(continued)
More sunflowers:
Trying out
a faster vehicle for a change:
Hydrangeas:
A little before the Doshi Michi no Eki, I stopped at an ice cream vending machine which had served as a quiz check point on the AJ Nishi-Tokyo 400 km brevet.
I bought a chocolate-mint bar, but to my surprise when I opened the pickup flap there was a blueberry bar next to my ice cream that I had neither selected nor paid for. Since there was no way to return that, I offered it to another cyclist who just happened to roll up to buy drinks.
It turned out he had been cycle-touring and this was his last day. He had left Iwate prefecture 600 km away a week ago, cycling down to Tokyo. He was also on his way to Yamanakako.
Selfies with both cameras were duly taken:
It cooled off at the tunnel before the descent to Yamanakoko. Around Yamanakako in the evening it was only 23C.
It was dark as I cycled up Kagosaka toge, which is one of the highest but also the shortest of the climbs on this route and is followed by the longest descent.
Once I slowed down because of a shadow of something I saw in the middle of the road. As a car came up the other way, it started moving and disappeared into forest. It definitely was no deer, but I think it looked more like a wild boar than a bear. Whatever it was, I was glad I did not come much closer to it.
It was hard to stay awake while standing on the train back to Tokyo from Odawara. Despite the heat I enjoyed this ride. I drank lots of water, including three bottles from vending machines (usually go for tap water as much as possible). I started out really slow, which I think was the way to go until it cooled off at higher altitude and later in the day. This gave the ride some balance, instead of ending up feeling half dead in the end.
Having done my century ride of the month on the first weekend, I can now feel easy about where and how far I ride for the rest of the month
