Sunday May 24th
109.7km (total elevation 1,122m)
Early morning drive to Chigasaki beach on the Shonan coast. Cycle down the coast road to Kamamura. Up through the town towards Fujisawa. Cycle through the quiet residential roads and up the hills over to Odawara. Quite snack break and then up into the hills, as far as I could go on my selected route until I could go no further due to a road closure. Back down to Odawara and return to the coast road for a straight ride back to Chigasaki.
Sunday 10th May
97.5km (total elevation 1,229m)
Early morning ride, setting off from home (Komae) riding through Kawasaki towards Mnt Takao (or at least the mountain next to Takao). Spectacular view of Sagami town from the peak of the mountain. Then on to Sagami Lake and and follow Sagami river back through Sagamihara. Finally back through Kawasaki to home.
Tuesday 5th May
99.9km (total elevation 1,274m)
Drive to Itsukaichi (v. early morning so all the roads clear – roof open!)
Head up into the mountains towards Hinode and then towards Ome.
Cycled up a (very steep) delightful woodland lane and over to Hanno. Over the mountain peak and down into Saitama. Up to Hatoyama (halfway point) and then head back down through the valleys to Hamura and back up to Itsukaichi.
Sunday 26th April
57.2 km (total elevation 549m)
Quick early morning ride before breakfast around the suburbs of Kawasaki and Yokohama. Around Yokohama Zoo and then back across the Tama river, cycling up the river side track.
Sunday 19th April
86.6 km (total elevation 1,183 m)
Training ride around the Miura peninsula, starting at Kamakura, cycling down to the pacific coast, across to Misaki and then back to Kamakura. Lots of short uphill climbs which provided some spectacular views, particularly of Mnt Fuji.
Saturday 10th April
78.2km (total elevation 1,463m)
Beautiful ride around the mountains near Sagamiko . Started at Isehara and followed a mountain route to Lake Miyagase. Then onto the edge of Sagamiko (although the mountain pass was closed due to the road having fallen away so a minor detour was required) and back to Isehara.
This was also the first time to carry the bike on the back of the Elise, which worked really well.
Sunday 21st March
73km (total elevation 1,318m)
First serious mountain climb challenge, starting from Itsukaichi, riding up the mountains to a peak of about 1,167m. Absolutely stunning scenery. I had planned to get to Okutama for a lunch break and continue around but it was gone 2pm by the time I got to the peak. So, knowing there were more hill climbs on the other side of the lake and my legs were already destroyed, I decided the safest option was to return the way I came. So I had a quick lunch break at “Tomin no mori” (とみんの森) and then returned to Itsukaichi.
I’m determined to complete this ride in the near future.
Sunday March 15th
77.3km (total elevation 767m)
Delightful ride towards the mountains near Hachioji with one long ascent up to a peak of ~400m (peak next to Takao, as it is not possible to cycle up Mt Takao itself)
Sunday 1st March, 2020:
55.7km (total elevation 247m)
First training ride since signing up to the KIWL 500km 2020.
A mostly urban ride, from my home in Komae-shi to “Lake Tama” (Tamako = 多摩湖).
