India

Well, the past couple of weeks have been pretty incredible. So many fantastic experiences in a truly amazing country. And it's all been a real adventure.

More when I get back.

Channeling Cancellara

Some day I will ride the Paris-Roubaix route. That's a little dream of mine.

Until then, there's always the cobbles in Kyoto's temple complexes. What better way to celebrate Cancellera's absolutely stunning win at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday?

Cobbles are torture, by the way...

Spring is here!

21% grade?

Ouch.

Running out of sun cream on a surprise 27 Celcius day?

Definitely ouch.

Riding under the cherry blossoms in gorgeous spring sunshine?

Makes it all worthwhile!

Big thumbs up for spring!

A lesson in suffering

Grecia and I set out on our usual Friday morning ride today. It was sunny when we left, but that didn't last long - within half an hour we were riding through a full-on blizzard.

What followed was, as the title of this post indicates, a lesson in endurance and suffering. And bike handling skills.

We didn't complete the route, but we did get back alive and eventually the feeling returned to our extremities. I think we'd both consider that a win.

Going vertical again...

In the absence of rock and ice climbing, and following so many flat miles during Festive 500, I've taken to trying to gain more elevation on the bike again. Winter weather is making this fun, but I have well over 2000m total so far this week, with a couple more rides to go. Maybe I can hit 3000m!






The first route includes a horrendous little climb called Mochikoshi Pass (East) - 10% average grade for a little over a kilometre, with a maximum of about 58% (on a particularly nasty little hairpin bend, I think). Climbing that definitely fends off the winter cold!

Mochikoshi Pass (East) elevation profile - ugly!

Strava Rapha Festive 500

502km between 24th and 29th, during which 26th was a complete rest day, including some good climbing and some horrendous weather.

I am in a whole world of pain right now. And it feels great.

More soon!

End of summer - logging the miles!

So the long, hot days of summer are drawing to a close. Can't say I'm sorry to see them go. That means more amenable temperatures for riding, which I'm certainly happy about.

Yesterday's effort was a good 52km bash up into the hills north of Kyoto, taking in a Cat 3 climb to Kumogahata followed by the greatest descent ever, then another Cat 4 climb up to Kurama. About a 1000m total elevation gain through some beautiful countryside.

On Sunday I'll probably be doing the same route again (fun!) and next weekend will bring a return trip to Nara - doing it with a group we'll be splitting it over two days, so it's only a relatively flat 60km per day. Sure to be easier than the last time - the full 120km return route in one very hot day 2-3 weeks after my crash!

Coming soon: Fujisan!

Well, with an end to the nightmare that is the swampy Japanese summer finally in sight, it's time to get back into fun things like climbing and riding...

First up will be a crack up Fujisan (Japan's highest mountain, of course) in about a week's time (weather-dependent). By all accounts it's a pretty dull climb so I'll be spicing it up with a bivi on the mountain. Photos to come when I come back.

Also looking forward to getting a bit of (rather mediocre) rock/gym time in and some quality biking, including another trip to Nara which I have planned for early October.

Following that, well... bring on the winter season!

Kyoto to Nara

Last week I decided I'd finally ride the route from Kyoto to Nara. A nice 45 km... apparently.

In reality it was 60 km. Which makes for a 120 km return journey. Combined with low-30s temperatures, burning sun and high humidity (i.e. typical Japanese summer conditions) it was quite a ride!

In Nara-koen (park) with the infamous (and very insistent) sacred deer.

Route info for the way to Nara can be found here:
http://kineticgps.com/route.php?r=cd44341cdb32bf1ead6770cbfbdcd5c2/120710-1013-Shijo-Omiya---Nara.kmz

Sadly my phone battery died on the way back so I don't have a GPS log for the whole trip, but you can essentially double the above.

I think 120 km on a fixed gear track bike (designed for racing at the velodrome) is pretty good going. Possibly a little stupid, but good fun* nonetheless.




* The three types of fun can be summed up thusly:
 - Type 1 Fun: Fun at the time, fun to think/talk about later
 - Type 2 Fun: Not fun at the time, but fun in retrospect
 - Type 3 Fun: Not fun at the time and not even fun in retrospect


I think this was somewhere around Type 2, so it fits in with a lot of winter climbing. Maybe I just have a penchant for suffering.

Back!

Just a quick note to say I got back from Sounkyo late last night. A great trip (we got seriously lucky with conditions, all things considered) with a lot of good climbing including one absolutely corking route. I'm going to hold off on a full update until Chris gets back and sends me his photos - they're much better than mine! I promise you it'll be worth the wait...

One last trip?

Here we go, off to Sounkyo for what might well be the last trip of the winter season... Stay tuned for lots of pictures when I get back!

Sounkyo - here we go again!

Time for at least one more trip before this year's winter season ends, so this time I'm off all the way up to Hokkaido at the end of the month (from 27th).

Take one group of volcanoes...

The Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group

...add a lot of flowing water...

Sounkyo gorge in the summer

...and then add winter temperatures down between -15 and -20C during the day...

What do you get? You get a gorge several kilometres long, lined with spectacular climbable ice routes of every possible description.

Ice in Sounkyo gorge during the winter

It's super cold so camping isn't an option. Luckily there's an onsen (hot spring) resort town right next to the gorge, which is empty during the winter, so excellent accommodation can be had for absurd prices.

A full buffet breakfast, a day climbing pristine multipitch water ice, an evening in a natural hot spring to get rid of all the aches and pains, followed by a real, hot dinner. It's almost too easy...

Kaikoma - back!

Back from Kaikoma already - a day or so early - due to changing weather conditions.

I'm pretty tired so I'll put up a proper post in the next couple of days, but for now let me give you one small taste of what turned out to be a quite unusual, quite productive and at times rather surreal trip...

That's a dead tanuki (a large Japanese raccoon, basically) at a belay halfway up an ice/mixed route. Strange indeed.

Check back soon!

Kaikoma - here we go!

All set to leave for Kaikoma. Still can't believe I got everything (more or less) into a 45 litre pack without even using the snow collar.

Should be an awesome trip. More when I get back!