Saturday rides
From:
"Half-Fast Cycling" <bulletin@PROTECTED>
Subject:
Saturday rides
Date:
March 13th 2025
WINTER’S LAST
BLAST
Going to rain Sunday, and Saturday looking cool (12 degrees) and cloudy but with little wind. We still need that exercise, that social interaction, that sunlight… and possibly beer. So we have two rides for Saturday, our usual Odaiba run and one of Peter’s far more ambitious hill-climbs.
Next weekend’s forecast is for 19-20 degrees and sunny, so winter’s end is getting closer. Courage.
Half-Fast Monthly Meeting
On Wednesday the 19th at 7:00 at The Pink Cow in Akasaka. https://www.thepinkcow.com/ Burritos are rumored to be on the menu. Details on Tuesday.
Saturday Odaiba Jaunt
Start at the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills at 11:00 for a quick, 30-km ride out to the magic island in the bay. Beach bar lunch. Back by around 2:00.
Saturday Okutama
Setting off at 09:00 from the bike racks of the forecourt of the Okutama Kori Seven-Eleven https://maps.app.goo.gl/2gm4jKrVuHJW5LYbA (the only full-service konbini you'll see along the ride), and then doing this route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/49936342 (or something very much like it).
Simply, we first go up the Tamagawa to Hikawa (the centre of Okutama), bypassing most of the tunnels. At Hikawa, we turn up the Nippara valley and go as far as the entrance to the caves. We shan't enter the caves (comprehensively stripped of any stalagmites or stalactites that they might once have had): the reason for riding up and down Nippara is instead its stunning scenery. Then we make a U-turn and go back down the way we came. (There doesn't seem to be an alternative.) Lunch in some restaurant in or near Hikawa. Then we go farther up the Tamagawa, either (A) turning sharp left 34 km after the start and heading back to Hikawa via "Okutama Mukashi-michi" (with a miscellany of low-key attractions) or (B) going 9 km farther west to the western end of Okutama-ko, making a U-turn, and only then going along "Okutama Mukashi-michi" back to Hikawa. We end up at Okutama station, though you may wish to ride your bike as far as Ōme station, or to Hamura and the "Tamagawa cycling path". There are no steep slopes. Old man speed.
A train from Tōkyō, Shinjuku, Tachikawa, etc named Horidē Kaisoku Okutama ichigō only goes as far as Ōme, arriving at 07:46. At Ōme you change to the Ōme line train (destination Okutama), departing at 08:01; at 08:34 you get out of the train at Kori station, and you leave the station by its (southern) exit 2.
Inspired by the film Perfect Days, a friend's proposed Perfect Days loo tour, and "OPT" https://www.youtube.com/@OPT-okutama , I'd been thinking of an Okutama loo tour; but though the the loos are salubrious they're architecturally unremarkable, so no. Still, I've left them on the map. You'll never be far from a welcoming loo!
There are tunnels we can't bypass; you'll need front and rear lights. You'll also need a rinkōbukuro, the wherewithal for fixing a puncture, water, cash for lunch, and something to lock your bike while you're having lunch.
Peter Evans peter.evans.somewhere@PROTECTED
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All for now.
Il Padrone, 090-5813-6721
P.S. Very close to inking the contract to charter the Marco Polo tour boat for this year’s Tokyo Bay Cruise. The date will be June 14. Write it down.
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