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Training Report - Mt.Tokachidake (Mt.Tokachi) 9
Dr.K and K participated in this training.
It was minus 16 degrees Celsius at the Mt.Tokachidake Hot Springs.
According to the failure of the first attenpt to wear ski glasses in Mt.Tokachidake 8,
we are going to try another way to wear glasses called "Tokachidame Method" with which you wear cycling glasses in the climb and ski glasses in the downhill.
So we had to carry ski glasses which are bulky in the climb.
In order to carry the ski glasses, Dr.K chose a way to carry them on his helmet and K chose a way to carry them in the pocket wrapping them with plastic pouch to avoid humidity freed from the body.
If you have ski glasses which heat the lenses as antifog operation, there's no need to switch glasses.
Travelled distance: 24km
Snow covered trees are beautiful. K carries his ski glasses in his centre pocket. 
Dr.K carries his ski glasses on this helmet. 
The snowfall ceased for a while. The sun lights the ground. 
We can't see the city of Kamifurano of which we usually can enjoy the view from this point. 
We are climbing talking together as usual. 
Hard rime is very beautiful. It's one of the most attractive points of training on the Mt.Tokachidake. 
This unearthly beauty of hard rime always hypnotises us. 
Dr.K began to drop out. K arrived first to the fork situated at the altitude of 1000m. 
After regrouping at the fork, we resumed our course. When entering the steep part where the gradient 14 per cent, a man parked his car and began to photograph us and shouted to us if we were using studded tires. We responded "yes". We entered the steep part. 
Today, nobody wants to speed. 
When we were climbing a steep part where the gradient is 13 per cent, Dr.K renouced to follow K. K arrived first to the Mt.Tokachidake Hot Springs where the altitude is 1280m. 
Dr.K arrived there 1 minute 51 seconds later. 
At the summit, we changed our glasses in order to resist the cold of downhill. The road surface condition was very bad because this week the snow on the road had been melted once because of heat at record level and that melted snow had refrozen. The surface was covered with fresh snow but beneath it, there was uneven hard ice which made the descent difficult. K is descending carefully and slowly. But just before the fork, his tires were took by hidden uneven snow and almost crashed. 
Dr.K has difficulty as well. 
During the downhill, we lunched in a restaurant. After the lunch, we resumed our descent. After passing the fork, the road surface became a little better but still enough difficult condition. 
Dr.K can't follow K. 
K arrived first to the foot of the mountain. Just before the finish, his wheels were took by snow but he could maintain the balance. 
Dr.K arrived there 2 minutes 21 seconds later. His wheels were took by snow at the same point as K and almost crashed. 
After the battle in the downhill, we did a sprint match in the flat section (precisely, this section is slight descent) Dr.K won the sprint. 
K lost. 
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