Tour of Fuji

It was time for another "Tour" with Yama san and the gang.
However this one had a little twist...
We were going to use the train to head out to the mountainous region and back.
There were to be five of us; Yama, Akiyama, Conneco and myself. The other was a guest from England Phillip. Phillip used to live in Japan and was on a return leg of a honeymoon that started in Fiji, so one happy boy. Our objective was to get our bikes packed away in the vinyl bike bag and have ourselves on the train and moving by four in the morning. That meant getting up at an hysterically early time, like 2:45 and suiting up, drink coffee and whulf down some cereal. Somehow, despite having tension the night before and being unable to sleep until 11 I managed to achieve the objective and arrive at the station with time to spare. I met Phillip and Yama, we bagged and Conneco arrived shortly. We all got on the train but Akiyama missed, he managed to get the train 15 minutes behind though.



After an hour and a half of heading west by train things were looking really sparse and countryside-like. It was chilly but we found a sunny spot to unpack and wait for Akiyama. After we were all squared away Conneco led the way up a progressively longer series of rollers thick with automobile traffic. Fuji has five lakes around it, when we climbed to the first lake we re-grouped and Phillip snapped this photo of me.



We continued up and down suburban looking roads, mostly up. Then we zigged zagged through some small farming areas and arrived at Lake Saiko. Akiyama San thought it sounded like the word "Psycho", "Like Psycho Killer...Talking Heads", good to know he's working on his English. We rode out from the lake and to the next lake. This time there was a more serious climb but it was cool. It was a sort of big ring climb that went on for quite a few Kilometers and ended up at the third lake with a view of another mountain range (by the way, my digi camera doubles as my cell phone, so the quality is not really up to snuff, trust me it's really pretty).



The front group had to wait and we cooled down fast. It was rather cold and when we started out again I was shivering and the bike did some shimmying. But I soon warmed up and we did a fast paceline downhill to the next town. Next on the agenda was a ten kilometer climb. I haven't climbed for about five months so it would be interesting to see how screwed up it would make me. The climb was really tough with the grade rarely dropping under eight percent and often around 11 percent for the first five k. Then it would level off and ramp up over and over. I was relieved that I could handle it and was going quite well. However at the top when I'd try to carry some power into the rolling up part I would instantly feel some sort of dizziness... oh, I get it, I'm over 5000 feet altitude so I'm pulling in less oxygen. I rode more conservatively and finished the climb well. Conneco San and I plunged down to a rest stop with a cafeteria and ate and waited for the guys to roll in.



It was cold up there and we warmed ourselves by a kerosene heater and ate and waited and waited. Phillip hadn't shown yet. He's a strong rider so we were concerned something had happened. We waited more and were deciding to head back down the mountain to find him when he came struggling down to the parking lot. When he got in to the cafeteria his face was white. He had bonked and he was dizzy from the climbing at altitude. He ravaged two chocolate bars and several sweet drinks, then wulfed down some ramen and various other foods. All the while my body had cooled down and tightened up. After Phillip recovered we re-mounted and continued the decent. Phillip had had a complete recovery and was plunging the decent on rails. I was going okay but wasn't loose. The decent was wide and sweeping and 10 percent in sections... really fast. I was cornering okay but when I got a little speed wobble my body just froze on it. I was still stiff and not able to control the bike as well as I thought I could. I hit the brakes and the bike started wobbling and shimmying like I've never experienced before. As it slowed down it got worse. I clamped my knees on the top tube so hard that it gave me bruises. I had taken my bike down fast descents and it never had a problem, I know when I'm cold this shaking is a problem so I was certain it was me not the bike, but with the constant descending for several kilometers to go I had no choice but to ride very slowly all the way down or turn around and climb up the mountain again to warm up. I eventually noodled my way down, frazzled but unhurt.



When we got to the bottom we had to do quite a few miles of highway riding to get to our final destination. Phillip, Conneco and I teamed up and worked whatever reserves were left in us, inspired as much by the group effort as staying away from the traffic. I was spent when we got to the coastal town near Odawalla. We bathed at a modern bath facility. It was nice with all sorts fun ways to heat up and cool down the body. I sat under a heated waterfall and soothed the shoulders that had tensed up on the decent. The others had gone to the second floor where there was a snow room to cool off and then plunge back to the hot bath. After bathing we went to Conneco San's friends Sushi restaurant and ate a huge course. This was some real serious sushi. We were treated to some rare dishes such as Whale and Cow. Also on the menu where a variety of shell fish, including many that were still alive and squirming as we tossed them in our mouths. Some of it was good, some great, some just a novelty to say "hey, I've tried everything", but all and all one of the best sushi meals I've ever had. Then we took our bike to the station, repacked them in vinyl bags and returned to Tokyo. I was home by 7:30... a very very long day.
Thanks for reading.