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The Japanese Odyssey

emmanuel

Warming-Up
Mar 13, 2015
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The Japanese Odyssey is a bicycle endurance event. It starts in Sapporo on Hokkaido and covers the four major Japanese islands to Kagoshima in the South. Entrants will have to ride approximately 2700 km across various landscapes offering spectacular sceneries.

Apart from the compulsory check points, nothing is imposed. Follow the route of your choice.

It starts on Saturday 18th July.

But it is more than a race. It is an adventure. It is one's own adventure.
So get ready to experience inspiring cycling moments.

Check us out at :

http://japanese-odyssey.com/
https://www.facebook.com/japaneseodyssey

Be Prepared....

Kind Regards,
Emmanuel
 
Hi

2700km over 14 days. That is 192km a day, everyday.

Have you got a breakdown of the routes for each day, accommodation info, etc?

Also, do entrants have to pay to enter?
 
Hello,

The philosophy of the Japanese Odyssey is to get to discover a bit of Japan and its population. And we think, there is no better way of doing this than on a bike.
The event starts in Sapporo and finishes in Kagoshima.
There are 4 mandatory check points, amongst which Norikura Pass.
But except those mandatory CP, each entrant goes its own way. Some will try to go fast, and will take fast but hectic highways; others may choose more relaxing one-lane road.

Each entrant that reach Kagoshima within the time limit is a winner. But, some (most?) will need more than 14 days.
Actually, we don't see the Japanese Odyssey as a race. It is an adventure. Each entrant lives its own adventure.
We want them to see, to discover, to get in touch with Japan.

As every one goes its own way, there is no route breakdown.
And no booked accommodation either. Entrants may sleep in a hotel, a camping, a bus stop shelter, wherever they want.... or can.

We already have some overseas entrants interested in the event. But we really want to have Japanese entrants as well. It is important to us to share it with local riders.
But, we don't have much access to the media circuit.
So, we would really appreciate if you could spread the word.

Be Prepared

Cheers

emmanuel
 
So what does 'Japanese Odyssey' actually do for the entrants, if there is no route, no booking of accommodation, etc.?

And again, do entrants have to pay to enter, and if so, how much?

Cheer.
 
Every rider lives its own adventure from Sapporo to Kagoshima, living fulfilling but also harsh moments.
But he will also be part of something bigger, an epic which includes all the other entrants.
They will meet on a pre-race evening the day before the start, getting acquainted over a glass of beer, and will motivate each other.
They will start together.
They may meet on the road, sometimes overtaking another rider, or stopping to help one with difficulties. They may share a shelter.

And at the end they will join an "all this nightmare is over" party, just to congratulate each other. To talk, to tell what happened, and to dream on new adventures.

Yes, there is a registration fee that includes : the 2 "parties" + the hiring of a live tracker that will enable us, the entrants, families to map the whole event onto one map.
Registration fee is not settled so far, (depending on the cost of the trackers) but not more than 150 euros (approx 20,000 yens)

cheers

emmanuel
 
Some more questions;

-Where are the check points?
-What date is the end party, and if like you say, some people will need more than 14 days, how are you going to get everyone together at the end?
-Where are the venues for the start and end party?
-Do you offer any assistance in finding and booking accommodation?
-Do you offer any assistance in mapping?
-What are you doing about insurance?
-Please explain more about this tracking system.
-Is there a support car of any kind?

pre-race evening

Is it a race or not? There is conflicting info on your website regarding this. It is is a race, this affects insurance, etc.
 
Hello again,

You are absolutely right, I should have written : "pre event evening".
It is not a race. Some will go fast if they like. But we won't publish official rankings.
Complete it in 14 days and you are a winner.

- Concerning insurance. All riders MUST have a valid insurance which covers emergency extraction and repatriation. We will talk about that subject in a next post on facebook. We can even advise one or two companies that provide cover for competitive adventure sport.
- Check points are : CP1 Shiretoko pass / CP 2 Norikura pass / CP 3 Mount Aso / CP 4 Cape Sata
- Pre-start briefing is mandatory / Finisher's party should take place on August 2nd or 3rd (that gives a bit more time to make it to the finish line) / details of venues are not settled so far (we have in mind to come over in June to fix these details)
- No assitance in finding or booking accommodation. Each entrant lives its own adventure.
- Yes there is a support car (even 2 ), going to the check points , and for....urgencies
- As I said the satellite tracking is covered within the entry fee. Trackers will be available for collection on the pre event day and we will show how to use them.These trackers will help us determine the location of the entrants and to put them on the event leaderboard. (go visit for instance http://trackleaders.com/)


Cheers
 
I think few Japanese who have employment will be able to take two weeks off at one time. This is not Europe ;)

Regarding insurance, you mention "emergency extraction and repatriation". At randonees that I participate in the organisers require 100 million yen of third party liability insurance, while they don't check if you have insurance that covers your own hospitalization.

But it is more than a race.

We definitely don't see it as a race.

We hope to start the race in Odori Park...

You should really go through the site and remove/replace all references to the word race except where it says that isn't one.
 
Yep, agree with all that @joewein

More stuff to consider;

-By the end of July, it is going to be HOT. The direction proposed is actually heading into the heat, not away from it too, making this even more of an issue.
-The distance expectations over the time you are suggesting, without any real assistance, and from what I can see, any real organisation from yourselves, comes across as you basically saying, "hey there, why don't you ride from the top of Japan to the bottom in 2 weeks, by yourself, with no help from us in actually doing it or even organising it. Give us some money for suggesting this to you. See you at the end for a drink (which you have to pay for)". You need to make it more attractive to those who actually can even consider such a feat, given the time of year and investment of holiday time (and money!!).

Don't take this as me trashing your plan before it has even started, but...
 
Hello @joewein,

You are right.
Sorry, if it is confusing you. We should, indeed, replace the word "race" - thank you for the advice.



Hello again member TCC,

You are tough with us. But I do accept your feedback and criticism.
I also really do understand that most of the road riders are not motivated by such a long, harsh and weary event.
Once again, it is an adventure.
The one interested are not seeking to compete against the others. It is about challenging oneself.

It is about riding long distance miles for the pure satisfaction of sport and no other motive but for the learnings of one's self.

I wish you both a good night
Here in Europe, it is mid-day, and soon the weekend. Time to get on a bike.

Kind regards,

emmanuel
 
First of all, please accept my apologies if you feel I have been tough with you. Not the intention, just saying what I see.

Again, please don't take this as me telling you that your idea is lame. The essence of it is good and I can see it working, but you are going to need to get a lot more info out there about every aspect of it, for it to be a success, and for more than one or two people to participate (and also for your involvement as an organizer to actually mean anything...)

1. If you are going to announce an event, it needs to actually be something that has been organised. You have a website, with a load of wishy-washy motivational 'let's challenge ourselves' stuff on it, and this is also the content of your communications on here, which is all good, but apart from this, there is nothing else; no real specific organisation, and absolutely no info about location, route, accommodation, support, insurance, etc. If you want people to take 14 days off, to ride nearly 200km a day, every day, then they are going to need highly detailed specifics, not vague motivational poster style prose. We are talking; maps of each day, with the various route choices, lists of possible accommodation at the end of each day for participants to contact seeing as you are not doing this for them, food stops on the route for each day, bike shops on the route for each day, hospitals and what to do in the case of emergency, etc. This is what people expect from an event organizer.

2. The general idea of the event is cool, and definitely a challenge that I can see some people wanting to do. The issue again, is you are offering nothing in the way of support or assistance. I know your angle here is that this is part of the challenge, but really, no, it is not. Hardcore professional racers doing these kind of distances over a similar amount of days have a full-on support team and tour bus to help them everyday. Merely suggesting the idea, and then backing off, is not enough. Take someone like Adam Cobain, from the Blue Monkey Lodge. Part of what he does, is to offer hardcore cycling events over a couple of days, where people go to stay at his lodge, and ride the local area, with him leading the ride. Before hand, he provides maps of the route, on Strava or similar, and organizes the accommodation, gives info on how to get there, where the food stops are, gives details about various aspects of the rides, and also provides a fully equipped support car, breakfast and dinner. And this is for a one or two day riding session.

3. I sincerely encourage you to look into the legality of the event. As Joe points out, other events which take place on public roads involve a great deal of liability insurance, etc., as a requirement. Without this, your event will not be conforming to the law. I am sure there are some people here who might be willing to help out with this, or point you in the right direction for more information.

To be honest, at this point, it feels like we are think-tanking this idea into shape for you, so this will be the last comment from me, unless you want to get me on board and pay for my input! Haha.

If you can pull this into shape, I am sure it will be excellent, so again, please don't take this as me just handing out a stern lecture, but really, this is the level of support and organisation people would expect for something as lengthy as this.

Sincerely, after all that!
 
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