Rapha Rising - finally!

Recent challenges have been a bit of a let-down, either requiring a time commitment I couldn't give or coinciding with a huge heat spike. Annoying, but finally the challenge I've been waiting for all year has come around: Rapha Rising.

Rapha run two challenges each year and both come with the reward of an actual woven patch on completion. The first is Festive 500, which I completed last year (ride 500 km between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve). The second is Rapha Rising, requiring you to climb the combined elevation of several mountain stages of Le Tour De France in 8 days (coincident with the Tour).

Kyoto mountains? Plenty more time to acclimatise to the heat as best I can before it begins?

I can do this one...

Sweat & Flies Breakfast Ride

This morning's ride in a nutshell:

Sweat lost: entirely too much
Flies eaten: entirely too many
Flies smeared in and all over ear: one

Water dumped over head, arms, legs, etc at top of climb: 2 bidons' worth (luckily there's an icy cold natural spring right at the top)

Perfect.

We left at 6:45am and it was STILL absolutely roasting... and humid and sunny, to boot. Mid 20s when we left and surely high 20s when we returned.

The average daily high temperature at this time of the year is apparently 27-28C. It's actually getting up to 34-35C. The rainy season has failed to materialise and we seem to just be in summer already, a good month to two months early.

Awful.

Heatwave

Well, Japan is currently wrapped up in something of a heatwave - it's about 6 Celcius hotter than it should be at this time of year. The rainy season is a total no-show and has been replaced by intense heat and sunshine instead. Great.

It is, consequently, just too damn hot to ride. Just how much have I ridden this week?

I haven't ridden at all.

This looks like continuing for several more days, too. Not impressed...

Last Sunday I did actually manage a short trip, early in the morning before it became so oppressively hot (and it was overcast most of the day). Grecia and I headed up to Kibune and Kurama by bike, then did a short (~6-7km) hike, then returned by bike. It was actually really nice to fit in some sightseeing and mix it up a bit for a change. I think we'll be doing that more often.

Hello, heat...

Rode a quick, early morning loop with Grecia this morning, then decided to carry on for a bit because it was a glorious day. After dropping in to Otsu over Hieizan (one of my favourite 'test' climbs) I decided to head south and do the East side of the Omine Forest Road climb, the other side of which we did on February's Rapha Cycle Club ride. Turns out it's less steep from this side, and the descent is absolutely stunning. I'll try to record it sometime. Definitely one of my favourites now!

Hot day...

The heat started really messing with me a couple of hours into my solo venture. I was trying a new hydration approach but it's just hard to drink enough when it's this hot. I tried bringing one bottle of pure water, which I would drink from frequently and could easily refill, and a bottle of super (x3) concentrated energy/electrolyte drink, which I would drink from about every 15 minutes and wash down with water.

Labelled bottles: left, water (W); right, electrolytes/energy (E)

My scheme seemed to work well and I stayed feeling relatively good right up until maybe the last hour, but my performance on the climbs wasn't great. There's only so much you can drink! Not sure what else to try - I'm thinking that riding in these conditions is just going to be more endurance than KOM-grabbing...

Cold coconut milk with tapioca beads - really good mid-ride refreshment!

Top of the Omine Forest Road climb.

Uncontrollable sweating makes for the best photos, I find.

We're just getting to summer. It's only going to get worse from here.

God help us here in Kyoto...

Hello, rain!

Well, June is officially the 'rainy season' in Japan. It seems to have come a week or so early this year, because this last week has been terrible (and by comparison, this week looks great!). It's also hot (up to 30C already) and humid (80%, ugh). Rides now have to start at 7am to avoid the worst of it...

Last week I got one single ride in, on Sunday. Short (well, around 70km) but fairly intense, and a new route that turned out to be very nice. Nice group ride too, with quite a few people, including a few new faces.

Steve leading the charge up the final (steep!) climb

Peter (in white) and myself (in blue/black) coming up the same climb

Solomon (in bright colours) pulling up the hill on a fixed gear - maniac!

Grecia (in red) leading Matty to the top

Here's to a busier next week... if I can fit in any riding around my work...