Road Fixie

Wow – what a great day! At  least 8 riders showed up for this hammerfest ride to top of Shiraishi plus alpha. Max had to bail early due to pressing engagement and missed the actual 7km climb, but rest of us had a mini-race to the top. Kimm san and JF led off with a nasty hard pace. Then followed by Steve and myself. The competition was stiff and we all found ourselves at the summit completely spent! Takakki san suffered 2 chaindrops making it an especially agonizing ride up the more than 20% in some places grade.  I tried hard to catch Steve but everytime I started an attack he somehow sensed or saw me and pulled out the afterburners to crush me.  At the top it was a tie with Kimm san and JF, then Steve and myself, followed by Fumiki san, Sat, Takakki san and Pete. (I’ll have to get official order later – was really too wiped to concentrate fully) We completed the ride by heading up the Greenline and hitting another couple of short climbs finally ending up a favorite soba /udon shop at the top. While we there one of the customers gave an impromptu performance of a Spanish song played on a traditional Japanese flute. Magic always happens on these rides!

If you’re in the hood and want to take on some hills, we’ve got a great ride planned. Shiraishi Toge. You can checkout the route here – We’ll ride up the Arakawa as usual and then follow this map: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/330487

I’ll be heading out from Shinjuku as usual and then we have a meetup point close to the Arakawa River.  The weather is looking to be gorgeous so lets enjoy it! This will probably be the last chance before Kusatsu to get in a major tear-down day so expect some aggressive climbing by committed individuals. As always, though, no one is left behind unless they choose to bail.

If you’re riding fixed then I recommend a 44/15 44/21 flip flop. The climbing portion exceeds 18% in many places. This is how we roll!