Weekend Rides, 20, 21

 
From: "Half-Fast Cycling" <bulletin@PROTECTED>
Subject: Weekend Rides, 20, 21
Date: April 18th 2019
Spring Bikers!

Yes, our favorite season is now undeniably here, with a wonderful 20-degree weekend coming up. Biking weather doesn’t get much better. And to celebrate, we have no fewer than FIVE rides on offer. 

On Saturday I’ll lead a Tama River loop, and Francois will stage his annual cherry blossom ride/walk out Kawaguchiko way. Sunday I’ll do a beginners’ jaunt out to Odaiba, while Brian sets off on a 150-km SuperLooper and Peter does his patented Three Hills ride. 

So pump up your tires and oil your chains, get the cycling shorts and warm-weather gloves out of mothballs, slather on the sunscreen and let's do some pedaling.


Saturday — Tama Loop

For social scheduling reasons, I’m doing this ride on a Saturday instead of a Sunday. Call me a mad impetuous fool. Out to the river, downstream to the airport, and back to central Tokyo.

Intermediate-level. 55km, easy but fast. Start at the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills at 11:00 a.m. Alternate rendezvous points: KFC in Ebisu @ 11:30, Intersection of Kan-Nana and Komazawa-Dori @ 11:45, Komazawa Park @ noon, bridge at Futako-Tamagawa (Kanagawa side) @ 12:20, Gas Bashi @ 12:45 or 1:00. Long break at Jonan Jima seaside park (across from Haneda) at 1:30 or 2:00. Convenience store lunch. Please contact me if one of these meeting spots applies to you. 090-5813-6721. Back by 3:00 or 3:30. 


Saturday — Ohanami in Kawaguchiko

Annual ride & walk to Arakurayama Sengen park’s viewing platform to shoot some iconic pictures of mt. Fuji (if weather permits). The ride includes a 15% slope to Mikuni pass (7-8 % in average) and the walk 396 stairs to the platform. We grab a hot pot of hoto (=udon) for lunch in Kawaguchiko. Then we head to Koufu via the old Misaka-michi. From there there are 2 options: you get on train at Isawaonsen station or stay over in a 24 hour open onsen for ca. 3000 yen. I’ll do the latter option and ride back home on Sunday via Otsuki. 

Route: https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/1506629620

Distance: 97 km (1.8 km climbing)

Meeting point: Shin Matsuda station at 9:20

If interested contact at lancosyk07@PROTECTED

 Francois

080-43278870


Sunday — Odaiba Beginners'

Start at the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills at 11:00 for an easy, 30-km lope out to the island in the bay for a brew or two. Back by 2:30 at the latest. Leader: me.


Sunday — SuperLooper
 
09:00 Start from Grand Hyatt, Roppongi Hills
Return late afternoon.
The Super Looper is a Halffast classic, if only occasionally done, rides, about 150 km. It’s on the website at the link

If you think you might want to quit early, bring a bike bag.
Otherwise, helmets, tubes, pump, bidon and money.  This is not a remote ride; we pass many kombini and restaurants.
We can go clockwise or counter-clockwise, and our choice of direction will depend on wind direction. I’ll look at the forecast decide Saturday night or Sunday morning.
Nonetheless, I’m sorry to say it will probably turn out to be a headwind both ways as the wind direction is expected to be a NE wind in the morning and a SE wind in the afternoon.
Due to this uncertainty, I suggest all who want to do this ride assemble at Roppongi Hills rather than joining in a some intermediate point.  
On the other hand, you can bail at any time, but please let me know before you drop out.

One of the places we visit is Showakinen Koen in Tachikawa
Admission is 450 yen.

If we do the ride clockwise, we will enter the park at B and exit at D
If we go counter clockwise, we will enter at D and exit at B
For anyone interested in Euler, the Seven Bridges of Koenigsberg and graph theory can work on finding the shortest route through the park that enters and exits the park as stated above, visits all the exits and travels all the cycle paths both directions. No fair making U-turns between roundabouts and exits.  If I remember correctly, we have to ride around all the roundabouts in a clockwise direction.

Leader Brian 
090-9951-3393

Sunday -- Three hills to the west

We set off at 08:30 from the Family Mart just downhill from the north
exit of Takao station. And then Wada pass (via Daigo rindō), Uenohara,
Kōbu tunnel, Iruma Shiroiwa rindō, Fujiwara pass, and Musashi
Itsukaichi station. According to Ride with GPS
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23600223 , this all adds up to 78 km
and about 2000 metres of climbing. Yes, quite a bit of climbing ...
but you get glorious descents as well.

We'll wait at the tops, and at turnings.

Early lunch in the forecourt of Daily Yamazaki (after 30 km). There
you can also buy something to fuel yourself for the two climbs that
follow.

Yes, the same route as on 7 April (but Ride with GPS has slightly
inflated the vital statistics). Because I like the route, of course;
but also because it's very unlikely that I'll make wrong turnings (as
I did last weekend).

There's just a single, very short section of (mild) gravel; if your
bike doesn't like gravel, you're welcome to get off it and trot
alongside it.

We reach Musashi Itsukaichi station in the early afternoon. Trains
from there are infrequent; there's much more frequent service from
Haijima station, which is a short, simple and boring bike ride away.
(Or an attractive one, if you follow the river.)

Peter Evans peter.evans.somewhere@PROTECTED (No need to tell me that
you're coming; instead, just turn up.)

————————————

The hits just keep on comin’, guys and gals.

Il Padrone, 090-5813-6721
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