Big White is AWESOME! Back in time... Japanese Odyssey #5 Day one.

Mount Fuji

I was deleting stuff from my phone yesterday and I came across notes from my second Japanese Odyssey, back in 2019... yep! Pre Covid! Remember pre-covid? It was when you could travel. 

The Japanese Odyssey is not a race, it is a... er... Odyssey, yep invented by Odysseus himself - a self supported, self directed, the route other than check-points and special segments (here you can read 'mountain climbs') is planned by yourself... the goal is to finish... not many named 'Chris' finish and (spoiler alert), this 'Chris' didn't finish... again. Even though it is not a race, to keep things simple, I'm gonna refer to it as a 'race'.

It is 6am ish,  October 12th 2019, I am in Kagoshima and I can see the local volcano dispensing ash from its er... ash dispenser, you know, the bit at the top. The start of the ride, well the first 20kms or so call for riding through the ash cloud. Unsurprisingly my mind is doing its thing and thinking 'hmmm, that looks pretty cool to ride through' my mind is so dumb sometimes.

Bike... er wait... did you guess that?

I had been in Japan a few days now, I'd landed in Tokyo (without my bike... again...) spent the night at an airport hotel and then flew down to Kagoshima the next morning. The bike was a bit of a worry since I was in Japan to ride it. But, I had been assured by the nice people at ANA (I love ANA) that it was on route and would follow me, and most importantly arrive for the start of my Odyssey. 

Of course it did arrive, (or this would be a very short blog) around 4pm the ride eve - similar to Christmas but without gifts... or cake. My schedule is now a little tight, as in 'Oh my god! I'm never gonna get it done...!' I have to build it, pack it for the ride (I carry everything - spares, tools, food, clothing, sleep system (yep, I have a sleep system), lights, electronics etc etc), I have to pack the shipping bag for transport back to Tokyo (the race finish), and I have to go to the pre-race dinner and briefing at 7pm. Lots to do eh? I get it done, finishing after the pre-race stuff. Bed for a few hours, and up around 5am and head off to the start, bike and bike-bag in tow.

Look how cool that Ash cloud is... not.

All is good, well almost everything, my tires still need air. Every organized bike ride I have ever done, someone has had a track pump... every bike ride... except this one. I'm still looking for someone else to blame for my ineptitude, unfortunately no-one yet. We drop all the gear to be shipped, eat second breakfast, do the obligatory photo shoot, eat third breakfast, final tweaks, eat early morning, post breakfast(s) first snack, final brief and... after sevenses (like elevenses except earlier), we start. 

Kinda, my first port of call is the gas station to get air in my tires. I couldn't get the valve to fully seal, I managed to get 'some' air in my tires but not real riding pressure. Still, I set off 10 mins behind the rest... I have probably 150 hours of riding over the next 10 days, 10 mins is not going to make a big difference... low pressure tyres tho...

Clunk! Did my chain come off?
Why yes, yes it did.

The road had some Autumn debris...
and it scored a massive 6.0!

The temp is great, sun is shining, slight ocean breeze, not too warm - a great start. About 8kms in I get to the ash cloud... it looked cool. It was not. It was hot, dry and very gritty... of course the best option is to sweat profusely so the ash has something to stick to... and to continue breathing so the grit can get into your lungs, (I tried the alternative but...) your drive train is fine because it is covered in fresh, clean lubrication... for the first 30 seconds. Eight kms later and I come out of the cloud, 'hmmm... not as much fun as I imagined...' my mind, it is so dumb.

My first navigational challenge is at about 30kms, turn right, go up the hill... well, until the road disappears, turn around, get a puncture... I say 'puncture' but I am running tubeless, so I get a 'squeak' the best way to describe it is a very high pitched fart. And you thought this blog was highbrow. My tires, which, still needed air... now need more (one anyway). I get back down to the coast, find another garage and top up, full this time. 

"Right, I need to re-route and then make up some time... lets go!" I tell myself, I put the power down as I cross the road and... Clunk! 'What? Did my chain just come off?' Well, yes, yes it did - because it snapped. Isn't that a bugger. The kind friendly garage guy walks over to me - yep, that is how far I had got. He came over to help 10 mins and one set of spare split links later and I am off.

Right, this time, let's go! I set off up the next hill, on my mapping program it connects to the road I want to be on. There are big red signs saying the road is closed... but sometimes you can get through on a bike... of course sometimes you cannot. I turn around again, back down to the coast. I track further, head uphill on a main road and get to another option to get back on my route.

Not much room for cars, even tiny Japanese ones...

Again, big red signs... I head up this beautiful, just stunningly beautiful, very very quiet road. The further I get the less sign of life there is; the road begins to fill up with Autumn debris - leaves, bark etc. Nobody has driven this road for a long time... but, there are bike tracks - another rider is ahead of me, and he/she has not turned around yet. The road continued, and it continued to be beautiful. I found, ha! 'found' the reason for the 'road-closed' signs, yep, it was mostly blocked. But, on foot or pushing your bike you could navigate the narrow wooden walkway built as a temporary solution. So, third time/road lucky and I was through. It was definitely worth it.

I look back on my 'notes' from the day. The notes make as much sense as Siri listening to an out of breath, verbally challenged Northern Englishman, trying to talk into his phone whilst balanced precariously pedalling with one hand. Yep - no sense at all... for example "And I think discovered you bridging the gap between candle..." told you, and I have no idea what it means.

The rest of the day was less memorable, I remember riding up this long hill in the Lantern Rouge position - dead last. And watching all the other riders who were ahead of me, pass me on their way down... how far ahead? Too many.

Daily Stats-

• 226kms
• 13 hours moving, 
• 19 hours total.
• 4670m elevation gain.

Mental relief points - lots.

Volcano n stuff...

Second part of the day.

The 13 hours were moving time, a few others were spent cursing, eating, drinking, getting lost and looking confused on the side of the road. Eventually I ended up in a group of five and we stopped riding around 1:30am. I would like to say I put my head on the pillow and slept the sleep of the dead, I didn't, but that is another story. Ha! Wait! I found it-

http://solidoproperties.blogspot.com/2019/

Solido Properties Ltd lives a Big White Ski Resort, and when not skiing, riding bikes, kitesurfing, or travelling... manages seasonal properties on the mountain.

Have you ever done a Odysseus inspired adventure? Let me know.

C.