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Kt7 2009

AlanW

Maximum Pace
Jan 30, 2007
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To avoid the clash with the annual Tour de la Pink, I'm planning to hold Kt7 on Sunday 29th March.

The route will be a re-run of Travis's Kt7 2008, a 105 km loop including Mikune-toge, a seriously steep climb which will tax (and hopefully strengthen) your leg muscles! A report of our last assault on this course can be found here https://tokyocycle.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=1067

Here is the route:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/japan/odawara/860687720

Start time will be 9:30am at Odawara east exist (or south, I can't honestly remember what it's called :eek:)

As usual, please let me know if you're coming.
AW.
 
Any chance to reschedule to Saturday, Alan? We could meet up with the Sakura ride later on Saturday night. I have work on Sunday and dread to lose an opportunity for KT training.
 
Lovely ride! I have done parts of it, but not the full loop. Will join provided the weather forecast improves. Otherwise I'll ride on Saturday.
 
Well, it looks like this one comes through my neck of the woods, so I'd like to have a dig... Any idea of an average speed/finishing time on this? Hopefully I can keep up!!:bike:

steve
 
can the pace afford a lanterne rouge on the climbs? If so, I'm keen on joining.
 
I'll be there as well this weekend 土曜日 or 日曜日, I can carry the lantern rouge in my panniers if you want :warau:

I'll pack my 100yen undergloves as well, will be chilly on the descents again.
 
Hello everybody,

Thomas and I will do this ride tomorrow, Saturday, and invite anyone interested to join. Of course this shouldn't keep anyone from doing the same ride on Sunday, as originally proposed.

Please be aware that while the ride is only a bit over 100km in distance, it involves 2500m of climbing, including infamous Mikkuni Toge with gradients of over 15% and I believe over 800m of straight climbing.

Thomas will take an express train (kyuukou) leaving Shinjuku at 7:41 and arriving at Shin-Matsuda at 9:04. I will board the same train at Kyodo, and others are welcome to join anywhere along the line. Let's all meet in the front car of the train which should be the least crowded one.

From Shin-Matsuda, we will ride to Daiyuzan station which we will make the official meeting point for anyone coming from Odawara. You can find Daiyuzan station at kilometer 6 of the route AlanW has posted further above.

Anyone preferring to take the shinkansen to Odawara should take Kodama 639 leaving Tokyo station at 8:26, Shinagawa at 8:34 or Shin-Yokohama at 8:46 and arriving at Odawara at 9:01. You should then follow the route AlanW has posted and this will lead you straight by Daiyuzan station.

We will all depart from this meeting point at 9:45am. If you are running late and think you can still catch up with us because you are a fast climber, call Thomas or me (mobile numbers via private e-mail). Anyhow, please let us know via this thread whether you are in for this intense ride.

Cheers, Ludwig
 
sunday ride

hey, i'm new to the group and fairly new to riding/racing in japan. i'd like to join the sunday ride unless weather turns super foul.
 
Sunday Riders....

All who are coming on Sunday...

I will still do this ride on Sunday. The forecast is OK, but it will be chilly on the descents. I second Ludwig's comments - this is a hard ride despite the relatively short distance. As usual, we'll regroup on the hill summits and at key junctions along the way. Last time we took this route we got back to Odawara station at around 4:30pm.

AW.
 
If...

...I don't drink tooooo much tomorrow, I'd like to join as well.
Then, I might have a chance at winning the "lantern rouge" as well.
Will let you know tomorrow night!
It's a great course, so I should at least get one mountain in while I have the chance.
T
 
Hi all,

Since I live within the boundaries of this ride, I decided to heed Ludwig's advice on 三国峠 and check it out on the toughness scale today.

Gradients of 18%, tough in the context of a 100km ride. And snowy today!

Met Thomas and Ludwig at the foot of the ascent on my way home. Nice meeting you gentlemen!

For tomorrow I wonder if I can tag along at about km35 or 40 if possible.

Not sure if I can take on mikuni again though!

Will post again if unable to make it.

Thank you
 
hi guys, lanterne rouge here (aka anvil).

I hope everyone had a blast on the rest of the ride. ended up going back to odawara, and then onto kamakura, and then home.

this old body is defn not made for the hills - at least not of the 14% gradient variety...:warau:
 
Saturday ride report

Hello all who did the Mikkuni ride today (Sunday) - how was it?

Thomas and I tried it yesterday, but had to give up on climbing Mikkuni as we were facing increasingly heavy snow :eek:and toledo baha (see above) confirmed that we would get quite wet.:eek:uch:

So instead of going up Mikkuni, we cut through to Gotemba and climbed Nagao Toge :bike:from where we had a wonderful view of Lake Ashi and even some rays of sun emerging.:) We returned to Shin-Matsuda via Kintoki Toge and the valley behind it which was very scenic indeed.:warau:

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/jp/kanto/263123830370669844

A few photos are in the gallery.
 
Thanks Alan for organising another great ride in the mountains.

Despite the warnings, I don't think the overall ride was as tough as the Tomin no mori loop 2 weeks ago, although Mikuni Touge itself was indeed a much tougher climb than anything I've done in Japan so far. I think it helped that the big climb came relatively early on in the ride. Still fresh snow lying beside the road from Saturday, but no ice and the sunshine was a great help to keep the temperature feeling warm at the top. Once at the top, we descended the short distance to Yamanaka ko, with amazing views of the lake and Fuji san in front of us - I've put a couple of my photos on the gallery, but they're not great as the sun was in front of us.

The final climb of Otome Touge was a gentle(?) gradient but very long - nothing like the closed road final climb back to Musashi Itsukaichi the other week.

Sounds like you had a good journey back anyway Trad, but you missed the descent from Yamanaka ko back to Odawara, it was worth the climb!
 
Thomas and I tried it yesterday, but had to give up on climbing Mikkuni as we were facing increasingly heavy snow and toledo baha (see above) confirmed that we would get quite wet.

As Ludwig and I had to abort our mission last time due to snowfall I tackled KT7 today under more favourable circumstances, mapping the ride from Shin-Matsuda, in case anyone's interested in starting from there instead of Odawara. There are plenty of small forest roads to explore along R138 with lots of wildlife - my heart nearly stopped when I encountered a huge badger just around the bend who did not appear in the slightest impressed by that gaijin cyclist. :warau:

Picture courtesy of Team フリーター:
kt7-09_rerun.jpg
 
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