(continued from above)
The bath house:
Climbing from the ruins to the tunnel:
As mentioned, the descent was not as cold as on previous rides. I proceeded carefully because of the wet leaves.
Meeting Tom came as a big surprise. He does amazing distances at amazing speeds, but still manages to take great pictures, which are my passion too.
After a couple of curves I came across Tony who was also taking pictures of the scenery. Many of the slopes on the west side are clearcuts, with trees still lining the rindo down to Rt299, including many bright red Japanese maples. Last year Tony didn't get around to taking any pictures, so he made up for it this year.
After Tony left and I finished my pictures, I got back on the bike again but noticed it felt strange. Indeed the rear tyre had almost no air in it. I had punctured on perhaps the most remote part of the route. Since it was only my fourth puncture in 25,000 km (the last one being at Norikura), I felt a bit rusty getting the wheel back on after the tube change. I had checked the tyre but could not find what had caused the puncture. After pumping it up again, I headed on.
A km or two later I bumped into Xue and Shane, who were doing the loop separately and in the opposite direction. We last rode together at Norikura. They told me they had come across other Half-Fast cyclists attending to a puncture.
A couple of minutes later I caught up with microcord and JackTheCommuter, who were just finishing up their puncture repair. We rode back all the way to Chichibu together, finally as a proper B group
It was a pleasure to ride together and have a chance to chat during and after the ride.
Though the mountains were shrouded in clouds when we arrived there around 15:40 (an hour before sunset), I wasn't put off and wanted to complete my first century ride of November, to extend the "century a month" series to 27 months. Even if it rained, I had my rain gear and full fingered gloves with me.
I made it to the top of Yamabushi toge by sunset. The descent towards Naguri was a bit chilly because my clothes were still wet from sweat, as I had done the loop overdressed. Near Naguri the early start after 4 1/2 hours sleep and the recent return from a trip to Canada caught up with me. I took a nap on a bench outside a public toilet before heading on. I felt much relieved to be out of the mountains again as I descended to Oume. From here it was just a ride largely along the Tamagawa.
Omatsuri in Oume:
However, I noticed the tyre pressure was low again. I pumped it back up again and did about 5 km, then pulled into the brightly lit forecourt of a car wash place. The tyre was flat again. This time I searched thoroughly until I found and removed a tiny shard of glass embedded in the tyre that slightly protruded inside, whose position matched the hole in the tube. Instead of using my second spare tube I got out the patch kit and mended the puncture with good old rubber solution and a patch. It held all the way home, no more surprises.
I got home around midnight, having done about 180 km with a bit over 1700 m of elevation after almost two weeks of no cycling. I forgot to start recording until 20 km into the ride, as I was paying more attention to getting the group out of Chichibu than on the GPS logging, so only the final 162 km show up on Strava.
It looks like this particular ride is becoming something of a Half-Fast Cycling tradition.