What's new

Ride VeloViewer tiling in Japan

Looks like this is the solution to getting those pesky tiles out in the middle of a lake. With this thing, @Half-Fast Mike might just be tempted to conquer the Pacific Ocean.

 
Looks like this is the solution to getting those pesky tiles out in the middle of a lake. With this thing, @Half-Fast Mike might just be tempted to conquer the Pacific Ocean.

Yes I've seen that before. It's preposterously overpriced, but tempting nonetheless.
 
Contemplating this hike-a-bike for Saturday. Tile-a-palooza. Probably some serious hiking involved. Interested party or parties, let me know. Start time will likely be 8:00-ish at route start point.

 
Before I rode the 360+ km Flèche ride from Toyohashi/Aichi to Yamato/Kanagawa on the first April weekend, I visited Cape Irago (Iragomisaki) on the Atsumi peninsula in the southern part of Aichi prefecture with my son and my wife (they drove the car back to Tokyo and I cycled back). We hiked to the Cape Irago lighthouse and I made a point of recording the hike to pick up a tile or two that I might not get on the bike ride the next day which also passed near there.

I used the Strava app on one of my phones, but it got into a weird state and I had to restart the phone. After that I restarted the recording, but it only got a fraction of the hike and missed one of the tiles we had walked in. Bummer!

Last Sunday I went for a hike in Hinohara with my wife and again used Strava on the same phone. This time it detected the unfinished recording from earlier this month and resumed it. So I ended up with one event of 400 km or so walked in half and hour!

At home I checked the data and then trimmed the event to only include the Aichi portion (i.e. the part two weeks ago) and deleted the earlier activity. I was pleased to see that this gave me the tile the restarted recording had missed. Yeah!

I'm not really going after any tiles for my Max Square these past months. Eventually I will, but for now I have other priorities. There are so many places I want to go back to that won't do anything for my Max Square, but so be it.
 
Before I rode the 360+ km Flèche ride from Toyohashi/Aichi to Yamato/Kanagawa on the first April weekend, I visited Cape Irago (Iragomisaki) on the Atsumi peninsula in the southern part of Aichi prefecture with my son and my wife (they drove the car back to Tokyo and I cycled back). We hiked to the Cape Irago lighthouse and I made a point of recording the hike to pick up a tile or two that I might not get on the bike ride the next day which also passed near there.

I used the Strava app on one of my phones, but it got into a weird state and I had to restart the phone. After that I restarted the recording, but it only got a fraction of the hike and missed one of the tiles we had walked in. Bummer!

Last Sunday I went for a hike in Hinohara with my wife and again used Strava on the same phone. This time it detected the unfinished recording from earlier this month and resumed it. So I ended up with one event of 400 km or so walked in half and hour!

At home I checked the data and then trimmed the event to only include the Aichi portion (i.e. the part two weeks ago) and deleted the earlier activity. I was pleased to see that this gave me the tile the restarted recording had missed. Yeah!

I'm not really going after any tiles for my Max Square these past months. Eventually I will, but for now I have other priorities. There are so many places I want to go back to that won't do anything for my Max Square, but so be it.
Bummer. The glutton in me was kinda hoping you might have the secret formula to burning off 20,000 calories in under an hour...
 
Bummer. The glutton in me was kinda hoping you might have the secret formula to burning off 20,000 calories in under an hour...
l need to do that, breakfast this morning

apple pie
coffee
banana

maybe 700 calories lol
 
At home I checked the data and then trimmed the event to only include the Aichi portion (i.e. the part two weeks ago) and deleted the earlier activity. I was pleased to see that this gave me the tile the restarted recording had missed. Yeah!

I'm not really going after any tiles for my Max Square these past months. Eventually I will, but for now I have other priorities. There are so many places I want to go back to that won't do anything for my Max Square, but so be it.
I saw that on Strava and wondered how that happened. Glad you got the tile after all.

I also haven't worked on the max square for a while. Trying to increase my climbing skill by doing some actual training and lowering my weight a bit (needed after so much at-home time due to COVID). But, in the immortal words of the Terminator, "I'll be back."
 
Yesterday, did my first hike-a-bike of the year. It was more than I bargained for.

Beautiful views of Fuji on the train down to my route start point.

IMG_1797.jpeg

Things started fine, with a nice climb on 5% to 12% grades on good pavement. No cars! Saw only one hiker. Got to the start of the hike after discovering that Strava had routed me on trails that didn't exist. Finally found the trailhead I needed and had to carry the bike for about half a kilometer to position it on the road I would take after the hike. Not fun, but doable. So, FYI...the red X marks the place there should be a trail but isn't. The Start indicates the real trailhead.



Screen Shot 2021-04-25 at 8.18.24.png IMG_1798.jpeg

So, the bike is in position and I set off on the hike. I realized I could get my tile if I went to the falls and it looked to be a shorter route anyway, So I followed the signs to the falls. The trail was easy and well maintained. No difficult sections, just a bit of climbing. The falls weren't 'falling' due to a lack of water. Not impressive yesterday, but no doubt beautiful if there is some water. Some nice views along the way.

IMG_1811.jpegIMG_1808.jpegIMG_1805.jpegIMG_1816.jpegIMG_1815.jpeg
Tile achieved, I headed back down to my 'camouflaged' bike and headed out on what was a gravel road. The gravel was loose and sometimes deep so getting traction on the steeper inclines was difficult. Wish I had some 650b knobby tires.

Now things got interesting. Strava route builder lied to me again. A short section of trail that I needed to connect two roads was missing. Just not there. This 'necessitated' heading down the mountain, through the forest, on steep grade, with my bike. I figured, "How hard could it be? It's only about 300m."


Screen Shot 2021-04-25 at 7.55.26.png

About an hour later, after hacking and whacking my way through the jungle, I finally found a track (some kind of rough logging road) but it took me to a different descent than I had planned. At that point, I didn't care. I just needed to escape these mountains and get back before dark. So, down I went. Nothing was rideable for a long way.

IMG_1818.jpeg

Eventually, the logging road led to an actual road. It was a nice descent from here on out, with lots and lots of beautiful tea farms. Never seen so many. Soon I was back in civilization with a bit of a roller-coaster ride back to the station.

Much longer day than anticipated. Lots more hiking and gravel than expected. And from now on, I won't trust Strava to route me on anything less than a full blown road.
 
full blown.road, .sounds familiar
 
Today's plan was to finish up the tiles up above Numazu. Mission accomplished.
Screen Shot 2021-05-03 at 20.27.20.png
Best part of the ride was lunch on the beach, the ride up the mountain out of Numazu and the sights of Fuji. Gravel a-plenty on the upper part of the mountain. Still haven't mastered riding up more than a 10% grade on loose gravel. Guessing I need some knobby tires and more than today's 30m width. Good reason to buy a new bike?
IMG_1844.jpegIMG_1845.jpegIMG_1846.jpegIMG_1847.jpegIMG_1849.jpegIMG_1850.jpegIMG_1851.jpegIMG_1855.jpeg
Once I was down the mountain, I had a long climb on 24 then 469. Not recommended.

Oh... and new logging game entry.

IMG_1856.jpeg

What do I win?
 
Last edited:
Got an early start in order to avoid traffic in the tunnels at Okutama. Arrived at the station and on my way by 8:30.

The trail along the Ushiroyama river (starting at the 17km mark) was surprisingly nice double track with relatively solid gravel/dirt. Beautiful scenery. The grade was not so steep. I rode on Schwalbe 700x30 with knobby tires, and they worked well. Probably could have gone with Gatorskins, but the knobbies were handy in some spots. Made good time. Has me thinking that this would make a good tiling expedition, riding up to the Kumotori Sanjo then hiking the peaks around there.

After collecting the tile I needed, I doubled back on 411 and headed up 139 towards Kosuge. It was a beautiful day and there was little traffic. After Kosuge, I took 508 up along the Kosuge river. Although there is a 2km gravel section, it is easily rideable. Having my Schwalbe 700x30 made this section easy. The rest is very nice, new-ish, cement road, smooth and easy to climb. I had hoped that maybe I could hike to a tile I needed southeast of the 41.5km mark, but the ravine was steep, no trails, and it would have meant some significant scrambling. So if I ever do get these tiles it will have to be from another approach.

Nice descent back down to 411, and a quick return to Okutama station. More traffic at that time so the tunnels and traffic made the descent less enjoyable. Otherwise, with the scenery and tile collection (max square 33x33), the day was great.

IMG_1861.jpegIMG_1862.jpegIMG_1865.jpegIMG_1873.jpegIMG_1874.jpegIMG_1876.jpegIMG_1877.jpegIMG_1878.jpeg
 
Otherwise, with the scenery and tile collection (max square 33x33), the day was great.
Oh, Nooooooo...

I see some hiking between Okutama and Chichibu coming up in my future.

(Congratulations! Well done, @Chuck!) :)
 
I had hoped that maybe I could hike to a tile I needed southeast of the 41.5km mark, but the ravine was steep, no trails, and it would have meant some significant scrambling.
Yeah - it's too bad that the TEPCO gates that would allow an easy ride to those two lonely tiles are so comprehensively closed.

1620650606829.png
 
I had hoped that maybe I could hike to a tile I needed southeast of the 41.5km mark, but the ravine was steep, no trails, and it would have meant some significant scrambling. So if I ever do get these tiles it will have to be from another approach.
A possible approach may be from the west, Daibosatsu Lake / Rt218 and then follow east along the ridge that runs to the south of the valley you explored. The Veloviewer map shows hiking trails on those ridges connecting all the way to Daibosatsu.
 
A possible approach may be from the west, Daibosatsu Lake / Rt218 and then follow east along the ridge that runs to the south of the valley you explored. The Veloviewer map shows hiking trails on those ridges connecting all the way to Daibosatsu.
I think the closer approach is a hiking trail out of Kosuge. It will have to wait though. Bigger fish to fry.
 
I think the closer approach is a hiking trail out of Kosuge. It will have to wait though. Bigger fish to fry.
Kosuge is closer to us of course, but the Daibosatsu area may get your hike started at a higher elevation. Just saying...
 
Kosuge is closer to us of course, but the Daibosatsu area may get your hike started at a higher elevation. Just saying...
Got to thinking you might be right on this, so I did some plotting to see which would be better. According to the Strava routebuilder, coming at the tile from 218 = 995m climbing (there and back) over 13.85km. The eastern approach from Kosuge is 732m round trip at 8.74km. Either way, it looks like it will be hard on my poor old knees. Not sure if I'll get to them this lifetime.
 
Back
Top Bottom