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Official Ride Tour de Shirokuma-pan (23rd TCC Tour)

Still on guys!

How was that weather yesterday, eh!?
Nice to get some o' that "white Christmas" vibe happening - even if a month late!
I actually had to go out on my bike yesterday - Wednesday is the one day that I can't opt for the train. It's only a very short 18km round-trip, so I dressed like an eskimo-Lance (looking very top-heavy from all the layers) and went to work as usual. It was kind of a weird experience - And of course, you can actually SEE the wind!

That said, back to Saturday's ride:
I don't think a little snow is any reason to call off this ride, as most of it will be done at low altitudes.
The only exception is for the group-two riders who were looking forward to Karibazaka-toge. There was a thin layer of snow up there two weeks ago, although that had probably melted before the little down-fall yesterday.
My suggestion is this; we do the climb as originally planned, but if we find it too difficult (or dangerous) to continue, there is a short-cut road back to Rte.299.
This road heads up towards "Shomaru-toge", and Ome for those wishing to return home via Tamagawa. It also goes down the other way towards Tokorozawa and Kawagoe for those wishing to come back vis Arakawa.
Here's the map:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/japan/ogose-machi/543994117

Once we arrive at the 500m elevation point (just after the 12km marker on the map), it should be clear to all of us then as to which way we should proceed.
There will still be enough climbing to satiate everyone's thirst, as that first short (4-5km-ish) slope is "Wada-toge-esque" steep in some places.

Still looking forward to seeing you all again, and some of you for the first time!
Rubber Down!
Travis
 
Wait ..... please!

Need to fix my bike today!
I'll try to come to Iwabuchisuido tomorrow, too!

Walter
 
Twenty!

Nothing has really changed, but just to let you all know where to be, and at what time:

>Phil, Travis, Thomas:
Under the Kuramaebashi-dori bridge (western side) at 7:10.

>Nobu, Shinobu, Naomi, Todor, +friend, Okey, Kunio, Dave (Truffs), Walter, I LUV TEXAS:
岩淵水門 - Iwabuchi-Suimon, at 7:50.

>Charles, Gerard, Philip, Deej, Christoph:
Under the Rte.17 (Nakasen-do) bridge at 8:15.

>Arai-san: Rte.463, on the eastern side of the river near 秋ゲ瀬公園。 Head towards 浦和 and cross the bridge. Turn left there, and you'll see the start of the CR. At 8:50.

>Pucci: Still haven't heard confirmation from you yet, but the Rte.16 bridge - Halfway across, is where the river splits in two. We'll be riding up the middle section between the 2 rivers - You'll need to be on the southern side of the bridge (as you would be if driving west) to get onto the Cycling-Road at 9:15.


I've also asked some guys from my LBS, "My Road", to come as well, so it could be well over the 20 members listed above!
HUGE!

See you tomorrow!
Travis

P.S. I shouldn't need to say this, but DRESS WARM! T
 
>Pucci: Still haven't heard confirmation from you yet, but the Rte.16 bridge - Halfway across, is where the river splits in two. We'll be riding up the middle section between the 2 rivers - You'll need to be on the southern side of the bridge (as you would be if driving west) to get onto the Cycling-Road at 9:15.

My train gets in at 8:54. I should just make it to the reiver by 9:15 to 9:20. If I'm not there, give me a call.

Aaron
 
An added bonus...

This is for those in group-one (the people who want to turn around at Shirokuma-pan, and ride back):
Naomi-san, along with the other Go-Go-Gals, has found an "Onsen" in Kawagoe!
http://www.yuranosato.com/tenpo/kawagoe.html
From Shirokuma-pan to Kawagoe, it's 25km along Rte.30 & Rte.15, and from Kawagoe it's only 7km back to the Arakawa-Cycling-Road.

I think it will make for a very enjoyable experience for everyone choosing to go that way on the return trip.
For anyone interested, please talk to Naomi, Shinobu or Nobu after we arrive at the bread-shop!
T
Here's the map:
http://www.yuranosato.com/tenpo/kawagoe.html
 
This is for those in group-one (the people who want to turn around at Shirokuma-pan, and ride back):
Naomi-san, along with the other Go-Go-Gals, has found an "Onsen" in Kawagoe!
http://www.yuranosato.com/tenpo/kawagoe.html
From Shirokuma-pan to Kawagoe, it's 25km along Rte.30 & Rte.15, and from Kawagoe it's only 7km back to the Arakawa-Cycling-Road.

Naomi-san

Please take me to the Onsen. I would rather be in a warmer place.:)

Minoru Arai
 
Sorry to leave early

First off, thank you for arranging this touring, Travis.
And, I am sorry for all that I had to leave because my knee aches. (it is my usual Iliotibial Band Friction.) Though, I enjoyed the ride and came back home OK. Hope to see you all on next touring!:D
 
Thank you

トラさん
ツアー企画ありがとう。楽しかったです。&美味しかった(シロクマパン)
またお願いします。:p
ムカイさん
荒川まで、ずっと一緒に走ってくれてありがとうございました。
また一緒に走りましょう!
Nobu-san,Naomi-san
いつもありがとね。またよろしく:D

Thank you for everyone!
I had a good time:)
I'm looking forward to seeing you all again.
 
many thanks

To Travis:トラさん,
Thanks a lot to organize ' Shirokuma-pan ride!' I had a great time with TCC. Many thanks again.

To Christoph,
Thanks for pushing me on the uphill just before Ogose. I wish I could ride as fast as you:p

To Arai-san,
I am very sorry to not be able to go Onsen this time:eek:uch:....
probably next time.

To Go Go girls.
やっぱりガールズライドには「美味しいもの」がつき物ですね。つぎは温泉にいきましょうね:)
shibagonも一緒に行こうね!

To everyone,,,,,
Thank you very much. See you next time! :)

Naomi
 
Mountain Men!

Christoph, Aaron and Philip made it to within 5.3km of the top.

Early in the climb we were required to walk across ice and snow in just a few places where the sun could not reach. Towards the top we were walking more than cycling as the snow became dense. Finally we were walking through thick snow and the road had disappeared completely. This allowed a few attempts at bike sledding :) A sign told us we were just 5.3km from the goal. We just needed to follow the ridge-line to the top.

The weather was fantastic and snowy scenery beautiful. However, it was already 15:00 and we decided we had no option but to turn back. We took an "escape route" (according to the official sign) - a road that led very, very, very steeply downwards (we must go back and challenge the climb in the Spring - I have never seen a climb like it). This took us back to R299 and civilization.

Photos -

https://tokyocycle.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/2169

A great ride today!

Philip
 
Brrrrrrr !

Great day out yesterday, Travis thank very much for organising. I am so glad I managed to catch you guys up and, Christoph, many thanks for the tow !!

It was a really splendid climb too - until the point that some of us decided that this was a cycling event and not downhill skiing.

As for the others, well, you guys are definitely nuts, but the photos at the top are really great so I envy you really.

David and I made it back with Hanno albeit with several circumnavigations of that fine city before we found the 28 to Ome. From there it was a straight shot down Ome Kaido which was full of traffic but got us back to Shinjuku before the parting of the ways.

It was great to ride with such a larger group. Hope everyone had as good a day as I did.

Charles
 
Great ride...

Thanks to everyone, too numerous to mention, for the great ride yesterday. Beautiful blues skies, views of Fuji along the Arakawa, and bread that was worth the journey, in a lovely rural setting.

Special thanks to Travis for once again organizing the day, personally helping out the stragglers and wayward (including me), and for the uncanny ability to navigate riders in groups and individually without actually being personally present.

Additional thanks to Okey-san for remotely channeling Travis and leading us into the headwinds of Arakawa and straight to Shirokuma, and also Trad, Thomas, Travis, and Okey-san for detouring and waiting for me after my overenthusiasm on the ice climb. The company home was very much appreciated, believe me!
 
Thanks everyone

Great to see everyone! I had a terrific time. I'd never known that polar bear cheeks tasted so good.

Thanks Travis - your a veritable "GPS unit". Thanks also for pulling us (or was it must me?) the majority of the way back.

Mountain men - I'd echo Charles. Climbing up and down snow and ice on a mtn bike and mtn biking shoes is one thing... Its another to do that with carbon soles and tires that have cm of contact with the ground. Very glad to hear you made it home safe.

Arai-san - sorry we missed you on rt 15. We saw you going away from Kawagoe, but the traffic was thick.
 
Alpe Du Seiseki-Sakuragaoka

Looks like it was a fun time. I was looking forward to riding with the posse and having some of that bread. I also wanted to do some climbing, but it looks like the snow limited that somewhat.

As I told Philip on Saturday morning, I had to cancel because both of my sons were sick and needed a little "daddy time."

The call of the bike was simply too strong today, so I bartered with my (lovely) wife to get three hours in the saddle -- she, in turn, gets a shoulder massage tonight. I thought I would make up for the limited time by upping the intensity. I really wanted to do some climbing, but the mountains are simply too far away given my time frame. I got it in my head to do some intervals on a relatively nearby hill and recalled a nice 100m climb (distance aboout 800m) near Seiseki-Sakuragaoka that a friend once showed me.

So I rode out about 25km along the Tamagawa and found the base of the climb. I then proceeded to attack that bad boy 10 times, turning my legs into Jell-O. With very few cars and real live switchbacks, I could almost pretend that I was in Deepest Oku-Somewhere. About halfway through, a few other cyclists showed up and started doing the same thing, adding an air of competitiveness (from my perspective, anyway) to the proceedings. I was timing my climbs, so I was already in Olympics Mode. My goal was not to lose time between climbs, a lofty objective that could be accomplished only by resting sufficiently between "reps." During the first five runs, I was able to meet my goal, and actually improve my time on occasion. After that, I became inexorably slower. I won many of the battles, but lactic acid won the war.

I've put a link here showing the climb on Bikely. For those of you with easy access to the area, it may be a good place to get in some climbing training when time is tight (or it's snowing in the mountains :)).

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/100818

Cheers!

Deej
 
企画してくれたTravis、参加した皆さんありがとうございました。
寒かったけど、太陽の暖かさを感じた、美味しくて楽しいライドでした。

Okey-san,Arai-san,ナビゲート、そして向井さん、サポートありがとうございました。
そして、そして、Walter-san ご馳走様でした。次は温泉に行きましょう:D

Naomi-san,shinobu-chan
いつもありがとう!次はどこに行きましょうか??


最後に個人的には初のセンチュリーライドでした。
行きの向かい風、帰りの追い風ともに楽しみ?ました。
(両方 向かい風でなくてよっかった:warau:
 
Fantastic

What a great ride! On a stupidity level, it ranks with a memorable descent from O-toge in the dark (with no lights,) in the cold (with no warm clothing) and in intense hunger (with, of course, no food.)

It was really gorgeous up there, altenately eerie and hilarious. I will never forget the man walking through the ice on Karibazaka Pass while reading a newspaper.

As for that incredibly steep hill we went down, I can only be thankful it was not iced over. We absolutely must climb it as soon as the weather turns. I have already plotted it out on the map...

Thanks Travis, for ispiring the madness. And yes, I think we did go down three times as fast as we went up.
 
Full Report!

This one's a little longer than usual due the large number of riders, but here goes:

First of all, thank you to everyone who joined in the ride.
Secondly, I'm really glad that everybody had a great time, and made it back home OK!

I arrived at the Kuramaebashi-dori bridge at 7:15 (5 minutes late… Sorry guys!) to meet Phil, Thomas & Dave (TrufflesEater), and the 4 of us headed immediately north towards Iwabuchi-Suimon. Less than a kilometre from our first destination we spotted the Go-Go-Gals up ahead – Naomi, Nobu & Shinobu.
At Iwabuchi-Suimon, we met Kuni (I LUV TEXAS), before my long-time-riding-buddy, Simon turned up unexpectedly as well. He was shortly followed by Walter, and new TCC member, Kunio (fatty athlete).

Todor (Trad) and his friend were nowhere to be seen, so we headed out from there right on 8:00, up to the Rte.17 bridge where Philip and Christoph were waiting. Philip gave us the bad news that Deej couldn't join us, but we were still waiting for Charles (Chazzer) and Gerard (Ger234). While we waited for them, a guy from my LBS joined us as well; Mukai-san – an older guy with loads of experience. For the record, the two previous times I had been to Shirokuma-pan, it was Mukai-san who showed everyone the way.

After waiting an extra 5 minutes for Charles & Gerard, we decided to start up the river without them at about 8:20. As we headed up the river though, Todor & his friend, Thomas2 turned up – apparently they saw our group up ahead, turned up the gas and caught us in quick order.

Just as we were due to cross our first bridge (to the other side of the river), Simon told us he had to turn around and go to work, but Okey-san was waiting for us there at the bridge to take his place, and Charles had just caught the back of our group as well.
There was a small mix-up at the bridge, so Christoph & I had to go back and get Charles.
The three of us then raced back to where everyone else was waiting a few kilometres ahead with Arai-san.
We also noticed that we'd lost Kuni (I LUV TEXAS) along the way – Simon mailed me later and told me that he saw Kuni turn around and head back – I LUV TEXAS sent a post to say he was having knee problems.

The final group was almost complete for the remainder of the ride to Shirokuma:

Phil
Thomas
Dave (TrufflesEater)
Travis
Nobu
Naomi
Shinobu
Kunio (fatty athlete)
Walter
Philip
Christoph
Mukai-san
Todor
Thomas (Todor's friend)
Okey
Charles
Arai-san

*Simon – Had to leave early.
*Kuni (I LUV TEXAS) – Had to leave early.

With only one more person – Aaron (Pucci) – left to pick up, we headed towards our next bridge / meeting place.
I called Aaron along the way to tell him we'd be about 15-20 minutes later than expected. His reply was, "My tire is flat, and I have to go & find a bike-shop to get it fixed; I'll be a bit later than you guys!" – He can give you the long version!

That's where things got a little complicated…
I stayed alone to wait for Aaron, while the main group headed north to a small airfield 7km up river. After waiting long enough to be sure that everyone would be there, I tried calling a few people…. Finally, Todor answered his phone;
Aaron was still in Omiya (6km away). The rest of the bunch were 7km further up-river! That put Aaron & I a whole 13km behind… And he still hadn't fixed his tire yet!
I asked Todor to ask either "Okey-san" or "Mukai-san" to lead the way to Shirokuma-pan, and that Aaron & I would meet them there later.
I knew that Mukai-san was a regular at Shirokuma, and knew most of the roads around that area; and that Okey-san knows most of the mountain-roads out that way, but maybe not the local roads between the river & Shirokuma.
From not actually being there, all I can gather is that they finally managed to get everyone to the bread-shop – even if the pace was somewhat slow in some places.

Aaron & I had our own things to worry about!
Finally, at about 10:40, I spotted a familiar jersey coming in my direction rather swiftly – But by then, we were already a good 40 minutes behind the main group.
We decided to skip the river altogether, and take the most direct route – the main road through Kawagoe (Rte.15), and then Rte.30 – which probably saved us around 8km over the Okey/Mukai lead group.
We also made up a lot of time because it was only the two of us instead of the larger (16 people) group… (and because we were haulin' arse! As fast as our legs and the traffic would allow.) – Anyway, we made it to Shirokuma-pan only 5-10 minutes behind everyone else, at 12:25.

-------------------

As we ate our bread – that was the reason for being there in the first place – the map was passed around, and we discussed our respective courses home from there:
Group one – The Go-Go-Gals, along with four other guys would head towards Kawagoe:
Nobu, Shinobu, Naomi, Walter, Arai-san, Kunio-san, and Mukai-san.
Group two – The remaining ten of us headed for the hills:
Christoph, Philip, Aaron, Phil, Thomas, Todor, Dave, Okey, Travis and Charles.
*Note: Todor's friend, Thomas2 turned back just before the main group reached Shirokuma-pan.

The climb was steep enough to elicit a few choice comments – Most people said they would definitely like to try it again when it gets warmer!
But after only a few kilometres, it became snowed/iced over, and the 5 guys in front found themselves (literally) walking on thin ice – Christoph, Philip, Aaron, Phil & Thomas.
The remaining 5 of us took one look at it and said, "No way!"
After screaming at Thomas across a valley, he turned around & came back to where the sane people were, and the six of us started down the hill for the return journey.
We gave directions to Charles & Dave about how to at least get to Ome, and said goodbye to them on Rte.30. Then it was just the four us left:
Thomas, Travis, Todor, and Okey.

It was an after-thought really… Of the five guys who braved the snow and kept going, we only had Thomas back.
Philip, Christoph & Aaron were hell-bent on going home via Tamagawa…
But what about Phil? His car was parked near Arakawa – also, it was also his first time out that way, and he doesn't really know the roads too well (Neither do I, for that matter, but I was the one with the map;)).
Phil & I finally managed to speak on the phone, and after several calls back & forth, shouting road-numbers lefts & rights (there's a pun in there), we didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes before a very relieved-looking Phil joined us.

The (now) five of us sped down the river as fast as the wind would carry us!
We all knew the sun would be setting soon, and we needed to make as much headway as possible before it got dark.
But it was great! Really fast in many places with that tailwind.
We said goodbye to Okey just before Akabane, and at last we arrived back at Iwabuchi-Suimon at 17:10. The sun had already set, and the dusk sky was getting darker – It wouldn't be long before the unlit cycling-road became dangerous to ride on. We waved goodbye to Todor at Ogubashi-dori, and by the time Thomas, Phil & I reached Kuramaebashi-dori, visibility was almost gone.
I walked through the door with 183km on the clock a little after 6pm.

Everyone made it home, and all (so far) said they had a really good time!
Thanks again everyone! I really hope we can do it again when the weather gets warmer.

Rubber Down!
Travis

P.S. Congratulations to Nobu (my beautiful wife-to-be) on her first "Century Ride"! - 163km:happy1:
 
Thank you Travis . . .

I always look forward to your ride reports and am never disappointed. It was a memorable ride. My sincere thanks for organizing a great tour.

Cheers

Philip
 
Travis, thank's for organizing this tour!

It was a great pleasure to "follow" you guys and girls and see all of you - usually from behind :eek:
Thank's for waiting for me at every other traffic light :eek:

僕のボヂィーガード Arai-san, Yamamoto-san, Go-Go-Gals:
駅まで無事に届けてくれてありがとうございます:eek:

ワルター
 
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