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Ride Sunday 21st August Tokigawa Climbs

Mlac Peek

Peek pace master
Jun 12, 2012
360
325
This week a 5:30am start from Akigase Car Park. We're heading up the river as usual and will do a couple of smaller climbs to warm up the legs before hitting Kasayama Forest and Sadamine. Two climbs should be enough to satisfy our greedy legs. Then it's a battle of attrition all the way back down the river - who will have the legs to power through to the end this week? There's only one way to find out...
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When: Sunday 21st August
What: Tokigawa Climbs
Meeting: Akigase Car Park 5:30am https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@35.8562813,139.5934408,19z?hl=en
Distance:150km+
Pace: Steady Peek
 
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I'm on the fence as to whether to join this or not. What kind of entertainment will there be along the way? Can you guarantee I will enjoy myself?
 
I'm on the fence as to whether to join this or not. What kind of entertainment will there be along the way? Can you guarantee I will enjoy myself?

It'll definitely be fun. Come along, we need some songs for the climbs anyway, and there will be socks.
 
Well, now we know what the internals of a c24 look like!

Testament to how strong the spokes are, eh.

Said this on Strava, but check the back of your forks for impact damage. The only way this happened is by a foreign object going through the spokes, and jamming against the back of the fork, pulling the nipple assembly out through the carbon laminate.

And for research / knowledge, could you take a load of photos of the area where the nipple assembly sits, in the rim. Very interested to see how they put it all together, and this is pretty much the only chance I will ever get to see this.
 
Well I'm pretty shagged after that; really solid day in the saddle, with lots of unexpected turns. The rain never materialized, not even a shower or any drizzle, so that was good. Blazing hot sunshine and high humidity were not so good, but I don't think I can complain - we had plenty of conbi/vending machine stops and kept well-hydrated all day. @kawa forgot to get up early enough and bailed before getting out the door - see you next time @kawa! @Heath and @Musashi13 were joined by a new face, Keita, at the car park at 5:30am and we set off at a fairly reasonable pace all the way to Monomiyama which we destroyed as usual.

@Heath has dropped a few kilograms and powered up Sadamine once we finally got to it, looking slim and strong! @Musashi13 had the worst luck of the day with an exploding front wheel - he had to abandon and took the train from Ogawamachi after borrowing @Heath's front wheel to get there. Keita and I kept him company, and carried his busted front wheel for him while @Heath waited for us to return with his wheel back at the bottom of Kasayama. The extra kms took it out of me and I had to drop back for a breather while @Heath went for a PB up Sadamine. I hope he got it! Keita is a strong climber and is definitely a welcome addition to the Saitama West group rides - I hope we see more of him. We bumped into a couple of his mates at the top of Sadamine and rode the rindo to Shiraishi together, they seemed like nice guys.

By the time we got off the hills the sun was really blazing so we did what we always do when we're heading home and attacked every little climb until we hit the river, where we calmed down a bit. Excellent ride. Thanks for coming out lads. See you at the next one!

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With the weather the way it was I wanted a ride and didn't care about the fact that I'd have to get up at 3:30am to do it. When you want to improve; riding with people who push you is one of the best ways and I am always pushed by @Heath and @Mlac Peek

From the wording of the ride description and the meeting point I thought there would be a chance Heath was driving there so maybe I could cadge a lift if I was lucky and miss the first hour and a half of riding to the meet. I was in luck. Keita would take his own car to the meet and I would take his spot in Heath's mobile.

Outside was dark and muggy at 4am but it was nice to ride the roads with no traffic and I flew to Heath's place. We left a little early giving me time to get some food on the way. Keita was waiting and soon enough we all set off. We had a slight tailwind going north and the pace was flying. It felt good spinning along and it was only when we stopped at lights that you discovered how much you were sweating. Two bottles got drained in no time at all.

They powered up the climbs and I didn't make them wait too long, I hope. 横松郷峠 then 七重峠 At the top Mlac was sorting out a puncture, after that we carried on up and over where I got a puncture. We were just rolling down and I hit a rock I didn't see. It was doing a great job of disguising itself as a leaf and was positioned just in front of a grate. My focus was on the wet and slippery grate and I only knew I'd hit something by the impact and sound of breaking glass(?). The damage was way more than I could have imagined. The tire was ripped open but we booted that and rolled on only to find that one of my spokes had ripped away from the rim (see above photo) leaving the wheel all kinds of messed up.

It was decided that I ride back to the nearest station, as described by Peek above, where I bought the biggest bin bags I could find and borrowed some tape from the station master, who was very helpful and understanding, and made my way to the station near the meet for Heath to come and pick me up after they finished. Nishiurawa station and the surrounding area is an outer circle of hell, for sure. Fag smoking, one cup drinking zombies in a shuttered up sleepy suburb, it was my penance to spend most of the afternoon there. I sat under a tree contemplating my existence for a few hours before rescue came.

I was looking forward to Sadamine and the ride home, maybe I only realised this after being stuck in Nishiurawa, but the feelings were real by the end. It had been a good day until then and it would have been nice to have seen it through.

Had I been alone it would have been a very gruelling ordeal indeed but with the help of those around me it was dealt with effectively and efficiently with minimal fuss.

Thanks fellas.

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The night before this ride I was thinking that there was no way we'd be doing it, owing to the gruesome weather report of the passing typhoon.
Being the weather nut that I am, I'd been tracking the typhoon thoughout Saturday and knew that it was picking up speed northward.
Maybe there is a slim chance, I thought.
Got in touch with @Musashi13 and suggested we just wake up in the morning, check the rain radar, and take it from there.

Jumped up at 3:30 a.m. and quickly checked things...and to our delight it was game on.

The roads were fairly wet up to the hills, but only in patches.
We got beeped at continually by a Sunday morning madman (6:00 a.m.) from the time he was about 150m away from us until he cut across the paceline to almost put Peek (@Mlac Peek ) into the gutter.
The good thing is that we didn't slow him down though, as he was on a very tight schedule to get back home to bed after a night of pachinko stress relief.
I was praying for him to get a red light so I could catch up to him and give him a nice little stare-down, alas it wasn't to be.

@Musashi13 pulled a very robust turn on the way out to show that he was, 'on the up'. A nice sign of things to come as his journey continues toward his previous form (won't be long until he gets there).

We got to the first conbini stop all dripping with sweat, downed some supplies, and headed off to the first climb.
Being lighter than I've been in a long time, well actually in 8 years, I thought I'd have a little dig on it.
Keita was hot on my tail and I was getting into a nice rhythm, then Peek steamrolled me and took Keita with him.
I stayed at my tempo and fought back to get within view of the lads, only to witness Peek's second kick, blowing Keita off his wheel.
I PBed it, so am happy with that.

On the second climb (the hardest of the day), Keita and I had a good dig while @Musashi13 and @Mlac Peek rolled behind us hob-nobbing about cornish pasties, shepherd's pie, their motherland, and the like.
Keita put the hurt on me early. I had the boy in sight most of the way up, then he pulled away to finish about 30 secs ahead.
It was a good battle and my legs were starting to cut in nicely.
Again, I had done a PB on a climb that I'd topped toward the end of last year when I had very good form...happy again.

At the top of the next steep rise to Kasayama things went pear-shaped.
Peek had a puncture and we changed that.
@Musashi13 hit a beast of a rock which punctured his tyre and we changed that.
About 1km later, I heard a loud cracking/popping sound from behind, @Musashi13 's wheel had given up the ghost after it's rock encounter.
The lads head off to the station with my wheel, and I walk down the mountain to wait for them at the base of Sadamine all the while being blown away by the peaceful serenity of the mountain road, it was a beautiful thing.

I waited at the bottom for what seemed like an eternity, about 50 minutes in fact, and saw all kinds of cyclists, motorbike riders, and no idea drivers pass by.
That was a laugh in itself.

The lads returned with my wheel, we crested Sadamine (another PB for me) and headed back, attacking the hell out of each other on every little hill we could find.
That was fun.

Upon arrival at Akigase Park I quickly got sorted, said my goodbyes to Keita, and rushed to pick up the now forlorn @Musashi13.

We all got home safely from what was a testing, but exciting day in the saddle and I couldn't help but think of that old classic saying...
All's well that ends well.

Here's to the next adventure.

Pics coming up.
 
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Keita, nice acting.

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@Musashi13 with new kit by Dolce and Gabanna.

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Peek's power stroke/sock doping display.

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@Musashi13 Nice early morning light as he finishes things off on the first climb.

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10m later Peek was to have his puncture. This is the point where the cycling Gods said, "The price is wrong, bitch!"

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The humidity of the lush forest only added to the view.

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low clouds

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Hillbilly doping on my walk down Kasayama.

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