October done (192 km with 2335 m elevation gain
on Strava)!
I had two weeks to my first timed ride in six months (I rode a Fleche in the spring) and needed to get into shape for it. I hadn't been back to the Akiyama area along route 35 for a while. The brevet on 10/16 will take me through there. So I decided to ride out there and then head to a hydroelectric dam near Matsuhime, where I wanted to clear a VeloViewer map tile. I picked up two more VeloViewer tiles in Akiyama.
I started quite late for a course that long, leaving the house only at 08:20. It was very sunny and I stocked up on plenty of drinks at my convenience store stops.
Once I got out of the urban sprawl of Tokyo after Sagamihara, it got quite hilly. My memory of the area was a bit hazy and it took a lot longer to get to Akiyama than expected, but I like that quiet back country.
Navigating to the two map tiles near Akiyama distracted me so much from the climbing that I got to the highest point of the Akiyama climb with less perceived effort than usual. I also happened to run into a member of my randonneuring club who was doing the test run for the event 14 days before the date as is usual here.
It's always amazing how as a cyclist on my weekend rides I often come across people that I know somewhere near this city of 14 million people where I live. Suddenly a cyclist will yell: "Hey, Joe!" :-)
I enjoyed the long descent from the highest pass down to Tsuru city.
The new Chuo Bullet Train (magnetic levitation) line is being built through this part of the country, eventually carrying passengers from Tokyo to Nagoya (280 km) in 40 minutes. The initial test track to develop the technology was incorporated into the line.
At Saruhashi I bought more food and drinks before heading uphill to the dam. By then it got dark. More than halfway to the dam a thunderstorm developed and forced me to turn around. I avoided getting totally soaked by taking shelter under a roof but knew it would take at least 5 hours to get home and if the rain caught me again, it would be very chilly (no rain gear, only a windbreaker).
So I turned back to Saruhashi and followed the main Route 20 back to Tokyo, where I arrived just after midnight without the rain ever restarting.