TOUR OF HAKONE



The weather is dry and crisp. The leaves are turning red. The sky is as clear with temps in the low fifties. Yama San, shop owner, club leader and bike carrying van owner wanted to get out of town and do a club ride, he calls them "tours". We headed out to Odawara, a city tucked in between the coastline and the mountains south of Tokyo. It was there we met up with our "tour guide", Seino San.
Seino was quite a pioneer of Japanese cycling. At the age of twenty he participated in the 1983 Coors classic. Seino San went on to ride pro in Japan and the US throughout the 1980's. Later he did MTB Norba circut in the US. In Japan he won the road National Championships in 1994 and 96. Seino San is retired and rides all the roads around Odawara for fitness. He had a hilly day planned for us and my first time in the mountains since leaving California on my Summer break.



Here's a pic of me with Seino San.

The last time we had done such a "tour", with Seino San was in March and I was really pushing my fitness, and going hard everywhere. I guess it left an impression on Seino becuase the first thing he said to me was, "Today, easy ride!". Okay, I'm with you; hair on the legs, just water in the bidons... don't worry, chimpicunie. But it wasn't over, next to give me an earful was Akiama san, club mainstay and superb hill climber; "Today is Yukurri slow, if you get to the top first wait or come back down and come up again, don't keep going". "Okay, OKAY!! Jeebezuz... I havent hardly started riding yet." I reminded Akiyama that Conneko San, another "tour", participant had just taken 25th place in the Fuji 200km challenge and then participated in the 200km Tour of Okinawa race, he was in phenomenal form, not me. But no one seemed to be informing Conneko on the ground rules.
After taking us up and down steep rollers Seino San got us to Hakone Kaido, our first serious climb. Unfortunately there were cars buzzing because of "Red Leaf Viewing". The smells of burning leaves and insence eminating from the hillside temples overpowered the car odors and we had high spirits. We just started going up while joking a chatting. Unexepectedly Conneko san took a flyer off the front and didn't look back. Akiyama san joined him, I was indignant yelling from behind, "yukurri YUKURRI!", what the @$@%!! I eventually joined them and rode it out, I made a stong point at the top that Conneko San started the aggresion, not me. It didn't seem to cause any contention...strange.



Here's Yama San topping the very difficult Ashigara pass.

Yama san saved me. What a gift to have an experienced mechanic on a ride with you. My derailler pully came loose and Yama san fixed it so I could continue, otherwise I would have climed Ashigara pass (sort of a four mile version of Page Mill Road) as a single speed. Fortunately everthing went well, as Conneko with Akiyama following kept ripping up the climbs. I had gotten over being bewildered and was doing what they call in Japan "my pace". However, my pace got me up ahead on the road through some steep sections of Ashigara pass. The road split and I waited for Conneko to show me the right way. When he caught up we played a game of King of the Hill, very painful. When we got to the top Conneko went back down to find Seino. When they met up they initiated an uphill sprint game that resulted in a crash. Conneko damaged his Colnago C40 and damaged his kserium wheel. Meanwhile I was chuckling; they're bunch of hard core maniacs I never knew about. Then I let out a yawn... okay, time to go home.



A unamed clubbie with Conneko on the left and Akiyama middle.

As I'm learning to speak the language better and integrate into the culture more I am also learning to not underestimate the Japanese amatures. Though less in number there just as tough and maybe more ambitious than their American counterparts.

We returned to our parking lot nestled between a pachinko parlor the size of a Home Depot and a building I only surmised later as a public bath. In fact, we all went off to the baths for some warmth and muscle relief after the ride. Though I had been to many hotel baths, this was quite different (by the way, I'm sure you understand why there's no photos of this). Not only was it a huge complex, there were many different kinds of baths, sort of a water park for relaxation. The strangest one was a bath with a gently electified current running through the water, when I got close to the edge of the bath it felt like my body was being shaken by the same force that you feel on your tounge when putting it to a six volt battery. There was also a bath with a water fall that dudes were lying under to massage their bodies. There were also individual jakuzzi seats that blasted your body from all directions. It was very comfortable, but I was constantly reminded of my foriegner looks and body. It was an equal discomfort being stared at and I kind of felt like a was livestock being evaluated by auctioneers. Kind of relieved to get out and back on the road home.

Thanks for reading.