old isonobe

I rode out to Isonobe this morning a little later than planned. A heavy back pack, a head wind, hot and humid. I’ve done some top end training recently, so I wanted to take it easy today. Just enjoy the climb.

I took the old road up to Isonobe village. You can access it from the bottom via the next turn after the one for the main road up to Isonobe. Or you can access it from a small bridge across the river at the first hairpin on the main road up to Isonobe. I rode up from here this morning.

It was the first time to do this climb in a few years. The main road up to Isonobe is so good for training that this back road gets largely overlooked. I guess it offers access to the village when the main one is out due to landslides.

The road snakes it’s way up the mountain and is consequently of an easier grade.

However it’s still a challenge. Concrete all the way up. Narrow and winding. Quite a bit of gravel and sand. No guard rails. Vegetation creeping up through the cracks.

The road eventually pops out into the village. Only a few occupied dwellings left. I would have loved to have seen this place in its prime when they even had a primary school up here.

Best to take the main road down. Time to cool down before heading into work almost on time…..

I had the chance to do a second climb of Isonobe later in the day. The temperature at the bottom was saying 32 degrees. The unusually strong swirling wind helped a little but couldn't break the humididty.

Again, nothing special. Easy pace. Heart rate in the low 150s. The smallest gear being 34 × 23 on the bike today makes it quite a grind on Isonobe. Cadence around the 70 mark.

Drop back down to Hashimotoya for a big monoka ice cream and a big coke. Consumed, as always, on the go. The wind had changed direction, as it so often does in the morning / afternoon. Quite a tough ride home and I was glad of a few spots of rain.

Today's training: Isonobe old road x 1 / Isonobe new road x 1 (68 km, 800 m climbing)