Yesterday, January 4th, I rode out to Ise.
↑Ise udon
Actually, I did this as a brevet (brevét cycling event)
(Since I had time off anyway, it made sense to enter),
and I used bike bags for transport from Kobe at the start
and on the way back from Ise to Osaka.
My buddy and I rode together,
but we never saw any of the other riders who started at the same time as us—
we were at the front the entire way,
so I got worried we might be on the wrong course
(Technically, near the end there's a section where you double back on the same road,
and we did pass the third-place rider there).
↑Top is the SRAM (Hammerhead) Karoo log,
bottom is the Polar log.
I didn't have auto start/stop enabled,
so the recording never stopped
even during traffic lights or breaks.
The Karoo's log scale is distance-based,
so for example, if I climbed from home
to a pass summit
and came back the exact same way,
the elevation profile would be symmetrical left to right.
With Polar's log,
the scale is time-based instead,
so if the outbound and return routes are the same
and you climb a pass,
it might be 20 minutes uphill and 10 minutes downhill,
which means the slope angles of the pass elevation profile
differ on the left and right sides.
The first climb on the route
is Kiyotaki Pass, which crosses from Osaka into Nara,
and the reason the gradient looks so different in the two logs
is because of this.
Last year's Oise Pilgrimage ride (→here)
basically traced the course of this brevet that runs annually
starting from around Moriguchi in Osaka rather than Kobe.
Of my bikes,
Akamatsu (→here), my everyday bike,
currently has 44T front single speed × 11-25T 7-speed
(11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 25),
and since I knew from experience
that with the easiest gear of 44×25T
(roughly equivalent to 39×22T or 34×19T)
I could get over even Kiyotaki Pass,
there'd be no shortage of gearing afterward,
so I rode with that setup.
Plus, those Nomura-Labo wheels (commercial non-standard wheels) sure do roll fast (pat myself on the back)
The final pass, which is also the highest elevation one on the log,
is Nagano Pass.
This one goes through a tunnel rather than the old road,
but up to that point it's a gentle climb
and the descent is quite steep.
If this course were in reverse
or if I had to do it as an out-and-back,
44×25T might not have been enough gearing.
I stopped there last year too,
and since there's a Henba Mochi main shop on the route,
I bought a box of five pieces.
The Ise udon shop in the opening photo
is on Okage Yokocho, which runs straight out from in front of Ise Shrine's Naiku,
and there was also a Henba Mochi shop on Okage Yokocho,
so I could've bought there instead.
The main shop wasn't busy
while the Okage Yokocho location was packed.
The completion time was determined by the receipt time
from the last designated convenience store,
but with the understanding that even a one-minute difference
on the receipt due to the register clock
was no hard feelings,
I went straight in to that Family Mart
and ordered Famichiki (fried chicken),
whereas my riding partner quickly checked out a gummy candy pack at the self-checkout,
so I ended up one minute slower as a result.
But it's not a race anyway, so it's fine.
I didn't post pictures, but
like last year, I did pay my respects at Ise Shrine.
↑Ise udon
Actually, I did this as a brevet (brevét cycling event)
(Since I had time off anyway, it made sense to enter),
and I used bike bags for transport from Kobe at the start
and on the way back from Ise to Osaka.
My buddy and I rode together,
but we never saw any of the other riders who started at the same time as us—
we were at the front the entire way,
so I got worried we might be on the wrong course
(Technically, near the end there's a section where you double back on the same road,
and we did pass the third-place rider there).
↑Top is the SRAM (Hammerhead) Karoo log,
bottom is the Polar log.
I didn't have auto start/stop enabled,
so the recording never stopped
even during traffic lights or breaks.
The Karoo's log scale is distance-based,
so for example, if I climbed from home
to a pass summit
and came back the exact same way,
the elevation profile would be symmetrical left to right.
With Polar's log,
the scale is time-based instead,
so if the outbound and return routes are the same
and you climb a pass,
it might be 20 minutes uphill and 10 minutes downhill,
which means the slope angles of the pass elevation profile
differ on the left and right sides.
The first climb on the route
is Kiyotaki Pass, which crosses from Osaka into Nara,
and the reason the gradient looks so different in the two logs
is because of this.
Last year's Oise Pilgrimage ride (→here)
basically traced the course of this brevet that runs annually
starting from around Moriguchi in Osaka rather than Kobe.
Of my bikes,
Akamatsu (→here), my everyday bike,
currently has 44T front single speed × 11-25T 7-speed
(11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 25),
and since I knew from experience
that with the easiest gear of 44×25T
(roughly equivalent to 39×22T or 34×19T)
I could get over even Kiyotaki Pass,
there'd be no shortage of gearing afterward,
so I rode with that setup.
The final pass, which is also the highest elevation one on the log,
is Nagano Pass.
This one goes through a tunnel rather than the old road,
but up to that point it's a gentle climb
and the descent is quite steep.
If this course were in reverse
or if I had to do it as an out-and-back,
44×25T might not have been enough gearing.
I stopped there last year too,
and since there's a Henba Mochi main shop on the route,
I bought a box of five pieces.
The Ise udon shop in the opening photo
is on Okage Yokocho, which runs straight out from in front of Ise Shrine's Naiku,
and there was also a Henba Mochi shop on Okage Yokocho,
so I could've bought there instead.
The main shop wasn't busy
while the Okage Yokocho location was packed.
The completion time was determined by the receipt time
from the last designated convenience store,
but with the understanding that even a one-minute difference
on the receipt due to the register clock
was no hard feelings,
I went straight in to that Family Mart
and ordered Famichiki (fried chicken),
whereas my riding partner quickly checked out a gummy candy pack at the self-checkout,
so I ended up one minute slower as a result.
But it's not a race anyway, so it's fine.
I didn't post pictures, but
like last year, I did pay my respects at Ise Shrine.