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Ride SAT, OCT 12th - Shiraishi, Tsuchizaka & Shiozawa-toge

Yamabushi

Maximum Pace
Jun 1, 2010
2,335
188
Summer is over and it's finally cooling off, time for some bigger rides! This route is meaty with some great climbs and some great descents!

INFO:
Meet Time: 6:30am
Meet Place: Family Mart (HERE)
Climbing: 2400-2700m
Distance: 165-175km
Route: HERE

This is a reasonably hefty ride with minimal bailout points and not so many stops, so pacing yourself will be important. The last big climb in particular has some rather steep sections. All climbs will be wait at the top (WATT). There'll be plenty of climbing, descending, greenery, countless miles of beautiful rindos,! If you are capable and interested please, join us!

Also please note, that there is an even more challenging climb immediately adjacent to the last big climb on the route above. I need to find out the name if of the nearest toge to the top of it located HERE. Does anyone know the name of that pass? In the meantime, I've dubbed this climb "The Real Hell Climb!" It is by far the toughest climb I've ever done. IMHO, it makes Mikuni-toge and Kazahari-rindo look easy and playful. HERE is the climb I'm referring to. STRAVA shows it as 6.3km at an 11.1% average grade! Ouch!! On my one previous attempt I was soundly crushed by this climb! All that being said, I need to make another go at this thing, this time on a compact instead of a full size crank. If anyone/everyone else is game, then we could do this climb instead of the one plotted above. Let me know what you think.
 
located HERE. Does anyone know the name of that pass?
I clicked on your link and Google maps showed me 秋葉峠 (Akiba-toge). Knowing the name, however, won't make it any less painful, no matter how what legends you've heard.
 
I clicked on your link and Google maps showed me 秋葉峠 (Akiba-toge). Knowing the name, however, won't make it any less painful, no matter how what legends you've heard.
Ahhh, of course! No matter what I did, I couldn't clearly see the second kanji, "葉". Most of the time they are readable, but occasionally you get some that are a bit blurry. Any tips on how to increase the resolution of the kanji on Google Maps?

As for the difficulty of the climb, this thing absolutely eviscerated me last year!! Although I eventually made it, in my attempt I had to stop six times and yakked my brains out once or twice! In my defense, two climbs earlier that day I had set what at the time was my PR on Shiriashi-toge, I was on a full size crank, and it was hot as hell! But, make no mistake this thing is a killer!
 
Just FYI, switching over to Esri Topo on RWGPS made reading the kanji significantly easier. If anyone has any tips for Google Maps, please let me know.
 
Looks like the Akiba-toge climb has sections with 14% in it.
 
I did the "easier" climb (the current last climb on the route) with Pete earlier this year, and while I don't doubt that the other climb is harder, this was no walk in the park for me. It has this "wall" in the middle that according to my garmin topped out at 25% for a few small bits but constantly was around 18% or over. That was my first taste of that kind of grade (for a reasonable distance).

When I saw this post, I kind of remembered I had my GoPro that day, so went digging and found it!
It's only a part of the "steep part" and looking at the video it seems almost flat, but the sped up part is at 400% so that give you a feeling for how slow I made my way up.



After this I rode the remainder 4k-5k(maybe?) together with @kawa and that 7-12% grade never felt so easy before :)
 
Have fun, looks like a great ride. We're occupied on Saturday, may try this or something similar on the following days.
 
On top of the blood clot I got last week, I have managed to pick up a chest infection. I'm 50/50 at the moment. I'll make a decision tomorrow morning. If I'm there, in there. If I'm not there, I'll be crying somewhere in a dark corner, wishing I was out riding
 
Definitely, hope to see you, Mark, but certainly understand if you don't make it.
I'm afraid it's going to have to be a DNS next to my name. Breathing is very laboured and I have no energy. Have a great ride guys. I'll definitely be right for the Nichitsu ride.
 
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