Jayves Rando Blog: 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.