2008-10-26-ride-to-okutama-ko-and-back.md (5227B)
1 +++ 2 title = "Ride to Okutama-ko and back" 3 date = "2008-10-26T00:00:00Z" 4 slug = "ride-to-okutamako" 5 tags = ["Cycling", "Japan"] 6 +++ 7 8 [View map][map] 9 10 I haven't ridden a [century][century] since I moved to Japan but with a bit of 11 spare time on my hands before baby number two is due, I decided I was going to 12 get back into decent enough shape that I could pull one off. I've been using 13 mornings and weekends to get back into riding longer distances, and slowly 14 building up toward the goal of 160 km by riding further and further up the Tama 15 river every weekend. 16 17 Five minutes looking at Google maps yesterday morning at 6 am convinced me that 18 Lake Okutama was exactly the necessary 80 km away, so without a minute to lose 19 I got dressed, headed out the door and rode north up the Tama river. Here's 20 the [activity report][okutama_report]. 21 22 The ride along the river is gorgeous, one of the few places in Tokyo you can 23 ride uninterrupted through a green belt that runs from the ocean at Haneda 24 airport all the way into the mountains in the northwest corner of Tokyo. The 25 bike path ends at the south Hamura dam, but by then it's pretty [inaka][inaka], 26 so you can continue by road from there without much worry about traffic. At 27 the north Hamura dam, I crossed over to the west side of the river, to pick up 28 Route 411 through the towns of Oume, Sawai, and Mitake before leaving the city 29 completely and starting the climb up into the mountains. 30 31 The trip on from Mitake is a long, slow ascent along a narrow, winding road 32 through small towns and villages while criss-crossing the river. Particularly 33 this time of year with the leaves changing colour, the trip is visually 34 spectactular, with the mountainsides lit up bright orange and red. Okutama is 35 the last major town before the final hill-climb up to the lake. At its 36 westernmost edge is the world-famous Tokyo [Conbini][conbini] Shuten—the final 37 convenience store of Tokyo. Complete with latitude and longitude figures on its 38 sign out front, it is a site of pilgrimage for cyclists headed up to the lake 39 and the border of Tokyo and Yamanashi prefectures. Too bad it's a [Daily 40 Yamazaki][daily_yamazaki] and not a [Famima][famima], but either way it's got 41 [Pocari Sweat][pocari_sweat]! 42 43 From the town of Okutama to the lake is a 13 km hill climb up through tunnel 44 after tunnel to the dam at the edge of the lake. My the one route change I'll 45 make the next time I do this is to go *around* the tunnels instead of *through* 46 them. I can't possibly imagine why someone felt the need to put (very 47 expensive) tunnels in on this road given that almost every single one can be 48 bypassed on the road. I can only assume that this has something to do with the 49 government trying to buy the powerful rural vote with thousands of unnecessary, 50 environment-destroying [construction projects][pork_barrel_politics] per year. 51 52 The good news is that once you hit the top, the views are spectacular, the 53 roads are flat, and you're back in [jidohanbaiki][jidohanbaiki]-land where 54 Pocari Sweat and Aquarius are available in abundance! I'd accidentally left my 55 cycle computer off for a 3km stretch out of Okutama, so I cycled 3 km down the 56 road to make up for it and be able to claim a *recorded* 160 km. I ran into a 57 German cyclist named Ludwig who'd also ridden in from Tokyo; he had a 58 drool-worthy Canyan carbon-fibre bike, and interestingly, it turns out he's 59 part of the [Positivo Espresso][positivo_espresso] cycling group whose blog I'd 60 been reading for a couple months. 61 62 Ludvig continued on up towards Yamanashi-ken with the plan of packing up his 63 bike and taking the train back when he got as far as he wanted to go. Good 64 plan, and something I'll give a try next time. I turned my bike around for the 65 long trip back home. The best part of that trip was the 30 minute descent back 66 down out of the hills at car speed, before hitting Mitake, and heading back out 67 to the flat cycle path along the Tamagawa. 68 69 All in all, a pretty awesome day of cycling and a trip I'd definitely do again. 70 While the trip included a nice hill-climb, it wasn't severe, and didn't last 71 more than 15 km. I've included the GPS map—there are a couple errors where I'd 72 accidentally switched it off for 3 km near Okutama, and for about 5 km near 73 Hamura on the way back. 74 75 [map]: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1qLR0za_apX5qMJi32cqDoNYESRI&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=35.67441532772013%2C139.44887900000003&spn=0.214689%2C0.47083&t=p&source=embed&z=9 76 [century]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_ride 77 [okutama_report]: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/18311395 78 [inaka]: http://www.ehimeajet.com/inaka.php "Inaka: rural Japan" 79 [conbini]: http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia19/en/feature/feature05.html "Conbini: Let's enjoy convenience store life!" 80 [daily_yamazaki]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Yamazaki 81 [famima]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FamilyMart 82 [pocari_sweat]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocari_Sweat 83 [pork_barrel_politics]: http://www.iwanami.co.jp/jpworld/text/publicworks01.html "The LDP and pork-barrel politics" 84 [jidohanbaiki]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68908288@N00/141327403/ "Jidohanbaiki: Let's vending machine!" 85 [positivo_espresso]: http://positivo-espresso.blogspot.com/