Sunday did the Tour de Nishiawa. The ride starts in Miyoshi, Tokushima and you have a choice of 3 routes. The A course just loops round the Yoshino river and is 52km pancake flat. The B course, 75km, heads up into the mountains, then after the descent, follows the A course. Finally, the C course, 110km, which is the same as the B course apart from heading back up into the mountains the other side of the river. Signed up for the C course and rolled back with a total of 107.5 km (lost the sensor slightly on a descent), 2130 m climbing and a moving time of 4hrs 28mins (another 50 mins spent at checkpoints/lunchstop), avg 24 km/h. Most fun I`ve had on a bike in ages - all that training made a hard day thoroughly enjoyable.
For anyone who lives down this way, can`t recommend it enough. Organisation was way above any of the other handful of events I`ve entered since I`ve been in Japan. They stuck to the schedule, had 4 checkpoints with ample food (help yourself) and water (though the last one didn`t have any water – my only criticism – but it was more of a cut-off point than a checkpoint). There were marshals to shepherd you across any main road interactions (or was it to stop cyclists from jumping lights and giving the ride a bad reputation???), more marshals at any point where there was a risk of a wrong turning, and even more marshals on hairpins warning you to slow down...that was a bit overkill though, esp. for someone who likes to brake hard/late. Some of the locals even turned out to cheer you on just after the start, and they even put 2 sets of cheerleaders on the final ascent of the day (for those on C course) – a series of mid-teen ramps with the last one maxing out at 20% (1K 150m – they saved the best for last!). Passed one poor guy who was valiantly doing his utmost not to resort to walking (almost horizontal zig-zagging) – not wanting to sound condescending, as been there, done that! And had the ride been 3 months ago, would probably have been in his shoes...
For anyone who lives down this way, can`t recommend it enough. Organisation was way above any of the other handful of events I`ve entered since I`ve been in Japan. They stuck to the schedule, had 4 checkpoints with ample food (help yourself) and water (though the last one didn`t have any water – my only criticism – but it was more of a cut-off point than a checkpoint). There were marshals to shepherd you across any main road interactions (or was it to stop cyclists from jumping lights and giving the ride a bad reputation???), more marshals at any point where there was a risk of a wrong turning, and even more marshals on hairpins warning you to slow down...that was a bit overkill though, esp. for someone who likes to brake hard/late. Some of the locals even turned out to cheer you on just after the start, and they even put 2 sets of cheerleaders on the final ascent of the day (for those on C course) – a series of mid-teen ramps with the last one maxing out at 20% (1K 150m – they saved the best for last!). Passed one poor guy who was valiantly doing his utmost not to resort to walking (almost horizontal zig-zagging) – not wanting to sound condescending, as been there, done that! And had the ride been 3 months ago, would probably have been in his shoes...