Yabitsu Pass -> Yamanakako -> Odawara

Short sleeves and shorts for the first time this year, and so the first tan / sunburn line of the year as well. The weather is still fighting between winter and spring, sending fierce swirling winds down the roads which were at best unbalancing and in one place brought me to a halt. (But this was on an unsurfaced road, uphill and round a corner) The battle of the weather gods passed away last night, the fierce thunder, lightning and heavy rain has passed by now and today should be a good relaxing day after a great ride yesterday, another one tomorrow!

I met up with Jim at Hadano, he has been working at Tokai Daigaku the past few days so it made sense to start here. Yabitsu Touge starts here, and is a very popular climb with Japanese cyclists. A very consistent gradient around 7-8 % over 8-9km, with the steeper section at the beginning, its a very comfortable climb. In the past, I've been overtaken by single speed bikes on this climb, its a popular training ground for all types of rider.
Halfway up the climb hosts my favourite view of Kanagawa, however today the view was hazy and Mt Fuji wasn't visible from this point. On a clear day the view extends from Enoshima along the coast to Atami then the Izu peninsula, out at sea Oshima and smaller islands are clearly visible and Mount Fuji completes the vista to the right.

After riding the 413 Doshi road to Yamanakako, we met up with Tokyo Cycling club riders outside a convenience store. Funny how we spend the day cycling through great scenery, Mount Fuji and the lake and blue skies above but end up sitting in the 7-11 car park munching carbohydrates and coffee.

Its a short climb away from the lake, but then the descent down to Gotemba is so fast, so long and with the views of Mount Fuji to the right, its an amazing experience. You still get some folk in cars who assume they have the right to overtake us, even though theres traffic in front of us and we're all going along at 70kph. There is always a lot of traffic on this road, but if you're going as fast or faster then its not so noticeable.

Descending close to Hakone, sulphurous fumes fill the air as we fly by, descending after the final major climb of the day from the Hakone tunnel, its 850m and we're going down to the sea from here. Alan takes us off to the left from the main Hakone road, and carrying our bikes over the "road closure" barriers is a great feeling as we know its traffic free from here virtually to Odawara train station.