“Tour de Sanriku” Cycling Challenge

Cyclists setting off on their respective courses from the city center’s shopping arcade Abasse Takata, the starting point/goal for all courses at this year’s “Tour de Sanriku” Cycling Challenge.

Description

Usually held in the autumn, this cycling event that happens once every year is a local favorite. This is not at all a competition about speed, but instead hundreds of cyclists and families with children participate in this event to enjoy the beautiful scenery that Rikuzentakata City and Ofunato City have to offer while cycling. There are a total of four different courses of different difficulties to choose from, namely the “Tough Legs Mononoke” Full Course, the “Healthy Legs” Full Course, the “Healthy Legs” Basic Course and the “Family Cycle Rogaining” Course. Entering the 8th year since its implementation in 2012, this year they decided to hold it on 25th August in the summer, with about 1,500 participants. Course routes, fees and application deadlines may change slightly every year, so if you wish to participate, make sure you check out the website as the date of the cycling challenge approaches.

Courses:

“Tough Legs Full Course Distance: Approx. 70km Acquired Elevation: 1240m Average Incline: 5% Needed Duration: Approx. 6 hours

Honmaru Park Street/Beside Machinaka Square → In front of the City Hall → Route 340 → JR East Ofunato Line BRT Takekoma Station → Mawaridate Bridge → Yahagi Town City Road → JR East Ofunato Line Rikuzen Yahagi Station (near the halfway mark) → Yamabiko no Ie → Shimoyahagi Multi-purpose Research Center (aid station) → Route 343 → Right Bank of Kesen River City Road → Deguchi Ana Bridge → Tamayama Kinzan Ato → Hikami Forest Road → Kayooka Ridge → Ofunato Hosoura Fishing Harbor → Goishi Coast (aid station) → Hirota Peninsula City Road → Hirota Fishing Harbor (aid station) → Hirota Peninsula City Road → Apple Road → Abasse Takata → Honmaru Park Street

The first half of the Mononoke Course, joined with the path of the Family Course makes up the full course of the Mononoke Course. The distance stretches out to approximately 70km. Once cyclists have started on the course, they will enter Route. 340 from in front of the City Hall, and head towards the Yahagi District, which up till now only cyclists from the Family Course have been to. After feasting on good food from the aid stations that have a reputation for being delicious to replenish their energy, they will cycle along the Kesen River, and this is where the main part of the Mononoke Course begins. The first 2km of the Forest Road (which has a sudden inclination), has a maximum of 19% and average 11% of a continuous intense uphill path. This Hikami Forest Road is also known as a “Beast Road” due to the fact that you might even run into deer, antelopes, or pheasants on this road. At the top of that is an observatory where you get the best panoramic view of Rikuzentakata City. After a long descent down they will begin to enter Ofunato City, going around Hosoura Fishing Harbor before moving towards the scenic spot of Goishi Coast. After that they will cycle one round up and down around the Hirota Peninsula within Rikuzentakata City. Cyclists will then enjoy the scenery of Hirota Bay, where culturing rafts float about, before heading back to the starting point (which is also the goal) at Abasse Takata. Going around Rikuzentakata City, even extending the journey to Ofunato City, surrounded by oceans and mountains, this is the “full course” that awaits advanced cyclists.

　2. “Healthy Legs” Full Course 　　Distance: Approx. 63km

　　Acquired Elevation: 877m

　　Average Incline: 4.3%

　　Needed Duration: Approx. 5 hours Honmaru Park Street/Beside Machinaka Square → In front of the City Hall → Route 340 → JR East Ofunato Line BRT Takekoma Station → Mawaridate Bridge → Yahagi Town City Road → Rikuzen Yahagi Station (near the halfway mark) → Yamabiko no Ie → Shimoyahagi Multi-purpose Research Center (aid station) → Route 343 → Right Bank of Kesen River City Road → Deguchi Ana Bridge → Route 340 → JR East Ofunato Line BRT Takekoma Station → Takekoma Post Office → Near the Tsudoinooka Shopping Street → Symbol Road → Takata Hospital → Hamaiso Road → Yonesaki Elementary School → Apple Road → Ofunato City/In front of Massaki Middle School → Goishi Coast (aid station) → Hirota Peninsula City Road → Hirota Fishing Harbor (aid station) → Hirota Peninsula City Road → Apple Road → Abasse Takata → Honmaru Park Street The first half of the “Healthy Legs” Course, joined with the path of the Family Course makes up the full course of the “Healthy Legs” Course. The distance stretches out to approximately 63km. Once cyclists have started on the course, they will enter Route 340 from in front of the City Hall, and head towards the Yahagi District, which up till now only cyclists from the Family Course have been to. After feasting on good food from the aid stations that have a reputation for being delicious to replenish their energy, they will cycle along the Kesen River, then head back in the direction of the city area through Route 340. From the front of the slope the cyclists will veer away from Route 340, and go up towards Tsudoinooka Shopping Street. From there, they will exit the newly-built Symbol Road, and return to the same course route as the previous year. They will then head from Yonesaki District into Ofunato City via Apple Road, which has apple farms. After going around the scenic spot Goishi Coast, cyclists will then make one round up and down the Hirota Peninsula within Rikuzentakata City. At the last phase of the peninsula, there will be countless culturing rafts floating on the surface of the water of Hirota Bay, and cyclists will be able to enjoy the amazing scenery when they are there. With the acquired elevation having been raised 100m from the previous “Healthy Legs” course, this new course is recommended for people who have participated in previous versions of the “Healthy Legs” course and found it lacking or insufficient, or would like to try cycling to areas found only in the Family Course previously.

　3.“Healthy Legs” Basic Course 　　Distance: Approx. 48km 　　Acquired Elevation: 764m 　　Average Incline: 4.4% 　　Needed Duration: Approx. 4 – 5 hours

Honmaru Park Street/Beside Machinaka Square → Symbol Road → Takata Hospital → Hamaiso Road → Yonesaki Elementary School → Apple Road → Ofunato City/In front of Massaki Middle School → Goishi Coast (aid station) → Hirota Peninsula City Road → Hirota Fishing Harbor (aid station) → Hirota Peninsula City Road → Apple Road → Abasse Takata → Honmaru Park Street

The “Healthy Legs” A/B Course is now reset as the “Healthy Legs” Basic Course, aimed at cyclists who wish to relax and cycle at their own pace while enjoying the scenery (the course route has not changed). Even though this is considered a basic course in the cycling challenge, it still has many ups and downs, living up to its name as a “Healthy Legs” course, so make sure that you get ample practice before participating. After making one round around the new town area surrounding the start venue, the cyclists will get to Yonesaki District via Apple Road, where there are apple farms. They will then head to Ofunato City from there. After going around the scenic spot Goishi Coast, cyclists will then make one round up and down the Hirota Peninsula within Rikuzentakata City. At the last phase of the peninsula, there will be countless culturing rafts floating on the surface of the water of Hirota Bay, and cyclists will be able to enjoy this breathtaking scenery when they are there.

　4. (New) “Family Cycle Rogaining” Course (from family to advanced cyclists)

You can sign up for this course as a family with children, as a group, or even as an individual. If you sign up as an individual, you will join a group on the spot on the day itself and participate. This course is unlike other courses; it does not have a specific course route. Cyclists will go around the area according to where their groups want to go, going around the designated checkpoints throughout the city, competing for how many points they can acquire. Out of all the groups that manage to get to the goal within the set time limit, the group with the highest score wins first place (and second, third, fourth in consecutive order based on their score).

A map and checkpoint/score list will be distributed to all participants. Various locations within the city, for example shrines, temples or tourist attractions will be set up as checkpoints, and depending on what checkpoint it is, the scores will be calculated from there. (There are locations with many or very few points.) Each group will get points based on the picture they took (with a camera) at each checkpoint, and will add up their points as they go along their way. Whichever checkpoint they go to at whatever timing is entirely up to each group. The key to winning is to look at the map and plan a course route in which it is most efficient to rake up points within the set time limit.

Personal Review

I personally had the chance to participate in this year’s Tour de Sanriku Cycling Challenge as a volunteer, to help out my colleague with leading the cyclists of the “Healthy Legs” Basic Course. Throughout the whole course of the cycling challenge, we were in the leading car, slowly moving along to see if the cyclists could catch up to where we were. It was quite a huge responsibility, because if we made a wrong turn somewhere every single cyclist in the group would follow us on the wrong path. It was really cool to look at all the cyclists during the opening ceremony, because we were able to see them set off on their journey one by one at the starting point and cheered them on as they made their way out of Abasse Takata (the city center’s shopping arcade area). If we saw that they were quite a distance away from our car, we would slow down or stop completely so they would be able to catch up and know where to go. We were also able to take a break when the cyclists arrived at aid stations where they could rest or go to the toilet, and the staff would even distribute snacks and drinks so that they can recharge their energy. We stared at those huge, juicy oysters and bananas they were giving out and felt our stomachs grumble (but at the same time thought it rude to take some since we were not even cycling).

We knew this cycling challenge was not as exhausting as people might think, because it is not a speed competition or a marathon, it is simply a challenge where people cycle at a slow, consistent pace while - most importantly - enjoying the scenery of the coastal Sanriku area. Even I enjoyed the grand scenery of Hirota Bay! It was just breathtaking in every sense of the word; the water sparkled majestically in the sun. However, do still remember to get ample exercise if you participate because the hilly area might be quite tough and there are quite a few parts of the course route where cyclists have to cycle upslope, even in the basic course. In the end we spent about four hours leading the cyclists, but it was not all smooth-sailing. Halfway through the course route, the cyclists stopped in the middle of a sloped road to talk to a few kind grannies who wanted to give some food to the cyclists. However, it was not an official aid station where staff or sponsors gave out food, so they should not have stopped. Furthermore, stopping in the middle of that kind of road would make it hard for them to see oncoming cars and can be very dangerous for a huge group to stop there. We thought they would catch up so we stopped to the side a little bit in the front, but they took very long and only a few came, with the cyclists’ leader nowhere to be found. In the end we called the higher-ups to ask what we should do, and we ended up continuing the rest of the course route with whoever ended up following us. When we were at one of the aid stations, the cyclists’ leader and the rest of the group finally appeared after quite a while, and we started off again with them following our car again.

Even though some of them ended up going somewhere else halfway through the course, they all made it back to the goal safely. I am sure they all enjoyed the cycling challenge one way or another! This experience made me think of participating next year, but if I really do, I will make sure to follow the leading car at all times and not stop where it is not an official aid station. This was a really fun experience where I saw for myself how beautiful Sanriku can be. I cannot wait for the next Tour de Sanriku Cycling Challenge!

Oysters were distributed to the cyclists as a snack during their break at one of the aid stations.

Information

For enquiries and applications in Japanese, please contact the Tour de Sanriku 2019 Cycling Challenge Operations Office via email or any of their social media sites as shown below:

Email Address: info@tour-de-sanriku.com

Official Website: http://www.tour-de-sanriku.com

Official Facebook Account: http://www.facebook.com/tdsanriku

Official Twitter Account: http://twitter.com/tdsanriku2019

Expected no. of Participants: 1,500 people

(They usually stop taking applications once all the spots are filled up.)

Participation Fee: