My third century of March (there's a fourth planned next weekend
) - 311 km with 3800 m of elevation gain.
This was supposed to be a trial run for our 5 person Fleche ride 4 weeks from now, with three of us signed up for the same 300 km brevet. However, one of us had to cancel the day before due to unexpected business travel. At the ride start (6:00 departure) we talked a lady who also runs in the same rando club to join our trial run to make up the numbers.
The weather forecast wasn't too good, with a high chance of rain in the morning and again in the afternoon/evening, with even some snow predicted in places. As it turned out, snow flakes were coming down before we even reached the first PC and we could only wonder what the day had in store for us at the points of highest elevation in the evening!
During the first quarter the pace was higher than what I can sustain, but the team leader slowed down after a couple of hours while I managed to recover, so things became more even.
We made the first PC (km 41) with about 20 minutes spare, the second (km 139) with 15 minutes and the third (km 210) by only 3 minutes. At that point we were at 900 m (3000 ft) above sea level, so we should have made good time returning to the start at near sea level, with our only concern being the weather.
The ride leader asked for my guess what the roadside thermometer read-out would be at the highest pass at 1100 m (3600 ft). I guessed -1 C (30 F), he guessed +1 C (34 F). I won, the real number was -4 C (25 F). There was snow and ice on the road. Two of us went down on black ice and bent their derailleurs.
Doshi road Yamabushi pass in snow and ice
We walked the next 5 km (3 mi) downhill until the roads seemed somewhat safe again and the temps had gone up to -1 C (30 F). It didn't get warmer than that until we were about 20 km from Tokyo again. The water in our bidons was frozen, we had to buy drinks from vending machines. The ride leader phoned in and let the organizers know that we'd DNF because with the walking there was no way we'd make it back by the course closing time.
This is just a week away from what will be the peak of the cherry blossom season in Tokyo! I did not expect that.
I got home after sunrise on Sunday morning. I will have to get my derailleur fixed or replaced quickly before the brevet next Saturday.