What's new

Official Ride Tour De West Side with the YCC 25 July 2009

Me too!

参加します。

皆様、暑中お見舞い申し上げます!

山の登り方忘れているかも???

:bike::bike::bike:

宜しくお願いします。

N
 
Here's the latest update for TCC (including P-E and "crossover" members): :D

Alan (AlanW)
Arai-san (araim1)
Charles (Chazzer)
Danny (danny)
David (david.anderson)
Imai-san (+ friend)
James (FarEast)
Knockonmask
Lee (Wolfman)
Michael (m o b)
Naomi-san
Nobu-san (nobu☆)
Okey-san (okey(^9^))
Philip
Sergey (kpykc)
Sora-san
Steve (SteveT)
Thomas
Todor (trad)
TOM
Travis (YellowGiant)
 
Hi all,

I am very happy to see many members will join tommorrow.:D

It will rain sometimes tommorrow, please keep safty ride and also keep Japanese law (not to ride in too much speed, not to ride with alchohole etc..) to avoid some trouble.

See you tommorrow.


Sora
 
Thanks

Thanks guys, was a really nice and exhausting ride yesterday up to Kazahari and beyond. The weather was much better than expected and the number of riders who came to the start was also much, much higher than I thought.

Actually it was so large a group that I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to beat up some of the local bosozoku gangs together.

I hope we will repeat this some day. mob

The Positivo Espresso report on the event is here :

http://positivo-espresso.blogspot.com/2009/07/tour-de-west.html
 
Great Ride

Really enjoyed yesterday's ride with TCC, Positivo Esspresso and YCC. It was nice to meet some new faces and catch up with my regular riding partners. This was my first TCC ride for quite a while after being out of Japan for a few weeks. It also ranks as the largest group ride I've been on in Japan!

By the time Naomi-san and I arrived at Musashi-Itsukaichi, the whole frontage of the station (and the adjacent bakery/coffee shop) was already obscured by large groups of riders and bikes. Shortly after 9am, it looked like we had all the riders together and even managed to herd everyone together for a group photo :D
The ascent of Tomin no Mori was hot and sweaty, so by the time I reached the car-park just before the top, I made straight for the vending machine and guzzled half a litre of sports drink in a few seconds, then bought another one to refill my empty bottle.
Riders started rolling in to this first rest sop after a few minutes, with Thomas in his bright orange P-E team strip leading the way.
From this rest stop it was a couple more km to the summit, and we were lucky because the road surface on the downhill had dried out completely, giving us a nice fast run down to the ramen shop at Okutama.
Some of the YCC crew were already enjoying drinks when we arrived. One by one the riders started to arrive, except MOB who took off up the hill without even stopping. We sent Philip after him! Once we had a decent sized group together, we ordered lunch and waited for everyone to regroup.
After lunch, some riders were keen to do more: Philip, Tom and MOB headed out over a few more passes, while about 15 of us decided to do a loop to the west, climbing Tsurutoge and Sengentoge, and the gourmands headed directly down route 411 to the restaurant and brewery. As we set off, nobody could find Sergey, but we reasoned that his bike was gone so he must have gone ahead. We rolled up route 139 and soon Steve called out that he "knew a short cut". Despite the ominous feelings this phrase always brings, Steve did indeed know a short cut and although it was a little bit steeper, it linked up with our chosen route perfectly :) Back on route 18, the gradient increased sharply and James (FarEast) cursed his choice of an 11-23 cassette :warau:
We regrouped at Tsurutoge summit and sought shade. Once we had everyone, we began a superb descent, with another of Steve's excellent short cuts giving us nice views off the should of the mountain.
One more climb to go, which was the steady, but fairly steep, drag up to Kobu Tunnel, which itself was a welcome sight since it cuts a couple of hundred metres of vertical elevation from the pass. From there, we had a fantastic high speed run back to the 7-11 near Itsukaichi station.

Thanks to everyone that came, Eric of YCC for getting the various groups out on the same day, Steve for the short cuts, and the numberous vending machines for keeping me (somewhat) hydrated. A great day.

Route is here (actual distance was 100km, MapMyRide always cuts a bit off :()
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/japan/tokyo/166124855934974802
 
Many thanks to every one at the TCC, YCC and PE for a great days riding.

It's been a while since I have done anything like this since my knee surgery and although I was willing to sell my bike at the top of Tsurutoge for the price of a taxi ride home I woke up this morning and span out another 30km to get the muscles working again.

I indeed did make a huge mistake with my rear cassette and I have a feeling Philip, Tom, Chazzer and Keren had a good giggle after assuring me at lunch on Friday that I'd be ok with that selection! :D

Really loooking forward to the next TCC ride or any others that are being organised, one thing yesterday taught me was that I need to get some more mountain training in!

All in all an amazing days riding and looking back its hard to say what was more enjoyable, the ride up or the ride down...... As many thanks to MOB for meeting up at Nakayama let me know if you need a riding buddy as Im more than willing to dash myself on those mountain passes again!
 
Many thanks to Eric for arranging the Tour de Westside 2009 and YCC, TCC and PE for backing the ride. It was nice to meet so many new faces and catch up with some old friends.

Thanks to Alan and MOB for interesting ride reports. James we did not mean to mislead you but thought you were riding a compact. Charles thanks for the ride on your beautiful new steel Anchor.

Cheers,

Philip
 
Philip...... not to worry ( I do beleive I am riding on a compact :D) ...it was a learning experience and I will switch out the rear cassette for something that will give me a few more to select from on the way up next time!
 
Thanks Again!

What a great day of riding in the mountains and what a group of riders we had for the day I just wanted to thanks for such a great turn out I think it was the most we have ever had do the the tour. As was mentioned before maybe we can plan one more event before years end.

Eric
 
Thanks to Eric and all. I had a most memorable ride and enjoyed meeting many of my cycling buddies again after quite a while. Looking forward to the cooler Autumn months to come!
 
It was a great ride last Saturday, with definitely more climbing than anticipated.

Eric, thanks for organising this joint event of YCC, P-E and TCC. Thanks also to everyone who took part. Lots of faces we haven't seen in a while. I guess that was the largest group of riders we have ever assembled.

What a great day of riding in the mountains and what a group of riders we had for the day I just wanted to thanks for such a great turn out I think it was the most we have ever had do the the tour. As was mentioned before maybe we can plan one more event before years end.

I do look forward to another "mass climb"! :)

Thanks for this one, Alan:



And pssst, the P-E jerseys are as soaky as the TCC outfit, but to quote Michael: they attract more love-hungry bugs. :D

PS: TCC points have already been allocated to all participants (whose names I am aware of).
 
Just a quick note of thanks to Eric for organising the whole day. I greatly enjoyed both the ride and meeting new and old faces.

Aside from the climbing, it was a great opportunity to practice drafting skills amongst so many riders; and I really enjoyed heading back towards Itsukaichi in a pretty fast train.

It seems that YCC are in the hills practically every weekend - I really think it would be great to do similar joint ventures more frequently.

Lee

P.S. Apologies for having to dart off early and not having a beer at the 7-11, did manage to get into town in a not too bad time, though the nightclub I could have done without really...
 
Back
Top Bottom