Conquering Kyoto’s Seryo Pass with Manu Mohan

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Well-Earned Refreshment

Manu Mohan at Seryo Pass (芹生峠)

680m of elevation (2,230')

Kyoto Japan

Today I went with Manu Mohan on his first “real” cycling ride.

Manu is a National Scholar student of linguists at Kyoto University who
happens to part-time at the convenience store near me, and his easy smile
and cheerful attitude made me want to connect with him beyond the
30-seconds snippets at the cash register. When he saw on Facebook that
I was into cycling, he expressed interest.

So today we got together for an easy, untaxing first ride.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Meeting Spot

Nijo Castle (二条城)

I somehow had it in my head that he lived near Nijo Castle halfway
across town from me, so I suggested that we meet there. It turns out that
he lives a short walk from me, so it was silly that we both went over there
to meet! But it wasn't totally out of the way from where we were going to go.

Wanting an easy yet satisfying route for his first ride, I thought of my first ride earlier in
the year, so we headed north up the gentle slope that is Kyoto city proper
toward the mountains.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 67mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250 —
map & image data — nearby photos

10:19am - taken while cycling at 15 kph (9 mph)

Manu's Wachen BF-70F
folding bicycle is designed for convenient city travel, and not really appropriate
for hills, but he hit his first hill better than I did...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 38mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Unfazed by the Hill

10:23am - taken while cycling at 27 kph (17 mph)

He seemed to be fine to continue, so we headed into the mountains, up toward Kibune.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 49mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.7, ISO 320 —
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On the Way to Kibune

at the same location we stopped the first time I rode here







Panasonic LX100 at an effective 50mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.7, ISO 250 —
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Through Kubune

11:03am - taken while cycling at 8 kph (5 mph)







Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 —
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Kibune Shrine

貴船神社







Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 —
map & image data — nearby photos







Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/60 sec, f/1.7, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Manu is a native speaker of English and an Indian language I don't
recall (Hindi?), and even though I came to Japan before he was born, he's
much better at Japanese than me. He also speaks Chinese and French, and
dabbles in others. Out of my league.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Getting Steeper

11:16am - taken while cycling at 12 kph (7 mph)







Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/1.7, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

The Top of Kibune

Kibune Shrine Okumiya (貴船神社奥宮)

Manu's bike is not appropriate for the mountains... it's designed for
convenience in the city. It can fold up into a conveniently small space,
and it's intended for moving in city traffic.

At 14kg (31 lbs) it's heavy, it has short cranks so that you don't get
much leverage on the pedals, and its lowest gearing is still a heavy 52/28 (1.86 front-to-rear ratio), meaning that
for every revolution of the pedals, you have to give it enough power to
rotate the tires 1.86 revolutions. If you're going up a
steep slope, that's a lot of power needed each time around.

(By contrast, I think my bike has a lowest
gear ratio of about 0.8, meaning it's much easier to keep going up
a steep hill.)

Nevertheless, I asked whether he'd like to try continuing farther up the
mountain. Beyond where we were, the road quickly becomes quite steep and
twisty, and I thought perhaps a taste of this would be useful information for the
future.

So we forged on...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 40mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Going Vertical

11:29am - taken while cycling at 7 kph (4 mph)







Panasonic LX100 at an effective 40mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Getting Really Tough

11:29am - taken while cycling at 7 kph (4 mph)







Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/2, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Manu's “This is Not Humanly Possible” Face

11:31am - taken while cycling at 9 kph (6 mph)

Before turning around, I wanted to give his bike a try, and let me tell you it was difficult.
Much much much more difficult than mine. When he tried mine, he felt like he was flying...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 56mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 —
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A Different Experience

With my bike he thought he could continue, so we switched and continued on...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/1.7, ISO 800 —
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Ridiculously Difficult

the photo makes it look like I'm going downhill, but it's very, very uphill

photo by Manu Mohan

Besides being inappropriate for the mountains, Manu's bike is really
inappropriate for me. It's probably a bit too small for Manu to begin with, but for me it
felt like I was riding a
toy like
this.

I took it as a challenge... my first assault (if you could call such
a slow-motion effort) of Seryu Pass from the
difficult southern approach would be on this bike.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/1.7, ISO 640 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Barely Enough Speed

to be considered “movement”

photo by Manu Mohan

We took our time... we'd ride for 50~100m, then rest, then ride again, then rest again. It got ever steeper.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/1.7, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Pausing

near the site of the famous snowball-in-the-wife's-face incident

Manu never gave up, never complained... just kept pushing on. After
3.3km (2mi) of ridiculous 12% grade, we made it to Seryo Pass (芹生峠). It was my first time by bicycle to the pass from this side.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Top of the World







Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Elated

to make it at all, but especially so on such a bike

photo by Manu Mohan

By this time it had started to rain — it's now the rainy season in Japan — so we headed down slowly and carefully. It's easier going down.

Some of the views were really nice, though the photo doesn't capture it at all

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/60 sec, f/5, ISO 250 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Really Great View

We got quite chilly on the way down, so we stopped in Kibune for hot tea
and hot noodles. But by the time we left, the rain was coming down in
earnest, so we got soaked in no time, and absolutely froze heading home.
The UnderArmour “Storm” windbreaker I brought along and used for the first time
was not as waterproof as I had been lead to expect, making it the first UnderArmour
product (among very many) that I've been disappointed in.

Chilly return aside, it was a fun day and I really enjoyed to get to
know Manu more. He's busy with school and work, so I don't know how much
time he'll have for cycling (or, with that bicycle, how much inclination),
but I hope we ride again soon.