Hirafu Toyako Loop May 26 2011, 9:35pm via studio343.jp

The weather is finally starting to improve here in Hokkaido and with the warmer temperatures early morning road cycling is on.
Went for a ride last Sunday with a cool group although everyone was in much better condition than me – Bevan , Vanessa and Jess being fit serious Tri athletes and Scott and Paul both experienced road cyclists.
(click on the images to view them at a larger sizes)

The ride was basically a 45 km “cruise” to Toyako south from Hirafu.

Bevan and Vanessa then locked up there bikes changed cloths and joined in the marathon fun ….no big deal.

Lots of runners…..little did we know.

Unfortunately the marathon was shut down because there was landslide across the course and the runners were shipped back to the start in a fleet of buses….Jess Scott and i followed the race on our bikes more that halfway around the lake from where we started and then had to turn around and ride back around the lake again to get home. Not sure how Bevan and Vanessa took the news probably ran back and rode home…

If you take a look at this pano you can get a good idea of how far we rode…..you can see Mt Annupuri in the distance.

All in all a great day but long – 145 km’s 7 hours on the bike and home – glad the crew took it easy on me.