Quarter of a Century

Due to my old man pulling out of what would have been an epic ride with Michael due to having to stay home and look after me this Sunday (Don't believe a word of it... he is vertically challenged and hates anything with an incline) We decided to see how far we could get a long the KatabiriKawa that runs through Tsurugamine.

Having completed my chores, Cleaning Dad's Pinarello FP3 , doing my home work and tidying my room, we finally set off from the house at 10am.

Recently they have built a nice nature walk from the bottom of our road all the way to route45 just before Zoo Rasia and speeding along this I soon found myself climbing up the first serious climb of the day. It’s about 50meters and before long Dad was giving me a push to reach the summit. (No crashes this time Michael as Dad has worked out the best way to engage in the pushing.)

Finally we got a nice downhill to route 16 were I was able to clock 31kmph. Crossing Route 16 was very sketchy but soon we were on our way again and heading towards Mitskiyo…..hang on! Where’s the river??????

It turns out that Dad need to drop of his racing wheels to be trued ready for the Enduro Race at Yokohama Arena early next month, fortunately a Snickers bar was enough to keep me happy enough for this slight breach in protocol, especially when Im training for the next JCRC kids race!

Having looked at the computer I noticed we had already clocked in a nice 6km and before long we were heading back in the same direction to the river.

Just after the Tomeii Interchange we turned right in to some amazing country roads that are sandwiched between the Expressway and Route 16 and we were able to keep a steady 18-20kph, Dad must have been blown as he was on my tail all the way in to Tsurugamine where we joined the river.

Cruising along we got to see some nice scenery and the undulating hills that broke up the monotony of following the river. Around 12 noon we stopped for our first proper break with 15km on the clock and drank some Dakara from one of the vending machines on the route.

Setting off again we got just outside of Wadamachi when disaster struck, Forced in to the curb due to the narrow road and cars squeezing past I hit a pot hole which not only punctured my front tire but my rear as well! In my 4 months experience of riding road bikes this has never happened before. Fortunately the old man knew of a bike shop about 1 km away and we managed to get the bike there with no problems.

Disaster 2!!! STAGE1 was out of 24 inch inner tubes, fortunately the old man came to the rescue again (God knows why he didn’t have his tool bag with him!) But bought a puncture repair kit and went about fixing them right there in the shop. Fortunately he knows the owners and they went about helping out getting my Pro-Light Road bike back to the race perfection.

Having sorted out the repairs we headed back down to the river and looped over to the other side and followed the river back towards Tsurugamine on the far bank. Reaching Nishiya we decided to stop for lunch at the Denny’s on Route 16 and got some hot food and sugary drinks in us. Also as a special treat I was allowed a Ice Cream Sundae, for all you Dad’s out there this is pure energy, just take a look at the photo, I’m about to go to critical mass!

Filled up with hamburger steak, soda and Ice cream we hit the river again and headed home, taking some of the back roads to avoid the heavy traffic on Route16.

Finally pulling up to the door with an almost perfect 25km on the clock, 1 Quarter of a centry!

Next morning I was so HUNGRY.... lucky for me dad had cooked a fall English!