Half-Fast Mike
Lanterne Rouge-et-vert
- May 22, 2007
- 4,644
- 3,700
Shall we have a "Today" thread for each month? If not, it will become incredibly long.
Today I attacked a road paullb mentioned to me a while ago. It's the windy road that goes up Mitake-san, starting from Mitake station between Ohme and Okutama.
Ouch! That's the hardest thing I've ever almost done on two wheels. By comparison, the Kazahari Rindo was a breeze. The steep bit goes from 280 m to 880 m in a shade over 4 km, yielding an average of 15% grade, but some of the corners were more like 30% -- real wheelie-popping stuff, even with my lamentable body mass. No way I could ride it in one go, on the first attempt. I kept stopping, but then pressed on. Spent a lot of time with my HR above 180 bpm and my speed below 5 kph (I think MapMyRide's gradient thingy runs out of shades of black here!)
From the maps I'd hoped it would be possible to ride on Hinode-san and carry on back down to Musashi-itsukaichi. This was not to be. The road changes to a trail shortly after the summit. Talked to a lady who said this trail is something of a mecca for cyclo-crossers; they bring their bikes up on the cable-car and ride away, carrying their bikes over rocks as necessary.
So back down the way I'd come; death grip on the brakes all the way down!
Rode 35 km from there to Takao-san for ramen and gyoza in glorious sunshine at the wonderfully hospitable Fujiya Ramen Emporium, just 100 m from the Otarumi summit.
--HF Mike--
Today I attacked a road paullb mentioned to me a while ago. It's the windy road that goes up Mitake-san, starting from Mitake station between Ohme and Okutama.
Ouch! That's the hardest thing I've ever almost done on two wheels. By comparison, the Kazahari Rindo was a breeze. The steep bit goes from 280 m to 880 m in a shade over 4 km, yielding an average of 15% grade, but some of the corners were more like 30% -- real wheelie-popping stuff, even with my lamentable body mass. No way I could ride it in one go, on the first attempt. I kept stopping, but then pressed on. Spent a lot of time with my HR above 180 bpm and my speed below 5 kph (I think MapMyRide's gradient thingy runs out of shades of black here!)
From the maps I'd hoped it would be possible to ride on Hinode-san and carry on back down to Musashi-itsukaichi. This was not to be. The road changes to a trail shortly after the summit. Talked to a lady who said this trail is something of a mecca for cyclo-crossers; they bring their bikes up on the cable-car and ride away, carrying their bikes over rocks as necessary.
So back down the way I'd come; death grip on the brakes all the way down!
Rode 35 km from there to Takao-san for ramen and gyoza in glorious sunshine at the wonderfully hospitable Fujiya Ramen Emporium, just 100 m from the Otarumi summit.
--HF Mike--