Super Hill Climb 2010 in Toyo Tires Turnpike

The weather gods smiled on the 1500 or so competitors today who took part in a new hill climb event a short distance from Tokyo. Yesterday typhoon #12 carried on its way out to sea, tomorrow and the next couple of days will see heavy rain so it was great to start the day in clear skies and without the sweltering temperatures of Japans hottest summer ever.

The course was on a toll road which normally takes motorists up from sea level in Odawara to the hills overlooking Lake Ashi and the tourist hotspot Hakone. So a unique experience, noone at all will have cycled this course, but the website for the race is very informative. 13km, 1000m ascent with an average gradient of 7.2% However the final 3km are rolling, the average gradient for 12th km is 0% so the first 10km was where the pain would be on this testing course.

Hill climbs by their very nature are normally difficult to get to, requiring either lengthy car journeys, or expensive train journeys into the mountains. Also, most events start early or at least require registration the day before, so you normally need to book a hotel somewhere adding to the expense. This race couldnt be more convenient for Tokyoites as you just get off the speedy Tokaido line at Hayakawa and the start is only a few hundred meters from the station. And as the organizers had posted our timing chip, jersey numbers and lots of other information we only had to drop off our bags to be carried to the top by 10am, and give our race numbers before the race itself.

After a rambling warm-up on the local roads, any of which are suitable as there's nothing flat around here, and the usual search for coffee/cola before we line up at the start. The race is a large field, and even within the main 8 categories of riders (age, sex, mtb) we are starting in groups of around 30 or so as we line up, then the next 30 one minute behind. This means that on the climb itself, really fast guys fly past but because they started several minutes behind you, they are traveling significantly faster and there's no chance of drafting these speedsters.

In general, the climb a tough test, but no crazy sections, I didn't even use my lowest 25 gear on this climb so the compact 34-23 was enough to power up the steepest sections today.  Lots of shade also, easy to escape the sun if need be. There were a number of high bridges on the climb with amazing views over the Izu peninsula and the ocean, which had been coned off on either side of the road presumably they thought we might somehow be distracted enough by the view to tumble over the 1.5m fence which was by the roadside anyway?

After the finish its a cool 15 degrees at the top, not worth hanging around too long so we descend to Lake Ashi then find some more amazing rindo routes to take us to one of the best descents around back to the train station at Odawara.

The website is one of the slickest for any sporting event Ive done so far in Japan, the results are up only a few hours after the race. Mike had the best time of 47 mins, 21st in age group and as he is very fast and has been training hard all summer, this is shows the quality of the field for this event was very high. I was happy with my effort, 54:08 but just making the top 100 in 94th place is not so impressive, there are some very fast riders out there today.

After a good race in great conditions on a testing course, the chances of getting a place in the ballot for the race next year will be much smaller - we'll need Kimm to find another new hillclimb for us!