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New member need advice to ride in Tokyo...

Latter.Rain

Warming-Up
Jun 24, 2022
4
3
Hi, I am new here. I like to ask a few questions and hope to get your kind advice.

1. 16-18 July long weekend, I will be in Tokyo that 2 weeks for business but can ride during the free time.
2. I am looking to rent a road bike, height 165, inseam 76...understand there are some commercial sites to rent.
3. I am looking to ride around tokyo or even up to Mt Fuji area... stay a night and return. Does anyone here has a route to share? I can do rolling of 28-30kmh generally. If anyone has a bike to rent, pls let me know too...how to collect/return. what's included or not.
4. Is there a riding group around Tokyo station area that I can also join for casual road biking? Would love to join.

Thank you and excited to ride in Tokyo finally.

Rgds
LT
Singapore
 
Dōshi-michi, out and back, during a summer weekend? Better reserved for those who enjoy motorbike fumes!

West to east isn't so bad (usually), because gravity will be your friend. Uphill east to west: It won't, so just say no and instead take the far more enjoyable Kanagawa/Yamanashi route 35, to the north of Dōshi-michi.
Do you have a route that you can share for " Kanagawa/Yamanashi route 35, to the north of Dōshi-michi." ? What kind of elevation usually?
 
@Latter.Rain , I mean from 49.2 km to 70 km or so along this very different route, one that doesn't take you to Fuji or Yamanaka-ko, whose charms are I think greatly overrated. (If it's cloudy around Fuji, there's not much to see; if it's sunny, it's packed with day-trippers.)

The start/end point of my loop is pretty arbitrary. and if you're coming from the centre of Tokyo (let alone from the east) it would be silly to bother with it. Not least because the starting and ending kilometres of my loop are pretty boring. Instead, you might take the train out to Takao or even Sagamiko station, and take the train back from Okutama station (NB an infrequent and slow train) or any of the other stations on the route back (tolerably frequent and fast once you get as far east as Ōme) -- though I suggest no later than Haijima.

Between 97.3 km and 105.3 km on my route you are on a section where you shouldn't really be; and if you're attacked and half-eaten by a bear (highly unlikely), no human is likely to come by and notice your remains for hours if not days. It's so scary that ... even a timid, querulous old fart like me has gone along there several times with a friend or two and several times alone (most recently on 19 June). I've seen a fox, a deer, and several serows up there. It beats crowded Yamanaka-ko, in my haughty opinion. (NB it has unilluminated, curved tunnels: you will need a decent front light. And for other tunnels along the route, you'd be wise to have a decent rear light as well.)
 
I second @microcord 's dislike of Doshi-michi. I'm traffic averse, and weekends on 413 are pretty busy. Rt 35 is nicer, IMHO. Also agree that taking a train out of the worst of the city riding will spare you from the less enjoyable stuff. This route has a lot of climbing but might give you some ideas.
 
Yesterday I went from Tsuru to Yamanaka-ko via Nijū-magari-tōge, and from Yamanaka-ko to Sagamihara via Dōshi-michi. The charms of Yamanaka-ko still seem minor, but going there and coming back were pleasant. The motorbikes weren't too numerous along Dōshi-michi, and they were piloted intelligently.
 
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