1200 km brevet in Japan this year
Richard McCaw
Cell: 408-838-9863
Home: 408-448-2899
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mccaw
Joseph Maurer
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Masayoshi Kobayashi
So my experience in Japanese brevet is actually limited (I've done much more
brevets in US than in Japan). But I know bicycling in Japan in general and
I'm glad if I can help anything. Please feel free to contact me.
As I see the registration page that Richard sent out,
participants from foreign country seems to be anticipated and
there is no word on the limit for foreign participants.
It would be good to contact first to AJ (Audax Japan) Hokkaido representative
(there is a e-mail link on the page or I can help).
Some translations by Google do not make sense. I hope I do a better job here:
- They mandate BRM600km qualification (of any year) and an insurance that
covers their mandated policy.
- Pre-registration is required (for the organizers to estimate the number of
participants). Submit the form on the page.
- Once you submit the form, you'll receive the pre-registration number
(within four business days), which will be used for the actual registration
in May.
For riding on the other side of the road, at least in my case,
it wasn't a big issue. I easily got used to it. (Riders attending
Honolulu century ride from Japan (>1500 riders) switch from left to
right immediately). I would imagine the navigation might be a bit of
challenge because it is possible the signs of intersection/roads
are written only in Japanese in the rural area.
As you can see the video/photos from the bottom link of the page,
Hokkaido is a quite rural area and has lots of beautiful scenery.
When I was an undergrad student, I did a bicycling tour in Hokkaido
with friends carrying camping stuff (tent, sleeping bag, etc) on bicycle,
that was one of the best memory in my school days.. Hope any of SFR members
will enjoy randonneuring in Hokkaido or anywhere in Japan.
Again, please feel free to contact me (or post to this list).
I'm glad if there's anything I can help.
Thanks,
Masa
On 3/1/10 10:04 PM, Richard McCaw wrote:
> Randonneuring in Japan is surging and they have a 1200 km brevet this
> year for anyone interested in a great adventure (and priorirty prep for
> PBP next year). I don't know how many foreigners would be allowed to
> participate but Masayoshi Kobayashi is our SF Randon local expert on
> Randonneuring in Japan. I have only been to Japan once and I will be
> going there again in April since my son lives there while with US Navy.
> . I hope to be able to do a 300 km brevet while there with help from
> Masa and David Thompson (American Randonneur living in Japan). I would
> think that this 1200 km brevet would be an adventure of a lifetime. Masa
> can provide his comments but this brevet circies the northern most
> island of Japan (Hokkaido_)_. Quite rural and I expect scenery would be
> spectacular. The food, culture and being able to ride with another
> nation of enthusiastic Randonneurs would be a dream trip beyond a PBP
> experience.
>
> http://aj-hokkaido.sakura.ne.jp/1200_1ST.html
>
> http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Faj-hokkaido.sakura.ne.jp%2F1200_1ST.html
> <http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Faj-hokkaido.sakura.ne.jp%2F1200_1ST.html>
>
> Maybe I will return to do the event (can one enjoy riding on the wrong
> side of the road for 1200 km?)
>
> Richard McCaw
> Cell: 408-838-9863
> Home: 408-448-2899
>
> LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mccaw
>
jlr1408
Tomakomai to Kuromatsunai via Niseko (out and back course). It was a
nice group of people. They were happy to have foreigners. There was
one other foreigner, Martin, from Scotland, who was living in Japan at
the time. They all knew him. I rode with about four other riders for
about the first 15 miles. After that, I was alone. I think just over
20 people signed up. Something like 17 showed up and maybe 11
finished.
It was a difficult ride - harder for me than PBP 2007. I finished
both. It was 7 C (44 F) and rained literally the entire time. I was
more than mildly hypothermic by the end. I had difficulty clipping in
and out, I could no longer shift my STI levers by the end. I could
barely stand or walk. They served a wonderful curry soup at the end,
but I had to hold my spoon in my fist like a baby because my hands
weren't working. After the soup, I had to get back on the bike to
ride to my hotel. That sucked.
I had been in the area for a week on business and the weather had been
beautiful until that day. I was riding every day before work. It is
beautiful terrain, wild and mountainous. In the flatter areas, they
were planting rice. It is pretty remote and much of this route was in
national park. Especially after dark, there were many miles between
convenience stores. Desperately cold, I stopped in one of the
mountain tunnels at night and rummaged around in my bag until I found
half of a two-year-old Clif bar. It was coated in grey saddle-bag
scurf, but that was the best Clif Bar I have ever eaten. The tunnels
were the only time I got out of the rain. The last 20 miles +/- was
mainly downhill, so it was very hard to stay warm. I highly recommend
the rice balls at the convenience stores. They have two sport drinks
- Aquarius and Pocari Sweat. Both seem pretty watered down, but they
taste fine.
The road signs have english too, so it was not hard to navigate. Two
different people translated the route sheet for me. It was a simple
route, mostly numbered highways. If the 1200 route is around the
island, it should be easy to find the way. It will probably be on
numbered highways. There are more towns near the coast too, so food
shouldn't be as much of a problem.
It will matter less on a 1200, but the daylight hours are of odd in
the spring. The sun rises around 4:30 AM, and it's dark by 6:30 PM.
Our ride started at 8:00 AM, and I finished just before 11:00 PM. I
spend a lot of it in the dark. Between the overcast skies and the
rain, I never got to see the mountains I was riding through. The
locals kept telling me that they wouldn't ride a bike through there at
night because of the bears. I know there are brown bears, but I
assume they were kidding mostly. I never saw any bears.
Good luck on the ride. I am sure it will be a great experience.
Don't let my experience scare you. Bring the right clothes and carry
extra food. Flying out of Chitose the next day, the skies were
brilliant blue and I could see the snow-covered mountains that I had
ridden through.
Oh, you get used to riding on the wrong side of the road very
quickly. What is perhaps more foreign, is that Japanese cyclists obey
all traffic signs religiously. I remember, early in the ride, we were
riding on a wide (left) shoulder when we rolled up to a stop light in
the middle of nowhere; no cars in sight, no buildings in sight. We
were turning left, so it was like a right turn on red in the
countryside. Everyone stopped their bikes and waited for the light to
change. It seemed so perfectly Japanese.
Jason R.
On Mar 2, 1:04 am, Richard McCaw <richard.mc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Randonneuring in Japan is surging and they have a 1200 km brevet this year
> for anyone interested in a great adventure (and priorirty prep for PBP next
> year). I don't know how many foreigners would be allowed to participate but
> Masayoshi Kobayashi is our SF Randon local expert on Randonneuring in Japan.
> I have only been to Japan once and I will be going there again in April
> since my son lives there while with US Navy. . I hope to be able to do a 300
> km brevet while there with help from Masa and David Thompson (American
> Randonneur living in Japan). I would think that this 1200 km brevet would be
> an adventure of a lifetime. Masa can provide his comments but this brevet
> circies the northern most island of Japan (Hokkaido*)*. Quite rural and I
> expect scenery would be spectacular. The food, culture and being able to
> ride with another nation of enthusiastic Randonneurs would be a dream trip
> beyond a PBP experience.
>
> http://aj-hokkaido.sakura.ne.jp/1200_1ST.html
>
> http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%...