Alexis, a cycling Frenchman living in England, contacted NORU for a private bike tour around the far-flung mountains of Kyoto. Joshua set him up with a bike and took him around, while I tagged along for photos.

Right after this photo is the first real test of cycling ability, a short, steep climb that averages 10% over 760m (half a mile), but has some 17% sections.

When you're contacted out of the blue by someone for a bike ride, you're not really sure of their level and what would be appropriate/fun/challenging/daunting for them, so this initial climb would be a bit of a “trial by fire” to gauge someone's level.

In this case, Alexis' demeanor on the bike on the steepest sections remained unchanged from when casually cruising among the flat rice fields, as if the effort that was a challenge for me was not at all an effort for him. He seems ridiculously strong, but not particularly interested in using that strength during this ride. This was lucky for me, because the subsequent longer climbs that he was happy to just casually enjoy ended up at a pace that I could, with effort, maintain.

All in all, Alexis had done 89km with about 1,750m of elevation gain. He seemed to have enjoyed his time, and I enjoyed both his company and that I didn't slow them down too much.

After Alexis bid us farewell, Joshua and I headed east across the city heading to our respective homes...

Here's my full ride at Strava: