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Training Report - Mt.Asahidake (Mt.Asahi)Dr.K and Tesseract participated in this training. It was minus 13 degrees Celsius at the Mt.Asahidake Hot Springs. We feel warm even in this low temperature after the training of Mt.Tokachidake 4. It's first time we ride on the Mt.Asahidake in winter. The route is less interesting than Mt.Tokachidake (cf. Mt.Tokachidake 3) as there is no tight corners, steep downhill, steep climb. But its altitude is enough high to enjoy the ride. The end of the climb: Mt.Asahidake Hot Springs are situated at the altitude of 1100m. Its the third highest motorable road in Hokkaido during the winter. And if weather is good, you can see the summit of the Mt.Asahidake which is the highest mountain in Hokkaido: 2290m from the route.
Travelled distance: 32km
Dr.K is preparing for the climb. 
Tesseract brought a new tail lamp which is much brighter than his former one. In this day's meteorological condition, you don't need a tail lamp but he wanted to try it, so he just activated it for this photo. 
We are climbing between forests. 
The range of view became wider. 
8 km to the Mt.Asahidake Hot Springs. Once upon a time, the Mt.Asahidake Hot Springs were called Yukomanbetsu Hot Springs. They put the new name: Mt.Asahidake Hot Springs just on the old name: Yukomanbetsu Hot Springs for this road sign. After a long time of usage, the new name sheet was eroded and you can read the old name. 
We continue climbing. 
The landscape is becoming alpine. 
And there is more and more snow. 
Dr.K. 
We are approaching the Mt.Asahidake Hot Springs. 
As we have sunshine, we feel warm, even hot. 
We entered the Mt.Asahidake Hot Springs Resort. 
If the weather is good, we can see the Mt.Asahidake from here. But this time, we can't. 
So far, we climbed talking together as usual.
"We are almost there.
It's time to ride a little seriously up to the summit."
"Ok.
How many K to the summit?"
"Guess around 0.5K"
Then we began to ride seriously. Dr.K stayed behind the Tesseract's wheel for several hectometres but he couldn't keep up the speed and dropped. Tesseract arrived first to the altitude of 1100m which is the third highest motorable road in Hokkaido during the winter where an aerial cabaleway station is. 
A minute a second later, Dr.K arrived. 
"You said 0.5K to the summit so I put all energy into 0.5K and ran out of it!
Actually there was 1.2K!"
"Oh, really?
In fact, I felt a little too long for 0.5K."
Dr.K is indicating the summit of the Mt.Asahidake (actually it's situated a little more to the right) that you can't see because of the cloud and snowfall. 
We began to descend. 
Tesseract precedes. 
Dr.K is already falling behind. 
The gap is increasing. 
The mountain ridge of the Mt.Asahidake emerged a little. 
But we can't see the summit. 
Expected view from here is like this: 
This photo was taken by Tesseract the last autumn. This route is really comfortable for snow cycling. 
Avalanche fences are submerged in the snow. 
Submerged avalanche fences remind us Kenashi Pass. 
In the middle of the downhill, there is a short climb. Tesseract wore the face cover during the descent. We had begun to descend without wearing the face cover. 
Dr.K is 1 minute behind. He wore the face cover during the descent as well. 
Tesseract is passing the altitude of 800m. He activated the tail lamp for no reason. 
Dr.K is passing the altitude of 800m. 
Tesseract won the descent as usual. And Dr.K arrived to the foot of the mountain 2 minutes 15 seconds later. 
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