Labor Thanksgiving Day! Left home at 6:00 and tried to avoid 246 like the pest - as contrary to my expectations - it was infested with huge, long trucks driving at crazy speeds very nearby.
My plan was to do so by heading direction Odawara and from some point let my GPS recalculate a route to the top of Hisari-toge...which it superbly did taking me through splendid country roads and mandarin fields boasting breathtaking views of Fujisan.
The only problem was that this beautiful winding route took me up Hisari-toge from the opposite side than I had planned and I got rather confused when I descended. I took me some while to realize that! Hisari-toge is a nice little mountain pass but serves little purpose (no shortcut or anything).
So down the village of Matsuda-machi I had my GPS calculate a route taking my over Hadano-toge to the Myojin/Mikuni-toges (I always pre-enter the latitude/longitude coordinates before my ride lately) and the device - again - did a wonderful job of guiding me onto a closed rindo which I suddenly recognized from a TCC ride a couple years ago. Lots of sharp rocks and debris!! I carefully descended down to Tanzawako and from there climbed my way up Myojin/Mikuni.
I was way behind schedule and suffering a hunger knock (already 14:00 at top of Mikuni without eating once). At the Yamanakako 7/11 I refuelled but as I was eating some spaghetti, cold rain started to fall and my body cooled down and to make matters worse - my legs started to cramp (from the cold?).
The rest of the Doshimichi ride to home was in the rain...I was trembling heavily at first (Yamabushi-toge) but it got better after a while. I arrived back home at 19:15 in the dark and very wet!
(complete route in the post below)
(complete route in the post below)
3 reacties:
Tom,
Did you ride 8 hours without eating anything!?!?
That's my bet why you got cramps.
You're the expert at long distances, but I really think you should be eating every hour at least. Perhaps even more as the temperature drops and you spend more energy keeping warm.
I usually put one item in my pocket for each hour I'll ride.
If you're bothered about weight or bulkiness, I find the soy joy bars really tasty and effective.
I know you don't want to wast time at conbinis, but in a cold fix like that, can coffee and an instant soup should do the trick!
Eat like a horse, ride like a stallion!
Andy
Tom is on a desperate diet - no more food, no more whiskey... Aiming to become a real lightweight to beat just about anyone on the hill!
Andy, Ludwig...
I was merely experimenting trying to find out how long I would last without refueling...and it took a little more than 7 hours when the hammer hit me. Very stupid and dangerous thing to do of course. I have all kinds of soy joy bars at home and will stick a few in my back pockets on future long rides :D.
No way, not trying at all to become a hillclimber nor trying to give up my favorite nightcap.
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