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Tell us about your commute

Ash

Warming-Up
Apr 23, 2006
686
1
hi all

If you are like me you probably do most of your mileage on the bike commuting to and from work, so I thought it might be interesting to hear where, how far and any other interesting information people might like to share as they crank it out across Tokyo on the daily roll!

Mine is a simple 25k round trip from Kamishakujii in Nerima ku to Takadanobaba, most of the trip along Shin Ome Kaido and then dropping into Baba along Shin Mejiro Dori.

Look forward to hearing about your own plus any comments. It might be good if people doing similar trips in the same areas hook up now and again.

cheers

Ash
 
If you are like me you probably do most of your mileage on the bike commuting to and from work, so I thought it might be interesting to hear where, how far and any other interesting information people might like to share as they crank it out across Tokyo on the daily roll!

Here are my daily commutes since November 2005 (I'm a pedantic chronicler, lolol).


Mine is a simple 25k round trip from Kamishakujii in Nerima ku to Takadanobaba, most of the trip along Shin Ome Kaido and then dropping into Baba along Shin Mejiro Dori.

Look forward to hearing about your own plus any comments. It might be good if people doing similar trips in the same areas hook up now and again.

Sounds like a good idea. I'm in Nerima-ku at least once a month.
 
Not in Tokyo but a 44km round trip along coastal road and over a huge harbour bridge. Frozen icy roads up here, fortunately this year is somewhat milder than usual, temperatures, -2 this morning but a clear road.
 
Commute

I may start commuting by bike around March. Futumatagawa to Yokosuka I figure will be a nearly two hours in the morning, perhaps 2.5 in the evening by routes 40 and 16. There probably is a more expeditious route. This I will not do everyday as work starts at 0730. Perhaps once a week will be fine.
 
Hi Ash-san,

Mine is a 14 to 15 km round trip, :bike: from Hanakoganei(The east side edge of Kodaira-city) to Hogashimurayama. That is really simple, I pedal 10 times to get on Tamako cycling path from my house, and then bike along the path to Hogashimurayama.
Do you live in Kamishakujii? We are Seibu-Shinjyuku line pals.:rolleyes:
 
hi Mayu

Yes, that's right, we are seibu shinjuku line pals! We should hook up some time!

I was thinking about you the other day when I say a geos roadbike for about 100,000 at tokyuhands. Not the best place to buy a bike, but let me know if you want to go and check out bikes sometime. I will take you to some good shops. Actually one place is in Asagaya, pretty easy for us to cycle to! But there are lots of others too.

merry christmas!

Ash
 
Reviving an old thread...

I don't ride to work as often as I'd like but in April & May I do a lot.
25kms to get there and coming home I sometimes do different courses back home depending on night work etc.
The route home from where I used to live to where we live now is one of the courses I use for testing my fitness.
It's 20km exactly with 8 in traffic and 12 along the river.
When I started this test I was happy if it took me 44minutes.
Last year I cracked it down to 38 and thought I'd never beat that.
Yesterday after trying to break my 53 minute record to work in the morning and equalling it I was pumped to try and beat the return record.

I got caught at a few interesections and thought it was going to be impossible but as I approached the last 3kms I knew it was well in reach....

Got the 37 minute NEW WORLD RECORD last night and think I can get it down to 36 now....

My locker at work is chocbloc full of spare shirts, trousers, socks, underwear, deodorant, tire levers...cologne, etc... Always allow enough time to cool down and smell off before work but coming home I don't care how sweaty I am at the door step.

BTW: I shaved my legs last night for the 1st time in about 3 years... I must be in that frame of mind. :eek::warau::confused:
 
Not sure of the length of my commute as my computer is on my weekend bike but it takes about 25-30 minutes depending on traffic lights and the pain-in-the-arse level-crossing for the Seibu-Shinjuku. It goes something like this:

Ome Kaido
Fast and fun were it not for the rash of illegal parking that goes on there. I nearly get hit by car doors on a daily basis. Lot's of single-speeds/fixies on the road in the Koenji area as it seems to be this year's must-have bike for the metrosexual

Nakano-dori
'Pretty fast with some minor ups and downs. Here the dangers are from jay-walkers (who literally do walk across the road) and people riding their bikes on the wrong side of the road. The end of the road seems to function as an illegal truck stop in the mornings so I jump the red lights to get ahead of the traffic there

Shin-Ome Kaido to Mejiro-dori
fast but narrow at some points as quite a lot of buses use this route. After crossing Yamate-dori I usually meet a lot of other cyclists at the lights and we all burn down Mejiro-dori trying to pretend that we're not racing eachother (even though we are)

All things considered it's a fun commute. The roads are fast with a kind of back-road' feel to them which means you don't always need to be trying to match the traffic speed. There are also 3 or 4 different ways to ride home which stops the commute from getting dull
 
Kind of a commute…Utsunomiya;

I've done this ride 5 times over the last two years for various different reasons.
The first two times were en-route to Nikko (exactly 160km / a perfect "century" from my place), and the other 3 times were because I actually had things to do up in that area… so I suppose you could call it "commuting".

Last Friday (May 16), I had a job up there – actually 15km past Utsunomiya, in "Ujiie 氏家", so I decided to ride the course again.

Edogawa-cycling-road: 42km. Sakai-O-hashi to Tonegawa: 3km. Rte 4. Nikko-kaido for 30km. Turn right onto Rte 44 for 6km until; Kinugawa-cycling-road: 20km.
Back onto Rte 4 (Nikko-kaido) for another 15km.

All up, the ride was 130km.
I wondered how long it would take, and thought about leaving home at 5am, but then realized that with almost NO traffic-lights for over half the way, I could probably do that distance fairly quickly:

I started thinking about the "amateur's century"…
Supposedly, a medium-level amateur rider should be able to hold 32km/h for a whole 5-hour stretch and do "160km in 5 hours" – It's like the average guy's "4-minute-mile"!

I only had to ride 130km; and I wasn't out to set that kind of speed. But I did want to get close!
I left home at exactly 7:00am, and my first aim was to be crossing Edogawa into Chiba-ken before 8:30. I didn't actually make that time, but it was close.
My next objective was to hit the"100km" mark in under 3 ½ hours – I was SO close!
What was really cool though, was that just around 9:30 (two 1/2 hours riding), I had been through: Tokyo-to, Saitama-ken, Chiba-ken, Ibaraki-ken and Tochigi-ken! 5 prefectures in under two and a half hours – That felt pretty good.
Along the Kinugawa-cycling-road, there is a beautiful big park, where on any other day you can spot a whole lot of cyclists stopping to have a rest, but it's 96km from where I live, and I wanted to see that "100" click over on my meter before I stopped the clock, so I kept riding for the last 4km.
With a tailwind, I probably could have done it, but the wind on Friday was decidedly East to West (side-wind)! I kept flicking my meter over from "ave.spd" to "dist.travelled", and knew that in the last 10km or so I would have to ride over 31km/h. All I could pull out of my legs though, was 29-30km/h.

Bottom-line: Over a 100km distance (including only one 5-minute stop at the 74km-mark to suck down a "Weider Energy-gel"), it took me…
3hrs:33mins:11secs.

I'm not writing this to brag, because I would still be under the 4-minute-mile like "5-hour-century", but I would like to hear from those among us who might have some extra advice.
>Philip: Do you have anything to offer? More importantly; is 100km in 3:30 a decent time?
Just checking.
Travis
 
Brag away, Travis, that's an extremely impressive time! Try as I might, I've never been able to clock over 30km/h average on public roads here...even on relatively short loops on relatively low traffic rural routes. You must have ridden very hard the whole way.

I've been thinking about the 5 hour century recently myself... Maybe something for the club to try? If we got a nice group together working in a paceline and found some uncluttered roads or bike paths (Tone River?), I bet we could pull it off...

(Thanks BTW for the heads-up about the Kinugawa route...I think I've finally learned how to extend rides up toward Tsukuba and Nikko from the Tone.)
 
Thanks Phil...

Brag away, Travis, that's an extremely impressive time! Try as I might, I've never been able to clock over 30km/h average on public roads here...even on relatively short loops on relatively low traffic rural routes. You must have ridden very hard the whole way.

I've been thinking about the 5 hour century recently myself... Maybe something for the club to try? If we got a nice group together working in a paceline and found some uncluttered roads or bike paths (Tone River?), I bet we could pull it off...

(Thanks BTW for the heads-up about the Kinugawa route...I think I've finally learned how to extend rides up toward Tsukuba and Nikko from the Tone.)

To offer a shorter version would just be to say;
"Not Stopping!" My first stop/break was at 74km; along Rte.4.
*That, by the way, is my record for riding non-stop - 74km.
When I started out from home, my ave.spd on the meter was 25-ish, and even though I was only able to hold 29km/h up along Edogawa, after 90-mins the ave.spd was over 27km/h.
Once on Rte.4 (Nikko-Kaido), the slipstreams from the trucks going past helped a lot, and I was riding at 35-40km most of the time - * Average on the meter was 29.8km/h.
Once I was on the Kinugawa-cycling-road, at the 100km-mark, it was down to 29.6km/h.
Anyway, I'll try to draw a map of the course!
Even at 115km to Utsunomiya from here, you can go more than 55% (60km) on cycling roads.
Wait for the map, eh!
T
 
Hi Travis . . .

I think that was an excellent effort.

It is impossible to quantify. You measure total time of 3hrs 33min as you would in a race (not 'time-in-motion' as per our computers). However in a race you maintain momentum - no slowing for traffic lights and (more importantly) none of the significant energy losses that result from rebuilding momentum after stopping. Therefore, we would expect your century race time to be significantly faster.

You are exactly 30 mins down against the benchmark after 100km (3:33 versus 3:07). I assume the benchmark assumes non-drafting along a flat course in race conditions (drink stations etc.). In my opinion you would beat your benchmark.

Only one way to find out though :D I see a new TT bike on the horizon. I think Phil mentioned a century race later in the year? Maybe we should enter a team.

You must have looked like hell when you arrived at work :p:p:p

Philip
 
I'd love to see a map, Travis, thanks.

I think Phil mentioned a century race later in the year? Maybe we should enter a team.

No imperial century races that I know of--there's the 100km at Motegi in January. The enduros are the only ones that give you a chance at that kind of distance...

I guess there are four(?) levels for the five hour century (arguably, from easiest to hardest):

1. Closed circuit road in group/paceline
2. Closed circuit road solo
3. Public roads/bike paths in group/paceline (maybe switch with 2 above?)
4. Public roads/bike paths solo

I've actually ticked off number one on that list (in my mind at least,), because at the Motegi enduro I'd completed 151km after four hours... Pretty sure I could have done 11 km over the next hour :)

The others are more challenging. One thought is to do the 6 hour enduro next year at Motegi, but never draft or ride in a group...that may be the best chance to cross off #2. (Aerobars were allowed at the ride this year).

Number 4 I don't think I'll ever do unless I find the perfect roads and winds.

As for number 3, well that's where TCC comes in :)
 
Map!

All righty, gents!
The map is done.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/japan/tokyo/224459456672
Just a few points to look out for;
1. Coming from the "Tone-gawa-cycling-road", you will have to walk your bike down a flight of stairs & then ride straight for 500m or so to get on the main road (Rte.4 by-pass).
2. Once on R4, 10km in there's a 7-11. The next convenience-store, (Daily Yamazaki) is not for another 15km - ie. 25km after the river.
3. About 5km after the "Daily Yamazaki" is the Rte.44 turn-off.
Turn right onto it. 3km in on the left is a "Family Mart" - 1km past that is a 7-11 on the right. Now you'll be really close to the "Kinugawa-cycling-road".
4. After 6km (maybe 6.5km) from the Rte.44 turn-off (heading directly east), you will see a bridge that crosses the river at a 90% right turn; DON'T take the bridge - you will need to turn left, on what looks like a 'gravelly' road. Don't worry! The gravel dissipates after about 50m, and then it's a nice paved road for the next 20km.
5. 10km into the road is a very nice park (the one I mentioned was 96km from home); You'll need to cross through the park to continue on the CR, and is then another 10km up to Rte.123. A left turn on R123 will take you all the way to Utstunomiya.

If you want to continue to Nikko, you'll need to follow Rte.119 from there - It starts off very gently for that 30km, but gets very steep for the last 5km.
It's a great ride though!

As for the TT....
This is one possible course we could all try.
Yoroshiku!
T
 
Thanks for the map!

Hmm, looking at your map, I can't help wondering if that Kinugawa cycling road extends all the way down to the Tone... The rivers meet directly east of your 21km marker, near the highway. IF it is "navigable", it would be a fantastic way to ride up from north Boso to Nikko... Definitely exploration worthy!
 
No Go!

Hmm, looking at your map, I can't help wondering if that Kinugawa cycling road extends all the way down to the Tone... The rivers meet directly east of your 21km marker, near the highway. IF it is "navigable", it would be a fantastic way to ride up from north Boso to Nikko... Definitely exploration worthy!

Sorry Phil,
I've had that same discussion many times before with various other riders... There is no way up "Kinugawa" on cycling-roads; You have to take the main road (R4) for at least 30km up to Rte.44. There is no other way...Sorry!
Not only is there no CR between Tonegawa & Kinugawa, the start of the Kinugawa-C.R. is very nondescript, and not easy to find if you don't know what you're looking for.
Even with the main-roads, it is still worth a try though.
Let's try a "Nikko-Century"!
T
 
My commute to work....

My commute to work is very short from Tachikawa to Yokota Air Base. Total road round-trip is about 17 km. Easy, but nice smooth road around the flight line area with no big scary trucks trying to pin you close to a rail.
 
Sorry Phil,
I've had that same discussion many times before with various other riders...

What, I wasn't the first to think of this brilliant plan?!? :D

Oh well. Thanks once again for the info. Your map is great, and I'm definitely going to start exploring up that way this summer.
 
I love the way these threads rise from the grave. They would put a vampire to shame...:rolleyes:
 
I commute from Funabashi to Toyosu, in part along the Kyu-Edogawa from where it splits with the Edogawa to the bay. RT about 50 km. It still takes me over an hour each way, but I should have it down to under an hour "in motion time" by end of June.
 
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