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Up for a squeeze, anyone? - BOOB ride!

WhiteGiant

Maximum Pace
Nov 4, 2006
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That was naughty, wasn't it? A "squeeze"?
I'm talking about doing the "BOOB ride" again.
This Saturday, September 1st.
Musashi-Itsukaichi station, at 9:00am (There's a fast train from Shinjuku at 7:44, that arrives at 8:48).

A few people mentioned the number of traffic-lights in the Itsukaichi town center, so we'll make the Official Start / Finish of the ride at the 7-11, about 2.5km from the station - This will shorten the total distance to about 85km for the round-trip.

The course itself is super simple: Ride straight up to Tomin-no-mori, keep going all the way up to Kazahari-toge, and descend to the lake. Cross the bridge at the lake, and on the far side of the T-junction, touch the wall, and come all the way back. That's it! When you get back to the 7-11, check your time (photograph your watch or meter as proof - or post it to STRAVA).

Faster riders can expect a time of around 3 hours, while those who pace themselves should be able to get back in around 4 hours. Average riders (and I'm including myself here) can expect 3:30:00, give or take.

Once you've logged your time at the 7-11, you can leisurely roll back to the station, where the faster riders will be waiting at the bakery there.
Assuming a 9:20am roll-out, and a little bit of lost time at the convenience-store, we should all be back at the station by around 13:30~14:00 at the absolute latest.

Any takers?
See you there! Travis

For those planning to come along but are not sure what to expect, please read the original write-up in the link above.
You will need to take any food & drink with you (although there are places to buy stuff in an emergency), and the pace will be "as-fast-as-you-can-go"!
No waiting at the top - This is a "Personal Time-Trial".
 
OK roger roger, from the 7 eleven on the hinohara side of itsukaichi it is,
unfort i will not be able to join on the 1st though I will be doing it on the 8th, riding from central tokyo and back should be ard 200km all told,
looking forward to seeing the bar set this weekend so i know what sort of squeeze will be needed,
i anticipate some smooth strokes (pedal strokes) on the first base (climb) before going down..to the lake.. touch the .. wall..and then to the second base (climb).. and back down again? .. all the way to the ... 7 eleven..
people who are more mature than I need not quote this post.
 
Two more

Hi Travis,

Been a long time!

Kimm and I will join you tomorrow for some triathlon training. This has been my "bread and butter" training ride for many years. And we will do a short brick run after the ride. Then maybe a "splash" in the river to cool down?

And in case you are not aware, it is best to ride in the FRONT carriage of the 7:44 Holiday Express train out of Shinjuku. The train splits at Haijima and only the front half goes to Musashi-Itsukaichi station. The front carriage is the one that points away from the main station buildlings. The train sits on the platform for about 10 minutes before it departs.

See you ashita.

Keren
 
Hi Travis,
And in case you are not aware, it is best to ride in the FRONT carriage of the 7:44 Holiday Express train out of Shinjuku. The train splits at Haijima and only the front half goes to Musashi-Itsukaichi station. The front carriage is the one that points away from the main station buildlings. The train sits on the platform for about 10 minutes before it departs.
See you ashita.
Keren

Thanks Keren,
I forgot to mention that!
I'll see you there then.
G'night! T
 
How wet can you get? - Ride report!

Well, that didn't go completely as expected. And the worst part is, I have no STRAVA data to back up the ride.

I caught the 7:22 train from Kanda, which pulled into Shinjuku just as the "Holiday-Kaisoku" train was pulling in across the platform - Perfect timing, perfect positioning. Keren and Kimm had just placed their bikes at the front, and cherry-picked the first three seats for all of us while I was still walking across the platform. Just over an hour later, at 8:48, we arrived at Musashi-Itsukaichi station.

After we'd assembled our bikes and put our bags in the coin-lockers, we made our way to the 7-11, 2.5km away, where we bought some last minute supplies and filled up our water-bottles. We were all set to go, and we rolled out (started the clock ticking) at 9:22.

There was almost no wind, as we made our way to the first turn-point (at Motojuku) and Keren jumped on the front, pulling us onward to where the official STRAVA (都民の森) hill-climb segment starts. We turned the corner there at exactly 9:34. When I first did the "BOOB" just over 2 weeks ago, I didn't have a Garmin device with which to monitor my times, so I had to go "old-school", and use my watch (taking pictures when necessary). My time for the 都民の森 segment back then was (according to my watch) 1:03:45. This time, I could feel that I was faster - I don't know if being a full 2kg lighter had anything to do with it - but I notice I was able to hold a higher cadence for longer periods of time, and I certainly felt much stronger than before, with a time of 1:00:50, I had cut nearly a full 3 minutes off in just over two weeks. YAY :D

Once again, as I got to the top, I decided to begin my nourishment intake with a banana - careful not to unpeel too much at a time, lest it break off again - which I finished before the descent started in earnest. The downhill also seemed a tiny bit faster than last week, as there weren't as many wet patches on the road, and noticeably fewer cars. Once I was down near the "Mori-no-furusato-mura" traffic-lights, still 2km from the turn-around point, the road flattened out a bit, and I was able to suck down a gel (there's a new lemon-flavored one called "AAaaaaa").Within a few hundred meters of the bridge, and turn-around point, the first few drops of rain started coming down. Despite this, I took the time to photograph my watch (yes, proof is required!) at 11:06, but I lost a bit of time trying to get it into focus, and then a long line of cars prevented me from crossing the road again - By the time I'd started rolling again, it was already 11:08. Just after I crossed the bridge, and was starting to make my way back up the hill, Kimm came barreling down the road in TT-mode - He couldn't have been much more than 2 minutes behind me. But then the rain really started coming down. About 2km later, maybe 5 minutes or so behind Kimm, Keren also came rolling down the hill, except he had to do it in a downpour.

7911779724_7feae0fcf0_z.jpg

HALF-WAY POINT!

The rain lasted nearly all the way to the top - I have a theory that if we'd all stayed put, the rain clouds would have moved over us and been gone fairly quickly. But the rain seemed to be moving in the same direction as we were, at about roughly the same speed - only letting off at about 2km from the summit (Kazahari-toge). But before that, it was some of the hardest rain I have ever ridden in, with huge drops smacking everywhere, and that's when my Garmin started to go funny - At first, the screen changed to some weird setup screen with tiny writing that I had never seen before, and it wouldn't respond to anything I touched. A few kilometers later, the whole thing just went dead. Anyway, I reached the top at exactly 11:57, making it 49 minutes for the lakeside climb - 2 minutes faster than last time.

The downhill from there was not much fun either - The rain had moved ahead of us and the entire road surface was saturated. Normally, the descent from Tomin-no-mori is nice and fast, but when the road is slick like that, desire to keep on living can really take the fun out of it. CAUTIOUSLY! was the word of the day, and it was wet like that nearly all the way down to the Kobu-tunnel turn-off. But then from there, the rain just picked up where it left off on the other side of the mountain - coming down in sheets all the way to Itsukaichi. This is usually where you can make up some extra time (if you've got anything left in your legs), but in rain like that you can go mad - Your brain keeps putting out these conflicting instructions: "Go as fast as you can!", "Don't go so fast that you won't be able to stop in time if something happens!", "Go as fast as you can!", "Don't go so fast that...."

With my Garmin out of commission, I had to stop at the 7-11 to take another picture of my watch (You know, proof and all that!) at 12:50, and lost another 2 minutes fiddling with plastic bags and wet hands... By the time I got back on my bike, Kimm was right on my tail, and came past me just as we were pulling into Musashi-Itsukaichi proper. And then guess what happened!!! That's right, the rain stopped, and the SUN CAME OUT!!! Are you fracking joking!?
Both Keren and Kimm, being triathletes, decided to go for a "brick-run" afterwards.

7911760606_ff65716654.jpg

OFFICIAL FINISH TIME!

ADDENDUM:
When I got home, I opened up the back of the Garmin, and went at it with my wife's hair-dryer. The first thing I noticed was the rubber seal was not tucked in place in the bottom left-hand corner - This is where the water had obviously come in. After it was dry, I managed to get 3/4 of the ride data off of it - But instead of a "boob", the STRAVA data looks more like a "mastectomy".

Anyway, my times are as follows:
Complete ride: Start [0km]- 9:22 0:00:00). Halfway [42.55km] - 11:06 (1:44:02). Finish [85km] - 12:50 (3:28:00).
Compared to my first time, 2-and-a-half weeks ago, I was 3-minutes faster up the Tomin-no-mori climb, and 2-minutes faster up the climb from the lake. But I lost a lot of time on the downhill, and on the final run-in to Musashi-Itsukaichi, so all up, I had roughly the same times for both rides.
 
travis, i love your ride reports, from boobs to mastectomies , bananas to brick runs, keep them coming. glad to see you back.
 
Did not realize you guys were doing the boob yesterday. I was at Tommin at about 11 am when the skys open up. Took shelter for about 1/2 hr, thinking about the poor souls w/o cover... Had a car hydroplane and lose control in front of me going downhill.... Amazing how much water can come down in such a short time... Glad you guys made it downhill safely.

Travis - if the dryer doesn't work, you might try putting the Garmin in a zipper bag with uncooked rice 24-48 hrs...
 
Travis,
Here's my strava data and you were obviously faster than me!
*you can minus more than 4minutes from my result. :)

#1. Boob ride - TT
http://app.strava.com/rides/20533942

#2. Brick Run 6k
http://app.strava.com/runs/20533904

See you soon then.

>> Pete,
I have a race just after two weeks, murakami triathlon, and sorry about the running away from your hard-core 160k bike ride! :p
*I can't ride more than 100~120km for the training purpose...

Kimm
 
Thanks Kimm!

I've just created the TCC Okutama BOOB segment!

>Samuelg: You'll be able to use this next week, if you decide to go.
 
Thanks for making this Travis.

Wow. I was under 3:30? :warau: Good to know that.
You must be 3:22 +/-
 
Maybe...

Thanks for making this Travis.

Wow. I was under 3:30? :warau: Good to know that.
You must be 3:22 +/-

On a good day, without rain, I can maybe hope for under 3:20. But the real goal will be to break 3 hours.
Maybe Clay, Mike, Deej, Alan or Serguei can do it.
 
All boobed out

Travis,

That was a hell of a BOOB ride on Saturday. Like I mentioned I have done that ride probably 50 times, but never without stopping at least a couple of times. Copped the rain with both barrels, on the descent to the lake and then all the way back to the station. Have ridden in heavy rain before, but the last section before the right turn at the traffic lights was beyond heavy! It bucketed down and there were solid sheets of water on the road. Once an on coming car passed me and the wave of water that it threw up damn near knocked me down. I was super careful on the manhole covers and white lines and crossing and just rolled back into the station, so I lost a lot of time. But I still got passed by those 3 guys in the black kit who seemed to have no fear.

And I didn't follow the rules with the timing; did the ride out and back from the station in 3:59. My legs were thrashed afterwards due to the 11/23 I had on the back. Not optimum gearing for a mountain ride, but great for strength training.

Will do it again soon on my road bike according to the rules.

And Kimm rocked the run we did afterwards.

Next time!

K
 
Good report, thanks Guys,
Looking at the strava segment there are many more people that have done this than i expected, most people i know either turn at the top or if they go over they usually go back another way such as ome or uenohara rather than just turning around.
a shame your garmin got waterlogged, hopefully it will sort itself out and come good.
I still plan to do this, this week, though will depend on some homefront scheduling.
 
ADDENDUM:
When I got home, I opened up the back of the Garmin, and went at it with my wife's hair-dryer. The first thing I noticed was the rubber seal was not tucked in place in the bottom left-hand corner - This is where the water had obviously come in. After it was dry, I managed to get 3/4 of the ride data off of it - But instead of a "boob", the STRAVA data looks more like a "mastectomy".

I had the same problem with my Edge500 :eek:uch: on my Hakone Sunday ride. Where can you buy the small torx screwdrivers here in Tokyo?
 
Akihabara

I had the same problem with my Edge500 :eek:uch: on my Hakone Sunday ride. Where can you buy the small torx screwdrivers here in Tokyo?

7919180852_84781723f6_b.jpg


I picked these up in Akihabara, but you should be able to find them at any specialty electronics store, or possibly even a well-stocked home-center / hardware store.
The shop is HERE!
 
or you can search online for ヘックスローブレン or ヘックスローブレンチセット. The size needed for the Garmin Edge 500 is the T5, according to this blog.
 
Assuming the weather won't be much different in the morning from what it is now, I will go for a 180 km version of the BOOB ride on Saturday, leaving Setagaya around 5:30. I'm intending to leave from Musashiitsukachi around 8:30 for Tomin no mori. Down at the lake I will probably head a bit to the right from the T-junction to gets water at the vending machines near the soba restaurants before making the U-turn back to up to Tomin no mori.

I hope to be back in Setagaya before 17:00. I have to go on a business trip on Sunday -- off the bike for 8 days straight :(
 
The weather turned out great. Now at Musashiitsukaichi and heading off for the mountains :)
 
Exactly!

There I was, after my fastest Tomin no Mori climb ever:

IMG_3606.JPG


and the road on to Okutama-ko was closed:

IMG_3607.JPG


because of this:

IMG_3608.JPG


so I took the Kobu tunnel over to the Uenohara side:

IMG_3611.JPG


...hit the scenic backroads...

IMG_3614.JPG


...and headed up Wada Toge (Mt Jimba):

IMG_3616.JPG


...on roads like this:

IMG_3619.JPG


I wasn't the only one mad enough to ride up there today:

IMG_3621.JPG


By the time I arrived back in Setagaya I felt a bit like some of these trees:

IMG_3624.JPG


I was riding for almost 11 hours, did 164.5 km and over 4000 m of climbing according to Strava (RideWithGPS here) and drank about 5 litres of water.
 
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