Panasonic LX100 at an effective 34mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.3, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kentaro Kataoka
out of focus and “artsy”, but doing some real cycling

The other day I went on a ride with Kentaro Kataoka (“Ken-chan”), who has been a friend for a long time. He's a sports-massage masseur with his own clinic.

He's been on my blog a number of times over the years, such as when he graduated from massage school four years ago, giving a friend an impromptu massage last year, or just seeing the sights with me (here and here).

He does a lot of running (street and mountain), but is new to cycling, having just bought his first “real” road bike. We went on our first ride together the other day.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Michael and Manseki Joking Around
I don't know what they were doing, but their smiles were infectious

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ken-chan Shows Up
wearing his mountain-running clothes, along with real cycling shoes

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.2, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
In the Mountains

We got our first taste of a hill with a short climb that on my best day I did in 58 seconds. He didn't really know what to expect other than “a short climb that takes a minute or two”, and just took off, and he did it in 68 seconds without much effort. I was stunned... that was faster than my 2nd-fastest time, which was the 72 seconds that I did trying to keep up with him.

He's new to cycling, but his fitness level is very high.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — ¹/80 sec, f/2.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
At The Foot of Mochikoshi Pass
photo by Manseki Kanemitsu

The eastern climb up to Mochikoshi Pass is 1.1km at an average of 9%, but the first half is much more steep than the second half. It's absolutely brutal if you try to go fast.

I wasn't thinking to actually ascend it with Ken-chan, but I wanted to show him the initial super-steep section. He seemed to handle it just fine, so we decided to make the full climb to the top. He made it in about six minutes with little apparent effort. (His time registered longer because he paused to let a truck go by, but had he stuck with me, he would have easily had my time. I knew the road and knew I'd get to the top before the truck got there, so I didn't waste 20 seconds pulling over to wait for him to pass.)

He's in such great physical shape that all he needs is some experience learning about cycling technique, and he'll quickly become one of the top riders around.

On the way home we stopped by NORU for coffee and cake...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/60 sec, f/1.7, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Refilling the Gas Tank
at NORU

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — ¹/60 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Size Comparison
a cyclist from Shiga compares her bike to mine

It was a short, rainy ride but it was great to show Ken-chan some of the mountains that I've learned to love this past year. Can't wait to do it again.