{"id":2585,"date":"2015-06-05T23:24:49","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T14:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-06-05\/2585"},"modified":"2015-06-05T23:24:49","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T14:24:49","slug":"conquering-kyotos-seryo-pass-with-manu-mohan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-06-05\/2585","title":{"rendered":"Conquering Kyoto’s Seryo Pass with Manu Mohan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWell-Earned Refreshment<\/span>\nManu Mohan at Seryo Pass (\u82b9\u751f\u5ce0)\n680m of elevation (2,230')\nKyoto Japan\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Today I went with Manu Mohan<\/a> on his first “<\/span>real”<\/span> cycling ride.<\/p>\n\n

Manu is a National Scholar student of linguists at Kyoto University who\nhappens to part-time at the convenience store near me, and his easy smile\nand cheerful attitude made me want to connect with him beyond the\n30-seconds snippets at the cash register. When he saw on Facebook that\nI was<\/span> into cycling, he expressed interest.<\/p>\n\n

So today we got together for an easy, untaxing first ride.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMeeting Spot<\/span>\nNijo Castle (\u4e8c\u6761\u57ce)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I somehow had it in my head that he lived near Nijo Castle halfway\nacross town from me, so I suggested<\/span> that we meet there. It turns<\/span> out that\nhe lives a short<\/span> walk from me, so it was silly that we both went over there\nto meet! But it wasn<\/span>'t totally out of the way from where we were going to go.<\/p>\n\n

Wanting an easy yet satisfying route for his first ride, I thought<\/span> of my first ride<\/a> earlier in\nthe year, so we headed north up the gentle slope that is Kyoto city proper\ntoward the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 67mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n10:19am - taken while cycling at 15 kph (9 mph)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Manu's Wachen BF-70F\nfolding bicycle<\/a> is designed for convenient city travel, and not really appropriate\nfor hills, but he hit his first hill better than I did.<\/span>..<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 38mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nUnfazed by the Hill<\/span>\n10:23am - taken while cycling at 27 kph (17 mph)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

He seemed to be fine to continue, so we headed into the mountains, up toward Kibune.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 49mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/2.7, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOn the Way to Kibune<\/span>\nat the same location we stopped<\/a> the first time I rode<\/span> here\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 50mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/2.7, ISO 250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThrough Kubune<\/span>\n11:03am - taken while cycling at 8 kph (5 mph)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nKibune Shrine<\/span>\n\u8cb4\u8239\u795e\u793e\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Manu is a native speaker of English and an Indian language I don't<\/span>\nrecall (Hindi?), and even though I came<\/span> to Japan before he was born, he's\nmuch better at Japanese than me. He also speaks<\/span> Chinese and French, and\ndabbles in others. Out of my<\/span> league.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGetting Steeper<\/span>\n11:16am - taken while cycling at 12 kph (7 mph)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThe Top of Kibune<\/span>\nKibune Shrine Okumiya (\u8cb4\u8239\u795e\u793e\u5965\u5bae)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Manu's bike is not appropriate for the mountains... it's designed for\nconvenience in the city. It can fold<\/span> up into a conveniently<\/span> small space,\nand it's intended for moving in city traffic.<\/p>\n\n

At 14kg (31 lbs) it's heavy, it has short cranks so that you don't get\nmuch leverage on the pedals, and its lowest gearing is still a heavy<\/span> 52\/28 (1.86 front-to-rear ratio), meaning that\nfor every revolution of the pedals, you have to give it enough power to\nrotate the tires 1.86 revolutions. If you're going up a\nsteep<\/span> slope, that's a lot<\/i> of power needed each time around.<\/p>\n\n

(By contrast, I think my bike has a lowest<\/span>\ngear ratio of about 0.8, meaning it's much<\/i> easier to keep going up\na steep<\/span> hill.)<\/p>\n\n

Nevertheless, I asked whether he'd like to try continuing farther up the\nmountain. Beyond where we were, the road quickly becomes quite steep and\ntwisty, and I thought<\/span> perhaps a taste<\/span> of this would be useful information for the\nfuture.<\/p>\n\n

So we forged on...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 40mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGoing Vertical<\/span>\n11:29am - taken while cycling at 7 kph (4 mph)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 40mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 2000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGetting Really Tough<\/span>\n11:29am - taken while cycling at 7 kph (4 mph)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nManu's “<\/span>This is Not Humanly Possible”<\/span> Face<\/span>\n11:31am - taken while cycling at 9 kph (6 mph)\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Before turning around, I wanted to give his bike a try,<\/span> and let me tell you it was difficult.\nMuch much much more difficult than mine. When he tried mine, he felt like he was flying...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 56mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nA Different<\/span> Experience<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

With my bike he thought he could continue, so we switched and continued on...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRidiculously Difficult<\/span>\nthe photo makes it look like I'm going downhill, but it's very, very uphill\nphoto by Manu Mohan<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Besides being inappropriate for the mountains, Manu's bike is really\ninappropriate for me. It's probably<\/span> a bit<\/span> too small for Manu to begin with, but for me it\nfelt like I was<\/span> riding a\ntoy<\/span> like\nthis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

I took it as a challenge... my first assault (if you could call such\na slow<\/span>-motion effort) of Seryu Pass from the\ndifficult southern approach would be on this bike.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBarely Enough Speed<\/span>\nto be considered “<\/span>movement”<\/span>\nphoto by Manu Mohan<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

We took our time... we'd ride for 50~100m, then rest, then ride again, then rest again. It got ever<\/span> steeper.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPausing<\/span>\nnear the site of the famous snowball-in-the-wife's-face<\/a> incident\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Manu never gave up, never complained... just kept pushing on. After\n3.3km (2mi) of ridiculous 12% grade, we made it to Seryo Pass (\u82b9\u751f\u5ce0).<\/span> It was my<\/span> first time by bicycle to the pass from this side.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTop of the World<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nElated<\/span>\nto make it at all, but especially so on such a bike<\/span>\nphoto by Manu Mohan<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

By this time it had started to rain — it's now the rainy season in Japan — so we headed down slowly and carefully. It's easier<\/span> going down.<\/p>\n\n

Some of the views were really nice, though the photo doesn't capture it at all \ud83d\ude41 <\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nReally Great View<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

We got quite chilly on the way down, so we stopped in Kibune for hot tea\nand hot noodles. But by the<\/span> time we left, the rain was coming down in\nearnest, so we got soaked in no time, and absolutely froze heading home.\nThe UnderArmour “<\/span>Storm”<\/span> windbreaker I brought<\/span> along and used for the first time\nwas not as waterproof as I had<\/span> been led to expect, making it the first UnderArmour\nproduct (among very many) that I've been disappointed in.<\/p>\n\n

Chilly return aside, it was a fun day and I really<\/span> enjoyed to get to\nknow Manu more. He's busy with<\/span> school and work, so I don't<\/span> know how much\ntime he'll have for cycling (or, with that bicycle, how much inclination),\nbut I hope<\/span> we ride again soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I went with Manu Mohan on his first \"real\" cycling ride.<\/p>

Manu is a National Scholar student of linguists at Kyoto University who happens to part-time at the convenience store near me, and his easy smile and cheerful attitude made me want to connect with him beyond the 30-seconds snippets at the cash register. When he saw on Facebook that I was into cycling, he expressed interest.<\/p>

So today we got together for an easy, untaxing first ride.<\/p>

I somehow had it in my head that he lived near Nijo Castle halfway across town from me, so I suggested [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,1,2,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}