Bicycle: 118 km
Train: 75 km
Average Speed: 17.7 km/h
Total Ascent: 1098 m
Riding Time: 6:32
Weather: Sunny and not yet too hot, 21 C
This ride was "advertised" on Meetup as "easy going"... but who says that one cannot make an easy going ride into something interesting. As the meeting time in Ome station was relatively late I decided to make an early start instead and head out to Ome by bike, adding about an other 50 km to the ride before the "easy going" part even started. At Ome station I met Daniel, the Meetup organizer who I know from a few previous rides, but apparently it was the first one where I came by road bike and he was rather surprised by the change of "scenery".
Apart from the organizer there was one more participant, a Spaniard on a mountain bike. So we set of on the river side up to Okutama. Daniel know an underground fish ladder which we visited.
However no fish there... apparently not climbing season. Shortly after we went to a smug restaurant, that could have easily been in Meguro... but was on the shores of this small river serving their local speciality: (overpriced) meat loafs. But the setting was nice.
There we consulted our maps and both I and the Spaniard knew that there was a small road up to Okutama lake instead of the slightly bigger one that has a lot of tunnels and convinced Daniel to try for that one. Which is a nice, albeit slow road up. Mostly in the shade. Sometimes with a few hikers and some gravel... but all manageable by road bike. It even has some nice small bridges. Only 2 people at any time are allowed on it.
This is the same area, where I cycled many years ago (2016?) with a colleague of Matteo on the exact day they lost their satellite.
We didn't lose our way and instead made it up to Lake Okutama. Which per the Meetup description was going to be our goal before heading down again to Ome station. But the day was nice and we just had made it up here, so Daniel suggested to instead cycle on and go to Otsuki over the mountains. The Spaniard couldn't join us because he had come by car and needed to go back to Ome station... but after some thinking I decided to join Daniel instead.
Not too far from the peak (but unbeknown to me) I had a low point and clearly needed some carbs... but hey, there was a small coffeeshop. Which turned out to mainly sell coffee... and little else, but they had a small cookie filled with An and fresh cheese which turned out to be everything I needed. A little rest, something sugary to drink and some small cookies. And off we went up and up, until the tunnel that would bring us through the top and then down a rather gentle slope to Otsuki.
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