Riding Clipped In: Baptism By Fire, But Feeling Well Satisfied

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/50 sec, f/7.1, ISO 1600 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Raging Stream

Small stream runs bit more vigorously after the storms

Having done a short excursion riding while clipped to
the pedals, yesterday I set off on a longer mountain ride
to really give them a workout.

昨日のサイクリングは、特別靴を使って、靴とペダルは繋がったままに乗りました。

I didn't have any trouble at the beginning, except at the very beginning
when it took me about 10 seconds of trying to clip in before I realized that I hadn't
taken the cleat covers (to make walking down to the bike easier) off. Doh!

The ride ended up being
54km (33mi) with 1190m (3,900') of elevation gain. This is pretty mild for me, but
it was my first real ride in more than a month, so I was happy to take it easy to
shake off the cobwebs.

Once I got into the steeper climbs, I could definitely feel an advantage
to the shoes... energy that I had apparently been using to keep my feet
squarely on the pedals was now available on the upstroke to help propel me
forward. I wasn't trying to do this... I could just feel it happen
naturally.

We had some pretty intense storms blow through recently, so the
mountains were pregnant with water. All the rivers were raging and so they were
beautiful and they made a nice cool breeze, but the water flowing from the
mountain at all sides made the roads wet and slippery.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 49mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.7, ISO 200 —
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Swimming Upstream

cascades of water flow down the street

For normal roads, this “wet and slippery” was an issue only when going
down a steep grade, and didn't really matter otherwise except for getting
me wet. I mention this to foreshadow that I eventually moved to roads so
abnormally-steep that my wheels were slipping even when going up slowly.
But that's later.

Anyway, the first climb of the day was 350m to Kyomi Pass, then down
through the mountains and up another 150m to Mochikoshi Pass. Just over that pass comes
a nice place to rest and see a little village down in the valley below...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/160 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 —
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The View Yesterday

without my polarizer filer )-:

昨日の景色、偏光フィルターなしで。きれいではない。

This photos just screams “HEY, YOU FORGOT YOUR POLARIZER FILTER MORON!”, because I did.
I've posted many examples of how a polarizer filter can help bring out the true color of something,
such as this post last year, so I should know better.

So to make amends, I'll dip into my photo archives from the only other time I rode this route, when
I did have the polarizer...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/125 sec, f/5, ISO 200 —
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View With a Polarizer

from last June

偏光フィルター有り（６月の写真）








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 —
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That ride on June 4th was with Gorm and Kumiko.

Because Gorm has returned to Norway it's been too long since we've seen his smile, so here it is from that trip...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 —
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We Miss You Gorm

The short ride down the eastern side from Mochikoshi Pass is really steep (upwards of 14% at times), so I took it
very slowly, using only my rear brake. Being clipped into the pedals was on my mind, as I wouldn't be able to
quickly compensate for any kind of slip. It was iffy once or twice, but I made it down in one piece.

Going back to the June ride, here's a shot of Gorm on a bridge at the bottom...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 —
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From June

6月から

The original plan for yesterday was to do half of a “Heart Loop” ride, and
if so we would now head back toward Kyoto, but Sakura-san was in the mood
to do more climbing and to explore new roads, so we headed farther up into
the mountains, on a road that I'd also taken last June.

It was a particularly pretty road last June, I thought...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 65mm — 1/125 sec, f/5, ISO 200 —
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June / ６月

It started nice enough yesterday...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 38mm — 1/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400 —
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Yesterday / 昨日








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 25mm — 1/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200 —
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Abandoned Building

I wonder what it was

However, the deeper into the mountain, the worse the road got...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 49mm — 1/125 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500 —
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Typical Scene

Yesterday /　昨日








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/7.1, ISO 1600 —
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Scarred Guardrail

scarred along the way from towering trees falling across it time and again








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2000 —
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Runoff

gravel/dirt left on the road by recent massive rains








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 —
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Very Rock-Strewn Area









Panasonic LX100 at an effective 50mm — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 —
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Steep Climb Last June

きつい坂登り

The last 1.7km (1 mile) of the climb averages a 10.5% grade, but at
times it's steeper, and with the wetness and general slippery-mossyness of
the road, it was quite precarious going up. For long stretches the drive wheel
would slip a bit with each downstroke of the pedal, before catching and
moving me a bit forward.

The ability of the wheel to grab the road was at the border between
“good grip” and “no grip”. If I were to hit a spot where the wheel fully
spun under the bike as I put my weight into pedaling down, my forward
movement would immediately stop and I'd have only a split second to put my
foot down to stop myself from toppling unceremoniously over.

I didn't necessarily have confidence that I could unclip my shoe from
the pedal as quickly as I might need, but I never found out... I made it to
the top.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Nearing the Top

the road is a river

昨日、終点の手前









Panasonic LX100 at an effective 30mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 —
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End of the Line

pavement stops here / 車道の終わり

picture from June / ６月の写真

Where Gorm is standing in the photo above from last June is where I'm standing in this photo from
yesterday:

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 44mm — 1/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200 —
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Standing In a River

昨日、道の終点は川みたい









Panasonic LX100 at an effective 29mm — 1/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 —
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Sakura-san Swims Upstream

to join me at the top








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 29mm — 1/125 sec, f/7.1, ISO 640 —
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Instagram Moment

We headed back down.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/160 sec, f/8, ISO 200 —
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Chestnuts Littering the Road

栗いっぱい








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO 400 —
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“Artsy”








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 31mm — 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO 200 —
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Not quite the same caliber of “artsy” as on the June ride. For example:

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 67mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250 —
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Gorm

June / ６月








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 —
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Kumiko

June / ６月

Did I mention that the area can be really steep?

Here's a picture of Paul Barr in this area on a visit in 2011 that
produced “Deep
In The Mountains Above Kyoto’s Kumogahata Village” among others...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.8, ISO 640 —
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in the area in four years ago / この周辺、４年前

This is one of the few pictures where I think I captured a sense of the steepness. I'm not very good at that,
as I noted in another blog post from that day's outing, “A Photographic Challenge of Monumental Scale”.

In this next picture from about the same location looking down the road, you can see a side road leading off to the left....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 —
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I'd been wanting to explore what was on that road, so yesterday we did.

The road that leads off the “main” road starts over a bridge of suspect quality....

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200 —
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Bridge To Places Unknown

Then it goes up and up and up. Not only is it steeper than anything I'd yet done today,
at times the road was more or less washed out, leaving deep rocky haphazard ruts where the road should be.

As I'm slowly trying to power myself up this lunar landscape, I remind myself that if it gets too difficult
I can't just stop and stand up... I have to either keep going at all costs, or plan for the few moments needed to
unclip my foot from the pedal....

... or, I could just hit a deep rut that makes the bike go a different
way than momentum carries my body, and fall over into the mud. Yeah, that
sounds like the best option.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/40 sec, f/8, ISO 3200 —
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Oops

やっぱり倒れた。

Well, I wasn't planning on that.

I really wish I could capture just how steep this is. It looks like it's
flat in the photo above. Even in this next photo taken later, looking back
down after Sakura-san had walked her bike up and was now walking it back
down, it looks mostly flat...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/30 sec, f/10, ISO 3200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

I didn't want to give up so I got right back on and continued on up. I was a bit surprised that I could
clip in on the extreme slope. Perhaps it was more luck than not.

I continued for another 100m of vertical rise until the
steepness/slipperiness factor was just too much, and I gave up.

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 40mm — 1/60 sec, f/8, ISO 1600 —
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Like a Frozen Slide

viewed from the bottom








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/60 sec, f/8, ISO 3200 —
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Crazy steep, but again, I just can't capture it.

I returned to where Sakura-san was waiting, and she snapped a photo for me...

Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/50 sec, f/8, ISO 1600 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Evidence of Fall #1

photo by Mone Sakura

We headed back toward Kyoto, but popped back up to Mochikoshi Pass. I
didn't want to push too much (more) on my first ride in a month, so I
headed home while she continued on.

Back in the city I seemed to have hit just about every red light. It made for good practice clipping in and out. Even though most times when the
light turned green I was able to clip in immediately on the first try, I was surprised every time I did it. I have the feeling that it'll be one of
those things that has good days and bad, and that yesterday was a good
day.

I wish I hadn't fallen, of course, but at the same time I feel a strange
sense of relief having fallen and not really hurt myself beyond a scratch.
Stress from the unknown has been taken away, a bit. As a bonus, no one was
around when I fell (it would be a minute or so before Sakura-san came
pushing her bike up), so it remains my dark little secret.