Daimonji Hike with Kai-Kai and his Entourage

Anna's First Biwa-ichi

Mt. Aso, Day 4 (Osaka Port to home)

Mt. Aso, Day 3

Mt. Aso, Day 2

第41回のセンチュリーライど。獲得高度は3,704m、僕の第４番目の大きい。

Having ridden a lot lately, I was planning to let my legs rest today, but instead accepted an invite to ride along with Joshua, and ended up doing 3,704m (12,152') of climb, my fourth-most in one day. (For some reason, Strava steals 100m of climb when I upload it 😢)

On my own, where I could go my own pace and freely stop as I like, this would not be a daunting ride to me, but despite Joshua being super laid back about the pace, I know that he's much stronger than I, so mentally I felt a lot of trepidation going in.  So mentally, this was more difficult than physically.  In the end, I went super slow and Joshua was lovely to ride with, so it got easier as the day went, despite getting more tired as the day went.  I set the activity's "Perceived Exertion" to the lowest setting of "hard".

Vincent didn't have time for the whole ride, so we parted at Wazuka. The first big climbs after Wazuka included one with a 27% section (super super super step), and a long 3.5km @ 11% climb.  While doing these, it occurred to me that Vincent was smart to have bailed before them, so he's hereafter to be known as "Vincent the Wise". 😂

The descents are where I'm faster than Joshua, but in keeping with his spirit of riding-togetherness, I took them easy.    The Otogi Pass (御斎峠) climb at about halfway was notable for its incredibly-consistent 7% slope for its entire 5km duration.  It never fluctuated.

I took the liberty to enjoy at my own pace the 2nd-last descent of the day, the Tomikawa Descent, which is just lovely as a small mountain road winds down through the forest.  Joshua had crashed the last time he took this descent, so he was going to take it especially easily. I just enjoyed.  At the bottom, I waited... and waited... and waited. I sent an "Are you okay?" message. I eventually headed back, hoping that the delay was just a puncture. I chatted with a car coming from a little few-houses village along the way, and he'd not seen anyone. Most of the climb was beyond the village.  Most of the climb was beyond cell coverage. I kept going, checking over guardrails into the forest below, just in case. A few minutes from the top, I got some cell coverage, and a message from Joshua wondering where I was.  It turns out that there's a side road near the bottom of the descent that he took (that he always takes, but I never take, apparently), so we missed each other that way.    Since I was near the top, I continued up as he headed home. Then I headed home.  Once I got into Otsu, I realized that if I took the easiest way home, I'd *just* make the 100 miles (160.9km) goal that I was looking for. But I didn't want to cut it close, and as a matter of pride anyway, I decided to take the hardest route, via Hieidaira. I took my time, but it was a lovely climb and a lovely descent after.

In the end, it's my 42nd century (100+ mile) ride.  (I'm working toward one hundred 100+ mile rides.)  It's got the fourth-most amount of climb I've ever done. I did 27km of new roads.  No power-meter or cadence data this time... my the battery had apparently died. 


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Jeffrey Friedl

Mikuni Rindo with Joshua and Half a Vincent

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Daimonji Hike with Kai-Kai and his Entourage

Anna's First Biwa-ichi

Mt. Aso, Day 4 (Osaka Port to home)

Mt. Aso, Day 3

Mt. Aso, Day 2

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