An Introduction to Cyclocross

Somewhere in the void between road cycling (skinny slick tyres, drop handlebars, no suspension, solid ground) and mountain biking (fat nobbly tyres, flat handlebars, usually suspension, mud/gravel/rock) there lies a weird sport called cyclocross (CX for short).

Cross bikes are like a weird hybrid of the other two. The frames are similar to those of road bikes, with no suspension. They have drop bars. But they have massive clearance for fat tyres/mud buildup and generally lower gearing than road bikes.

CX races are usually on short, twisty tracks on a variety of terrain - mud, grass, gravel, even sand - and last for maybe 30-60 minutes. There are usually short hills. Obviously this isn't hard enough for people, so they are also littered with obstacles such as barriers and stairs; these require a running dismount-lift/carry-remount manoeuvre. Races happen in any weather - rain, sleet, snow - and frequently do, because the season runs through the winter.

Heckling, costumes and beer complete the CX experience.

And, of course, cross bikes can be ridden on trails year-round... trails that road bikes cannot!

I have a couple of friends here who race at quite a high level and they're trying to get me into this silly, silly sport. So this morning I set off with one of them on a freshly-built bike to get a feel for throwing a cross bike around a variety of environments.




And, of course, it was awesome fun. I think the absolutely torrential rain that set in almost immediately and didn't really stop probably added to it. Trails are harder to navigate when they're under 3+ inches of water!

Before the heaviest rain - all too clean!

At the top of the biggest, steepest climb. So very, very wet.

If you're not filthy, it's not cyclocross!

Hopefully in the coming weeks I can really get a feel for the bike's handling in different conditions, and try to learn proper dismounting and remounting technique for fast, smooth transitions between riding and running.

There's a prologue race in late September, then the season begins in October. Let's see!

Amanohashidate Overnighter

Took a trip with Grecia to see one of 'Japan's Three Most Beautiful Views' - the sandbar of Amanohashidate, near the town of Miyazu in northern Kyoto prefecture. From Kyoto city a relatively simple ~135 km ride...

...but of course nothing is simple when it's in the high 30s, humid as the Devil's armpit and there is zero shade to be had while riding on hot, black asphalt.

Both of us were absolutely on our last legs by the time we finally reached our guesthouse in Miyazu. I don't think food and, more importantly, copious fluid has ever been consumed with more utter desperation than by the pair of us at that point.

Minshuku Kataoka - highly recommended, beautiful old Japanese guesthouse.

A soak in the a hot bath (while spraying our heads with cold water), a couple of good (and large!) meals and a night of quality sleep later, we were quite refreshed and ready to explore Amanohashidate the following day.




Sights included visits to Kono and (the rather lovely) Manai shrines, a ride along the Amanohashidate sandbar itself, a trip to the classic viewpoint in the south (more on that in a minute). Finally a visit to Chion shrine, where we scoffed some chie-no-mochi (rice cakes with sweet bean paste, rumoured to bring wisdom to those who eat them) and a big bowl of cold soba noodles with tempura (fresh local prawns - delicous!) before heading the station, packing up our bikes and making the lengthy train ride home.

Generous offerings to the gods on Amanohashidate sandbar:
5 Yen, a shell, a knife an a small bottle of classic Coke. Nice.

View along the sandbar towards southern Miyazu.

So, about that viewpoint...

To get the proper Amanohashidate experience, one is supposed to climb to a high point (or take the chairlift in our case...), put your back to the sandbar and bend over, viewing it between your legs - the name Amanohashidate roughly translates as "Bridge to Heaven", so use your imagination!

Cue a lot of people looking very silly indeed, but probably not as silly as those doing it in cycling gear.

Searching for the bridge to Heaven...

There it is, apparently!

The lazy man's way down (although surely not as lazy as the monorail)

Building an impromptu bike bag out of a 100 Yen bike cover and some string. It worked!

Lovely trip but now time for a rest day or two, I think!

Scorchio!

I think today's ride can be summed up by a single photo...

It's pretty much impossible not to be a gross bag of sweat in this weather...

Ugh

Enough said.

Earthquake!

A magnitude 7.8 (intensity 6-) earthquake hit Nara yesterday. Automatic warnings were broadcast o everybody's phones, urging them to take cover. Bullet trains across Japan ground to a halt, people panicked and stood in doorways waiting for the shaking to hit Kyoto (which, seeing as Nara is about 50 km away, would be incredibly severe). Phones lines were jammed across much of the country.

A magnitude 7.8 (intensity 6-) earthquake hit Nara yesterday. APPARENTLY.

'Apparently'... because nothing ever came. The official story now is that electrical interference on the ocean floor, coupled with a tiny magnitude ~2 quake in a nearby prefecture, caused a false triggering of the early warning system.

Firstly, that warning sound is terrifying. Second, so is the wait for an intensity 6- quake (the Tohoku earthquake of 2011 was 6- in Tokyo, for example). It was a very scary few minutes.

But my biggest fear here is that because of this false alarm - in which the systems in place worked flawlessly - people will be too complacent next time. Will people actually believe the next alarm? I sure hope so...