Wada vs. the Ironman and the Fixie-Go-Round
I posted an ad-hoc redux ride for the Wada. 4 riders confirmed with a possible hookup at the station. Cool. We (James, Andy, Kori and I) met up at Takao station, strapped in and headed to the rendevous at Takao Sanguchi. There we met up with another krewe – mainly the Krewe of Iron(men and women). Arrgh – well, we had our work cut out. Route was decided by Keren and off we went.
This time the <other> approach to Wada which is shorter, nastier and strewn with pitfall, spikey switches and steep pitches. The pace out to the Wada was leisurely – like gladiators on a stroll to the lions. You are in not much hurry to face fate. I cog swapped a bit early and had to hold a high spin to stay grouped. Haha – that cog would come in handy on the climb (so I thought). Entered the climb and began the pain. The extra teeth on the cog disappeared early into the retina-blood haze and I was almost wishing for 2 less teeth mainly cause the ascent speed vs pain ratio was far off the feeling of success.
We ALL made it and and had brief respite (and I switched cog back) ready for the downhill and rest of the journey.
Great descent down to Uenohara via some nice rolling hills and there James had to bail back. We continued along the golf course route and over yet more rolling hills. Reaching the 20 Junction a decision was made to bail back Takao. After the last hill over to Takao, I switched back to the road-killer cog and dragged race some Bozuzoku kids on 50cc rat bikes down the mountain. The must have been a bizarre site – 4 kids on howling scooters, straight out of Quadrophenia and a friggin insane fixie rider mashing it up with them. I missed the rendevous and got a call from Andy ‘wtf are you?’ – Umm, back at the station! Haha – I retraced back and met the regroup for some much needed Pizza and bevs before heading back to T-Town. Awesome ride indeed!
