BRM515 Kazahari

I did managed to find a Tiagra 4600-GS rear derailer at Y's in R1 and installed promptly. My current rear mech setup is Shimano Dyna-Sys XT 11-34T rear sprocket and was a little bit concern if I can use the GS version of Tiagra, with low sprocket limit of 30T. I know makers sometimes quote their spec conservatively so I took the risk. This Tiagra is the only Shimano road groupset I know of to support 30T rear sprocket. It turned out to be OK and shifted perfectly on all gears. I have gotten rid of my SRAM shifter and will be sending the defective shifter for replacement under warranty. My Lemond bike can now be commissioned again...

Installed new downtube shifter.

With a Tiagra derailer...

Another look on the weather the night before the event didn't look promising. I decided to use my other Audax bike, with full fender and wider tires (of course, with a downtube shifter). It is little bit heavy but not an issue with the relax pace. The organizer later called my bike a "truck"!!! Not surprised at all when 99% of the riders were using a road racing bikes for brevet.

Left home early in the rain to the starting point. There were 19 on the entry list but only a handful started (probably just 7-8 riders), split 50-50 beginners/veterans. We all rode together until the first control point. However, we cannot really draft because of the rear wheel muddy water spray directly to the face. The group got separated very quickly on the ascent to Kazahari Toge. I arrived at PC2 around 11:25. I was expecting to have my lunch at this point but unfortunately "Tabayama Michi No Eki" doesn't have a restaurant.

My "truck"... 

Starting point under the cover of R246.

On the return leg from PC2, I joined a group of two seasoned brevet riders (Suzuki-san and Tashiro-san). They invited me later to a gourmet lunch along the River. T-san is a very strong brevet rider and showed me a different way of enjoying the event. What T-san do every event is to research a popular restaurants (yes, plural) along the route and enjoy the food. On this route he took us to Soba Taro (蕎麦太郎) along river. I ordered same food as T-san, which is the Wasabi Croquette (わさびコロッケ). We spend around 40 minutes on this restaurant. Around 10 km after the restaurant, T-san and S-san stopped again for another gourmet food stop. This time, I have excused myself as I'm still full. I realize that this is a good motivation to get stronger for the brevet ride. You can use the extra time to enjoy local stuff rather just endlessly pushing the pedals. I will meet both of them again at Shizuoka 600km brevet at the end of the month.

View from Kazahari Pass.

Soba Taro.

Wasabi Croquette