Monday 21 October 2013

Splish splash, I was takin' a bath...

...in the autumn rain.

It absolutely bucketed it down today. Myself and two other intrepid/foolish explorers - Cory and Nigel - set out for some reason to do probably the hardest climb in Kyoto, Seiryo Omote.

As you might expect, it was a deeply unpleasant if relatively brief sufferfest.



The climb itself is truly horrendous - steep, never-ending and covered in branches, pine needles, grit and rocks. It pissed it down throughout the entire ride. My choice of fat, knobby cyclocross tyres was a strength-sapping one and the climb ruined me.

Oh, then I had my bike slide out from under me on the ride home, dumping me onto my hip and elbow. Which hurt.

All in all, a fine few hours well spent in the mountains.



Friday 18 October 2013

Riding with Rapha

We have some special guests in Kyoto today and tomorrow, from Rapha UK. Just in time for autumn!

This crisp, cool morning Cory, Ross and I took Brad on a lengthy, taxing route into the mountains north of Japan. I think we just about blew his mind!


Lots of mileage, lots of climbing, lots of amazing scenery!

A few beautiful shots, courtesy of Brad:











Time for a long soak in a hot bath and heaps of carb-rich food, I think!

Thursday 10 October 2013

Rapha Continental: The Bryan Chapman

I may knock my home country, but the mountains of North Wales really are quite special and I'm definitely looking forward to taking my bikes up into them when I have the chance...