{"id":2695,"date":"2016-05-20T16:31:34","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T07:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2016-05-20\/2695"},"modified":"2016-05-20T16:31:34","modified_gmt":"2016-05-20T07:31:34","slug":"getting-back-in-the-saddle-with-a-challenging-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2016-05-20\/2695","title":{"rendered":"Getting Back in the Saddle with a Challenging Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class='ic' itemscope itemtype='http:\/\/schema.org\/Photograph'><a name=\"i5534\" href='\/i\/JF_i6p_5534.jpg' itemprop='image'\n><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF_i6p_5534_sm.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"518\"\nalt=\"Yesterday, at Onyu Pass after 66km or riding, 1,650m of climb, and one flat tire \u304a\u306b\u3085\u3046\u5ce0\u3002\u305d\u3053\u307e\u3067\u306f\u30d1\u30f3\u30af\u4e00\u3064 \u3001\u8ddd\u96e2 66km \u3001\u7372\u5f97\u9ad8\u5ea6 1,650m -- Obama, Fukui, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/\"\nid=\"ii6p_5534\"\ntitle=\"Yesterday, at Onyu Pass after 66km or riding, 1,650m of climb, and one flat tire \u304a\u306b\u3085\u3046\u5ce0\u3002\u305d\u3053\u307e\u3067\u306f\u30d1\u30f3\u30af\u4e00\u3064 \u3001\u8ddd\u96e2 66km \u3001\u7372\u5f97\u9ad8\u5ea6 1,650m -- Obama, Fukui, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/\"\/><\/a>\n<br\/><span class=\"camera-info robots-nocontent\">iPhone 6+ back camera &mdash; <sup>1<\/sup><big>\/<\/big>490 sec, <span class='f'>f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 &mdash;\n<a href='\/imageinfo.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJF_i6p_5534.jpg'>map &amp; image data<\/a> &mdash; <a href='\/blog\/proximity\/i\/JF_i6p_5534.jpg'>nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<br\/><span class='caption'>Yesterday, at Onyu Pass<\/span>\n<br\/>after 66km or riding, 1,650m of climb, and one flat tire\n<br\/>\u304a\u306b\u3085\u3046\u5ce0\u3002\u305d\u3053\u307e\u3067\u306f\u30d1\u30f3\u30af\u4e00\u3064<span class='nobr'>\u3001\u8ddd\u96e2<\/span>66km<span class='nobr'>\u3001\u7372\u5f97\u9ad8\u5ea6<\/span>1,650m\n<meta itemprop='url' content='http:\/\/regex.info\/i\/JF_i6p_5534.jpg'\/>\n<meta itemprop='creator' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='copyrightHolder' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='dateCreated' content='2016-05-19'\/>\n<meta itemprop='about' content=\"Yesterday, at Onyu Pass after 66km or riding, 1,650m of climb, and one flat tire \u304a\u306b\u3085\u3046\u5ce0\u3002\u305d\u3053\u307e\u3067\u306f\u30d1\u30f3\u30af\u4e00\u3064 \u3001\u8ddd\u96e2 66km \u3001\u7372\u5f97\u9ad8\u5ea6 1,650m -- Obama, Fukui, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/\"\/><\/div>\n\n<p>Having been back in Kyoto for two weeks after <a href='\/blog\/2016-05-14\/2694'>having been away for three months<\/a>, <span class='nobr'>I finally<\/span> started to ease back into real cycling with my first challenging ride since January\n(probably since <a href='https:\/\/www.strava.com\/activities\/467950776'>doing Sugino Pass three times in <span class='nobr'>a row<\/span> on <span class='nobr'>Jan 11<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n\n<p>I'd built up slowly with some simple rides, but nothing with <span class='nobr'>a lot<\/span> of climbing. <span class='nobr'>I was surprised<\/span> to find during those simple\nrides that <span class='nobr'>I was<\/span> doing much better on short\/intense climbs than <span class='nobr'>I did<\/span> before the three-month break, and <span class='nobr'>I wondered<\/span> whether this\nunexplained fitness would transition to longer climbs.<\/p>\n\n<p>The answer turned out to be <span class='QO'>&#8220;<\/span>no<span class='QC'>&#8221;<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n<p>For yesterday's route, I more or less retraced the loop seen in last October's\n<span class='QO'>&#8220;<\/span><a href='\/blog\/2015-10-20\/2636' class='pt'>The New Bike Is Fast; I\u2019m Just Going Along For The Ride<\/a><span class='QC'>&#8221;<\/span>,\nbut with <span class='nobr'>a different<\/span> tactic.<\/p>\n\n<p>First, here's yesterday's ride:<\/p>\n\n<iframe class='ic' height='405' width='590' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='https:\/\/www.strava.com\/activities\/585140829\/embed\/c160862766b478297974bbb025514083f0036566'><\/iframe>\n\n<p>Still too wimpy to try to give full effort on <span class='nobr'>a long<\/span> climb, <span class='nobr'>I decided<\/span> to\ntry <span class='nobr'>a steady<\/span> pace between Ichihara (the last built-up area before diving into the northern mountains)\nand Onyu Pass way up north 20km short of the ocean. <span class='nobr'>The route<\/span> starts at an elevation of about 150m and\ngoes over two passes (Hanase at 760m and Nomi at 657m) before ending up at Onyu Pass's 839m. <span class='nobr'>In between<\/span>\nthe passes is lots of downhill and\/or gently-sloping rises.<\/p>\n\n<p>It's not a route that folks generally try to do in one shot &mdash; there are <span class='nobr'>a lot<\/span> of inviting\nplaces to stop and relax along the way &mdash; so <span class='nobr'>I knew<\/span> that if <span class='nobr'>I stopped<\/span>\nonly occasionally to get drinks, <span class='nobr'>I'd rank near<\/span> the top on <a href='https:\/\/www.strava.com\/segments\/12122558'>the long 58km\nsegment<\/a>. <span class='nobr'>I was slow<\/span> and lethargic up the climbs, but quite fast down the descents, adopting <span\nclass='nobr'>a super<\/span> aero position on the downhills (my top speed of the day was 75kph \/ 46mph). But overall, simply\nchoosing not to dally gave me the top spot by <span class='nobr'>a wide<\/span> margin.<\/p>\n\n<p>Even losing 16 minutes to a puncture near the end (and to having to scramble down <span class='nobr'>a ravine<\/span> to fetch\nthe water bottle that rolled away while fixing the flat), <span class='nobr'>I made the<\/span> top spot by half an hour (3h17m\n<i>vs.<\/i> 3h49m).<\/p>\n\n<p>I sort of hope some of my friends see this as <span class='nobr'>a challenge<\/span> and show me what <span class='nobr'>a\nreal<\/span> effort might produce. <span class='nobr'>I expect<\/span> some of them could easily beat 2h45m.<\/p>\n\n<p>Anyway, the puncture on the way up Onyu took the wind out of my sails, but <span class='nobr'>I was<\/span> already tired to begin\nwith. <span class='nobr'>I took a<\/span> half-hour nap at the summit, and ate <span class='nobr'>a lot<\/span> of carbs. To avoid\n<span class='QO'>&#8220;<\/span>The Bonk<span class='QC'>&#8221;<\/span> (running out of energy) <span class='nobr'>I tried<\/span>\nusing energy gels every hour. <span class='nobr'>I think<\/span> they worked, because my fatigue was more basic than just an empty\ngas tank... <span class='nobr'>I was just<\/span> at the edge of my fitness level.<\/p>\n\n<p>But at $2+ each, and one per hour, those energy gels become pricey! Between those and the carbo cookies and all the drinks <span class='nobr'>I\nbought,<\/span> <span class='nobr'>I probably<\/span> spent <span class='nobr'>a good<\/span> $25 on keeping myself going. That's <span class='nobr'>a lot<\/span> for each ride!<\/p>\n\n<p>The scenery of Kyoto's mountains was, as usual, just stunning. <span class='nobr'>I didn't<\/span> bring the camera, but snapped <span class='nobr'>a few<\/span> photos with\nmy iPhone, but they just don't do anything justice, even after trying to bring out some <i>oomph<\/i> in Lightroom.<\/p>\n\n<p>Case in point: this scene, from <span class='nobr'>a bridge<\/span> near the start of <a\nhref='https:\/\/www.strava.com\/segments\/11933382?filter=overall'>this lovely secret 8% climb<\/a>, was in real life just\n<i>wonderful<\/i>...<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic tight' itemscope itemtype='http:\/\/schema.org\/Photograph'><a name=\"i5536\" href='\/i\/JF_i6p_5536.jpg' itemprop='image'\n><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF_i6p_5536_sm.jpg\" width=\"431\" height=\"575\"\nalt=\"Blah Photo of a Wow Scene -- Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\nid=\"ii6p_5536\"\ntitle=\"Blah Photo of a Wow Scene -- Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\/><\/a>\n<br\/><span class=\"camera-info robots-nocontent\">iPhone 6+ back camera &mdash; <sup>1<\/sup><big>\/<\/big>350 sec, <span class='f'>f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 &mdash;\n<a href='\/imageinfo.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJF_i6p_5536.jpg'>map &amp; image data<\/a> &mdash; <a href='\/blog\/proximity\/i\/JF_i6p_5536.jpg'>nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<br\/><span class='caption'>Blah Photo of <span class='nobr'>a Wow<\/span> Scene<\/span>\n<meta itemprop='url' content='http:\/\/regex.info\/i\/JF_i6p_5536.jpg'\/>\n<meta itemprop='creator' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='copyrightHolder' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='dateCreated' content='2016-05-19'\/>\n<meta itemprop='about' content=\"Blah Photo of a Wow Scene -- Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\/><\/div>\n\n<p>Although the photos shows none of it, the trees near the center of the frame ware just bursting with joyous pink blossoms. <span class='nobr'>It's what the<\/span> photographer at the bottom of the frame was pointing at. (Didn't notice the photographer? That's okay; he didn't notice\nme, either \ud83d\ude09 )<\/p>\n\n<p>By the time I got to any kind of major road, <span class='nobr'>I was pretty<\/span> tired and ready for home, but to get there <span class='nobr'>I still<\/span> had another 43km\nof distance and 500m of elevation to take care of.<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic' itemscope itemtype='http:\/\/schema.org\/Photograph'><a name=\"i5538\" href='\/i\/JF_i6p_5538.jpg' itemprop='image'\n><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF_i6p_5538_sm.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"518\"\nalt=\"Rice-Planting Season -- Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\nid=\"ii6p_5538\"\ntitle=\"Rice-Planting Season -- Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\/><\/a>\n<br\/><span class=\"camera-info robots-nocontent\">iPhone 6+ back camera  &mdash; <sup>1<\/sup><big>\/<\/big>1150 sec, <span class='f'>f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 &mdash;\n<a href='\/imageinfo.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJF_i6p_5538.jpg'>map &amp; image data<\/a> &mdash; <a href='\/blog\/proximity\/i\/JF_i6p_5538.jpg'>nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<br\/><span class='caption'>Rice-Planting Season<\/span>\n<meta itemprop='url' content='http:\/\/regex.info\/i\/JF_i6p_5538.jpg'\/>\n<meta itemprop='creator' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='copyrightHolder' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='dateCreated' content='2016-05-19'\/>\n<meta itemprop='about' content=\"Rice-Planting Season -- Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\/><\/div>\n\n<div class='ic' itemscope itemtype='http:\/\/schema.org\/Photograph'><a name=\"i5539\" href='\/i\/JF_i6p_5539.jpg' itemprop='image'\n><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF_i6p_5539_sm.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"518\"\nalt=\"Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\nid=\"ii6p_5539\"\ntitle=\"Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\/><\/a>\n<br\/><span class=\"camera-info robots-nocontent\">iPhone 6+ back camera  &mdash; <sup>1<\/sup><big>\/<\/big>620 sec, <span class='f'>f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 &mdash;\n<a href='\/imageinfo.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJF_i6p_5539.jpg'>map &amp; image data<\/a> &mdash; <a href='\/blog\/proximity\/i\/JF_i6p_5539.jpg'>nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<meta itemprop='url' content='http:\/\/regex.info\/i\/JF_i6p_5539.jpg'\/>\n<meta itemprop='creator' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='copyrightHolder' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='dateCreated' content='2016-05-19'\/>\n<meta itemprop='about' content=\"Takashima, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2016 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http:\/\/regex.info\/ when used online)\"\/><\/div>\n\n<p>In the end, just as I re-enter Kyoto, is <a href='https:\/\/www.strava.com\/segments\/7512854'><span class='nobr'>a short<\/span>\ndownhill sprint<\/a> <span class='nobr'>I like<\/span> to try, but alas was again thwarted near the end by <span class='nobr'>a\nbus<\/span> lumbering in the way. Even then <span class='nobr'>I averaged<\/span> 55kph for the whole 600m distance, but the bus\nensured that no PR would be set. My PR (51s) is just three seconds shy of the record (48s), and <span class='nobr'>I think<\/span>\nI've got it in me to actually beat it. I'll have to give it <span class='nobr'>a shot<\/span> sometime when my legs are fresh, and\nthere's no traffic.<\/p>\n\n<p>But not today. I'm still pretty sore and tired from yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having been back in Kyoto for two weeks after having been away for three months, I finally started to ease back into real cycling with my first challenging ride since January (probably since doing Sugino Pass three times in a row on Jan 11).<\/p> <p>I'd built up slowly with some simple rides, but nothing with a lot of climbing. I was surprised to find during those simple rides that I was doing much better on short\/intense climbs than I did before the three-month break, and I wondered whether this unexplained fitness would transition to longer climbs.<\/p> <p>The answer turned out [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2695"}],"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=2695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}