July to September in Tokyo will be like a greenhouse: 80-100% humidity and 30-40 C
But not yet. This last weekend of June the gods are sending us fresh air, as cool as any coming out of an air conditioner, but without the electricity bill or CO2 output connected to it!
So I got up early on Saturday and left home at 06:15 into a slight drizzle which stopped before I reached the Tamagawa river. Throughout the day it came and went. Once it got strong enough to get me to put on the rain jacket I brought to be prepared for all cases, but I soon took it off again because it stopped. Near Mt Takao I met this gentlemen and his two pets, a cock (on his left shoulder) and a pig:
There were many hikers about still, but hardly any cyclists. The temperature hovered around 20 C all day. At Uenohara I turned off Rt20 onto small back roads.
I climbed past the golf courses towards Rt522 and on to Rt18 for the Tsuru pass.
I felt I was always close to the clouds, which were hanging low and often sprinkling me with drizzle. There were a few local cars. People were working in their gardens. The quiet village life. The area along Rt18 reminds me a lot of around Rt35 (Akiyama). Same quiet, lost in time feel.
I turned off the main Rt18 to follow a smaller road that stayed closer to the river, hoping to avoid some climbing that way but it was still steep, just even more quiet as I was cycling through the forest, with the mountain rising steeply on one side and dropping off equally steep down to the river on the other side.
The phone's GPS had trouble figuring out where I was, but the bicycle GPS had no issues.
A couple of km before the pass I stopped at a local grocery shop and bought some apples. The lady who sold them to me asked if I was going to eat them soon and when I said yes, washed them for me. Friendly people!
After a slow climb I finally reached the top. From here it was going to be downhill all the way to Ome (more or less). I finished my third banana and had some pieces of dried mango that I had brought from home. That lasted me all the way to Ome (130 km from the start), where I had an early curry dinner at
Asian Dining Sherpa, my favourite Nepali. Then another 42 km back to Tokyo via Rt29 and the Tamagawa cycling path, plus a little detour for grocery shopping near my house
176 km with ~1600 m of elevation gain. I never put on my rain pants, only wore my wind breaker for one descent and the rain jacket briefly. A day well spent
I'm now up to 16 Century rides for 2019, a little ahead of last year's pace, tough distance-wise I'm on track for a similar yearly total.