Social Ride Among Kyoto’s Fall Colors
NORU Kyoto's First Social Ride Minobu, James, Antony, Lianca, Joshua, Scotty, Tomas, Ross, Kumiko, Michael, Me -- Kyomi Pass (京見峠) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 31mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
NORU Kyoto's First Social Ride
Minobu, James, Antony, Lianca, Joshua, Scotty, Tomas, Ross, Kumiko, Michael, Me

Yesterday was the inaugural social ride hosted by NORU Kyoto. Whatever allergy/sickness that has been plaguing me of late was in remission, so a slow relaxing group ride seemed perfect for me.

Gathering at NORU Kyoto -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Gathering
at NORU Kyoto
Heading Out passing in front of the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 47mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Heading Out
passing in front of the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮)
Ross and Tomas taken while riding at 18 kph (11 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/1000 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Ross and Tomas
taken while riding at 18 kph (11 mph)

This was my first ride with Tomas, the fastest rider in the group. Although I'd not ridden with Tomas before, we'd chatted at other events and share an interest in photography and programming. I was happy that my first ride with him was a slow social group ride, allowing me to keep up and chat.

To give a sense of Tomas' speed, his time on my benchmark Hanase Pass climb is less than 24 minutes, which seems inhumanly fast to me. My best time is more than 32 minutes.

Making Our Way Out of the City nature and mountains are never very far away when in Kyoto -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 52mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Making Our Way Out of the City
nature and mountains are never very far away when in Kyoto
Antony Chugging Up In The Mountains -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 46mm — 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Antony Chugging Up In The Mountains

A few people were new to the group, including Antony who had never really ridden in the mountains. His showing up in street clothes without experience largely paralleled my own first ride, except his bicycle was much less appropriate for the mountains than mine, and this ride was going to be longer than what I did. He had guts. It would be interesting to see how far he got.

Joshua and Lianca heading up to Kyomi Pass (京見峠) taken while riding at 14 kph (8 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 31mm — 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Joshua and Lianca
heading up to Kyomi Pass (京見峠)
taken while riding at 14 kph (8 mph)
Rush Hour Lots of hikers making their way up as well taken while riding at 16 kph (10 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 50mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.7, ISO 640 — map & image datanearby photos
Rush Hour
Lots of hikers making their way up as well
taken while riding at 16 kph (10 mph)
Making It Look Easy James on his first ride with the group taken while riding at 11 kph (7 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 38mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.4, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Making It Look Easy
James on his first ride with the group
taken while riding at 11 kph (7 mph)
Scruffy Ross at Kyomi Pass (京見峠) -- Kyomi Pass (京見峠) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Scruffy Ross
at Kyomi Pass (京見峠)

I was about to have you compare the photo above to clean-shaven Ross, but it turns out he's not as clean-shaven in that pic either.

We took some group photos near Kyomi Pass, one of which opens this post.

I Photoshop'd myself into the copy seen above, from a separate photo that Joshua took. It turns out that I was standing a bit closer to the camera than anyone else, so my height was exaggerated to the point of making me look grotesquely big. So, I took the liberty to shrink myself to a more contextually-balanced size. 🙂

Heading Down -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/1.7, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Heading Down

A bit of motion blur adds life to cycling photos, but I had incessant problems with blur and focus all day 🙁

Our route, a clockwise version of Kyoto's Heart Loop ride, next brought us to Mochikoshi Pass, which from this direction is neither long nor challenging.

Gathering at the Top Mochikoshi Pass (持越峠) -- Mochikoshi Pass (持越峠) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Gathering at the Top
Mochikoshi Pass (持越峠)

I continued down early to set up to take photos of others coming down, settling for a spot with a small splash of color because it didn't seem like the rest of the (very steep) way down would offer a better background. Sadly, I was wrong and it would have been much better had I continued, but I guess it doesn't matter because most of the photos didn't come out. I think I just don't know how to use this small camera I bought for use while cycling. I'll bring my Nikon D4 on the next social outing.

Ross Leads The Way Down -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 30mm — 1/80 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Ross Leads The Way Down
Antony and James too fast to capture -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — 1/80 sec, f/2.1, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Antony and James
too fast to capture
“ Oddly Wrong ” Joshua -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.1, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Oddly Wrong Joshua

The bad Photoshop job above is the result of a joking promise I made to Joshua to make him look fast by adding motion blur. He'd come around the corner slowly, and did a track stand in front of me to pose for the photo. Sadly, I'm no good at this kind of Photoshop, so it would have been easier to make him look fast by just asking him to go back and actually be fast (something he's more than capable of doing, as an exhausted me found out on my first ride with him).

Heading Back Toward Town closing out the first half of the ride taken while riding at 30 kph (18 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 29mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Heading Back Toward Town
closing out the first half of the ride
taken while riding at 30 kph (18 mph)
Typical Japanese Country Scene beautiful nature, utility pole, cinderblock wall, cyclists 10:54am - taken while riding at 28 kph (17 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 29mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Typical Japanese Country Scene
beautiful nature, utility pole, cinderblock wall, cyclists
10:54am - taken while riding at 28 kph (17 mph)
Another Typical Japan Scene old Japanese architecture, Michael looking fast and calm taken while riding at 32 kph (20 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 29mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.1, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Another Typical Japan Scene
old Japanese architecture, Michael looking fast and calm
taken while riding at 32 kph (20 mph)
Not Quite So Typical James and Antony roll past an old farmstead -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 56mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Not Quite So Typical
James and Antony roll past an old farmstead
Color-Coordination Par Excellance this was my first ride with Nishimura-san taken while riding at 57 kph (35 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/1.7, ISO 250 — map & image datanearby photos
Color-Coordination Par Excellance
this was my first ride with Nishimura-san
taken while riding at 57 kph (35 mph)
Lovely Corrugated-Metal Background I missed a background of rich autumn colors by a couple of seconds :-( taken while riding at 35 kph (22 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 32mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Lovely Corrugated-Metal Background
I missed a background of rich autumn colors by a couple of seconds 🙁
taken while riding at 35 kph (22 mph)

The biggest problem I face trying to capture the photos I want (besides the need to avoid crashing) is getting far enough back to include all that I want while at the same time excluding unsightly stuff from the background. The shot of Tomas above was just a bit too late to capture what felt to be the perfect combination, and I ended up with dilapidated corrugated metal for my background.

Undaunted, I tried again later on the next little climb...

A Tomas In Its Natural Environment taken while riding at 20 kph (12 mph) up the Ichihara Byass -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
A Tomas In Its Natural Environment
taken while riding at 20 kph (12 mph) up the Ichihara Byass
Fake Aero taken while descending at only 30 kph (19 mph) ( if he'd actually been going fast, I'd not have been able to take the pic ) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Fake Aero
taken while descending at only 30 kph (19 mph)
( if he'd actually been going fast, I'd not have been able to take the pic )
taken while riding at 37 kph (23 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
taken while riding at 37 kph (23 mph)
Convenience-Store Stop at about the halfway point -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Convenience-Store Stop
at about the halfway point
Village Detour we popped up to the top of a short hill overlooking a village -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Village Detour
we popped up to the top of a short hill overlooking a village
View of the Village -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
View of the Village
Heading Down Through the Village taken while riding at 20 kph (12 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 46mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Heading Down Through the Village
taken while riding at 20 kph (12 mph)

We then did the last climb of the day, to Ebumi Pass (江文峠), then down the other side to the large but picturesque village of Ohara (大原).

Typical Ohara Scene -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/9, ISO 500 — map & image datanearby photos
Typical Ohara Scene
Me photo taken by a passer-by -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 46mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Me
photo taken by a passer-by

While I'd stopped to take photos of the fields, the others had gone to a farmers' market to partake of what the fields produced...

At a Farmer's Market -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
At a Farmer's Market
Bicycle Parking -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Bicycle Parking

The return to Kyoto from Ohara is downhill the whole way, which I'm sure Antony appreciated. Having ridden over three passes on that heavy city bike, I'm sure he was exhausted.

Downhill All the Way taken while riding at 41 kph (26 mph) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Downhill All the Way
taken while riding at 41 kph (26 mph)
Back in the City passing through the Shokoku-ji Temple (相国寺) complex -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 25mm — 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Back in the City
passing through the Shokoku-ji Temple (相国寺) complex

Antony, who lives near me, joined me for the ride home after coffee and cake at NORU Kyoto.

Feeling Satisfied after a long ride in the mountains on a bike not meant for the mountains -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Feeling Satisfied
after a long ride in the mountains on a bike not meant for the mountains
Lovely Early-Autumn Day in Kyoto -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Lovely Early-Autumn Day in Kyoto

In the end my ride was about 66km (41 miles). Here it is on my cycling heatmap and at Strava.

A great day with great folks.

Update: here's a short video from the ride.


One comment so far...

Hi Jeffrey,

On the subject of “parking” the bike — it’s better to lay down the bike on the non-drive side so you don’t bang the rear derailleur against the pavement or other objects.

Most of the time banged-up derailleur is not the problem, the crooked derailleur hanger is. Next thing you know you won’t be shifting so swift or smoothly.

Oh, I am also a long time reader of yours, ten years, maybe? 🙂

Bob

Good point, thanks! —Jeffrey

— comment by Bob on November 11th, 2015 at 1:40pm JST (8 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink
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