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Ride Sunday March 15: Tsukuba expedition

sean-e

Maximum Pace
Mar 4, 2019
254
590
Start: 8:00AM Tsuchiura Station
End: Late afternoon at Tsuchiura Station
Pace: moderate (~150km, 2500m up)

A little venture north of Tokyo including Mt Tsukuba, the Motegi racetrack at the north end of the loop, and the "Furits" line on the way back. Open to alterations or scenic detours. Hopefully no snow. Post or PM if interested!

 
Sean although I can't join I have been out that way a few times. I noticed that the local cyclists seem to prefer to climb Mt Tsukuba via route 138 - it's a nice climb. You can then ride across the skyline, checkout the Ropeway, and descent via the same route that you have planned. Just need to take care on the skyline as the few cars there are sometimes speeding...

There is also a bike path along most of the first part of your journey, which starts near the train station and is convenient since you can blindly follow it.

The train station is also super road bike friendly, you can even take bikes into many of the station stores. There is also a hotel nearby, Green Core, that is cheap and allows bikes in room. It's a very popular area for road cycling. Enjoy.
 
I have done that climb many times. An alternative is to use Tsukuba Express which maybe faster to Tsukuba. I'm also not able to join as in the UK currently but it looks like an interesting route north of Tsukuba which I haven't done. There is also quite a nice route back into town if you felt inclined via a nice river route mainly car free along the Kokai Gawa then ride thru Moriya to the Tone then Tone canal to Edogawa etc.. Also recommend a great burger place near Tsukuba shrine nisyouan.com. They have bike racks as well.
 
Yep I'm still on for tomorrow! Most of the route is low elevation, can always re-route a bit if really necessary.

The cold never bothered me anyway :innocent:
 
Well, that was a ride. Started off rather leisurely from Tsuchiura up towards 138. There was a fair bit of snow on the sides of the road, but the road itself was clear up until the very top parking lot at Tsukuba.
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Descended cautiously, and headed back onto the RinRin road. At this point, I was feeling pretty lethargic and we were freewheeling around for a bit. Yawn!

After conbini stop number two though and another round of coffee, I hit myself in the shin pretty hard with my pedal and that woke me up. We continued at a spicier pace up into Tochigi, which was quite pleasant and quiet. The sun was out, and so were the Giant Daikon.
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Arriving in Motegi, the first racetrack encountered was the Nissan Proving Ground. We took the detour up the hill ready to Prove, but there was a gate with a few guards looking on. No visitors allowed.
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Second racetrack was the Twin Ring Motegi, which is also hidden up a hill. But... can't see the racetrack without paying 1200 yen to get in. And also the museum was closed due to Coronavirus. So we skipped going inside. 0 out of 2 for racetracks.

Headed south along some quality rindos, dug deep on a few of the steeper climbs.. things became less "moderate" and more "moderately brutal". Stopped for a giant potato and mystery bread haul. We thought about taking the tunnel through the mountains but decided to stick with the original route... might have been a mistake. The last lump in the route is not only steep, but also has some really jarring speed bumps on the way down, so wouldn't recommend. After that it was all flat back to the station. Good stuff.
 
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