{"id":2706,"date":"2016-06-20T18:05:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T09:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2016-06-20\/2706"},"modified":"2016-06-20T18:05:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T09:05:17","slug":"cycling-to-nagoya-for-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2016-06-20\/2706","title":{"rendered":"Cycling to Nagoya for Coffee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

I recently did a 260km (160 mile) bike ride from my home in Kyoto over to the city of Nagoya, and back (view at Strava<\/a>). It took all<\/span> day.<\/p>\n\n

\u3053\u306e\u9593\u306e\u30b5\u30a4\u30af\u30ea\u30f3\u30b0\u306f\u4eac\u90fd<\/span>\u304b\u3089\u540d\u53e4\u5c4b<\/span>\u307e\u3067\u306e\u5f80\u5fa9<\/span>\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3001\u8ddd\u96e2<\/span>\u306f260\u30ad\u30ed\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002\u9577\u3044\u4e00\u65e5<\/span>\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/p>\n\n

A line of mountains separates the two areas, so I had<\/span> to go over them each way, but other than that\nbit of mountain riding, the rest of the ride — the majority of the whole ride — was just slogging through city or\nsuburbia that might have provided interesting diversions if I had<\/span> the time to stop and enjoy them, but as a “<\/span>point A to<\/span> point B”<\/span>\nride, it was mostly boring and uninteresting.<\/p>\n\n

I left home at 5:30am, and spent 2½ hours getting to the other side of Lake Biwa where the climb up to the mountains started.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5700 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHeading Over Those Mountains<\/span>\n7:49am\n2:20 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

(I brought only my iPhone with me, so the photos are certainly lacking, sorry.)<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHeading Up<\/span>\n8:07am\n2:40 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDam Lake<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWhere I Just<\/span> Came From<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nUnused Road<\/span>\non the opposite side of the lake\n8:25am\n2:55 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>15 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 50 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPretty<\/span>\nbut the mossy road surface can be dangerous\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The unused behind-the-dam road eventually connected with the main road and snaked up, in my case slowly, toward\na very<\/span> long (2+ mile) tunnel.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“<\/span>Slower Traffic End”<\/span><\/span>\n9:03am\n3:30 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Rather than enter the long narrow tunnel, I did what<\/span> any sane cyclist would do and went over instead. The pleasant<\/span> road up to the pass over the tunnel had convenient markers every 200m giving the length to the\nprefectural line, which in this case was also the high point of the mountain pass.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n4.8km To Go<\/span>\n9:33am\n3:45 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The tunnel-bypass road started up steeply at first, but then seemed to level out for most of the way. I enjoyed<\/span> the flat\nrespite with some trepidation, as I kept<\/span> wondering when the climb would come, and how steep it would be when it did. But it never<\/span>\ndid. It was errie<\/span>.\nThe segment<\/a> has over 200m of elevation gain, but I didn't<\/span> seem to notice\nmost of it. I'd like to<\/span> think it's just because I'm strong, but who knows.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPrefectural Line<\/span>\nbetween Shiga and Mie Prefectures\n9:30am\n4:00 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5700 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWide Expanse of the Nagoya Floodplain<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The road on the Mie Prefecture side of the pass was horrible for a while,<\/span> and the descent took longer than\nit would have taken to ascend. But eventually<\/span> it connected with the main road where the tunnel ends, and\nthat<\/i> descent<\/a> was heavenly.\nEven riding safely and conservatively as I do,<\/span> I reached<\/span> 82kph (51mph),\na new<\/span> record for me. I like my<\/span> descents.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSnaking My Way Via Minor Roads<\/span>\n10:32am\n5:00 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

One benefit of letting the computer create your route is that it can make use of minor roads more effectively than manual routing.\nFor a while<\/span> I was<\/span> snaking through little streets like the one seen above.<\/p>\n\n

Soon, though, I entered the Nagoya floodplane. For more than<\/span> the next hour, I was riding<\/span> toward downtown at essentially sea level.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLots of Flat<\/span>\n10:36am\n5:06 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMany Rivers<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

What must have been one huge 40km-wide river eons ago is now fertile ground punctuated by many rivers.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5700 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nKite Surfing<\/span>\nor paragliding, or whatever. Looks fun.\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The occasional river crossing was pretty, but for many kilometers it was just boring flat suburbia morphing into boring flat\nurban drudgery. But 6¼ hours and 127km (79 miles) after setting out, I arrived<\/span> at Nagoya Station.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1100 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nArrival<\/span>\nNagoya Station (\u5348\u524d<\/span>11:43\u3001\u540d\u53e4\u5c4b\u99c5\u5230\u7740\uff01)<\/span>\nby bullet train this is 45 minutes from Kyoto Station\n11:43am\n6:15 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ + front camera — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nNagoya-Station Selfie<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I didn't stay long; I sent a “<\/span>hi there!”<\/span> note to my brother in law\nwho lives in Nagoya, and headed back toward Kyoto.<\/p>\n\n

This whole trip was a challenge that I'd set for myself, and I wasn't<\/span> sure that I\ncould<\/span> do it. I chose<\/span> a route<\/span> that gave me an out if I wanted<\/span> it.... if\nI decided<\/span> to take the train home from Nagoya, I'd still<\/span> have an impressive\n(for me) ride logged for the day. I prepared<\/span> two separate routes, and took the easier one for the “<\/span>to”<\/span> direction. If I decided<\/span> to make the return\ntrip by bike, I could<\/span> retrace my steps on the easier of the two, or take on the additional challenge of\nthe harder route.<\/p>\n\n

I felt pretty good, so I chose the harder route for the return. At least<\/span> it was harder on paper\n(quite a bit<\/span> more climbing), but mentally it was easier because I didn't<\/span>\nreally know what to expect. If I had<\/span> retraced my steps, I'd know exactly<\/span> what\nwas waiting and that somehow made it worse.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, like before, the hour or so in Nagoya's flood plane was not fun.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>850 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLeaving Nagoya<\/span>\nNoon\n6:30 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Somewhere along the line I had decided that “<\/span>Cycling to Nagoya for Coffee”<\/span> would make an understatedly cool title for the trip, so I thought<\/span> I had<\/span> better actually stop for coffee. I didn't<\/span> want to take the time for a real<\/span> sit-down cafe, so I just<\/span> stopped by a convenience<\/span>\nstore to stock up on food, and grabbed a pre<\/span>-packaged Starbucks coffee just for the photo op.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>350 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMy “<\/span>Nagoya Coffee”<\/span><\/span>\n12:32pm\n7:00 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I was feeling good but worried about the time. I thought<\/span> I'd be able to return home by 5:30pm, making it a 12<\/span>-hour round trip,\nbut that was proving to be an optimistic view of my abilities. I had to<\/span> be home for something at 7pm, and that deadline was\nlooking iffy, so I tried<\/span> to reduce how much I stopped.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTraffic Jam<\/span>\n1:22pm\n7:50 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMountain Sighting<\/span>\nthese lie between me and home\n2:00pm\n8:30 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLovely Minor Road<\/span>\n2:16pm\n8:45 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2800 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nJust Lovely<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2300 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooming Closer<\/span>\n2:29pm\n9:00 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nCloser Still<\/span>\n3:02pm\n9:30 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The route from the city toward the mountains undulated much more than the route I took<\/span> into the city,\nso I was<\/span> never sure when the “<\/span>real”<\/span> climb up\nthe mountains would start, but when I saw<\/span> the steepness of this road, I knew\nsomething<\/span> major was starting...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGetting Serious<\/span>\n\u9234\u9e7f\u30b9\u30ab\u30a4\u30e9\u30a4\u30f3\u306e\u624b\u524d\n3:08pm\n9:38 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The top item on the signs points the way to the “<\/span>Suzuka Skyline”<\/span>, a road<\/span> that goes up and over the mountains. The fact that<\/span> the\nroad has a name<\/span> like this tells me both that it's likely to be well maintained, and that it'll be steep.<\/p>\n\n

The road leading away in that photo is not actually part of the Suzuka Skyline. I didn't<\/span> really know what to expect, but this\nlead-in introduction had me bracing for the worst. I suppose<\/span> one can't sense from the photo, but that road is steep... this lead-up to the Suzuka Skyline<\/a>, I realize<\/span> now, is\nmore than 2km averaging almost 9%, with a maximum<\/span> grade of 15%.<\/p>\n\n

I hadn't researched the road grades, but I did<\/span> research where I could<\/span> fill up on drinks, so I stopped<\/span> by the last\nvending machine until far on the other side of the mountain. They apparently knew that they were the last,\nas they price gouged by 50%:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>480 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMost Expensive Vending Machine<\/span>\nthat I've seen in Japan\n3:26pm\n10 hours into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The Suzuka Skyline itself<\/a> is almost 6km at an average of 8.5%. It's pretty<\/span> consistent... it just keeps going up and up and up. As I expected<\/span>, the road surface was excellent.<\/p>\n\n

I took it slow and easy, leaving myself enough energy\nfor the 100km that remained after it.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1700 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nReverse-Angle View<\/span>\nback to the Nagoya floodplane\n2:42pm\n10:10 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The construction in the foreground is at a resort<\/span> that lies on a road<\/span> that eventually joins up with the road I was<\/span> on.\nThat it was so far below me, yet would join up with me, told me that it was really steep, and indeed\nthat's what I found<\/span> out later. That road<\/a> is almost 2km long\nwith an average of 11%, but it's much steeper in some areas.<\/p>\n\n

I'll have to try it next time I'm in the area, though I can't<\/span> imagine when that might ever be.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1700 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAnother Reverse-Angle View<\/span>\n20 minutes after the prior one\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>300 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFinally at the Pass<\/span>\n4:12pm\n10:40 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The descent down the other side was lovely, but offered no views, and had quite of bit of undulation. I suspect<\/span> it would be the easier of the two climbs.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPretty Lake<\/span>\nfrom one of the many dams I came across\n4:46pm\n11:15 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n10% Grade<\/span>\njust what I needed at this point in the trip\n4:58pm\n11:30 into the ride<\/small>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTea Fields<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLots of This<\/span>\nit's pretty, but it gets boring after a while<\/span>\n5:05pm - taken while moving at 26 kph (16 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\niPhone 6+ — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 32 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThen Lots of This<\/span>\nthe last hour and a half was just ugly city riding on National Route 1<\/span>\n5:45pm - taken while moving at 28 kph (18 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I could have taken a more scenic route home, but at this point “<\/span>fast”<\/span> was more important. Fumie had already taken over what I needed<\/span> to be back by\n7pm for, so I didn't<\/span> have to worry about jumping on a train<\/span> to make it in\ntime. But I still<\/span> just wanted to be home, so I put<\/span> on the gas and rode with\ntraffic (often faster than traffic in the evening rush hour).<\/p>\n\n

I was happy to make a PR by a wide margin on the\nlittle climb on Route 1<\/span> that separates Otsu from Kyoto<\/a>. Just as I did<\/span> on my\npreviously-longest ride<\/a>, I was happy<\/span> to PR some segments at the end, to punctuate the long distance with some speed.<\/p>\n\n

In the end I made it home at 7:05pm, 13½ hours after I departed.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

I would strongly recommend this round trip to Nagoya for anyone really wanting to say “<\/span>I've done a round<\/span> trip to Nagoya”<\/span>, but\notherwise it has little to recommend it. Parts here and there were wonderful, but would be better visited on rides with better\nfilling in between. I don't<\/span> think I'll do this ride again.<\/p>\n\n

(About the same distance the other way is Himeji, and the routes to and fro look much more pleasant, so I guess<\/span>\nthat's on my list next. Himeji Cappuccino awaits!)<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently did a 260km (160 mile) bike ride from my home in Kyoto over to the city of Nagoya, and back (view at Strava). It took all day.<\/p>

\u3053\u306e\u9593\u306e\u30b5\u30a4\u30af\u30ea\u30f3\u30b0\u306f\u4eac\u90fd\u304b\u3089\u540d\u53e4\u5c4b\u307e\u3067\u306e\u5f80\u5fa9\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3001\u8ddd\u96e2\u306f260\u30ad\u30ed\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002\u9577\u3044\u4e00\u65e5\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/p>

A line of mountains separates the two areas, so I had to go over them each way, but other than that bit of mountain riding, the rest of the ride -- the majority of the whole ride -- was just slogging through city or suburbia that might have provided interesting diversions if I had the time to stop and enjoy them, but as a \"point A to point B\" ride, [...]","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\/2706"}],"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=2706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}