{"id":2736,"date":"2016-10-02T14:21:14","date_gmt":"2016-10-02T05:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2016-10-02\/2736"},"modified":"2016-10-02T14:21:14","modified_gmt":"2016-10-02T05:21:14","slug":"what-an-adventure-a-slow-but-mentally-grueling-century-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2016-10-02\/2736","title":{"rendered":"What an Adventure: a Slow but (Mentally) Grueling Century Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 38mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nReady to Start<\/span>\nStephanie and Manseki\n7:30am, Kyoto Japan\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I had quite the bicycle ride last week; this blog post is mostly a diary<\/span> for my own memory.<\/p>\n\n

What started out as a pleasant<\/span> ride with friends ended up 12 hours later being a\ntest<\/span> of nighttime eyesight and creative headlight battery management.<\/p>\n\n

The Relive.cc video of the ride<\/a> gives a sense<\/span> of this never-ending ride.<\/p>\n\n

I planned a longish ride to the north of Kyoto, but would be joined at the beginning by Stephanie and Manseki. We'd intended<\/span> to head over the mountains via the Hiei climb, but rush-hour traffic on the narrow road made us turn\naround and head north via Ohara.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAmong the Spider Lilies of Ohara<\/span>\n\u5927\u539f\u306e\u5f7c\u5cb8\u82b1\u306e\u4e2d\u3067\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nSC-02H at an effective 21mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>700 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 50 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nphoto by Manseki Kanemitsu<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

From Ohara, Stephanie returned to Kyoto for an appointment, while Manseki and I continued<\/span> north up the Tochu climb, then down\ntoward Lake Biwa.<\/p>\n\n

My main goal of the ride was to do a particular<\/span> climb way up north, but also try a bunch<\/span> of short-but-intense tangential climbs\nhanging off the route along the way. I'd found<\/span> them by scouring satellite photos via Google Earth looking for what seemed to be\npaved roads up into the mountains; until I tried<\/span> them, I didn't<\/span> know whether access was even allowed, or whether they were paved,\nbut this kind of exploration is all part of the fun.<\/p>\n\n

I had done some of these climbs on\n\n“<\/span>Disappointing and Truncated “<\/span>Search for The Big Steep”<\/span> Ride<\/a>”<\/span>\nearlier in the month, including\nthe 1.4km @ 13% “<\/span>Blueberry Fields”<\/span> climb<\/a>\nand the 1.6km @ 12% Kurihara climb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nManseki Finishing<\/span>\nthe Myodokai Climb<\/a>\n\u5999\u9053\u4f1a\u306eHC\u306e\u7d42\u70b9\n1.7km @ 8%\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The first tangential climb today was the Myodokai Climb<\/a>, a nicely<\/span>-paved\n1.7km (1mi) at a mild<\/span> 8%. It's on the<\/span> grounds of a Buddhist<\/span> organization's campus, so there's little traffic, and it offers nice\nviews during the return descent.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHalfway Back Down<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I'd also done this one earlier in the month, and as is my habit the first time I ride<\/span> a climb,<\/span> I'd taken<\/span> it slowly.\nThis time wasn't the first time, so I put<\/span> a bit<\/span> of effort into it. I enjoy<\/span> going slowly more than quickly, at least on the\nup-hill parts. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n

Because of the nice pavement and little traffic, the return descent could be great fun, but somehow I don't<\/span> feel it's\nappropriate to ride like that at a religious<\/span> site, so I take<\/span> the descent slowly.<\/p>\n\n

The next bit of tangential exploration turned out to be the centerpiece of the ride. On paper<\/span> it looked brutal...\n2.1km (1.3mi) at an average<\/i> of 15.3%... but it turned out to be so<\/i> very much worse.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStraight Up<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\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>\nanything but a\nPleasant Country Lane<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

As I often lament, I just can't capture the steepness in a photo.<\/span> A change of slope<\/i> is easy to capture,\nbut when everything you can see is a straight<\/span> 20% slope, it looks to the camera the same as a straight<\/span> section of flatness. But what made<\/span> this road just ridiculous<\/i> is its combination of steepness and slipperiness.<\/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>\nSuper Slip-Slidy<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I did a much steeper road just the other day in the\nUshiokannon Final Death Climb<\/a>, which hits a 32<\/span>%\ngrade along the way (here's a video<\/span><\/a> of me slowly grinding up that climb last\nJanuary), but as steep and low-quality as that road is, it's not actively trying to kill you with each pedal stroke.<\/p>\n\n

Today's road was wet and slimy and the rear wheel would often lose traction on the downstroke, and you'd have to\nunclip (quickly!) to avoid falling over. Eventually I wasn't<\/span> able to get enough traction to restart myself, so I was<\/span> stuck.\nI didn't<\/span> want to push the bike up, but I also<\/span> didn't want to give up. It wasn't fun at all, but as a matter<\/span> of pride I wanted<\/span>\nto say I “<\/span>rode”<\/span> it, so I would<\/span> sort of hobble along, keeping my left foot on the ground while scooching myself forward\nby pushing down on the right pedal. Sometimes I lost<\/span> traction doing even that, so it was exhausting and all-in-all a stupid<\/span>\nendeavor.<\/p>\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>\nLight at the End of the Tunnel<\/span>\nI can't stress enough, despite the appearance in the photo,\nhow spectacularly<\/i> unflat this road was\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

When I reached bright area seen in the photo above, there were some dryer sections of road, so I\ntried<\/span> to ride again, and after a few<\/span> efforts was successful, and completed the short bit of road\nthat remained.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nManseki Joins Me at the Top<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Now we had to get back down.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 49mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/2.7, ISO 3200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGreen Slip-n-Slide<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWith Great Care<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/1.7, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nA Slight<\/span> Sense of the Slope<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

This last picture is probably the only one that gives a sense<\/span> of slope, with Manseki being there for reference. I used an<\/span> unorthodox and visually-hilarious method to descend safely: while keeping the right leg clipped in, I lay my<\/span> stomach on the seat to keep the weight on\/behind the back wheel, both giving the back wheel more\ntraction, and keeping the center of gravity far enough back to avoid flipping myself over the front of the bike.<\/p>\n\n

You can see it a bit in this short video clip<\/a> that Manseki made:<\/p>\n\n\n