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Sea to Sea Stupidity

trad

Maximum Pace
Dec 4, 2006
396
30
I've learned that when the family is out of town, one takes on some truely brainless feats.

Inspired by Travis' S.S.S.S.S. adventure, Tokyo to Nagoya madness, and Alan and Naomi-san's sea to sea, I decided to give this sea to sea and back in 24 hr madness a go. Route was basically Alan&Naomi-san's coast to coast - taking Arakawa up to Kumagaya, hoping on rte 17, hanging a left at rte 18 at Takasaki, taking rte 18 almost into Obuse, hoping on Chikuma river trail, then back on 18 into the coast.

Forecast called for a chilly night but friendly winds most of the way. Snow? Gotta be off the roads in April - right? Plans looked good.

Took off at midnight from Tokyo station, only to find the wind blowing 180 degrees the opposite direction. Headwinds for nearly 240km of the 340 km - ouch. Did I say chilly night? Once elevation went higher thatn 500m, iit was -5 degrees w/o windchill. Enough to freeze 1/2 of the water bottle... Was not well prepared for this - both mentally or with gear. Climb up to Karuizawa as nice to warm the body up and as the sun came up, things started to look up. Amazing thing, that sun. My left crank kept coming lose every 10 or so km. I think I might have overtorqed thing... Any ideas anyone?

Alan's Chikuma trail was siimply superb. This was the only spot w/ a bit of tail/cross winds.

Got into Joetsu and the port of Naoets around 16:30. 340km. Really unintelligent thing to do. :)
 
Congratulations, well done!

Judging by the time you took, not many breaks?

How was traffic? In particular in Nagano-ken, on the national roads?

And could you point us to that river cycle path, in case some of us want to try something similar at some point?

Cheers, Ludwig
 
Fantastic, Trad, many congrats--must have made it a lot harder, having only half a crank. Still, the best thing about these kinds of rides is a few days later you forget the unpleasant bits and just remember the achievement...until you do the next one.
 
Marathon maniac....

Well done Todor !

My family is in Japan right now but I have not yet been minded to attempt anything other than lubing my chain !

You da man !

chazzer
 
Thanks all. Was my first double century and knocked off a item on my "must do" list.

Ludwig: Traffic was not too bad. Rt 17 to Takasaki was moderate. Nearly solo for a good chunk of rt 18 out of Takasaki. Re Chikuma river....Alan's map from his coast to coast is below. Really nice way to get into Nagano city. Because I did not have GPS, I opted to staying on rt 18 after Chikuma river. Bit surprised that snow was on the ground until about 150m elevation on the other side of the alps. Areas where traffic and road conditions were less than pleasant were coming out of Karuizawa (lots of chain/cold weather damage on roads) and last 40 km on rt 18 into Naoetsu (more like US style interstate where cars whiz by and fair amount of road debris). Also good lights are key.. those odd gates around Honda airport on Arakawa are pretty interesting obstacles at night.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/japan/kanto/277125368692118507

Charles - when are you making it back for a ride?
 
Congrats Todor!
Good going to cross Japan in one go! And in pretty severe conditions too, -5 C :eek: Glad you enjoyed the route.
AW.
 
Hard core

Epic ride Todor! But better you than me. :p

I'd be up for a go at this in Summer if we can get a group.

Keren
 
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