There's a place in Nara called Soni (曽爾) Highland,
famous for its fields of Japanese pampas grass.
This is something not widely known, but
it was originally developed as a Sony corporate retreat.
Just kidding, so please don't take that seriously
and tell other people about it.
Last night, or rather early this morning,
I was working until around 4 AM
and on a whim
I headed home via Soni Highland.
The distance was around 141 km.
Along the way.
When I entered Nara Prefecture, the sun hadn't come up yet,
and it was around 10℃ on the Osaka side,
but once I got into Nara, there was a sudden biting cold,
and when I checked my Garmin (Shimano's cycling computer),
the temperature had dropped to 4℃.
At that point, I felt the cold air penetrating through
my spring/fall gloves and
shoes without toe covers.
When it comes to my cycle computer's display items,
if there's an option to show temperature, I always include it.
It's interesting to compare it with the digital temperature displays
you find at pass entrances,
and it becomes a reference for next time—like at what temperature
I start to feel cold or when I need to put on another layer.
I generally keep buying the flagship models of Polar heart rate monitors,
but while the V800 series has temperature in the display items,
the next generation, the Vantage V series,
doesn't have temperature as a display item.
Technically, it's still measuring in the background, so
I can check the temperature data later on a PC,
but what matters is whether I can see it while I'm actually riding.
Here's the bear warning sign everyone's been talking about.
A little further ahead, I heard
a rustling sound coming from the woods on the left side of the road, and honestly it scared me.
The sound was like something bigger than a large dog moving,
so it was probably a deer.
∩ ∩
|つ ⊂|
ヽっ_ｃノ
⊂ノ・ \
| __▼ Rustle rustle (lol)
|･( )
|(ﾉ |)
|･･ |
<ヽ･_ノ
∪ ∪
↑That's seriously bad for my heart,
please stop
In front of the parking lot of Okame-no-Yu hot spring in Soni Village.
I decided to turn back here.
On weekends and holidays, you can't enter the parking lot before 9:30 AM,
so I took the photo from outside.
A page summarizing the elevation data from my Garmin.
Though it's cut off, the top left shows the current elevation,
top right shows the maximum elevation during this recording,
below that on the left and right are the cumulative elevation gain
and cumulative elevation loss,
and the graph at the bottom is the historical elevation—
a graph of distance versus elevation for everything up to this point.
The maximum elevation up to here is the spike you see in the graph,
which occurred right after exiting the Benzaiten Tunnel at 638m,
and currently I'm at 483m, having descended from there and climbed slightly.
The difference between cumulative elevation gain and loss is 466m,
which means the return route from here will have about 466m more descent than climb.
Knowing this or not knowing it doesn't change the fact that
I'll have to ride back anyway,
but knowing this elevation difference numerically
makes me feel a bit better mentally.
Also, since the maximum elevation for the day is this single spike
at the Benzaiten Tunnel exit,
even though there can be some fluctuation due to barometric pressure changes,
knowing that the climbing ends once I reach 638m elevation
also puts my mind at ease a bit.
Until I enter Osaka Prefecture,
I'm taking the same road back,
so a round trip on a route with just one prominent climb
creates a graph that looks like a symmetrical cat or devil.
Finished!
Since I took a different route after entering Osaka Prefecture,
that section isn't symmetrical.
The maximum elevation is at the same location,
but either due to barometric pressure changes or
elevation meter error from calculating based on barometric pressure,
it's updated from 638m to 640m.
famous for its fields of Japanese pampas grass.
This is something not widely known, but
it was originally developed as a Sony corporate retreat.
Just kidding, so please don't take that seriously
and tell other people about it.
Last night, or rather early this morning,
I was working until around 4 AM
and on a whim
I headed home via Soni Highland.
The distance was around 141 km.
Along the way.
When I entered Nara Prefecture, the sun hadn't come up yet,
and it was around 10℃ on the Osaka side,
but once I got into Nara, there was a sudden biting cold,
and when I checked my Garmin (Shimano's cycling computer),
the temperature had dropped to 4℃.
At that point, I felt the cold air penetrating through
my spring/fall gloves and
shoes without toe covers.
When it comes to my cycle computer's display items,
if there's an option to show temperature, I always include it.
It's interesting to compare it with the digital temperature displays
you find at pass entrances,
and it becomes a reference for next time—like at what temperature
I start to feel cold or when I need to put on another layer.
I generally keep buying the flagship models of Polar heart rate monitors,
but while the V800 series has temperature in the display items,
the next generation, the Vantage V series,
doesn't have temperature as a display item.
Technically, it's still measuring in the background, so
I can check the temperature data later on a PC,
but what matters is whether I can see it while I'm actually riding.
Here's the bear warning sign everyone's been talking about.
A little further ahead, I heard
a rustling sound coming from the woods on the left side of the road, and honestly it scared me.
The sound was like something bigger than a large dog moving,
so it was probably a deer.
∩ ∩
|つ ⊂|
ヽっ_ｃノ
⊂ノ・ \
| __▼ Rustle rustle (lol)
|･( )
|(ﾉ |)
|･･ |
<ヽ･_ノ
∪ ∪
↑That's seriously bad for my heart,
please stop
In front of the parking lot of Okame-no-Yu hot spring in Soni Village.
I decided to turn back here.
On weekends and holidays, you can't enter the parking lot before 9:30 AM,
so I took the photo from outside.
A page summarizing the elevation data from my Garmin.
Though it's cut off, the top left shows the current elevation,
top right shows the maximum elevation during this recording,
below that on the left and right are the cumulative elevation gain
and cumulative elevation loss,
and the graph at the bottom is the historical elevation—
a graph of distance versus elevation for everything up to this point.
The maximum elevation up to here is the spike you see in the graph,
which occurred right after exiting the Benzaiten Tunnel at 638m,
and currently I'm at 483m, having descended from there and climbed slightly.
The difference between cumulative elevation gain and loss is 466m,
which means the return route from here will have about 466m more descent than climb.
Knowing this or not knowing it doesn't change the fact that
I'll have to ride back anyway,
but knowing this elevation difference numerically
makes me feel a bit better mentally.
Also, since the maximum elevation for the day is this single spike
at the Benzaiten Tunnel exit,
even though there can be some fluctuation due to barometric pressure changes,
knowing that the climbing ends once I reach 638m elevation
also puts my mind at ease a bit.
Until I enter Osaka Prefecture,
I'm taking the same road back,
so a round trip on a route with just one prominent climb
creates a graph that looks like a symmetrical cat or devil.
Finished!
Since I took a different route after entering Osaka Prefecture,
that section isn't symmetrical.
The maximum elevation is at the same location,
but either due to barometric pressure changes or
elevation meter error from calculating based on barometric pressure,
it's updated from 638m to 640m.