Course Profile

The cycling route and course profile from Nagoya to Jurou waterfall in Ena, Japan. Roughly 130 kilometers

Link to ride on strava.

Ride Start

The day started off with a fairly relaxing pace and a nice little early ride snack at Artigiano (アルティジャーノ), a bakery with a beautiful exterior/interior, in Tajimi, Japan.

Never too early for sweets

After eating, we slowly made our way towards Ena. It was an extremely hot day, however, and we both quickly ran out of water. Luckily, we weren’t too far into the country yet, and we were able to find a supermarket to restock on some fluids.

As we approached Jurou waterfall, we found a nice family-run curry shop. By this point, we had already been riding for a few hours and were pretty hungry, so we decided to stop for a quick lunch before continuing the last few km to our goal.

Mountain curry with some locally grown veggies

The staff was very kind and even gave us some free freshly grown tomatoes from their garden! Definitely stopping here again when I ride out this way next.

Arrival at Jurou waterfall (寿老の滝)

We continued on our way for the last few km and finally arrived at the secret Jurou waterfall, where some children were already cooling off in the water.

Cruise at Jurou waterfall (寿老の滝)

After a long, hot day in the saddle, we couldn’t wait to enter the cool water!

Cruise “meditating” under the waterfall

After cooling off in the falls for a bit, we were attacked by some Japanese hornets (スズメバチ), which apparently don’t like when you try to knock them away. When they feel threatened, they call their friends, and will group attack their target, regardless of size. These creatures are actually quite dangerous and getting stung numerous times can lead to death. Not wanting to stick around for more of their friends to come, we quickly departed to start our journey back home to Nagoya.

Random discovery of
道の駅 おばあちゃん市

Bradley’s GPS wasn’t working quite right, and I didn’t have the course loaded, so we randomly were making our way back by just riding Southwest, and then we came across this random tourist spot, which translates to something like Grandma City’s Road Stop (道の駅 おばあちゃん市).

This extremely large watermill caught our attention, so we decided to stop by 道の駅 おばあちゃん市

They were selling one of my favorite Japanese snacks, Gohei-mochi (五平餅), so of course we got some, even though we had to wait 15 minutes (worth it).

I was really impressed with the entire area of Ena (恵那). There were so many beautiful sights and unexpected surprises on this ride.

There was a fairly large dam nearby the shops as well.

Although I started the ride not feeling that great, I was feeling fantastic towards the end. Maybe it had something to do with all of the pastries, curry, and other snacks I ate along the way. In any case, it felt great to be back on the bike again after a few weeks off, and also catch up with my good mate, Bradley.

VLOG / Video for today’s ride

Here’s a video that Bradley put together about our ride.

The post Cycle to Jurou waterfall in Japan, Ena’s hidden Gem (寿老の滝) appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

At last, after finally getting my upgrade from my win in the last Tokai CX race, I have my C1 (cat-1) debut race here in Japan! My broken thumb was starting to heal, and I have been able to train more lately, so I was feeling good about my chances today.

Today’s race was at Kakamigahara Outdoor Field (各務ヶ原アウトドアフィールド), which was a nice big park near the Kiso river.

The course itself was pretty nice, including a good mix of long power straight sections as well as some more technical twisty sections. One area of concern was the large number of rocks on the course, which made a risk of crashing or puncturing pretty high.

Since this was my first C1 level race, I was stuck at the back row, but luckily the field today wasn’t too large, so it wasn’t too big of a problem.

I stuck to my usual strategy of taking it easy in the start and relaxing in the technical areas since they were backed up with traffic anyway, and then would attack and sprint in each of the long straightaway sections.

My strategy worked pretty well, and I found myself attacking the group for 3rd place. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, the first two position riders were already out of sight.

About halfway through the race, I felt my rear tire go flat and that was the end of the race for me since I didn’t have a pit bike or spare wheel to use.

At first, I assumed that I had pinch flatted due to the rocks, but after I inspected my tire, I found that it was a thorn that punctured the tire. Oh well..

In any case, I’m happy that I was able to accomplish my goal of fighting for a top 5 position. Hopefully next time I can stick around until the end though.

Race day Tokai CX VLOG

Bradley was also out at today’s race and made a video for the day’s events. Check it out here.

Photos were taken by
https://www.flickr.com/photos/maekawa0717/
and
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132570324@N04/

The post 2016 Tokai CX #4 Kakamigahara C1 Debut appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

A couple of weeks ago I had a really bad crash while training, and that really set me back both physically and mentally. My biggest injury was a broken thumb, which didn’t mean I couldn’t train, but I simply lost all of my motivation to train and ride for a while. The second race of the Tokai CX series was coming up, and although I had already pre-registered, I had already given up on going to the race. That was, until the night before when I went out for a Birthday dinner with some cycling friends. They convinced me that I should still at least come out to the race to watch, so I messaged my other friend last minute to see if he had space in his car, which he luckily did.

The course was located at a park called wild nature plaza (ワイルドネイチャープラザ), and it was at least 50% deep sand like the above picture.

Once I arrived at the environment of the race, my negative mood lifted and I decided that I still wanted to try and see what I could do in the race.

Thanks to my 2nd place finish in the first Tokai CX race, I had the number one tag and a front row start.

I had a pretty good start and was the first person to enter the deep sand section.

I tried to maintain my position, but each lap I was gradually losing ground due to my recent drop in endurance from not riding.

Some riders who passed me where also on mountain bikes, and it looked like they were able to ride parts of the course easier than I could with my CX bike.

In any case, I struggled on and still managed to keep myself in a top 5 position and keep most of the people in front of me within sight.

About halfway through the race, I started to get a rhythm down, and decided to try and push myself to my absolute limit and try and catch as many people as I could by the end.

By the last lap, I worked my way up to 4th, with 3 people still ahead of me, 2 of which were still within my field of vision, so I continued to dig deep..

During the last lap, I caught and passed 3rd, and going into the very last corner, I caught and passed 2nd, edging him out in a sprint.

1st place was still about a minute ahead, so not even close. Although normally I’d be pretty upset with getting two 2nd places in a row, considering the circumstances, I’m very happy to be able to get back on the podium. Especially with racing after two weeks of no riding and with a broken thumb.

Today’s result and being surrounded by the environment of Tokai CX helped to lift my spirits again and motivate me to look forward to the next race!

I was pretty cooked by the end of the race, my average heart rate was 190 BPM! …. Ouch…

Nothing that a chocolate banana protein smoothie can’t fix. Thanks Bucyo Coffee!

Bradley also came out to film the race events, so be sure to watch his video on the day!

The photos used in this post were taken by
– Kikuzo Photo
– Muto Photo

The post 2016 Tokai CX #2 Wild Nature Plaza appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Halloween isn’t really big in Japan yet, and it was also a Monday night, so there wasn’t a lot of interest, but those that were interested went pretty all out with their costumes as you can see from the pictures.

We ended up riding for a little bit over an hour, going through some of the more popular areas of Nagoya, while receiving a bunch of strange looks. It was awesome!

This is Cruzina, the female version of Cruise who only comes out to play a couple times a year (mainly just Halloween).

Only the best of times with the Nagoya Cycling Club night ride crew!

The post Inaugural Nagoya Halloween Night Ride appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

So it was my birthday weekend, and what better way to celebrate than to ride up Mt Norikura… twice..

Mt Norikura is located on the border between Gifu prefecture and Nagano prefecture. Both of these prefectures are famous for being mountain country. The main road goes from one prefecture to the other, so you are able to climb both sides of the mountain.

One of the best parts of cycling up Mt Norikura is that there are almost no cars on the entire climb. There are shuttle buses spaced out every once in a while, but other than that, no cars, which is great.

The more popular route starts from Nagano prefecture, and it is a nice smooth and steady ride all the way to the top, with a bunch of beautiful switchbacks.

The gang made it safely up the Nagano side and took a mandatory group shot at the mountain peak sign. Left to right: Sean, Bradley, Cruise, Max

The peak’s rest area elevation is about 2,700 meters.

We the proceeded to descend down the Gifu prefecture side and ride back up.

It may have just been because I was tired from the first climb, but I felt that the Gifu side of the climb was way way way harder than the Nagano side. It is not as smooth of a gradient and features some very steep sections, so definitely not recommended for the faint of heart.

Nothing a little trip to the onsen (温泉) hot spring can’t fix.

Grabbing some snacks on the road back home.

I didn’t take many photos from this ride, but thankfully Bradley documented the entire ride on his YouTube channel. Be sure to check it out!

Link to today’s ride on Strava
https://www.strava.com/activities/699788439/segments/17162112551

The post Mt Norikura – Cycling up Japan’s Highest Road Twice appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

My friend Bradley and I had been training together quite a bit this Summer, and we started discussing possibly going to a race together to see what it was like. We found out about a local race called the Hirata Criterium (平田クリテリウム), which is held once a month and only cost about 1,000 yen (~$10). It was only about a 1.5 hour ride from the center of Nagoya, so about a 2 hour ride for me from Nagakute, which is on the east side of Nagoya.

It was a pretty cloudy day with a high chance of rain, but we had already decided that we were going to do this race rain or shine. Luckily, it didn’t rain during our ride over. This was Bradley’s first every crit, and he managed to stay on until about 2 laps to go. He said he really enjoyed the race though and was motivated to train more and come back again next time.

This was my second ever race since moving to Japan, and also my second race since quitting competitive cycling a few years back. Although I hadn’t been racing much, I had been training with some of the fast local racers, so I was pretty confident in my ability, and decided to first start out in the second highest category, C2.

During the race, it started to rain pretty hard, and I decided to bury myself and test my limit by attacking as much as possible.

Unfortunately, none of my breakaway attempts stuck.

It came down to a field sprint, which I had no energy left for, so I finished at about 6th.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with my result. I was able to prove to myself that I can still race hard at the front of the pack, and next time I want to challenge myself in the C1 race.

I also really enjoyed the atmosphere of the Hirata Criterium. It is very relaxed, with lots of people chatting, catching up, and also Bucyo Coffee has their food stand with delicious snacks, which I was more than happy to stuff myself with after the race.

Definitely gonna be back for the next one!

For more information about racing at the Hirata Criterium, click here

Thanks to Kikizu and Catarina for the race photos!

The post First Ever Race at Hirata Criterium appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

We met up at Nagoya Station at 6:30AM to have enough time to mingle and watch the start of the race. Once the race started, we were able to follow behind the sagwagan for a couple kilometers through the neutral start! All good things come to an end and we were kicked off the course once the race started so we made our way to the spectator area. After a couple hours of spectating, eating, and checking out the sponsor booths, we headed back home to Nagoya. All in all, about 140 km with perfect weather. Definitely going to go back next year!

We finished of the day with a stop at Cycles Bike shop and fueled up on some ramen at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Perfect end to a perfect day.

Ride Start

I rolled out from Nagakute at 5:45am to meet up with Dave and Bradley at Nagoya Station at 6:30am. We took a pretty straight and flat route West towards Inabe (in Mie prefecture) and had a lovely cross-headwind most of the way out. We managed to get to the starting area before the start of the race, so I went to find my old teammate Alder for a quick chat before the start.

Cruise and Alder (riding for Attaque Team Gusto)

Alder and I were teammates for our Division 1 college team, Lindsey Wilson College in 2009-2010. We used to clean up at all the local cyclocross races. We then moved on to different collegiate teams and became rivals on the US pro circuit as well. The last time we met was when we were both racing the Joe Martin Stage race in the US in 2013. While I retired from racing to pursue other life experiences, Alder has been getting a lot of international race experience. He spent the last year racing in Australia and this year is now racing in the Asian UCI circuit. Oh what could have been.. Anyway, we wished Alder good luck for the start and then the action began!

Inabe Stage Start!

Arashiro Yukia (the legend of Japan) at the start of the Inabe stage of the 2016 Tour of Japan

Start line – 2016 Tour of Japan Inabe Stage

Once the race started, we were able to follow along behind the sag wagan for the neutral start, which had some awesome local support!

The sides of the roads filled with cheering elementary/pre-school children

Although we were not in the race, literally hundreds of children and other people were passionately cheering for us as we rode through. It was quite the experience which I’ll never forget.

Map for the Inabe stage of Tour of Japan 2016

Once the race officially started, we were no longer able to ride on the course. Luckily, we acquired a course map from another rider who had a spare and we made our way to the finish/spectating area.

Inabe Spectating Area

Spectating area for Inabe Stage

The race finish and spectating area was on top of a mountain and had a really cool atmosphere. They had a large truck TV which was live streaming the race, along with a bunch of vendors selling food and cool products.

The popular Sakura Pork sandwich from the very popular Bucyo Coffee booth

Inabe Finish

The finish line for the Inabe Stage – 2016 Tour of Japan

The long day break of 3 riders which dropped to 2 in the last lap ended up winning the race, which was exciting to see. While those two did not sprint each other, the sprint for 3rd place was quite exciting with a Team United Healthcare rider tearing it up (no surprise there). Anyway, once the race was over, we began the journey back home.

Inabe Stage KOM – Tour of Japan (Bradley, Cruise, Dave)

All in all, it was a fantastic day!

The post 2016 Tour of Japan Stage 4 – Inabe appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Despite this, it is still a popular destination for cyclists, hikers, and snowboarders. In fact, the peak of the mountain was still snow capped when we went in mid-May, and there were quite a few snowboarders there trying to get in some last few runs of the season.

A couple members of the Nagoya Cycling Club decided to drive out together and tackle the hill climb on our road bikes. Left to right is Sean, Stu, Cruise, Max

Lots of nice views at the peak!

The post Mt Ontake 御嶽山 – Ride up Active Volcano appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.