Unfit for duty

Today, looking out my window, I admired Mount Fuji in the distance, very clearly visible today. The view is always the same: to my left, the AXT tower, where I work, right in front of me a very ugly square white building. The, further in the distance is the mountain range that starts out low on the left side, and eventually becomes OoYama (BigMountain) on the right. Fuji is behind those mountains, right in the middle of my view. I was thinking today that I could probably get a great view of Fuji if I cycled up that mountain ridge that's not too far away, then I could finally see the full Fuji. After all, how hard can it be to climb a couple of low mountains by bicycle, right? Right.

I set off towards OoYama after finding a 'hidden' path on Google Earth, that branches off from the main OoYama road just before reaching the end. From there, I should be able to climb a small bit and get a good view. I've cycled up towards OoYama twice before, with a crappy bicycle. It's about a 300 meters climb, and the two times that I tried it with my old bicycle I was completely wasted and could barely make it to the top. This, however, was three years ago, and I've improved my fitness level a lot since then. Besides that, I got a nice bicycle now, with a lot of gears and full tyres. This time I should be able to do the climb easily.

It didn't take long before I arrived at the start of the mountain pass, and I started on the uphill. Following the sign that says OoYama, I climbed a lot, only to find that the road that I took did not actually go to OoYama. Instead it branched off after a while, went downhill again, and then joined another road that went to OoYama. But that road also did not go to OoYama. Being slightly pissed off and incredibly out of breath, I decided to change my plans. I took a random road up the mountain to see where it went, figuring that there will be some hiking trail in the end that will allow me to hike up the remainder of the mountain.

There was something that could possibly be called a hiking path, if one was so inclined. That would, however, require a lot of imagination or, alternatively, the use of psychotropic substances. The road that I walked up on (the incline was too steep for me to continue cycling) became a dead end, with the only way to go on being a hiking trail that looked like it hadn't been used for decades. The entrance to the trail was blocked by a lot of fences, and the only way through was by a door that was tied to the fence with a rope. To keep wild animals from entering the road, I guess.

Gateway to hell, taken from the hell-side

Always being the stubborn one, I decided to try the hiking path anyway. Opened the door, tied the door behind me with the rope, and started to climb.

Not a hiking trail

I didn't get very far. A lot of twigs and bushes ran across what used to be the path, and eventually the path became narrower and narrower, until in front of me was what seemed like the entrance to a dense forest, to the left of me was a high mountain ridge, and to the right of me was a barbed wire fence. Not confident that I would be able to find my way back after entering the unhikeable forest, I turned back. No great view of Fuji this time.

It's only funny in one direction

Getting back on my bicycle, I cycled downhill a bit, scaring the hell out of myself after realizing that my brakes were not really as strong as I thought they were. (Definitely something to fix before setting out on a trip!) After circling some smaller mountains I somehow ended up on the road to OoYama again. I figured 'why not?' and started to pedal, slightly less confident in my stamina than at the start of the trip. My doubts about my stamina were justified, as I soon found myself in lowest gear, my bicycle rattling like a cable car as I went up the hill at 5 kph. My heart racing, I took every opportunity to stop. Besides the road flows a river, and quite frequently there's a bridge across the river for the people who live at the other side. Pretending to be incredibly fit and not tired at all, I stopped at every bridge to admire the great view and act like a tourist. I guess I prefer people thinking of me as a tourist rather than a tired, sweaty gaijin (foreigner). Oh well.

I did make it up eventually, although my detours meant that it was a bit too late to start climbing. The sun still sets early here in winter. I took a short break, and then went back down. Having gotten used to my weaker brakes I went at insane speeds down the hill, enjoying myself greatly. Once back down again, I zigzagged my way towards the riverside and cycled back home. Today's distance: about 25 kilometers. 25 HEAVY kilometers. Still not fit yet...

I did get my view of Fuji though.

I HDRed this photo a bit by duplicating a single photo in Photoshop, creating two copies with exposure +2 and -2, then merging them in Photomatix Pro, letting the plugin do all the work. Here's a comparison of the original vs. the end result.

I can't believe that cycling up the damn hill is still as difficult as it was three years ago! I'm definitely not fit enough. I'll have to work on that..

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Oh, and one more thing

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Screw it!

Finally got word from my last chance on getting fenders for my bicycle: they've already arrived! The fenders are here in Atsugi, but apparently the manufacturer forgot to send the customized screws needed to attach them, so I have to wait a few days until my bicycle will be complete once more. (PS, Sorry Martin for using the word fender instead of mudguard :P. I might side with the yankees on this one..)

I want to treat myself to a new lens this year, and I want to get rid of my 18-200mm. The image quality is visibly poor, even to me, and I usually don't notice image quality issues very much. I've got four options in mind for improvement:

  1. Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS L
  2. Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
  3. Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS
  4. Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L
I went around a bit already, trying them out at Yodobashi camera, and I've eliminated the last two. The 17-55m does not have enough range, and the 24-70mm does not have IS and is too heavy. I'm really undecided between the other two choices though. The 24-105mm has better image quality and just feels great, very solid. It also has f/4 aperture even at 105mm. On the other hand the 15-85mm is small, light, and the range is just about perfect. Unfortunately the 15-85's  image quality is slightly worse than the L lens, especially at large apertures.

Preparation status: Yes we can!

Items obtained:

  • tie wraps
  • bicycle computer, wireless (for speed, distance etc.)
  • Funky little stretchy rubber thingie that can attach any device to the handlebar (eg. iPod)
  • Maglite mini flashlight
  • Headlight (as in: mountable on a person's head)
  • Easy-to-wear jeans (for cycling)
  • Small power outlet splitter thingie
I should lose some weight...

Posted in Cycling , Photography , Spirit of Japan | Tagged , ,

Tegenslag

The Dutch word 'tegenslag' is translated into English rougly as 'misfortune' or 'setback'. I guess setback comes close, but I still prefer the slightly different nuance of the Dutch word. So why is this post called tegenslag? Well, I've been preparing for another cycling trip, but things are not exactly going smoothly.

The fact that I'm preparing for a cycling trip is not really big news, since I'm always cycling. This trip will be slightly different though, for several reasons. The only reason I'll tell you guys today is that I will be traveling alone. No buddies with me this time, meaning I have to be doubleplus prepared. So for the past weeks I've been working on my bicycle, fixing (or letting other people fix) all the small things that are wrong with it.

The gears are pretty much fixed, which is the most important part. The next part is the fenders. Both the front and rear fender broke during last year, partly because of rough usage, but mostly because they're crappy plastic-y parts that fall apart just by looking at them. Unfortunately, because my bicycle is an extremely exotic Giant Great Journey 2, 2007 model, getting fenders that fit are a near impossible task! I've been to four bicycle shops already. Two of them basically told me it can't be done, one of them told me they'll call Giant and ask around, and call me back, which they never did. The last shop is supposed to call me next Wednesday, and it's my last hope. If anyone reading this knows where to get spoilers for a Great Journey, that would be greatly appreciated! Japanese tidbit: in Japanese, a fender is called 'doroyoke', or 'mud-dodger'. Descriptive, isn't it?

The last setback happened today, while I was shopping for a handlebar bag. I found the perfect one, but it proved to be unmountable on my bicycle, because of the peculiar setup of brake lines on my handlebar. The brake cables basically block anything in-between, so I can't have a handlebar bag. I was really looking forward to having one.... I could finally have had a place to put my camera within easy reach, and have a map of the road directly in front of me. Now I'll have to put them elsewhere :(

Great Journey

On an unrelated note: I added a poll about which articles you guys prefer. Give me some feedback, guys!

Posted in Cycling , Photography , Spirit of Japan | Tagged , ,

You

It's 10PM on a weekday. After a long day at work you go cycling, 12 kilometers to the seaside. Not because you want to, just because you think you should. It's a cold winter day, with the temperature around 4C. A dark night. No moon. Let's go.

40 minutes later. You turn from the main road into a narrow path that leads to the beach. It's pitch black. No lights, nobody there. No sound except for the smashing of the waves. You take a break.

10 minutes later. You've started on your way back, and shortly after departing you've realized something. You've had a big tailwind going down to the seaside, and now an icy cold wind is blowing in your face. The way back is twice as hard, going ever so slightly uphill. Not enough to pose a serious problem, but enough to make your muscles hurt after straining them for 40 minutes on the way to the seaside. Your body is tired. The wind is cold and strong. In your mind you are already home, taking a nice hot shower, but it's impossible to concentrate on that for longer than 5 seconds because of the fatigue. You're losing strength and willpower.

Then, two kilometers later. Acceptance. You no longer feel the pain. You no longer have the energy to imagine yourself being at home, but somehow your body and your mind focus on one thing: the road ahead of you. You find your rhythm, and you enjoy. No break is necessary, everything comes naturally. And before you know it you're back home, and you wish that you could have continued longer.

You are satisfied.

Posted in Cycling | Tagged , ,

Lessons...

Lessons learned installing an English version of WinXP on my netbook:

  • If something fails, it fails bad. The only easy way of recovering is completely reinstalling from the recovery partition.
  • Installing drivers for the mobile internet USB stick thingie is tricky: press the wrong button once and the driver installation dialog will never appear again. It seems that the USB stick automatically installs drivers on insertion, but it only works once. Forunately I had a copy of the driver from my old installation of XP, which I had backed up with Norton Ghost.
  • Windows XP automatic updates are evil. Don't install anything except the security updates. In my case I accidentally OKed the install of IE8, after which I got a blue screen during startup that could in no possible way be fixed. As a more generic message: always make a backup right before you make an important change  to your system. If you group a bunch of important updates together, you'll be very, very annoyed if the last update turns out to crash your PC.
  • The battery on the 1101HA does indeed last 8+ hours (tested under load by downloading and installing updates, backing up harddisks and installing Windows...)
Lessons learned trying to cycle to the seaside on a cold January night:
  • January nights are cold
  • Seriously! Cold!
  • Dress properly. There is no excuse for this. I didn't wear enough and I felt very cold halfway through, despite pedaling like a maniac.
  • Always bring enough warm clothes with you on a trip!
  • For energetic cycling: listening to music helps greatly, but the selection matters a lot. In my case, listening to Eurobeat mixes is great cause the song changes every 3 minutes or so, which forces you to attention. The speed is high but in my case it matches my speed well. I tried listening to Dragonforce tonight, but the songs are too long, and the pace is too high and doesn't match my cycling speed. For cycling, Eurobeat == good, Dragonforce == bad.
And that nearly concludes my holidays. Tomorrow is the last day before going back to work. I'm certainly going to miss sleeping in. I think that recently my quality of sleep (QoS) has been absolutely perfect. It hasn't been this good since I attended university some five years ago :D

Posted in Cycling , Daily Life , Tech | Tagged , , ,

Yoron!

It has to happen again. A brilliant cycling trip across Japan. Next year. In Spring. It will happen :D

Yoron!

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