Another Nice (Tough!) Bicycle Ride in the Mountains Around Kyoto

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/4000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Good Times

Meeting new friends before a joint ride into the mountains

Sanjo Bridge Starbucks, Kyoto Japan

水曜日もサイクリングをしました。今回は友達６人と一緒に６０kmの山上下いっぱいのルートでした。

Two days ago I did a short easy bicycle ride into
the mountains of western Kyoto, but yesterday I did something a bit more
ambitious. As seems to be the habit since my first ride
with folks from Cycling Kyoto!, we met in front of the Starbucks on
Sanjo Street. This time there were seven people total...

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/3200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Gorm Kipperberg

positive fun attitude








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/2500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Henry Foster

fast








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/320 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 —
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Kumiko Mini and Manseki Kanemitsu

Manseki would be today's ride leader









Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 100 —
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Arthur Lauritsen

dedication: he brought his bike up an hour on the train from Osaka








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 —
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Jamie Anderson

a photo from later in the trip

Today's route would be a repeat of one that Manseki had done two days prior, so he was group lead. We got moving at 9:20.

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/320 sec, f/5, ISO 125 —
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The First 45 Minutes

9:48am - taken while moving at 18 km/h

We spent the first 45 minutes heading east on Route 1. The route looks
horrible in the photo, but the cycling was fairly smooth and easy, without the stop and go of city traffic. I was surprised at how not unfun it was.

That first 45 minutes involved 350m of vertical gain, but it was spread out over 15km, so it was a relaxed ride and we
all stuck together. Then we turned south along a river and was greeted by a bit nicer scenery...

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 100 —
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Resting with his Pooch

while watching the scullers in the river

10:12am - taken while moving at 21 km/h








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/1250 sec, f/5, ISO 100 —
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it was fun to ride along with the scullers for a short while








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 100 —
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Pit Stop

at Sajo-Toson (茶丈藤村)

An hour into the ride, we stopped by a cafe for a quick tea, but ended up eating and chatting for almost an hour.

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/320 sec, f/8, ISO 360 —
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Bicycle Parking

most cyclists forego a kickstand to reduce weight

I thought the rack for kickstand-less bicycles was ingenious, and I
never would have realized what it was for without seeing it in use.

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/320 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 —
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First Group Shot of the Day

me, Arthur, Gorm, Henry, Kumiko, Manseki, Jamie

(taken by a waitress standing on a chair)

Perhaps because we were a big group, or perhaps because they're cyclist friendly or just nice,
they gave us some sweets on the house...

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/1000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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“Terabe Mochi”

「寺辺もち」めっちゃ美味しかった。

This stuff was great... it's mochi (like I made the other day),
with brown sugar and cashews. Highly recommended. The cafe is next to the entrance to the splendid
Ishiyama-dera Temple (which I've written about in the past), so if you make
a visit to the temple, avail yourself of the chance for some of these tasty sweets.

I ended up buying a bunch to bring home, adding to the weight that I
would have to pedal up the mountains when we left.

On the way out of the parking lot, I snapped a quick shot of the temple gate...

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 100 —
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Ishiyama-dera Temple (石山寺)

Otsu-city, Shiga, Japan

as per my prior coverage, this will be spectacular with blossoms in a month

15 minutes later, we were finally heading into the mountains for the first (and biggest) of four major climbs...

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 —
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Heading Toward Climb #1

11:18am - taken while moving at 15 km/h

10 grueling minutes and 140m of elevation gain later, I had arrived at the spot Manseki
had said is “where the tough part starts”. Crap, I was already ready for it to end!

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/320 sec, f/10, ISO 180 —
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Where we Had Been

10 minutes prior

I stopped for a rest, and to enjoy some of the 2.5kg of sports drink I'd bought at the convenience store
just before starting the climb. I also removed my already-drenched-with-sweat jacket, sweater, and gloves,
and shoved them into my pannier:

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/1000 sec, f/2.2, ISO 100 —
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Lopsided

the nice flat road heading ahead was to be the road not taken...

the main route headed up

I have no idea how I got in front of Manseki, but he likely either had
stopped for something, or was just pacing himself smarter than I was,
because he came riding past while I was resting....

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/2500 sec, f/2.2, ISO 100 —
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Manseki Grinding it Out

puts people ⅓ of his age to shame

After a three-minute rest, I headed back up. The slopes were as
unrelenting as they were ridiculous, continuing without respite. I had to
laugh (figuratively... I didn't have the energy to do so literally) at this
scene:

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/1000 sec, f/2.2, ISO 100 —
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I'll Try To Restrain Myself

the vertical sign way up the hill says “slow down”

11:38am - taken while moving, barely, at 5 km/h

Seven minutes and 64m of elevation gain later, I finally joined the rest of the group at the top,
interrupting their long rest... Henry (and others, I'm sure) had made it 10 minutes before me.

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/1250 sec, f/2.2, ISO 100 —
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Chilling at the Top

11:44am - taken while moving at 7 km/h

The ride up involved 286m of elevation gain in 2.8km (an average slope of 10.3%). It took me 25 minutes, four of which were resting.

Going down was easier, but three more big ascents awaited.

I headed down a bit before everyone else and set up to take pictures of
folks as they went past, but it was a mostly wasted effort because I
screwed up focus. I seem to have zero ability to learn the focus modes of
the camera beyond the basic “S” mode. I thought I had “C” mode down, but
the results below are a clear indication that I don't.

私は先に降りて、途中で止まって、カメラを準備しょました。皆の写真を撮ったが、ピンはかなり間違いました。

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
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Jamie

more in focus than most








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
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Kumiko

out of focus








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
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Arthur

so-so focus








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
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Henry

my camera lacks focus, but he doesn't








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
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Manseki








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
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Gorm

The least in focus... sorry Gorm








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/3.2, ISO 180 —
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Heading Up Again

12:20pm - taken while moving at 5 km/h








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/3.2, ISO 800 —
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Pass #2

12:23pm - taken while moving at 7 km/h

The second ascent was longer (3.1km) but less elevation gain (238m), but it was 23 minutes of pain for me.

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1250 —
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Heading Down

the sense of steepness seems to be easier to capture when aiming down








Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/3.2, ISO 2000 —
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Fun

12:26pm - taken while moving at 19 km/h

The third ascent was insane... 118m of elevation gain over just 880m of distance (an average slope of over 12%). It took me 7½ minutes.

Having followed the others the whole time, I had no idea where I was
beyond “mountains south-east of Kyoto”, but just before the pass I was
surprised to come across a scene I recognized immediately:

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2000 —
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I've Seen This Place Before

12:35pm - taken while moving at 6 km/h

Kiyotaki-gu Shrine (清瀧宮)

アッ、この神社を見た事ある、４年前。

Apparently I hadn't posted any photos from that 2011 visit, but the
photos from “Slightly Mysterious Stairs
Into Mountain Overgrowth” came from a short distance away, just beyond
the pass I would reach in 30 seconds..

That early-summer outing in 2011, with Paul Barr and Katsunori Shimada, produced a bunch of posts,
including

What It Looks Like When Tiered Rice Paddies Go to Seed
Pleasant Little Village in Uji
Pleasant Little Village in Uji, Part 2
Uji-City Rural Mountain Drive #2: Ice-Cream Girl, Fruit Pizza, and More
Some Random Japan Desktop Backgrounds From the Past Year
More Thin Depth Of Field: Retrospective on My First Months with a 300mm f/2

Anyway, I soon arrived at the top:

DMC-SZ9 at an effective 26mm — 1/250 sec, f/3.1, ISO 200 —
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Finishing Ascent #3

photo by Manseki Kanemitsu

私。撮影は万石さん

I probably looked worse than I felt, but I was pooped and appreciative of the guilt-free rest.

As comparison, here's a photo of a somewhat more portly me, four years ago at the shrine near the pass:

Nikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 —
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Almost Four Years Ago

私、４年前、同じ神社で

not such great shape

photo by Paul Barr

I was using the aforementioned Nikkor 300mm f/2 to take this photo:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/1250 sec, f/2, ISO 2500 —
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Weathered

I like it when the wood grain is exposed by years of weathering

Anyway, back to yesterday's ride. On the ride down to the next valley,
Manseki asked me to go ahead and set up to take a shot of him coming around
the corner...

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/5, ISO 360 —
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“Action Shot” (sort of)

I really need more than a 35mm lens for these kinds of shots

こんな撮影は、もっと望遠なレンズが有れば良い。今度は持って行く！

As my lens followed him around the corner and off into the distance, it came across an unexpected sight...

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/5, ISO 500 —
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Ms. Yoshino

popped up out of the blue

It turns out that she's an acquaintance of Manseki.
As I'd been getting ready for Manseki to come around the corner, she'd ridden up from below, and greeted me with
“are you Manseki's friend?”. She'd seen the others ride past, and perhaps had known about our plans(?), so just
took a guess.

She decided to turn around and join us for a while.

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/5, ISO 360 —
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Heading Down to Catch Up with the Others

12:48pm - taken while moving at 22 km/h








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And Now Up For the Final Ascent

12:53pm - taken while moving at 7 km/h

The final ascent was the “easiest” (if one could say that) of the four... 250m of elevation gain
over 3.4km. Again I was the last one... it took me 21 minutes.

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000 —
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All Done

sort of... still 440m of elevation gain before home, but

spread out over 18km and mixed with 740m of elevation loss

Ms. Yoshino turned around to continue her original route, and we headed down.
There was one more “mini” ascent (112m gain over 1000m)...

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 —
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Final Push

1:24pm - taken while moving at 17 km/h

The final big downhill was fantastic, with wide sweeping curves that one could take almost wide open. I hit 62km/h (38mph) at one point. It was fun.

Another 13km of city riding and we were back where we started.

Nikon D4 + Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 450 —
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Bidding Adieu

Overall the day's
58km route was tough for me, but still much easier than my 90km route three weeks
ago, which had almost double the elevation gain, plus snow.

Still, I was surprised when I asked Henry how the route was compared to whatever he normally
does. He said “Today's ride was nice, though the pace was...... relaxed.” Doh! But sure, he got
to lounge around all day waiting for me at the top of each ascent, so wouldn't be relaxed.