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Yamanakako mid-week training run

joewein

Maximum Pace
Oct 25, 2011
3,532
3,693
Tomorrow (Wed) in the early morning I'll be heading up to Yamanakako near Fuji on R413 and back via Fujiyoshida / R35 / Takao-san on a training run for my 300 km brevet that's now 4 weeks away. My training route is 223 km with 2300 m of climbing with a goal of about 14 hours.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1093145
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/84275861

On both my previous training rides (227 and 200 km) involving a shortened version of the 300 km brevet route, I ended up not taking R35 and Takao because it was getting late. This time coming back via R35 (which I've never taken) and going over Takao (which I've done once before) is the main objective of this ride. I'm taking R413 out towards Fuji because it's a long steady climb (60 km / 1000 m = about half the total gain).

I'll be going from Setagaya along Tamagawa to Tama and Machida (the brevet starting point and goal) and back the same way. I'll pass by Welcia in Machida, near the 32 km mark and not coincidentally across the street from a bike shop, around 07:00 and aim to be back there around 17:00. I'm planning to leave my home in Setagaya at 05:00 and getting back around 19:00.

It's going to be a slow ride (20-23 km/h in flat sections, less while climbing) but I'll try to keep moving as much as possible. I don't really expect anyone to join me at this short notice mid-week and this combination of distance and (lack of) speed, but I'm posting it anyway :)
 
I'm exhausted: I rode 235 km in 16 hours, with 4,178 m of climbing according to Strava.

First I rode up to Yamanakako at the foot of Mt Fuji, from sea level to over 1100 m. R413 wasn't a steady climb as I had thought. In fact once I got as high as 450 m, it then went steeply downhill again for a couple of km which I then had to climb back up again. The last couple of km before the tunnel at the pass were the steepest, or at least I suffered the most there. But the scenery is great. The whole climb reminded me a bit of Tomin no Mori. Beautiful cherry blossoms everywhere.

A latte at a McDonalds and a five minute nap while sitting there helped restore me. The long coast downhill from Fujiyoshida to Tsuru is always fun.

The climb from Tsuru to R35 wasn't as bad as I had thought. The area around R35 is beautiful and I could do a lot of fast downhill riding, putting into practice what I had learnt from the recent thread about descending and from Sheldon Brown's article on braking. Descending on R35 eastbound was fun, fun, fun!

Due to a navigation error at the end of that part I ended up in Uenohara instead of Sagamiko and had to use R20. Now I understand AlanW's advice to use an alternate route during our Tomin no Mori ride. I had an unpleasant experience where a van passed me uphill on an S-bend and got surprised by a huge truck coming down at the same time. He must have jerked the handle around, because suddenly the van jumped in front of me at what seemed like a 45 degree angle. I am surprized he didn't swerve off the road or hit me :(

I climbed Takao as planned, which even though it was the last climb (if we ignore R41 near Tamagawa) was not terribly hard. Afterwards I made another navigation mistake and deviated from the brevet route by doing a fast run through the newly opened tunnel near Takao instead of the older road.

I had left home at 05:20. I returned at 21:20. About 14 out of 16 hours was moving time. I ate 7 bananas, 6 raisin bread rolls, 360g of yoghurt, a slice of pizza, several other pieces of bread and drank about 4 litres of water, orange juice, cocoa, yoghurt drink and sports drink.

It was a fun day. I would not have made the time limit for the brevet, as my average overall speed ended up below 15 km/h. My goal for the 300 km brevet is to complete it, within the 20 h time limit or outside.
 
About 70 km out of Tokyo on R413. How far are we still from the top, before the descent to Yamanakako on the other side? Let's check the map:

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Hmmm:
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This finally explains my difficulties in maintaining a steady pace on long rides! :D
 
Cherubim, the bike shop (frame builder) in Machida where the brevet will start:
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Sakura on route 413:
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More sakura:
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I always want to see the remaining distance:
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On route 413:

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The end of The Longest Climb: It's all downhill from here... NOT!

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The shores of Lake Yamanaka:

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The long descent from Fujiyoshida to Tsuru starts here:

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I cycled 235 km and all I saw of Fuji is this (its foot):

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Almost home - at the top of the Mt Takao pass:

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The humble Bike Friday Pocket Rocket:

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and its crazy rider:

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Great ride Joe, and I'm glad you made it home safely.

I ate 7 bananas, 6 raisin bread rolls, 360g of yoghurt, a slice of pizza, several other pieces of bread and drank about 4 litres of water, orange juice, cocoa, yoghurt drink and sports drink.
Seems to me these still wouldn't be enough ... Haven't you lost weight? :eek:

Eugen
 
Oh yes, I have - 10 kg in a year, but that's part of the plan ;)

I figure, I can always eat more during the rest of the week. Eating during the ride is for maintaining energy level, to replace depleted carbohydrates. The fat that has been burnt does not need to be replaced immediately.

800 kcal from bananas, 400 kcal from raisin bread, 250 kcal each from a chocolate milk and strawberry milk, etc. Maybe I took in 3000 kcal counting it all, plus breakfast and dinner. I probably didn't have much of a deficit.

What I find though is that after long hikes and rides the body seems to use a lot of food during the recovery period, when it rebuilds the strained muscles. That's when I see the weight drop.
 
Fantastic Joe, this is very impressive!

Man I want to go on one of these rides with you!
 
Hi Joe. I am new in Japan and on this site. Looking for fellow bikers to go for rides. Started at Half Fast but need faster and longer. Have some climbing (French Alpes) experience. The TCC site leaves me puzzled about who is riding when. Any suggestion, advise? Thanks, Rudolf
 
Hi Rudolf, welcome to TCC!

Rides are often posted here in Unofficial Tours & Short Runs, but a lot of us also just ride on our own.

Another good way of finding suitable rides is to join Strava, follow some TCC people, see what rides they log and who else they follow and what rides those people do. That gives you an idea how far people go, how fast and what amount of climbing, either to find people whose style suits you or to try their routes on your own.

Personally, I don't really go much faster than Half-Fast (I love their rides!), but keep shorter breaks and go for more hours with longer distances. I've done 9 rides of 90+ km since December, including three of 200+ km and at least 14 hours.

There are some really fast people here, like AlanW, FarEast, Malte (to name but a few), but 30+ km/h on a flat road is not for me, even while drafting. I'll do 28 on a short ride, 25 on a longer one when I'm fresh and 20 when I get tired, cruising mostly at around 23. On my last three long rides (all included climbs to over 1100 m of altitude, starting from Tokyo), my total moving average came to between 17-19 km/h.

I don't go out there to set speed records, but to see the country, smell the trees and the ocean, view the mountains and bring back some pictures. Why settle for 3-6 hours when I can enjoy it the whole day? :)
 
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