I like climbing hills, and in 2018 I decided to do some decent training and see what I could do before I get older and slower. The year started off with a really snowy winter, which was excellent training. Just getting to work (12km) took about 50 minutes, and I was often near the red zone, trying to keep up with cars on my mountain bike.

In early April there was the Shirotai Hillclimb which was OK but I didn’t do as well as the previous year. A week or so later I got a PB (19′ 45″) which made up for it.

Mt Fuji Hillclimb

Sunday 10 June

This is not an easy place to get to from Hakodate! I left on Friday morning and it took all day – car, plane, about 6 trains then finally a taxi.

On Saturday I put my bike together then rode to the event area to register. This took an hour or so then I did a couple of kms of the course. There was a neutral section before the timed section, so I figured it would be good to drop back here and ride with few people around. A few other people at the “backpackers” had entered as well, so there was some camaraderie that evening. I just tried to rest as much as I could.

The actual race was amazing and quite well organised. The 180 or so invited riders started in one block, but the 10,000 others started in 20 waves of 500. Holy cow! I was in the 10th wave, and made sure I crossed the “start line” way off the back, so that I was not in a crowd. This way I was able to ride at my own pace the whole way without obstruction. Even though sometimes people were riding 4 abreast, they were pretty cool about letting faster riders go ahead. I tried to average 300 watts and came close; 297 or so, finishing in 1hr 8mins. The weather was great; cool and calm. What stopped me from going faster was tiredness from getting there and a lack of acclimatisation to the altitude. I didn’t set the world on fire but it was a good experience.

It rained a bit in the afternoon so I returned to the “backpackers”, had a hot spring, packed up my bike then returned to Hakodate.

Norikura Hillclimb

25 August

This event is the de facto national hillclimbing championships, based in a small ski village, and although “only” 5000 people enter it, all of the accommodation is booked a year in advance. I stayed in Matsumoto, over an hour away and drove a rentacar there both days.

It rained all Saturday, so registration was a bit of a subdued event. Lots of people were just sitting in their cars,