End of 2012 Brevet Season

Last weekend was the last brevet events of the season and 2012 Brevet season is now officially over. Brevet season is from January to October. This is my third year of brevet riding and this year has been the busiest brevet year so far. I have accumulated 2,500 km of official finish this year and DNF three events. 

This year is also the first that I have completed a series of 200, 300, 400 and 600 km brevets in a year and I'm entitled to the Super Randonneur special medal. I will request for the medal as soon as the application starts.

Looking forward for another busy 2013 season and looks like there couple of new things next year, namely:

1. New Audax Club in Tokyo (name is still undecided and branched out of Aoba Velo Club)

2. Super Randonnee 600 évent (this is a new brevet category that are mountainous 600 kilometres with over 10,000 meters of elevation gain). 

One goal next year is to try Super Randonnee 600 and need to think of my off-season (winter) brevet training plans. 

BRM	Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Total Climb	Comment
BRM421 Shizuoka 400 Fuji	23:05	20:09	4,226m	No sleep
BRM512 Aoba 200 Kazahari	DNF	-	-	Mechanical Trouble: Right shifter lever broken at 64 km.
BRM515 Aoba 200 Kazahari	11:32	9:43	2,018m	-
BRM 519 NishiTokyo 300 Fuji	16:36	14:02	2,633m	Evening Start
BRM 526 Shizuoka 600 Norikura	37:02	30:02	7,050m	Two hours of sleep & 40 minutes loss time
BRM 602 Aoba 600 HiekawaToge	DNF	-	-	Over slept
BRM 908 Aoba 600 Utsukushigahara	37:59	<30:00?	6,400m?	-Four hours of night rest/sleep. Lost some GPS data due device not able to continuously log data.
BRM 916 Kanagawa 400 Yatsugatake	26:31	21:20	5,547m	Barely slept, twice. One of the toughest course.
BRM 1006 Aoba 600 Kanto	DNF	-	-	Sick...

Aizu 2012

I cannot resist the call of Aizu autumn.

Aizu is a beautiful place located at the western part of Fukushima prefecture. It is surrounded by mountains ranges. To the east is Oou (奥羽山地), to the north is Iide (飯豊山地), to the west is Etsugo (越後山地) and to the south is Shimono (下野山地) mountain ranges. The center is Aizu-Wakamatsu, rich in history and located in a small basin and crisscrossed by 5 old historical roads. To go to Aizu especially by bicycle, there is no choice but to go over these mountain passes. Best time to visit Aizu is spring and autumn. (Note: There are lots and lots of snow in Aizu during winter and most mountain roads are not cleared of snow. Similar to Kofu in Yamanashi, summer season in a basin is well hot but more favourable compared to Tokyo.)

Day 1:
It was raining Thursday night but the weather forecast Friday and Saturday was fair weather. The rain was a blessing as the temperature didn't dropped as much. Started the ride a little bit after 6:00 with temperature around 7℃. The plan is to do a clock wise loop from Aizu-Tajima to Aizu-Wakamatsu taking small backroads as much as possible. From Aizu-Tajima, I fork off R400 into a small mountain pass Akatochi-toge (赤土峠), merged into K346 and then climb another mountain pass Nakayama-toge   (中山峠) where I found an old huge majestic tree. A quick descent brings me to a very nice hamlet or Oouchi-juku (大内宿) for a little sight-seeing. I arrive quite early and the villagers are just starting their commercial day and there is still no tourist. This place was very nice and I'm very interested to see what it looks like during the winter. Next mountain pass was Ichino-toge (市野峠), short but very steep narrow mountain road and then followed by a long descent to the Tsurugu Castle in Aizu-Wakamatsu.

From the castle to where I started is a long gentle climb on a very nice valley. Took the roads parallel to the national road R121 as much as possible as was rewarded with the road almost to myself. Stopped by an old-farm-house-turned-restaurant for a nice lunch and slowly rode back to 'base'.

Day 2:
With nice weather yesterday and no clouds, I expected a chilly morning. Actually, it wasn't chilly but very cold. Around 6:00 at elevation 560m, it was 1℃. As I haven't acclimated to winter temperatures yet, my eyeballs where freezing on the slow gentle climbs! Wind factor wasn't in consideration yet!. The plan today is to climb (沼山峠) at around 1700m and enjoy the kaleidoscope colors of autumn. I wasn't disappointed at all! It was the perfect weather, perfect location and perfect timing. If I can stop time, this could be it! I just let the pictures do all the taking.

950 years old Japanese zelkova tree. Very big trunk!!!

Oouchi-juku (大内宿)

Oouchi-juku on the background

Another view.

Temple on the hill behind Oouchi-juku

On the way to Aizu Wakamatsu

Few more weeks before autumn bloom

Temperature around 500 meters above sea level. Planning to climb around 1700 meters today.

BRM1006 Aoba 600 Kanto (DNF)

Unfortunately, I have to retire (DNF) due to sickness... I knew from the morning that I didn't feel good and had a sore throat but decided to start anyway hoping to see if it gets better. Obviously, it didn't...

For the rest of the story...

Few days before the brevet, I did a few changes and maintenance, namely:

• Change seat to Fizik Antares (experimental). After the aborted ride, will go back to Brooks :)
• Replaced chain: Already past allowable 'stretch'.
• Replaced rear tyre: See picture below. Still using Continental GranPrix 4-Seasons
• Swap rear wheel to normal wheel as power meter was broken from the previous BRM400 due to rain.
• No Q-sheet on the handlebar bag. Decided just to use GPS. As a backup, I laminated a small pocket size Q-sheet just to fit the back pocket.

The night before, I set alarm clock at 3:20 but didn't alarm. I naturally woke up around 4:00 and was startled a little bit. Now I have to rush and quickly prepared for the ride. I brought a sandwich for breakfast and ate as I rode to the starting location in front of Kawasaki Shimin Museum. I arrived at the starting point at around 5:00 and most of the riders already left. This brevet was fully booked around 120 riders. I heard that the other 600 km brevet, BRM1006 Sagamihara, has only 20+ riders. Sagamihara brevet is a super tough brevet with never ending climbs. Probably more than 8,000 meters in total climb. I was thinking of joining but decided not to. I decided to explore the outskirts of Kanto, which is new to me.

"Jose, it's already late!" shouted my friendly organizer behind me. I smiled and nodded and hurried up on the registration, bike check and promptly left.

As expected, traversing thru Tokyo and into the industrial Chiba is traffic hell. Stop and go traffic and especially worst early in the morning. It is a way for the Police to control over speeding at empty roads by flicking the red-green traffic light shorter and more frequent. The flow only got better from Funabashi around 45 km from the start.

Crossing Boso Peninsula was very nice, from Anegasaki (姉ケ崎) to Katsu-ura (勝浦) was traffic free with very few stops. It was a change of pace and enjoyed the rolling hills and farms of Chiba.

At Control #2 in Katsu-ura, there was an attendance check by one of the organiser. I mentioned to him that I will be retiring soon as my sickness is not getting better. Got confirmation and then eat lunch before continuing. I enjoyed the beach side road for a little bit before cutting the ride short and took the train home from Mobara (茂原駅) station.

One thing I notice about this specific Aoba brevet was there were more supporters and picture taking from the organisers compared in the past. Given a full-house, three-day weekend, relatively easy 600 km and many supporters, there is a high expectation to finish especially for first-timers. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those :(

Till next time.

Rear wheel tyre wear after one season of brevet!!! 

Control Point #1: 77 km

Control Point #2: 135 km. My bike on the background.

Rough Sea taken near KatsuUra, Chiba.

Beautiful KatsuUra Beach

Retired at around 170 km...

... at Mobara Station in Chiba.

Tohoku Touring 2012: Day 7/8

We were expecting rain also today due to the typhoon. However, the typhoon quickly passed early in the morning and the weather forecast is sunny with zero percentage of rain. The owner of the coop (Fujiwara-san) quickly changed his decision early in the morning that declared today is a harvest day.

Hikoroichi is a countryside just outside of Ofunato. Farmers own small parcels of lands where they cultivate, but their lands is not large enough nor cost effective for them to own machinery to cultivate. A cooperative was created more than 10 years ago with around 65 members, and every year the cooperative, which owns the farm machines, plants and/or harvest rice for the members. There is usually two teams doing the work. One team assigned to do the harvesting, bring back the rice and put in dryers. The other team put the dried rice in bags and brings it back to the owners. Today, I was assigned to help on the rice harvest. The first work of the day is to clear the four corners of the lot that the combine cannot harvest effectively and make sure the combine can navigate thru the paddies. Then help with bringing the rice to the dryers. Today we were assigned to harvest three farms with total of 14 small lots. Owners of the lots were nice and they brought snacks for us.

Usually, the harvest is done on a dry paddies but due to the heavy rain last night, the work is a little bit muddy. It was a back breaking work but a satisfying work at the end of the day.

I planned also to help the next day, but due to the rain, the work is cancelled again. Two out of the three volunteer days was out due to the uncooperative weather. I decided to head home in the morning rather than wait for the night bus. So I took the morning bus to Ichinoseki and rode the Shinkansen back home.

Combine emptying the rice cargo.

Life as a farmer is hard!

Before my work...

After my work...

and the final work...

Tohoku Touring 2012: Day 6

 Rain from early in the morning. This means no volunteer harvest work today.

Packed the bags and tent under the rain and cycled quickly in front of Sanlia Shopping Center for the volunteer pickup at the agree time. As expected, the harvest work is cancelled today due to rain and discussed quickly the alternatives. The decision is to visit monument and then proceed to the farm house where I will be staying for the next three days.

After a quick visit at Daiki of All Hands house, we had a quick coffee break before going to the monument being build by the dentist. First floor of his house was destroyed by Tsunami and continue to use second floor as his office. He plans to convert the first floor as gallery. I was surprise to see the person I met in my China cycling trip last year in the dentist house. At first I didn't recognise her and she was the one who mentioned we met in China. It took me a few seconds and finally I remember her as my room mate on one of the hostels I stayed. What is the probability of meeting a person again in a year from a backpacking or cycling trip? Wow! the world is getting smaller.  She now works on one for the NPO working in Ofunato. I also met another foreigner helping build the monument. After the quick visit of the monument, we drive to Higoroichi (日頃市) where the farm house is located. I was introduced to the family and also met a two volunteers (Reina and Aya). As there is no volunteer work, the host recommended that we visit a festival at a nearby town instead. The festival was inside the sweet factory, and they allowed to observed how the famous seagull egg sweet is made. The factory also offered eat-all-you-can sweets/cakes for 600yen for 20 minutes. I can only eat 4 pieces and my blood sugar went off the roof... Also watch a live concert and a local autumn harvest dance.

On the way home, we stopped by one of the hamlet and help a little bit on the festival preparation and then walked back to the farm house stopping by ChoAnJi temple. We then went to the Goyou onsen (五葉温泉) before dinner. The farm coop owner gave us a free Onsen pass.

Finished the day with a family dinner and then said goodbye to the weekend volunteers.

Message on the ongoing monument work near the dentist house in Ofunato.

Farm house when I will be staying for the volunteer work.

Too bad, these beautiful sweets will end up in the stomach.

Eat all you can for 600 yen.

Live band on the local festival.

Autumn Harvest Dance

ChoAnJi (長安寺)

Tohoku Touring 2012: Day 5

I woke up around 4:00 then pack the rack bags into the big sack and proceeded to Morioka station. I then prepared the bike for travel and had enough time to eat breakfast at the station. The local train was a three car diesel train that stops every station and took almost three hours to reach Kamaishi station. It was a nice scenic ride. Arrived at around 9:00 and do the routine of preparing the bikes and packing the rack bags. A curious folk started a conversation and warned me of the multiple ups and downs of the road to Ofunato. Had an early lunch or a second breakfast and then started the ride to Ofunato. I took R45 and was surprise how busy this road was. Lot's of trucks and cars and busting with activities. The restoration is full steam ahead. As expected, a hilly road with tunnel at every peak. Sad to see all the affected towns on each coast. So many affected area. Lots of breaks and finally had a long stop at Michi no Eki just before Ofunato. Also took this opportunity to stealth charge my electronics at one of the expose electrical outlets.

After the long rest, I continued the climb and has to branch out of R45 as the long tunnel is only for automobiles. I have to climb a little bit more before the long descent to Ofunato. Scouted the park to stay and looked perfect. Then I visited a few places on Sakari-cho before getting dinner and settle for the night.

One of the town affected by Tsunami...

Resting on one of the passes...

Yoshihama Bay

Temple at Tenshinzan Park (天神山公園)

Stealth camping on the park.

Tohoku Touring 2012: Day 4

It was a windy night but slept well. Kakunodate is only around 10 km due south and enjoyed the warm up ride on the nice wide smooth pavement. Arrived around 7:00 at Kakunodate and the place is still deserted with people. Kakunodate is sometimes called small Kyoto. This town is one of the best place to see Samurai houses and got a feeling that the town is still active from the old days except for some signs of commercial establishment if front. There are old houses with big lots and very old trees. I criss-crossed the square streets and then stop by the station to confirm working train stations around Ofunato.

I then followed R46 (also known as Akita Kaido) and this national road should take me to Morioka. The road slowly climbs and then steepens on the last 10 km towards to peak. The climb from Akita side has a lots of tunnels with the longest tunnel of around 2.4 km at the top.  Another long descent and then stop by Michi no Eki for lunch. There is also a hot spring in this parking area. I decided to take a dip knowing that it will all be downhill to Morioka (no sweat). I rested a bit to digest my lunch and chatted with some local before entering the hot spring. Leaving the bike and luggages unattended for a time always worries me on a tour like this, so took out my long lock and tied the bike and luggages together to a post and hope everything will stay as they are. The bath was nice and also did my laundry inside. Feeling refresh again, I hang the wet clothes on the panniers hoping they will dry out in couple of hours. I diverted away from the national road into a nice small roads leading to the dam and then continued to Morioka. Scouted a place to camp at Morioka Central Park then proceed to the station for early dinner of Reimen (冷麺). Returned back to park and setup camp before dark and call it a day. I expect to wake up very early tomorrow to catch the 6:00 train to Kamaishi. I needed to take the train to meet the other volunteers on time at Ofunato.

Tohoku Touring 2012: Day 3

Woke up relative late today but feel fresh and ready for another day on the saddle. The weather was perfect today and another nice touring pace ride. The goal today is to get close as possible to Kakunodate, find a good hot spring and have a good sleep.

After eating breakfast, I decided to boil some of the nuts (橡) I picked up yesterday. I boiled them for 15 minutes and then tried to eat one. It was very bitter and spitted out immediately. The bitterness lingered a while. It was awful and quickly disposed all the nuts.

Left the camp site around 7:30 and followed prefecture road K3 and then to the main road of the day R105.  K3 is flat road with scattered villages and rice farms. R105 is part of an old road OShu (奥州街道) . Oshu is part of south Iwate rich in history and culture. It is also rich in agriculture especially rice. I didn't research the actual old Oshu road for this trip so I settled on the new national road. R105 signal the start of a slow long climb along a nice river valley. The road are wide and very smooth. There is not much traffic also on this national road so it was a nice enjoyable ride.  Stopped by Michi no Eki for lunch. Reach the top of the pass after an hour and enjoyed the long descent. Stop by a local vendor on the road after a couple of hours and bought a local bento box for dinner. Next stop is the hot spring but unfortunately it was closed for the day. It is getting dark and the next onsen is far away so I pass on the hot bath for today. Went to the park near the river and setup up camp under a shed. I was lucky to find an electrical outlet on the shed and happily charged all my electronics for the night.

Panorama View of Akita rice fields.