Recommandation route from Ueno staion to Sagamihara

[Tze-Chiang Cheng]

I will try my first overseas ride in Japan from Taiwan.
I'd like to take a round trip from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji. for 7 days.
The first and last days will take flight.
The second day will start to ride from my staying hotel near Ueno station to Kawaguchi.
The most difficult part for me is finding the route riding out the downtown of Tokyo.
I supposed it will be easier to ride in the suburbs.
For safety and saving time, I have to konw the optimal route riding in the downtown of Tokyo.
Does anybody can recommand the detailed route riding from Ueno station to Sagamihara？
I hope I will have a good memory riding in Japan and thank for all of your helps.

 

[Kumachan Ikemen]

Ueno and Sagamihara are located at the opposite sides of the Tokyo center so it's not practical to go to the suburbs, you'll just lose time and make large leap. Don't forget the Tokyo is huge. I mean really-really big!

Regarding your ride; This is how I would go. Not the most efficient way, but definitely easy to understand and relatively free of heavy traffic:

First, your task is to get from Ueno to the Tokyo Dome area, Iidabashi station in particular. It is close, look at the map how to do it.
From there ride Ookubo dori which is relatively straight all the way to Shinjuku. It will be crowded there, but' that's quick. Pass the skyscraper area and ride all the way along Koshu Kaido (甲州街道) which is although crowded but wery fast because of good quality road and very wide road itself.
At Sakurajosui (桜上水) crossing which will be some 3~4 kilometers down from the Shinjuku, turn left and go straight this road without turning anywhere till it joins with Setagaya dori (世田谷通り) . Ride this way all the way (it will be long). It will change its name but don't worry. Ride all the way till the V-like crossing with Kamakura-kaido (鎌倉街道). Ride Kamakura kaido till you see signs like "Sagamihara city center" or something like.

Probably not easy to understand from the description but riding in Tokyo is very easy due to large amount of signs. Probably just worth learning its geography a little - where is what and you'll be fine. Btw., Sagamihara is not Tokyo, but is in Kanagawa prefecture.

 

[Half-Fast Mike]

Here's a simple route

I understand the attraction of making a round-trip. I really do. But I would not recommend wasting your precious holiday slogging through suburban Tokyo. You would spend a half day battling through the grey, fighting with buses and taxis and trucks and Priuses, with traffic signals every 50 m. Yuck.

If you take the train, in a little over an hour you could be in the green and enjoying your cycling time much more.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Tze-Chiang Cheng]

Thanks all above replies.
I will have a bike box for flight baggage.
My plan is to take my bike box by Keisei train from Narita Airport to Ueno Station.
I will reassemble my road bike and keep the bike box in the hotel on the first day of my trip.
On the end day, return the hotel and decompose my bike and put into the box for the flight going back to Taiwan.

The traffic of Tokyo downtown is a key issues of my bike trip.
I'd like to thanks all of your concerns and recommandations for my downtown route.
I supposed I may ride my bike on the sidewalks of heavy traffic highway carefully.

 

[Kumachan Ikemen]

You are welcome!

Don't worry about the traffic at all. It's rather inconvenience than a problem.

Most highways (toll roads) are raised and you could not ride bicycle on them anyway. Everything else is calm enough, drivers are usually well-behaved and will let you in between the cars if necessary. Just don't forget the rules - drive only on the left, always stop on red. Beware of taxis stopping suddenly. Do not drive on sidewalks - it is not only illegal in most cases but causes a lot of inconvenience for pedestrians, is slow and is plain dangerous.

 

[JackTheCommuter]

Tools like http://ridewithgps.com or the router builder http://www.strava.com/athlete/routes works well for planning out the the ride and export gpx files. If you can get a smartphone with an internet connections, Google maps with walking directions do an okay job. There are Japan specific smartphone apps like Jitenshanavi from NaviTime which work well.

Good advice on cycling in Japan can be found at http://positivo-espresso.blogspot.jp/

And @Half-Fast Mike pointed out, riding in the metro area is a tiresome, frustrating experience. Tokyo's infrastructure is not geared towards faster cyclists. I would get a Rinko bag and get about 40km west of Tokyo by train, then start riding. Traffic density will be lower and you can take detours through the various mountain passes to get to Mt. Fuji. While the 246 is the most direct route, it's also the most boring with just continuous Japan suburbia, which looks all the same.

Which dates are planning? If it's a weekend, it might be better to go with a group rather then Mt. Fuji.

 

[Tze-Chiang Cheng]

Thank Kumachan Ikemen for your reminding me the traffic rule. I will not ride on the sidewalks as possible.
Actually, my original purpose of going to Japan is participating the 3rd Mt. Fuji Marathon near Kawaguchi(河口湖) on 11/30, 2014.
It's hard to find free time going overseas so I decide to combine running and cycling for this trip.
The plan of my trip will be~~~
11/26(Wed) flight from Taiwan to Narita and stay in the hotel near Ueno station, Tokyo.
11/27(Thu) cycling to Hakone(箱根) by way of Kawasaki(川崎市) and Odawara(小田原市) about 101km.
11/28(Fri) cycling around Fuji-Goko(富士五湖) about 120Km, stay in Kawaguchi(河口湖).
11/29(Sat) riding up to Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station(富士五合目).
11/30(Sun) participating the 3rd Mt. Fuji Marathon near Kawaguchi(河口湖).
12/1(Mon) cycling to Ueno(上野) by way of Otsuki(大月市), Sagamihara(相模原市) and Nanako(中野) about 120km.
12/2(Tue) flight back to Taiwan.

I have tried my best to set this trip and welcome any suggestion about it.
Some questions ~
Is the climate good for cycling in that season?
Will it rain or snow over there during that time?

 

[Kumachan Ikemen]

Sounds good
First, about the climate. End of november is usually sunny although can be very chilly; Temperatures will vary from 10C at night to 20C during the day, randomly. Also be aware it is usually much colder on the mountains.

First, going to Hakone - definitely great, that's my favourite daily trip by the way. I would recommend to go as south as possible as soon as you hit Yokohama (横浜) suburbs, don't go to Sagamihara, go to Yamato (大和), Chigasaki (茅ヶ崎), Ooiso (大磯), etc which are south of the Kanagawa prefecture - it's beautiful there because you run on the seashore. Normally if you go out in about 9:00 AM you arrive in Odawara at around 15:00 PM with average touring pace (which is quite different among people I think). Climbing Hakone to the Ashinoko (芦ノ湖) is also worth trying - very unifying with nature and gives you an opportunity for sort of meditation. Hehe...

Not sure what is your next day's rote, but somehow intuitively I feel that staying in Hakone Yumoto (箱根湯本) or Numazu (沼津) at night and going in Fuji (not city, but mountain) direction (probably Gotenba? 御殿場) at morning would work best. Staying in Odawara can be boring, Hakone Yumoto (箱根湯本) with their excellent hot springs would give much different taste.

Rest of the days hard to say since I never went on that specific route.

 

[Tze-Chiang Cheng]

Thank JackTheCommuter's advices.
I think I have to ride across the metro Tokyo to get my destinations.
Facing Tokyo traffic might be one of my riding experinces in Japan.
I welcome to have partners joining my riding to Mt.Fuji if the dates are OK for you.
I used google maps to maneuver my riding paths.
I found some tunnels on the highways I will ride on near Hakone.
Can I ride into 乙女tunnel on N138 to Gotemba(御殿場) or take a detour by Rt736 then connect to Rt401?(Red Arrows show tunnels)

乙女tunnel entry



長尾tunnel entry

 

[AlanW]

The longer tunnel is at Otome-toge. You can ride through no problem; just remember to bring an LED flashing light with you; especially for the rear.
But I recommend going up to the shorter tunnel if time allows (Nagao toge). It is a nice quiet route with a spectacular view over Ashinoko lake.

The descent down into Gotemba is very nice as well.

 

[Edogawakikkoman]

why not go straight to Hakone from the airport and get more quality safe relaxed riding in on day one and 2?