Final Hanami Ride of 09

The peak of cherry blossom in Tokyo was around Tuesday, 7th April so by now the flowers have all but blown away into the rivers leaving pink river banks in the intertidal regions. You don't have to go too far into the hills to find the blossom again, as its a few degrees cooler further inland, but this will be the final ride in the cherry blossom for this year.

Getting wamer now, the sign above the road at the start of the climb behind Takao san was 23 degrees at 10am, some areas of Tokyo were up to 27 yesterday. Spring is a very brief period indeed in Japan, passing from the snow and ice to hot and humid almost with the 2 week period of the cherry blossom.
For us, it made for a very pleasant day in the sunshine with the cherry blossom gently falling like snow. If it wasn't for the 161km and ascent of Wado Touge, it would have been a very pleasant ride.

The route was the same as my Return to Wado Touge route, plus a very nice extension south of Sagamiko lake. Very quiet roads to the south of the lake, most traffic continues on to Yamanaka ko and towards Fuji san.

With the return of Thomas and Sergey this week, the pace is faster but thats OK as the main section of the ride from Takao station and back is only 75km.

Thinking that would be the toughest part of the day over, we head along the still in bloom Asagawa before linking up with the Tamagawa for the run home, only to find a strong headwind which is going to bring the pace right down again. At least it means its safer cycling through the prams, roller bladers, backwards walkers and toy dogs which are constant obstacles along the riverbank cyclepaths every weekend.

This is my final long ride before the tour starts in 2 weeks, I wont be doing anything like this distance in Shikoku. Nice to relax on a Sunday morning as well, glad I don't have to go out and do another 100km today....