It was my first time to climb Ootoge (means BIG mountain pass) as its a long way out, or at least its a long way back home. Also, the north side is closed due to many landslides and so is unrideable.
Leaving Otsuki station at 9.30am, we arrived at the start of Ootoge quickly, and this is also good practise for next week, ie no long warm up, just straight into the climb. The start is around 400m, the summit up in the clouds at 1560m. Its also very cold for the end of May, 13 degrees showing on a sign on route 20.
The climb is very gradual, steady 6-7% for the 15.9km climb. Its a quality road, used by many hikers to get to the start of their walks, but today the roads are extremely quiet.
I summit in 1hr 5min 9sec, a long climb indeed.
We get wet from the low cloud on the climb, but going up is hardwork so we are comfortably warm so far. But the descent is back to winter conditions. We both put are bike bags up the front of our jerseys for extra padding from the cold air, Steve has very lightweight disposable gloves for small protection but I suffer freezing hands until the very lowest part of the climb.
The roads are wet, and this sprays up and soaks our feet, this will be more uncomfortable for the rest of the ride so back at the convenience store near Otsuki station we get some new 350yen socks and buy the usual coffee, onigiri, royal jelly and sugary foods. Feels good to have dry feet again!So soon enough, we arrive at the start of mountain climb 2 for the day, Matsuhime toge (south). Another brute of a climb, 20.5km long, around 900m of vertical ascent though the first section has some significant drops so the total ascent will be greater. Need to check Steves GPS on this one. Anyway, its another long, long climb and great training. Today the lower slopes were quite stunning, the rice fields are filled with water and have recently been planted, the forests are a stunning shade of green.
After the rolling section, the road reaches a large dam and the road follows the eastern banks. To the west, the unpassable north approach to Ootoge tempts cyclocross adventurers and mountainbikers, maybe one day we will cycle past the "danger - bears" signs. It would make a great route, dropping down to the dam instead of all the way back to Otsuki.
Once past the dam, the climb really begins. Soon enough we head up into the clouds. Visibility drops to around 50m, but the effort of climbing keeps us warm in the cool damp air. Theres one 360 degree tunnel on this climb, its like the PS2 game Wipeout if you're descending.
After 1hr 6min 40 I reach the top, take a few photos of the fog and when Steve arrives we descend as safely as possible to Okutama lake, a reservoir and the source of the Tamagawa river. Steve spots a monkey by the roadside on the descent, but its gone by the time I arrive.We are glad to arrive at the ramen restaurant by the lake in short time. A usual resting place for weekend cyclists and motorbikers, today there are only 2 cold cyclists foolish enough to be out in the mountains in such poor weather. The friendly owner knows us well now, and she adds bread rolls, coffee sweets and tea to our order of mountain vegetable ramen, and puts the heater on by our table. Again, wet socks from the descent and with no shops in these parts, we take to roasting socks on the gas burner! Works a treat and soon toasty socks are back on our feet.
The original plan was to climb a 3rd mountain pass at this stage, but its just too cold and we've climbed enough so the ride around Okutamako and down to Oume will be enough for me. Spot another monkey near Okutama dam, this one is not so camera shy. Of course, when we reach Oume, Steve has had his second wind and continues on to ride home to north part of Tokyo. Why stop after a mere 110km ride?
Great hill climb training despite the weather, hope we get some sunshine next week, or we're going to be toasting socks somewhere in Kawaguchiko.
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