WhiteGiant
Maximum Pace
- Nov 4, 2006
- 1,233
- 395
Here's an oldie, but a goodie, for anyone familiar with the Arakawa and the Oku-Musashi hills (and the Greenline east of Chichibu).
We ride up Arakawa, climb Shiraishi-toge, roll down to Sadamine-toge where we turn left and descend Rte.11 towards Chichibu. After that, we head north on Rte.82, and just after Nagatoro, we head east, up and over a short little hill before heading back to the Arakawa, near Yorii, and then on towards Kumagaya.
That's the short version, anyway.
Place: Spaceship (a.k.a. Asaka Suimon, Arakawa)
Time: 7:30am
A few months ago, I did a couple of rides out that way to reconnoiter a low-traffic route from Nagatoro that essentially follows the river to get back to Kumagaya.
You can check out those rides HERE (April 6th) and HERE (April 20th). The route I took the first time (April 6th) did not turn out well – I ended up trespassing through a golf course west of Kumagaya, and hit a few gravel patches that I wasn't prepared for. The April 20th ride was quite successful though, and the slightly meandering back-roads way I found between Yorii and Kumagaya was really nice! It offered a fairly uninterrupted journey almost the entire way.
We'll be taking that same way this time too (see the RidewithGPS map above).
Starting and ending at "The Spaceship", it's about a 170km round trip.
In order to "save my legs" for the entire journey, what I did last time was to mentally split the ride into 3 parts:
Part 1: Getting to the base of the climb – After 15 years of cycling, I had finally discovered "Heart-rate zones", so I did Zone-2 (ie. Very easy pedaling) all the way up the river. There's only about a 4km/h difference between going easy and going hard anyway, and I'd rather save my legs for the actual climbs. At the 52.3km mark in the above map there's a 7-11 (Tokigawa). That was my first stop, and only stop before Shiraishi – I grabbed an onigiri, and ate it as I "feather-pedaled" the rest of the way to the start of the climb (59.3km on the map).
Part 2: The climb itself! Smash it! As hard as you want for as long as it takes to get to the top - Between 25 mins (for a fast rider) and 40 mins (for someone still getting into shape). You do your best, and enjoy going deep. The ride's basically over now (ha ha)…
Part 3: Getting back! With the main climb out of the way, it's time relax a little bit, ease off the pressure, and just "enjoy being out on the bike". When I did these rides in April, I had my second (and final) break at the 101.1km mark, at a Lawson, near Hachigata station. By keeping the breaks to a minimum, and eating on the bike when possible, I was able to do the round trip in under 8 hours.
Anyway, that's what I did last time… I'm not saying we have to do it the same way this time – If there's a large-ish group of us, a nice sit-down lunch might be better – There's the "Gelateria HANA", at the 74.1km mark, where we can get specialty hot-dogs, waffles, and… gelato – This used to be a regular stop for us back in the day, and I wouldn't mind dropping in there again.
Another thing that'll be different this time is that there's one extra little climb – At 87.7km, we'll turn right off of Rte.82, and climb about 3.5km to "Saijin-toge" (91.3km). I haven't climbed this before, so I have no idea what to expect – Just remember when you're climbing the first one (Shiraishi) to save a bit for this one.
Anyway, that's the plan.
I know some people might not want to ride all the way back down the river, hence the map ends at Kumagaya. There's a reasonably fast train back to civilization from there… OR, if you want to ride the 50km back to Spaceship, it'll take about 2 hours (depending on the wind, and leg fatigue).
As always, let me know if you're interested.
See you there!
We ride up Arakawa, climb Shiraishi-toge, roll down to Sadamine-toge where we turn left and descend Rte.11 towards Chichibu. After that, we head north on Rte.82, and just after Nagatoro, we head east, up and over a short little hill before heading back to the Arakawa, near Yorii, and then on towards Kumagaya.
That's the short version, anyway.
Place: Spaceship (a.k.a. Asaka Suimon, Arakawa)
Time: 7:30am
A few months ago, I did a couple of rides out that way to reconnoiter a low-traffic route from Nagatoro that essentially follows the river to get back to Kumagaya.
You can check out those rides HERE (April 6th) and HERE (April 20th). The route I took the first time (April 6th) did not turn out well – I ended up trespassing through a golf course west of Kumagaya, and hit a few gravel patches that I wasn't prepared for. The April 20th ride was quite successful though, and the slightly meandering back-roads way I found between Yorii and Kumagaya was really nice! It offered a fairly uninterrupted journey almost the entire way.
We'll be taking that same way this time too (see the RidewithGPS map above).
Starting and ending at "The Spaceship", it's about a 170km round trip.
In order to "save my legs" for the entire journey, what I did last time was to mentally split the ride into 3 parts:
Part 1: Getting to the base of the climb – After 15 years of cycling, I had finally discovered "Heart-rate zones", so I did Zone-2 (ie. Very easy pedaling) all the way up the river. There's only about a 4km/h difference between going easy and going hard anyway, and I'd rather save my legs for the actual climbs. At the 52.3km mark in the above map there's a 7-11 (Tokigawa). That was my first stop, and only stop before Shiraishi – I grabbed an onigiri, and ate it as I "feather-pedaled" the rest of the way to the start of the climb (59.3km on the map).
Part 2: The climb itself! Smash it! As hard as you want for as long as it takes to get to the top - Between 25 mins (for a fast rider) and 40 mins (for someone still getting into shape). You do your best, and enjoy going deep. The ride's basically over now (ha ha)…
Part 3: Getting back! With the main climb out of the way, it's time relax a little bit, ease off the pressure, and just "enjoy being out on the bike". When I did these rides in April, I had my second (and final) break at the 101.1km mark, at a Lawson, near Hachigata station. By keeping the breaks to a minimum, and eating on the bike when possible, I was able to do the round trip in under 8 hours.
Anyway, that's what I did last time… I'm not saying we have to do it the same way this time – If there's a large-ish group of us, a nice sit-down lunch might be better – There's the "Gelateria HANA", at the 74.1km mark, where we can get specialty hot-dogs, waffles, and… gelato – This used to be a regular stop for us back in the day, and I wouldn't mind dropping in there again.
Another thing that'll be different this time is that there's one extra little climb – At 87.7km, we'll turn right off of Rte.82, and climb about 3.5km to "Saijin-toge" (91.3km). I haven't climbed this before, so I have no idea what to expect – Just remember when you're climbing the first one (Shiraishi) to save a bit for this one.
Anyway, that's the plan.
I know some people might not want to ride all the way back down the river, hence the map ends at Kumagaya. There's a reasonably fast train back to civilization from there… OR, if you want to ride the 50km back to Spaceship, it'll take about 2 hours (depending on the wind, and leg fatigue).
As always, let me know if you're interested.
See you there!