Still waiting for those photos, o-negai-shimasu!

My camera USB cable is sitting in a warehouse near Narita with the rest of my stuff.....once it appears I'll upload the photos from Saturday.
 
Torasan, Many thanks for organizing such the great course as usual.

ただ・・・9ヶ月ぶりの「山」はこたえました:eek:uch:・・・翌日は全身が痛くて(特に足)ペンギン歩きで一日過ごしました。

この日は、最高速度71km/hが出たこと&富士山がとても綺麗だったことに感動しました。

Thanks
Naomi
 
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