Training Report - Mt.Tokachidake (Mt.Tokachi) 32

K participated in this training. It was minus 15 degrees Celsius at the KTV (katabatic valley) and minus 13 degrees Celsius at the Tokachidake Hot Springs (Tokachidake Onsen). The travelled distance was 18km.

The upper end of the ground inversion layer created by a radiative cooling was situated at the altitude of 800m. It was fine and the temperature was high the day before. Therefore, the snow on the road surface was almost gone up to the altitude of 700m. So he decided to start from the altitude of 1000m.

After starting, he descended up to the altitude of 900m and made a U turn. Now he's heading for the summit. The moon and the Mt.Furanodake (Mt.Furano) are beautiful.


The road surface condition is good. The katabatic winds are a little strong. The moon is still shining.


The climbing is very snooth this day. The snow on the road is well compacted and the surface is very smooth.



The faces of the Mt.Furanodake are lit red by the downning sunlight.


You can still see the moon.



He arrived at the Tokachidake Hot Springs without any problem.



He did sprint training several times there.





He descends up to the altitude of 850m. The road surface was almost smooth althought there wre some unevenness at the inside of the corners caused by snow chains. Around the altitude of 900m, there were few parts of the road which weren't snow covered. So he rode there avoiding the asphalt that he couldn't speed. However, the vlocity reached 74.8km/h although he was riding not speeding to avoid not snow-covered parts of the road.


After preparing for the climb, he commenced the second climb.

The second climb.

At the summit, he met two Scots. He talked with them for a while. They said they love cycling and they ride bikes in summer as well.
He continues his sprint training up to the summit. He repeats many times.




During the sprint training, he met a proprietress of one of the hotels at the Tokachidake Hot Springs. He talked with her for a while.

He continued sprint training several times more.






After finishing the sprint training, when he was preparing for the descent, three Alaskans passed climbing the snow covered road with skis. He talked with them for a while. Three Alaskans know about cycling very well. Learning K was racing in Europe, they asked him if he was racing in the BMC team as he was wearing the BMC jersey. His jerseys are just market products.

The second descent was calm without any event as the snow on the road was well compacted.





At the start point, he met a group of Swiss snowboarders from Lucerne who were going to climb the Mt.Furanodake (Mt.Furano). K had learnt Swiss German of Lucerne a little long time ago but he wasn't good enough in Swiss German. So they talked with K in Standard German. K lived in Switzerland for two years. They had a lot to talk. They asked K many questions. Moreover, his clothes amused them a lot as he was wearing Swiss team's jerseys and a ear band on which it's written "Zermatt Switzerland" (cf. Ear Flaps). One of their snowboards has mechanical problem. K lent them some tools for bikes. They could repair using them. After exchanging good-byes, they started to climb the Mt.Furanodake.