Matsuyama-Shimanami Kaido

The ferry time from Beppu to Matsuyama gets in at the very inconvenient time of 10:20pm. Most people are using the night service to sail to Osaka, but instead I am left with trying to find a suitable camping spot close to the port as the ferry terminal is closing for the night. In the end I spend the night on the cold carpark of temple #52! Of course the inflatable mat helps, but in general this was one of the coldest nights, its really not warmed up much in the past two weeks.
Be warned that camping near a temple means that at 5am there will be lots of bells, visitors and general noise to wake you up if you're not already awake out of discomfort.

So an early start to the day, which is perfect for seeing Matsuyama castle with only the early morning joggers. Another stunning castle set amidst the cherry blossom.

Still early in the day, so I make a stop at Dogo onsen. Its nice to spend some time in this city. When I cycled around the 88 temples of Shikoku I didn't stop at the castle or onsen, but that was mainly due to the huge queues of over an hour to get into the baths as it was golden week.
I broke another spoke in the rear wheel overnight, so I find another super helpful bike mechanic at Umezawa, its here if you need a bike shop in Matsuyama.

One more trip to Ishiteji (temple #51), this is one of the more impressive and memorable temples on the meguri.
I meet a French ohenro san in the grounds, he's walked the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage before, there seems to be a link between the two walks.

Matsuyama is probably my favourite town in Shikoku, but its soon time to move on and this time I take the hilly option along 317 instead of the coastal route over to Imabari. Lakes, cherry blossom and good climbing make this much more interesting than another flat ride along the coast. As I approach the tunnel at the top of the climb, I catch another cyclist on a Trek 7.3fx, except his is blue. We say hello and I tell hime where I'm going, then he takes off while I set up my lights for the tunnel.  A long long descent, and my weight eventually pays off as I catch and pass him once more. At a junction I stop and ponder the map and he stops to tell me the route once more. I was expecting to camp near the same onsen by the michi no eki, several km south of Imabari. But this time, he insists I stay at his house in Imabari, and its not such a difficult decision after sleeping on the carpark last night.
His wife prepares the meal while we go by car to the same onsen I visited 2 years ago, it is a decent place to visit in this area.
We are later joined by his son and grandchildren, neighbours for a generous feast of sashimi, great salad and much sake and shochu meal.  Great opportunity to use my yakusugi sake cups and flask for the first time! I never quite worked out if this meal was already planned or the gathering was for my benefit, but it was a fun night.
Ueoka san is also a cycling henro. His job is sailing the ferry from Hiroshima to Matsuyama, and in summer he cycles to the ferry port. 

In general, his hospitality sums up the spirit of the people in Kyushu and Shikoku who I met along the way. So many people were waving, offering me fruit on the route or schoolgirls trying to take their photo with me made it all seem very special and a world away even from Tokyo.

The next morning after breakfast Ueoka san rode out to the start of the Shimanamikaido where we said our final sayonaras. I really appreciate his "O-settai" (gift for ohenro san), I must remember to send a new years card to the family this year.

So the final stage of my tour was about to start, the Shimanami kaido (Island wave route) Its a series of 6 islands connected by impressive bridges connecting Shikoku to the mainland of Honshu. Its an interesting route, very popular with cyclists as theres over 60km of cyclepath which is very unusual for Japan and of course its all pretty scenic. The ride itself is not so tough, and the incredibly gentle gradients of the bridges make it not so exciting as you don't go so fast on the descents and the climbs are almost too tediously gentle. At times I was very tempted to take the shorter, steeper paths for mopeds, but avoided them only as I might end up on a completely different track.
As the km markers counted down to virtually zero, I realised that the final section of water to cross was not going to be by bridge, but by ferry! Almost felt robbed here, as cycling is not allowed on the final (or first) bridge.


Its a nice way to get to or from Shikoku, so as part of a long tour its definitely an interesting day on the bike, but probably not worth going out there just to do the ride. But that all depends on where you're coming from, and where you're going to.

Takachiho-Aso-Yamanami Highway

After the castle, the next biggest site in Kumamoto is Suzenji park. Its early morning when I pass by and I attempt to ride towards the gates, but the park keepers prevent me getting much further on the bike. I dont want to spend any time walking around here, the real hills are waiting and will be much more rewarding. Im sure its nice place to visit if you're in town.
First convenience store stop of the day when I meet the 445, as its unlikely to find any shops after this point. A group of Sunday morning cyclists is gathered, all buying their calorie mate energy bars, energy gels, pokari sweat drinks and other snacks ready to burn the calories. I tell them Im off to Takachiho, and they all seem amazed - tough route, many mountain passes, long distance. I'm glad I didn't pay too much attention to them, it was a really nice route!
Just beyond the junction of 445 and 218, theres a local legend called the Tsūjun-kyō Bridge. From pictures it seems to be an aqueduct that leaks a massive fountain of water from its central point. But it only does this once a day, at midday for 10 mins. Nice to get a short rest here, but no need to wait another 1.5hr to see the leaking bridge. Still seemed like the crowds were gathering, at least I could get ahead of them and have a quiet road for the next hour or so.

Its a nice ride to Takachiho, and the first info place at a michi-no-eki I pick up a map of the area. I really hate comic maps, not to scale, and this map proved to be the most maddening of all comic maps. Useful info I discovered was that if I were to go to the campsite, they would charge me ¥2500, so no thanks. But bad news was the main onsen in town is closed and under repair, so that will limit the potential for camping in the area.
Takachiho is famous for its deep gorge, and I soon find my heavy bike and luggage being sucked down an ever steepening valley down to the narrow river below which carved through this section of rock. Dont be fooled by the boat trip, its ¥1500 per person and you dont get to paddle up the gorge - just paddle around a pool and get slightly close to the waterfall and main gorge area.

It was after seeing the gorge that I really got annoyed with the comic map. The problem was there seemed to be a loop of roads all very close to each other, but in reality they were all following different contours across the valley and each was around 50m in elevation between them. This made for very frustrating progress, especially when some tourist spots which were only 50m apart had the same space on the map for places up to 6km away. After eventually finding the youth hostel, which turned out to be so far from the town center and at the bottom of the valley, I'd had enough and pedalled out of town on onwards towards Aso.

So that night I slept somewhere along the 325, I found a nice path to the back of a grove of trees with a decent view of the setting sun. No view of Aso san yet, as I had hoped. I found a large cage, must have been a trap for a large animal such as tanuki but nothing went clank in the night.
That extra distance along 325 set me up for a great day up to Aso san, the volcano which sits inside the worlds biggest caldera. So that naturally means you'll get 3 big climbs doing this ride. Up and down into the caldera, up and down Aso san itself, then up and down to exit the caldera, that is unless you take the west exit which appears to be a spot where the giant caldera wall was washed away.
Climbing route 111 is one of the best roads on the tour. Almost zero traffic, gentle 4-5% gradient and amazing views on a day like today. I'm lucky with the wind direction again, as the sulphuric gas is blowing away from the viewing platforms and so the summit is open. I have visited Aso san many years ago by train and bus, but that day the clouds were down, raining and the ropeway was closed so this day was much more memorable.
I stopped at the vistors carpark and took the ropeway to the summit, only to look down on a perfectly decent road winding its way to the top! Yes, its perfectly fine to cycle up this road as well, so save yourself some yen and cycle up this section or you'll be stuck in an omiyagi shop waiting for the next lift up or down!
Impressive crater, but worrying being so close to another active volcano and the concrete shelters which dotted around the visiting area looked very feeble, I really wouldnt want to have to take cover in these huts. But at least the falling ash would warm things up, it was freezing at craters edge.

The descent is sweet, again very gentle 4-5% so never too fast. After Aso village, head east then north onto route 11, the start of the Yamanami (mountain wave!) highway. All the way down Aso and then up and out of the caldera the landscape was quite alien. Blackened trees, blackened bushes and ash everywhere but this wasnt due to the volcano but controlled annual burning of the vegetation by park keepers.
Once you get to the junction of 442, make a detour left 6km to Kurakawa onsen. I agree with the judges who voted this the best onsen town in Japan! Its a high class village, virtually all the buildings are expensive ryokan each hosting spectacular onsen. Some are in caves, most are outdoors, some are mixed bathing and most ryokan will have private onsen if you so wish. You can visit any of them for ¥500 but the best way to visit is to buy a 3 onsen wooden pass. They will take a stamp off the pass and stamp your pass with the seal of the ryokan, so making a nice souvenir. I visited the outstanding Shinmeikan with its interesting cavern system of onsen. The whole place had a very rustic feel, I liked the log fires heating up kettles for green tea.
As the cheapest place to stay was ¥15900, I was happy to cycle a very easy 2.4km over a small hill to the next valley and Shoda onsen, where the minshuku Yumeno-yu is a mere ¥6500. Its massive, has fantastic food, great rooms and the village has many nice rotemburo so a nice alternative to the Kurokawa luxury resort. After evening meal I still had time to cycle back over the hill and sample the waters of Yamabiko ryokan in the moonlight. Todays onsen and minshuku definitely made up for the previous nights cold, cold camping by the roadside.
Still freezing overnight, frost in the morning and so I was able to use up my 3rd onsen stamp at Okunoyu with its riverside rotemburo. Really nice, I was in no hurry to leave this place especially knowing the main asecnt on the yamanami highway was just around the corner!

The rest of Yamanami highway is a really great cycle. I guess its not worth visiting at the weekend or during holiday time, but as this day was neither the traffic was negligible and I soon found myself at the highest point, 1330m. I expected a massive descent from here, but instead there are several more climbs to slow the progress to Yufuin, the next large onsen town (there are many small spots, too many to explore them all!) Yufuin is a nice town, but Im here at lunchtime and for me on a bike tour that means get some food, in this occasion have another outdoor onsen, then cycle on up - a 200m up to get out of Yufuin - then the real massive descent starts all the way to the ocean and Beppu, the town with colourful hot springs (not for bathing), hundreds of onsen and dinosaur themed love hotels.
I had a few hours to kill before my ferry to Matsuyama on Shikoku, so I followed the advice of the information center to cycle over to Hyotan onsen with the hope of taking a hot sand bath. Alas, its Tuesday and the center is closed - but this is Beppu and so only 50 m away theres another onsen which is open. I take a hot steam box sauna , nice rotemburo. The indoor onsen even has TV screens around the bath, but as the pictures are all about tsunami victims and the raising of the Fukushima incident to level 7, it doesnt make for a relaxing time in the bath!

Nagashima-Nagasaki-Kumamoto

I sleep one more night below Sakurajima, this time downwind of the volcano. Luckily the only rumblings in the night were from the Kagoshima ferry.
The previous night I talked to Charinko bike shop owner about the route out of Kagoshima, like any Japanese city its busy roads a plenty but route 3 is the best choice despite appearing like a major route on the map. A gentle 3-4% climb up, then descend down to the west coast with little traffic, but once the highway ends and all roads converge theres little space on this road around Satsuma sendai and the trucks hurtle past at great speed. Unfortunately no alternative roads for this section.
At Nagoshima sunset (thats the name of the hotel) I find an amazing beach with campsite all for myself. I take a swim, and yes its really cold. But still not as cold as Loch Tay in August.
The hotel has an OK onsen, but the sashimi is far more impressive.
This spot was the most impressive on the Nagashima and Unzen-Amakusa islands, which were at least quiet cycling but not as impressive as I had hoped for.
So northwards to Nagasaki for a rest day, as the dry weather I'd had so far was due to change for the next 36 hours so perfect timing for a city break. I stayed at Ebisu youth hostel and met some Dutch cyclists who had cycled from Thailand and had just sailed from Korea to Fukuoka, they turned out to be the only foreign cyclists I would meet on this tour. We wnt to Chinatown for some tasty "Champon" Nagasaki ramen.
Nagasaki is a really interesting place, the Glover gardens are really worth a visit to see how the British entrepreneurs of the 19th century lived as they influenced the development of ship building, coal mining and brewing in Japan.

Of course the city is infamous for the site of the second WMD experiment on a population, and at this time it was eerie to be reading all the radiation stories of the past whilst seeing todays newspaper of people in radiation suits combing the beaches near the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactor. The statue in the Peace park raises the right hand to warn the threat of nuclear weapons, whilst the left hand is level to signify peace throughout the world. Hope no bombs are ever used again, but clearly they'll be more nuclear disasters in the years to come.

After Nagasaki I made the decision to avoid the high road to Unzen as I wanted to save my legs and especially left knee for the hilly days ahead, instead cycling north and around this high mountain. I took the Unzen green line which sounds pleasant, but this is not for cycling. Its a direct road on the map and so attracts heavy trucks and large traffic. But more to the cyclists dismay are the series of steep valleys which the road traverses. Fast descents with cars tailing very close behind, then bottom gear ascents one after another. I soon had enough and headed for the coastal road, only to find this a busy and unpleasant combini/pachinko road. I reckon the long ascent up to Unzen would have been worth it.

I was more interested in reaching Shimabara which had more diverse attractions. Theres a castle, samurai houses, streets lined with streams full of koi carp, reclining buddhas and tea houses to be photographed and blogged. Also, screaming school girls trying to get photographed with gaijin cyclist! Another bonus for the foreigner in these parts.



At Shimabara I took the ferry over to Kumamoto, and saw another of those shiny white castles. But this could be one of the most impressive shiny white castles you'll see, even if its the only thing you do in Kumamoto. The sakura was in full bloom at this time, so the castle was extremely photogenic.

Yakushima

Yakushima is a 4 hour ferry ride south of Kagoshima, or if you prefer a 2.5hr jetfoil at twice the cost. If you're touring, then the ferry is the best option as you can take a shower and bath, use the washing machines and relax while you sail across the seas.
I always like cycling around islands, ocean views and mountainous scenery is always part of the deal and this island has plenty of both. The highest point is 1935m and so being such an obvious mass out at sea it generates enough cloud and rain at the highest points to make it the wettest place in Japan. But head up wind and you're sure of a fine day while the mountaintop is covered in cold mist.

This island is famous for its hiking amongst ancient cedar trees, up to 2600 years old. Yaku-saru and yaku-shika, the islands monkeys and deer which you will find but they're easily startled so the most common sound is the shrill call of the deer before darting away into the deep forest. The forest is the inspiration for the forest in the Studio Ghibli anime movie Princess Mononoke, and one of the trails in the forest is named the Mononoke path.
For cycling, theres an obvious 100km loop of the island. If you really wanted, there are 2 excellent roads up to the main visitor centers of Shirotani unsuikyou 白谷雲水峡 (650m) or Yakusugi lando (1000m) from sea level. They're gradual and never steep, but for these occasions I took the bus up and down the mountain roads. The roads look fantastic, but having energy to enjoy the walking trails are more important here.
The Shirotani walk is described as a 4hr walk on the leaflets, but I found 2 hours to be adequate for this section! The walk is very popular, so it never quite feels like you're away from the crowds, yet its still worth the bus trip up and is certainly a must-do on the island. You'll quickly see some ancient yakusugi with little effort. If you get up here, then the walk up to the lookout at Taikawa rock for an amazing view over the forest top.

Yakusugi refers to cedar trees over 1000 years old, and you can buy souvenirs made from the wood of fallen trees. All the old cedars are protected these days, but there aren't so many left as they were prized building material and in the 16th century cedar wood was taken as far as Osaka and Kyoto to build temples.
After descending by bus and cycling eastwards I met a local couple at a foot spa, which I thought was a normal onsen on the map. They recommend Green Hotel on the northern side of Anbo for a good hot stone bath, then Yakudon restaurant for a meal and campsite beside the restaurant. Great choice! This was one of the best camp spots on this tour, under the banyan trees over looking the sea - shame about the rain but that made it feel like I was really camping for a change.

The next day I took the bus up to Yakusugi-lando. Yes it already sounds like disneylando or any other lando spot in Japan, but here the highlights are the yakusugi and the easy walk around the ancient cedars is impressive. The light rain never stopped whilst I was there, so the umbrella borrowed from the info desk was invaluable, but the mists added to the mystery and atmosphere of this mountain scenery.
However, I again got round this walk in short time, and had to wait several hours in the open vistors center. Theres no heating of any kind here, the doors and windows are wide open and it so cold I was shivering before the bus arrived to take me down the mountain. In hindsight, I should have taken the bus higher up the mountain to the Kigen sugi as I would have been on the warm bus and dry.
Back on the bike, I passed by Hirauchi onsen. This is a warm rock pool by the sea, and is only available at low tide! I didnt use it as I still had some more km to pedal, and couldnt take a photo as the locals were clearly against this.
Kurio is a nice spot on the coast, and the youth travel village is a really good camping spot. Hot showers, plenty of cooking facilities but I went for the only soba restaurant in the area where I met a couple of Korean and Kagoshima medical students who are here on holiday. Kurio is one of several turtle nesting spots on the island, but the season is May to August so we dont find any down at the beach this evening.
Oh yes, if you stay at the Youth village, then you'll be woken at 6am by loud music resembling the "reveille" call they play at American summer camps. No problem when camping as I'm used to waking before dawn.
Its a coldish start, and as I head round the western section of the island, I find many yakusaru monkeys warming themselves in the morning light. This rindo is by far the best section of road on the island, zero cars to scare away the monkeys and deer and after a long climb up there are gentle undulations which drift down to the north of the island, via a banyan grove and more beautiful sea turtle nesting beaches back to the ferry port of Miyanoura.

Its climbing out of Shitoko that my rear wheel finally gives up - I first realised that the rim had split the previous night in Anbo, yet somehow I've cycled half way around this island, up and down narrow rindos and at some speed, but a small puncture occurs and I have to walk the final 4.5km to the ferry. Could have been so much worse, I had set off in the morning expecting to hitch back to port but glad to have got back by my own effort.

Yakushima was another highlight of this tour, if you go make sure its in May-August when the turtles are nesting and it should be warmer in the mountains. It will still be wet whatever time of year you go, but that really only applies to the mountain tops.

Miyazaki - Kagoshima

Day 1 of the tour started with an astounding flight from Tokyo Haneda to Miyazaki airport, clear skies and great views over Tokyo, Yokohama bay, Shonan beach and of course Mount Fuji and the 5 lakes. Later we flew over Muroto misaki, the south eastern cape of Shikoku which was clearly visible below. I had hoped for this, choosing the window seat on the right hand side of the plane, but hadn't thought the views would be so perfect. No need for any in flight film today!

Touchdown in Miyazaki, and I unpacked my cardboard bike box and assembled the bike. The box was a real help to carry the tent and made it really easy to transport the bike by bus from Fuchu to Haneda, and I could fold the box into a neat pile and hand it to the girl at the information desk, she seemed happy to accept it at least!
April 1st, and I almost became a major April Fool in the first 10km as I discovered a flat front tyre. I'd torn the valve pumping up the tyre, so this tube was useless. Replace it with a spare. Pump it up. Discover I've torn another valve, so another destroyed tube! All I can do is replace with my final spare, and hope to pump up the tube without ripping the valve again. I manage this, of course I'm aware I have no spares now so any future tyre trouble will cause a major delay. (I find spares in a small shop in Nichinan, south of Udo Jingu, and of course they have a track pump to boot)

The first tourist spot on the route 20 south is Aoshima. Its a small island linked to the mainland by a narrow sand causeway, but the distinctive sight here is the washboard rock formations around the causeway. Nice place to have a brief rest, but no more than 5mins I'd say. As I continued south, I discovered the washboard rock formation to be quite common here. 

Far more interesting and impressive is Udo jingu, 25km further south. Theres a shrine set in a cave above a cliff face, its an impressive sight as you walk beside the ocean and down the steps to the cave opening. As well as the usual souvenirs and good luck charms, this temple has the unique money making scam (over cynical perhaps) of throwing "undama", luck stones, into a sea water filled cavity on top of a rock below. It looks far away, and its made even more difficult as men are supposed to throw with their left hand. So I took the first of my 5 stones, and had to throw like a girl at the target below. Bulls eye! Big cheers from all around, but after that I failed to get close again. I will have to find out whether this means its winner takes all, and I get 100% of wishes come true, or will it be 20% of wishes for marriage and childbirth will come true in the future?

Route 220 has not been unpleasant so far, but once south of Nango and the road becomes the 448 does the road become really spectacular and special. Palm trees, huge beaches, terraced rice fields - some of the scenes reminded me of Bali. Very little traffic and its really worth taking the road out to Cape toi, more stunning scenery and this peninsula is famous for its wild horses. The trees were cleared from the area to provide grazing land for the horses of samurai. The samurai have gone, but the horses remain, though they are not particularly wild. Interesting discovery for me was the meaning of "ema" , the wooden board seen hanging outside many temples with wishes or prayers. In kanji, 絵馬 is picture and horse, picture of a horse! Once upon a time samurai would give real horses to a temple for payment, luck etc but as this was rather expensive the next best thing was to leave a picture of a horse at a temple instead of a real one. 

First night, first onsen at Kushima Onsen not so far beyond Cape Toi. This is my usual plan for Japan touring, see how far the ride is taking me, then look for an onsen on the map for a clean, meal and hopefully a flat comfy camping spot nearby!

The next day I rejoin route 220 and head west. Really a connection road, its not pleasant at all and full of pachinko parlours and family marts all the way to Kagoshima bay. Not a recommended route, but it gets me from A to B and I'm soon close to Sakurajima, the goal for the day.
I stop at a very rustic ramen shop for lunch, outside toilet and old furniture inside. I noticed how dirty their car was as well, these people didnt seem to adhere to the usual Japanese standards of cleanliness.  Further down the road, I notice other cars are dirty as well, then the pavement and even flowerbeds are grey coloured. I'd forgotten about the goal of the day, Sakurajima, being an extremely active volcano - this was all volcanic ash falling from the as yet out of sight volcano! I pass by houses with bags of ash, I assume to be collected by the council in the same way as PET bottles or aluminium collection days. All depends on which way the wind is blowing!
The approach to Sakurajima form the south is impressive as you see it across the bay with hundreds of fishing boats and the odd volcanic landscape. I stop at the main viewing spot for the active part of the volcano, and theres a fair cloud of smoke spewing from the scarred face. I even hear a roar like thunder from one of these eruptions, quite glad the wind is from the south today.
At the visitors center theres plenty to discover about the volcano, and enough to make you wonder about the most recent eruptions and whether its wise to camp within dustfall of the beast. Next to the vistors center is Magma onsen. Great onsen, with washing machines (so useful when touring), but no food here so you'll need to go to the supermarket, or just hop on the ferry to Kagoshima - it runs 24 hours a day and is only ¥250 so camping here is a great money saving tip for visiting Kagoshima city!

BTW, if you need a bike shop in town, try Charinko This guy saved my tour after my return from Yakushima by replacing a failed rim with a brand new rim, taken from a new bike for sale. Yes, after he couldnt find a rim of the right size and spoke count in his collection, he took apart a wheel from one bike and rebuilt me a new wheel in just over an hour for ¥6000! I thought it was a great deal, I would have paid more to keep me on the road, but he was happy to help a fellow cyclist continue to enjoy the roads of Kyushu.

Kyushu

This gives an overview of my final tour in Japan, a ride planned at the beginning of the year when the biggest natural disaster in Japan was the volcanic activity of Shinmoedake (same volcano as used by Blofelds hideout in "You Only Live Twice"). This volcano was spewing ash on the immediate area, and causing disruptions to airports in Kyushu in the same manner as the Icelandic volcano closed airports in Europe last year. Originally this area was on my wishlist of places to visit as its a great hiking area crossing the caldera tops, but right now its out of bounds.
Overall, I saw plenty of the island all at a very comfortable pace, stopped at plenty of sights and enjoyed the local food and hospitality. People really were waving, saying hello, giving me fruit and taking their photo of me, it really was a different experience to riding around the central belt of Japan.

Round and Round, Up and Down (x50) - Part II

Originally I had no intention of climbing the wall of Tatsuno 150km challenge another 50 times, as this was too close to my intended tour of Kyushu and would be affected by delivering furniture around Tokyo and packing and shipping the rest of the household junk to the new home in Switzerland. A convenient excuse not to suffer the repeated pain of this tough but friendly challenge.
Of course, the events of 11th March affected everyone in northern Japan and I could not stand being on my own in the flat with the aftershocks, food shortages and radiation worries so I packed my bike and bags and headed south to Harima, to James family in the countryside.
The week had started well for training rides. Just meet up with Jim for his lunchtime ride, only an hour. But when an hour starts immediately in the hills and ends in the hills, its worth 3 hours of cycling to get to the hills in Tokyo. No traffic, in some places more deer than cars, just long winding roads of the usual Japanese high quality.
These rides were great training, however playing with Louis and Roy, James' 3 & 2 year old boys I picked up a stinking cold which was enough to knock me out on the final training ride on Thursday before the race. Jim was just riding away, I could do nothing but suffer and hope to get back to the flat as soon as possible to warm up in the shower.

So at least I had a good excuse this time. But in general I'm not as race fit as I was this time last year, with no big races and doing more running than cycling in recent months. More excuses ready!

The event had more riders this year, 66 solo riders, with 21 teams entered, not all starting but a healthy number for a race. No warmup lap this year, so we rolled off the start line and like everyone else used the early laps to warmup. A few riders were testing the main bunch at an early stage, but when no one replied they quickly came back to the peloton. Noone wants to do a 130km breakaway on this course! But after 30km, a couple of fast laps were enough to break the group up and I was on the wrong side of the split, basically because I was too slow up the hill, not because I didn't see it coming!
After that, my race was a lonely 70km of picking up a few fast riders off the back of the main group, lapping slow riders and just hoping a fast team member would leave the pit lane and tow me back to the main group.
But this never happened, and instead I was lapped after around 100km. The first rider to lap me flew past, then a few minutes later Jim led a group of 3 past me. I could at least keep up with them on the long descent, but of course when I hit the hill again, their constant speed began to create space between our wheels which was never going to close again. It wasn't for another few minutes that the main group arrived, and at least they provided enough cover for me to sit on and recover for several laps. I was surprised the group was so large, around 20 I suppose, I thought I had overtaken more riders on the road. There were some team riders in there, so these guys must have been lapped as well and were swelling the main pack. The main bunch didn't seem to be too bothered about the breakaway riders at this stage.

Last years winner, known to use as "marathon man" due to the number of snickers bars taped to his top tube in last years event made his trade mark move with 30km to go. I know that even if I was race fit, with no cold, I wouldn't be able to keep up with him when he makes his decisive acceleration up the climb. This time it really did smash the peloton,  and riders were split into 2s and 3s, and I ended up riding the final 30km on my own.

Once Jim lapped me a second time, I heard a cry of "I could do with some water" so took the hint and dropped my bike and ran across the road ahead of the hairpin to try to pass my spare bottle to him. Unfortunately this was a bit random, and probably could have caused an accident, so Jim let the bottle go this lap. I had to wait around another lap to carefully pass the spare to him whilst riding up the hill the next lap, with only a few laps to go, and the lone leader had dropped back to form a group of 4 by this stage.

I cycled around a few more laps just to bring my cycle computer to 149km, but quite bored by this stage and my left knee was really hurting as I'm wearing my mtb shoes and this is is the furthest they've ever been. Later I find out I've only done 49 laps, but noone told me I had one more lap to go, or that I shouldnt stop, so I left the track after a good bit of exercise.

In the final laps, Jim had applied the pressure, and 2 of the riders had fallen off - only a single, young rider could keep up all the way to the finish. Even after sitting on Jims wheel for the final lap, he couldnt sprint past, so the bag of protein replacement went to Jim!

Definitely a course for light riders, my other excuse is being 6kg heavier than this time last year, whereas Jim is still 51kg!

A great event, the majority of riders are experienced weekend warriors with a few top amateur athletes at the front. Jim is more than a weekend warrior these days!

Tokyo Marathon 2011

I was happy with my training and 2 week tapering leading up to my 4th marathon attempt (without a swim or cycle warm up that is) and so the goal to beat 3.5hrs looked more achievable here in Tokyo. A couple of 20min lunchtime runs every other day in the past week, enough to keep my legs moving without any chance of tiredness or injury creeping in.
As I switched from cycling to work to using the train, my biggest fear turned out to be the coughing and sneezing on the flu wagon which I was convinced was all aimed in my direction. I had definitely had a head cold of some kind, but without any coughing or muscle ache, so by Sunday morning I was feeling rested and ready to go.
Frosties, toast & muffin, orange juice and banana at 6am then I caught the train for Shinjuku. Utterly overcrowded with runners here, but I was meeting up with Namban Rengo members at Starbucks near Nishishinjuku, Marunouchi line and this proved to be a great location for some reason the area and cafe was utterly devoid of people, yet we could see the baggage trucks from out of the window. So no queues for toilets, no stress getting the final vaseline rub down and even time to have a plain coffee.
The baggage drop proved to be the only slightly chaotic part of the day as although the trucks lined opposite sides of a wide road, runners were moving from both directions to find their truck, then turning around to head to their own start areas. In London, the start areas are in huge parks, so its easy to find the correct baggage truck and start area without the rush hour traffic.

I saw the iRun guy who needs no further publicity, a guy with a temple on his head and many power rangers preparing for the start. Standing amidst the skyscrapers of Shinjuku for 40mins was a time to prepare and a time to realise that I really was at the start of the Tokyo Marathon, and at 9:10am I would have to carry myself 42km twisting around the city via the palace, Shinagawa, Asakusa, Ginza, Tsukiji to Tokyo Big Site in Odaiba. Perfect weather conditions, this race is notorious for bad weather and I remember last year I couldn't bring myself to even go and watch the race it was raining and very cold. Only lucky ones here today, already lucky as we were the 1 in 10 people who were successful in the ballot to actually get to the start line.
The start was swift, I was in group D and I crossed the start line after only 4mins and the pace was restricted as usual by the sheer number of athletes on the road. This is always good, as it forces a gentle pace for the first 3-4km.  Very soon we rounded the Imperial Palace, and here I heard a call from Meg and Motozo, who have run in the past but failed to get places this year. Thanks a lot for the photos Meg, they're better than any of the official ones!
With about 25 Namban runners on the course, it was easy to pick them out in their familiar yellow and black kit, and also of course being amongst the few non-Japanese runners (apart from Japanese Nambanners that is) This made it a very friendly event, chatting as we passed each other on the route.

Everyone knows Namban Rengo means "The southern barbarians", as its the first question you ask on hearing the name. What I didnt realise until today was how Japanese people react to the name. I often thought it might sound either stupid or even aggressive, but there were clearly many spectators seeing the name for the first time, and having smiling faces as they shouted out "Gambare Namban". We really did get a lot of support with these shirts, as much as the usual trick of writing your name on your race number.
Just before 10km, I met Brian who was suffering from jetlag and recovering from flu, so unlikely to equal his 3hr 22min best at Kawaguchiko last December. Around this point we were joined by an Australian, Chris who I stayed with for the next 17km, we really had a similar pace for this section from Tokyo Tower to almost Asakusa. We passed the 3.5hr guys after the Shinagawa turn, so 18km down. There were around 8 of them running in a line holding pink balloons, and the usual mob of runners who try to run just behind these pace setters.
It was from the 19km point that I felt my quads tighten - this was unusual, not had this in training or in other events, so I was concerned the wall was not far around the corner. I was taking power gels every 30 mins, and 2 of the salt/mineral sweets I picked up at the expo which keep your energy levels high, but I guess they never keep the lactic acid levels down. No matter how easy the pace is, if you run long enough the lactic acid and damage seems to creep up to painful levels, this never happens to me on the bike.
After the turn at Asakusa, a brief space opened up from the  endless corridor of monotonous buildings and we had a great view of the Tokyo Sky Tree which is due to be completed at the end of this year. Very brief indeed, then the corridor of buildings surrounded us once more as we head for Ginza and I could feel the muscles tightening all the time.

Then with 6km to go, when the enjoyment of the event was fading and just getting to the finish as soon as possible was the overwhelming priority, I was broken from my concentration by Satoko who had come to take photos and run alongside me for the remaining distance! This was a nice idea, but it wasn't possible to run on the road at all, also the pavement often went up/down steps or completely parted from the road so my progress was much faster on the direct route. I saw here once more before she accepted this was not going to be possible, and so I didnt see her again till after Id finished, bathed feet in the cool foot baths and made it through to "public" side of the expo site.
The last 4km were tough, the pain mounting, and I knew I was slowing down. I couldnt keep up a faster pace as my calves were on the verge of cramp and if I stopped to stretch, I knew I would lose minutes. As I had a big cushion on the 3.5hr pace setters at this point, it was a case of just maintain a reduced pace, run though the pain and get this over with.

And so, finally, I made it to the finish line in 3hr 25 2s! I was very happy to finish the marathon running start to finish for the first time with no major dip in performance, and so I was able to draw the second eye of my Tokyo Marathon Daruma as the wish had been achieved.
Normally I say never again at this point, and it takes another 5 years to forget the pain, but maybe I could do this again? Not this year anyway.

地点名	スプリット	ラップ
5km	0:24:26	0:24:26
10km	0:47:44	0:23:18
15km	1:11:39	0:23:55
20km	1:35:32	0:23:53
25km	1:58:27	0:22:55
30km	2:22:27	0:24:00
35km	2:47:04	0:24:37
40km	3:13:47	0:26:43
Finish	3:25:02	0:11

Kawasaki Monthly Marathon

The Tamagawa river is a great place to run in Tokyo, away from the traffic and road junctions. Just miles and miles of track from almost Haneda airport up to Fuchu. On the last Sunday of each month, the Tamagawa running club hold a very well organised running meet. Its on the Kanagawa side of the river between Gasubashi and Route 1 bridge, the start and finish is on a cinder running track. There are 3 events 3km, 5km and 10km (and a 1km childrens race at 9.15!) starting from 9.30am November-March, an hour earlier April-October. The first time you join, the cost is 1300yen and after that you just pay 1000yen. You receive 2 cotton race numbers, to keep and bring to future races and the new required item is a barcode so that they can quickly record finishing order after the race.

Despite living close by and wanting to join more of these events, I've only managed to attend one of these events in the past year due to other commitments. It was back in July when the heat and humidity had already risen to uncomfortable levels - and for that reason, the 10km event was cancelled on that Sunday as it was in August and September, again due to the heat. I remember the agony of doing the 3km, then struggling in the 5km event wanting it to finish and drink as much water as possible.

This morning the conditions were much more favourable for running, clear skies, temperature between 2-4 degrees. The sun was shining making it feel warm, but running into the northerly wind meant hat and gloves had to be worn. On the return leg, heading south, the hat and gloves came off.

This morning I had the intention of running the 10km event as part of a longer training run in preparation for the Tokyo marathon which is only 4 weeks away now. I ran down to the track and registered, still thinking it wouldn't be long till the 10km start, and I could do some more warm up jogging until the start. It was nearly 9.30, but the 10km wasn't until 10.30, so too long to warm up what else to do but join in the 3km, and the 5km events in the meantime?

I made an easy pace for the 3km as I didn't want to be standing around too long for the next event, then the 5km was another slower than normal pace in preparation for the 10km. They allow all the 5km runners to finish before the start of the final race, so it was around 10.34 before the track was clear and we could get into the main event. Similar numbers of people for each race (about 250?) but most people are here to focus on one of the distances. Not sure how many do all 3, my guess would be about half.

Happy to record 42m 54s, then run back home via route 1 bridge. In the end I think this odd interval training of 5-3-5-10-7 worked out well I was on my feet for 3hrs 20mins and many people say time on the feet is great preparation for a marathon. Doing these intervals made the morning interesting as well, no need to carry an ipod to numb the boredom of a multi hour training run. Hope I can build on this in the next 2 weeks with long weekend training runs.

Hatsumode in Chichibu

Hatsumode means first temple visit of the year, and for Japanese people this is an important ritual. So I thought it timely to try out a ride I'd wanted to do all of last year, but due mainly to training for events and the weather, it never happened.

So today we managed to gather 3 henro who have completed the 88 temple pilgrimage of Shikoku, ready to sample the 34 kannon temple tour of Chichibu. Both Steve and Warren completed the Shikoku tour as their first bike tours, Steve several years ago whilst Warren was fresh from November 2010. Could have been 4 henro, but Gunnar was playing bike polo, as you do.

We gathered at Kumagaya station from 8:15. Quite a distance from Chichibu, but the alternative is another long and expensive train journey which would reduce cycling time so we started with a nice roll out along the Arakawa river. Could be the best section of cycle path around, deserted, new, and with views to Chichibu mountains, the southern Alps and Mount Fuji straight ahead as we cycled west. 

We had to leave the Arakawa after a few km, but route 81 was very quiet and was a decent route out. The original idea was to keep on the 82 close to the Arakawa around the ridge of mountains then down to temple 1. Nice and flat. But after 20km, the itchings to head up something hilly were too overpowering and we went for the 'shortcut'. Initially we found an amazing road, winding its way uphill past frozen rice fields before ending at a quarry - clearly we had made a wrong turn, so we checked the maps before heading back down the hill and on to the correct 'shortcut'. The climb up to 361 was much steeper than expected, a great rindo but open to traffic - not that there was any traffic. We had made it up to the highest point on the ridgeline road which passes over Nihongi pass, and we were rewarded with great views to the west.  It took another steep descent to get back to the 82, a nice diversion but the climb was worthwhile for the views and the exploration.

Finally we reached the Chichibu town sign at the top of a small toge, and from here it was a roll down to temple 1, Shimabuji. Funny thing was the first thing we saw was the familiar face of the small wooden boy holding the name of the temple and temple number. The same little guy who was at every one of the Shikoku temples - he must have the monopoly on temple pilgrimage information boards in Japan.The temple was well presented, and had a shop selling everything the pilgrim would require, from the white clothing and hats to candles, incense and books to collect the stamps of each temple. I bought one as a souvenir, even though I dont expect to complete this meguri.
The 34 temples are spread out over a distance of 100km, but to visit them all by bike would take at least 2 days, longer depending on how long you wish to stop at each temple.

We were getting hungry, but decided to make the short 2km journey up a small valley to temple 2, Shinpukuji, before lunch. The hunger probably added to the pain of this short journey, the climb was very steep (18%?) and sustained right up to the path the to the temple. The temple sits by itself, with no office or shop, the nokyocho is down the equally steep descent back towards route 11.

After a larger than expected lunch, (but polished off without difficulty) time was getting on and we agreed to make a stop at temple 4, Kinshouji before heading for the train. This temple is famous for the statue of a nursing mother Kannon often referred to as Blessed Virgin Mary Kannon, and has a garden with more than 1300 sculptures.
To the right is the entry in my nokyocho for Kinshouji.


Of note for future - the ride back, up and over Sadamine toge was a gentle climb but a very long and fast descent all the (43km) back to Kumagaya, so a recommended end of ride before getting the speedy Shonan Shinjuku line all the way home.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/26831604/

Hakone Ekiden 2011

The Hakone Ekiden is a relay race from Tokyo to Hakone and back, competed by 20 universities in the Kanto area at the start of each new year. Its of great national excitement, like the basketball contest in America or the boat race in UK, and receives live TV coverage both days and headlines in the newspapers after the event. Also, the 108km from start to finish are lined with flag waving Japanese, and the roads are cleared of traffic while the race passes.

Otemachi (21.4km)  Tsurumi (23.3km) Totsuka (21.5km) Hiratsuka (18.5km) Odawara (23.4km) Hakone Ashinoko

Clear roads from Tokyo to Hakone? Sounds too good to be true, and for the last 4 years members of the Tokyo Cycling Club and Positivo Espresso have sought the golden path ahead of the runners to varying success.

The rolling road closure means that the road is only closed up to ~20 mins before the runners arrive, then reopens as soon as the last runner and support vehicle has passed. So the aim of the ride is to be in very light traffic before the road closure, but not so far into the closure that the police (2-3 at EVERY junction) or volunteers ask/force us to leave the road.

This year Ludwig was arranging the meeting times and locations, with German precision and accuracy. Ludwig, Travis, James (fixie) and Andreas began at the very start in Otemachi. I joined at Kamata, and we were sprinting from traffic light to traffic light all the way to Yokohama where we met David and James Machin, ready for more sprints between lights to beyond Totsuka where Mike was waiting to join the TCC ranks.

We weren't the only cyclists on the ride, several groups of Japanese cyclists were ahead of the race as well. Unlikely that many of the cyclists were cycling the whole distance, but some put up a good flight and enjoyed sailing along the roads with Fuji san ahead of us. Along the coast would prove to be our best view of the mountain all day, and as usual Fuji san did not disappoint for providing an impressive and awesome view, now fully covered in snow down to the tree line.

I have to say the roads were not as free of traffic as I had dreamt of, but certainly light and free of heavy trucks so this made for a very pleasant ride out to the coast then along the ocean to Odawara. Here we had a combini stop, and in schedule we departed for the final leg and once rolling we realised that this ride is really a massive hill climb after a long warm up. The road climbs to 864m before descending the final 3-4 km down to the lake. This is where the competitive spirit in everyone was flowing, I latched onto a group of around 12 Japanese cyclists who were travelling at speed up the at times steep slopes, zigzagging between stationary cars. One guy was managing to take his full disc wheeled bike up so fast that he bumped into a mountainbiker, then fell onto a stationary car before carrying on.

We all regrouped (except one) immediately after the finish, and met the PE boys at this point, before heading a few km along the lake to the michi no eki restaurant. I was surprised and then again not surprised at how little interest they had in seeing the runners finish, but it was chilly waiting around so I did not hang around to take any photos and was more than happy to spread out on the floor and sup some hot sansai udon.

After lunch, the PE boys stuck with tradition and sailed down route 20 to Atami ready for a posh ride on the shinkansen back to Tokyo. Ludwig was in a more exploratory mood and so we climbed another 250m up to the top of Toyo Tyres Turnpike, then descended route 75 down to Yugawara and the coast. This was a fantastic road, smooth, not too steep with great views over the Izu peninsula and the ocean, it seemed to go on for ever. As James said, it was almost boring the length of this descent!


Another great road (740) rolled parallel to the main 135 up to Odawara, this was another great piece of road and we were soon back to Odawara and packing the bikes up for the Odakyu or Tokaido trains back home.

A great start to 2011, fast riding on quiet roads with nice folk from TCC and PE, hope to get a few more rides like this in before the heavy snow arrives - or maybe it wont reach us this winter?