Japan 2015: The last onsen

Onsen in Japan is a hot spring and/or public bath.  I had an onsen experience earlier in my Japan trip, and was looking forward to repeating it.

My son Tim and I had been riding our bikes for about 60 miles this day, our last travel day, and I was hot and sweaty.  We arrived in the town Tomakotomai around 3:00 PM, and our ferry wasn't scheduled to leave until 10:00PM, so we had some time to kill, and I was really in the mood for a bath.  But where could we go?

Tim searched his phone, but came up empty.  As we rode into town on the bike path/sidewalk, we rode up on two Americans in black pants, white short sleeve shirts, on mountain bikes.  I guessed they were missionaries from the LDS church -- correctly.  "How's it going?" one asked me.  "Oh, we're doing OK.  Say, do you know of any onsen around here where we could get cleaned up?"  "Uh, no, I don't."   "Well, thanks anyway."  And off we rode.

However, because of traffic lights, they caught up to us, and he proposed "How about if I ask a local person in Japanese if they know where one is?"  "Nah, no, you don't need to do that."

But by the next light, he had engaged a local fellow and was deep in conversation with him.   We stopped and hung out with his partner, making small talk.  Tim was impatient, but I held out hope this could actually get us somewhere.  As minutes ticked by, it got harder and harder to wait and keep up the small talk.  Finally he came back with a small scrap of paper, on which were written 6 Japanese characters.

"This is where you want to go.  Head down this road, and when it turns left, go straight.  Keep an eye out for these three characters; when you see them, you're there.  And if you get lost, show this to anyone at a convenience store and they'll point you in the right direction."

So, clutching that little scrap, we headed out.  The road did bend left, and we did go straight.  Block after block, I'm scanning every sign, but no match.  The road turns into an industrial part of town, and it's hard to imagine an onsen anywhere near here.  There is a bike path, but the road is 6 lanes wide at this point and all I'm seeing is warehouses.

Finally, I give up and stop at a gas station where there are two fellows painting the metal gutter around the perimeter of the station parking lot - every gas station has these.  I show one the scrap, and he recognizes it, but has no way to tell me where it is.  He speaks no English, I speak no Japanese.  His coworker, however, does have a small smattering of English, and he tells me to go down to the bridge, turn left, then left, then left again.  Progress!

We go down a few long blocks and eventually there IS a bridge to the left!  Over we go, and then left at the next street.  But then what?  Left immediately?  Don't know. Keep going!   So we go , and go , and go, and nothing.  Time to ask directions again, this time at a tire shop.  The guy helping me recognizes it and implies it's three roads down.  But what's a road?  We go three roads, turn left, and wind up at the back of a driving range.  No onsen in sight.

I'm beginning to lose hope, but I really want a shower and I think I'm close.  Tim is just hanging on, following me where ever I go, U turns and all.  We've gone at least two or three miles from where we started.

I see a drug store in a strip mall, and pop in. I show the slip to the cashier, who recognizes it but can't figure out how to tell me.  She gets someone else, who gets someone else, and he draws a map. We are nearly there! It's right around the corner, according to the map.

And when I turn the corner, there is a huge building.  I see people coming in and out with small bundles, likely clothing, and I guess we are there.  I show the paper to some guys who just showed up and then confirm:  We are here!

The onsen experience

Enter the onsen, take off your shoes.  Put shoes in a locker, along with a 100 yen coin as security for the key.  Then head over to the machine to buy a ticket (800 yen).  Now take that ticket and key to the front desk, where they trade you that key for another key, which goes to a larger locker, and a towel and washcloth. Now you can enter the locker room, disrobe, put all your stuff in the locker, and attach the key with a plastic spring loop to your wrist.

Head over to the shower room, sit on a stool, and get clean.  Pump bottles of shampoo, body soap, and conditioner are available.  Handheld shower, with a lever to give you 10-15 seconds of water, and soon you are clean.

Now feel free to partake of the hot springs, pools, tubs, jetted tubs, outside pool, as you wish.  Getting too hot? Sit outside or dip into the 60 degree tub.   This onsen's outside pool was covered with little rubber duckies. I thought it was charming.

When you've soaked enough, head back to the shower stool to rinse off, then get dressed, dry your hair, and you feel like a million bucks!    Take the locker key back to the front desk, trade for your shoe key, unlock your shoes, get your 100 yen coin back.

Best 800 yen I ever spent!

I wish they had onsen in Seattle.

Dead Baby Bike 2015

The Dead Baby Bike ride/race/party is a counter-culture favorite for people who like ink on their skin and riding bikes.  It starts at various places around Seattle and people race/ride to the finish in Georgetown, where there is beer, music, food, and various activities.  It has to be seen/participated in to fully appreciate it. I've been coming/participating off/on for 8 years.

Tonight we started at the Elysian Brewery on Capitol Hill in Seattle.  People gathered and waited for the 7:00 start time.

Once 7:00 hit people funneled out onto the street.  As we left the staging site, we were prompted "Don't stop - roll through lights and stop signs" - and we did.  I don't know how long the whole group of bikes was, but we did what we were told - ride together, and keep moving, rolling through stop signs and lights (green or red).  It was a blast, and mostly downhill. When we finally got onto Airport way, we had a tailwind, so it was easy pedalling to Georgetown.  The whole ride was about 5 miles.

Mass ride to the party
Bike parking at the site is at a premium:

Once we got to the party site I found the main area quite empty:

It was a short line to get a "water bottle" for $15.00 -

 good for unlimited refills of beer at one of the two mobile keg tap sites, being operated by the Rat City Roller girls.

There is a stage with rotating bands for the evening.  They start out kind of mellow and ramp up as the night wears on.  Video of Band number one

As it got later, people who had come for the party and not just the ride filled up the main area, and spilled out to secondary sites.  Some bikers started using the nearby ramps to do some trick riding.

There were food trucks, and I had a roast beef and swiss sandwich.  This was in the window of the food truck:

There are all kinds of bikes here, lots of custom jobs including this side-by-side tandem that was fitted with a flaming ball on top:

Flaming tandem bike video

The party backs up to some railroad tracks, and a few urban artists were painting on the warehouse wall in real time. I've never seen taggers at work before:

You never know what you're going to see at DBB party -- including a fellow with his pet Monitor:

Further down the street at the secondary area, they had some bike races going on with little kids bikes.

Kids bike races video

After that was over they used the kid bikes for the 'bike toss' - how far can you throw a bike? on the same course.

By this time, the main area had filled up:

The second band took the stage. I told you they get less mellow as the night wears on!

Second DBB 2015 band

By 9:00 I had seen what I had come to see, had enough beer, and was ready to head home.  Got my bike, rode up Airport way, and then over the I-90 bridge.  Saw a nice evening sky over Seattle:

RAMROD 2015 ride report

RAMROD is an annual event in the Seattle area. It's a 150 mile bike ride going into the Mt Rainier National part, with 10,000 feet of elevation.  The name stands for Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day.

Mount Rainier:

It starts in Enumclaw, WA, heads to the south Park Entrance near Ashford, climbs almost all the  way to Paradise but detours to Inspiration Point to so as not to interfere with park operations.  It's still 4800 feet up.  A descent, then a shorter climb up Backbone ridge, a descent, and then you're at 100 miles with one climb left: Cayuse Pass, 9 miles of 6% grade, much in direct sun. It's  grueling climb for the strongest riders.

Once you get to the summit of Cayuse, there's about 37 miles left to Enumclaw that is about half downhill and half flat, or a little hilly, with some long flat straight stretches right into the sun.

I've ridden this ride 3 times:

In 2012, I did it self-supported twice.  Once I needed a  lift up Cayuse, the other time I made it on my own power.
On Thursday, July 30, 2015 I did the "official" supported ride.

This is my ride report:

My RAMROD: Had breakfast at the Enumclaw High School, rolled out at 5:30. Felt really good for the first 2 hrs, I swear we had a tailwind. Plus the route is downhill for a spell. Did OK getting to Eatonville, being passed by one paceline after another (pretty well behaved pacelines). Stopped before Ashford at the gas station C store for a corn dog - I find I do better with savory food on these rides, and it's pretty hard to find, they tend to emphasize simple carbs, peanut butter and jam, and fruit.
Made it to the Park entrance OK, and then slogged up the long hill to Inspiration point water stop. Not feeling too frisky on the hill which varies from 2% to 6% here and there. Somehow my odometer was a mile off so the water stop/summit was further than I expected - a mile up a 5% hill further! Did great on the descent and then Backbone ridge attacked me. It was longer than I remembered. Stopped a few times in wider shady areas to catch my breath for a couple of minutes.

At the bottom of the road where the park entrance is, a number of people were DNF'ing due to the heat. I thought I'd give Cayuse a try. It was flat-ish for two miles and when it tilted up I knew right off I wasn't going to make it. They say "If you're gonna DNF, do it early" - so I put my bike next to a tree and stood next to it at a wide spot. Less than a minute later, a sag car stopped to check on me, and I said "not doing great" -- "Do you want a ride to the top?" - Yes! He had two other riders on board, so we crammed into the back seat, put the bike on the rack, and up we went. This was about 3:15 PM. I was listening to the radio comms and I guess people were DNFing all over, the SAG cars were very busy. I told him if he needed space, I could hop out at the summit of cayuse and ride to Enumclaw, freeing a seat for someone who needed one, and that's what we did.

The ride to Enumclaw was uneventful - just 37 miles, with about half being downhill grades of various pitches, and the rest flat or light hills, with some long stretches of flat straight road heading right into the sun. It wasn't horrible.

I made it into Enumclaw around 7:00 PM, got my ice cream and headed home.

I'm probably in the 5% "slowest riders" group, I was getting passed right and left all day. When I got to Enumclaw there were 600 riders already finished.

Takeaway: If I want to do these long rides (and that includes SIR brevets over 100k) I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do some real training as in intervals training. Not sure I have the time or desire for that at this time, so my riding for a while will be an occasional commute to Bothell or a periodic 100k to get another RUSA P-12 award.

It was a good day - except for the heat!

I'm going to start a new ride: RAMOD-WCP (without Cayuse pass). I've done that one twice now and the full RAMROD self supported once. I think I've checked RAMROD off my bucket list.

Thanks to Myung Hong for the bypass - I did my best not to waste it.

I saw Ross Carey at the Park Entrance and Lynn Kuhlman pulled my "start tag" off my bib. Also ran into someone from SIR and another bike friend I know from church - and him three times - Backbone food stop, deli stop and the finish line.

Ride Calendar 2013

Here's my projected bike ride schedule for 2013.  So far only registered for MTB class and Chelan.  


April 20: Evergreen Basic Mountain Bike Skills Part I .  I need to learn how to manage this great Full Suspension Trek 26 that I acquired this year, and get out on some our great trails.

May 5: Phil's May Day Classic -- either 72 or 100 depending on how I feel when I get to Wilkeson. 

May 25-ish: 7 Hills of Kirkland  The traditional 7 hills route or 100 miles.  Possibly some other day of the weekend, depending on weather.  Last year it rained on the official ride and I rode it alone in the dry on Saturday. 

June 8: Flying Wheels Century  100 miles or else! 

June 22: Chelan Century This time, all three loops.  2012, just did 2.  Beautiful scenery, nice to ride where it's all OPEN and dry (although last year was only partly sunny, lots of clouds and threat of thunderstorms.)

July 13: PTS.  Riding one day STP route backwards, self supported.   If I get into RAMROD, this will happen as a training ride. 

July 25: .RAMROD  Don't know if I'm in the official ride yet.  If not, perhaps I'll ride it backwards too, so as not to be competing or poaching their ride.

July 28:  Tour de Kitsap Might or might not depending on how July 25 works out.  Last year was a fun time, good support and root beer in milk jugs at the end of the ride.

Aug 24-25 . RAPSODY Ride around Puget Sound.  My first time on this one, promises to be a fun time.  

Sept 21: . Tour de Blast First time ride also.  I want to do this some time, I have never seen Mt. St. Helens up close all these years.

Energy Gels taste review

I've managed to be riding for 10 years and not yet really gotten involved with Gels for on-the-bike nutrition, sticking mostly with Powerbars and Cliff bars. I thought I'd give Gels a try. I went and bought an assortment of brands and flavors. Here's my thoughts so far.

They all seem to have the same consistency or "mouth feel". They're all really sweet. And I can't tell from this point which give me more energy or have any other attributes. So in the end it all comes down to flavor.

I'm taking two along on each ride longer than 2 hours, and recording my post-ride impressions.

Clif Shot chocolate. This one tasted pretty good, like actual chocolate flavoring. No obvious traces of artificial flavors or other ingredients. I'd give it a 9 out of 10.

Powerbar Energy vanilla. Vanilla flavor gave strong artifical flavor tones. I managed to choke it down but wouldn't buy this again. 3 out of 10.

Hammer Gel raspberry. Well, eww. First taste was quite artificial, but toward the middle I could fool myself into thinking it was OK. Better than the Powerbar Energy vanilla but not by much. 4 out of 10.

Clif Shot vanilla. Now this is vanilla done right. Again, Clif manages to make a gel that actually tastes OK. 9 out of 10.

Hammer Gel Orange. Flavor: quite bland, and artificial orange-like flavoring. Impression was that it wasn't quite as sweet as expected, but the flavor wasn't anything to write home about. 4 out of 10.

Clif Shot Raspberry. Tasted like straight raspberry jam. Nearly genuine flavor but oh-so-sweet. So far, the best of the "fruit" flavors. 8 out of 10, would be a 9 if not for the super-sweet flavor.

GU Peanut Butter. Nicely done! This gets a 10 out of 10. Genuine peanut butter flavor. Smooth consistency and mouth feel. Not too sweet. Flavor was good all the way through.

GU Tri-Berry. Good berry flavor, and again very smooth. 10 out of 10.


Final Results:

Winner: GU
Close runner up: Clif Shots
Loser: Hammer Gel

The Little Carrot

The Little Carrot

by Geoff Hazel

The clock struck 4:00 and the sun was going down in the west on that cold December Seattle day. Rumor had it that soup was to be made today, and the items in the refrigerator were buzzing with anticipation.

The leftover turkey in the freezer knew his time had some, but the vegetables were in hot dispute as to who was going to contribute to the dinner.

The carrots, of course, knew they would be involved, but there were two bags: the old whole carrots, of which just a few were left, and the new finger size snack carrots. “We are always in the soup” said the whole carrots. “Yes, to be sure you are, but there are only a few of you, and we are confident that some of us will be used also,” said the finger carrots.

There were two celery bunches, each uncut and unused since they had been bought a week before for the Thanksgiving stuffing. While they had a reasonable expectation of being soup, they each acknowledged that if they were used at all, only one of them would get out of the drawer.

A half-bag of whole green beans kept silent, secretly hoping that some of them, if not all, might become tonight’s dinner. There was no point in being vocal if, in the end, not being chosen resulted in scorn or humiliation.

Sure enough, as 4:30 rolled around, the chef started taking items out of the refrigerator and cupboard. Cans of beans, chicken broth and tomatoes were put on the counter. The refrigerator door was opened and all the carrots, some green beans, and the turkey were removed from the refrigerator and set on the counter. The celeries were surprised and saddened as the door closed that NEITHER of them would be chosen. Each took quiet consolation that at least, if he had not been picked, the other had not either.

The canned kidney beans and red beans were the first to get opened. Dumped unceremoniously into a colander and rinsed, they splashed into the waiting chicken broth. Then quickly followed the frozen turkey scraps and a can of tomatoes.

The carrots, both whole and snack size, were set on the counter. In the bag of whole carrots were three thin crisp carrots and a small broken carrot tip. It was just a few inches long, about the size of your little finger – hardly worth mentioning, really. And yet it had sat in the cold, dark vegetable drawer just as long as the other carrots, and had managed to keep his crispness, too. All it had ever wanted was to be made into soup – or possibly carrot salad, but being so small it knew the odds of THAT ever happening were miniscule. Set next to those was one limp carrot that had escaped from the bag and spent the last two weeks in the drawer with no protection from the elements. While wholesome, it had grown limp. None of the other carrots liked to talk about it, or to it. Each had heard stories of what happens to a carrot in the bottom of the vegetable drawer, out of the bag – growing limp, then drying out and shrinking. The only consolation to that fate was that it was better than unused cucumbers which turned to disgusting goo in their plastic bags in just a few weeks. Carrots, properly stored, could last for months, and they were proud of it.

With all the canned and frozen ingredients in the pot, it was time for the vegetables, and the little carrot watched the activity with eagerness and fascination.

It saw the hand reach into the bag and grab the three other carrots. It watched as they were peeled, and then sliced and put into the pot. Then it watched as some green beans were trimmed and divided. And it started to wonder, “Am I so small that, now that the bag is empty, I will get thrown away into the trash and never made into soup?”. It saw the three good carrots go into the pot. Then it saw a handful of the snack size carrots go into the pot. With each addition, the odds of getting picked dropped. And then it saw the lid opened as the chef reached for the limp carrot, peeled and sliced it and put IT into the soup. That was it! There was no way the soup needed any more carrots, much less a little one like itself. Despair washed over the little carrot.

What possible chance would it have now? It wasn’t needed, and furthermore the chef didn’t even know it was THERE. It couldn’t move, it couldn’t make a sound or call attention to itself. It just lay there, and fighting the rising fear, it hoped against hope that it might yet find its way into the soup.

Then it appeared that preparation was truly over. The chef starting to clean up, rinsing out empty cans and putting them in the recycle bin, picking up empty bags, putting the leftover green beans back in the vegetable drawer, and with each movement the little carrot alternated between despair and hope. “Here comes the hand again, perhaps now it will see me. Oh, no, it’s just throwing a paper towel into the compost bin” or “Oh, here comes the hand again. Oh, no, it’s just putting the spices away.”

The hand reached over, lifted the carrot bag and the little carrot thought, “oh, this is the end for sure. I’m off to the garbage can inside this bag. I won’t even get to be compost. What a sad and sorry end for me.” But all of a sudden, it felt the probing fingers of the chef’s hand. He had found the little carrot! The carrot swelled with happiness and pride as the hand took it out of the bag and laid it on the cutting board. “Oh, joy! I will be soup tonight after all!” the carrot exulted.

And an hour later, that’s exactly what it was.

Pointless net-chat with Clear person about service outage

I had a service outage for about a half hour at 12:30 AM last night. This happens once or twice a month, and since I have an odd schedule and am often working at that time via my Internet, it's a problem for me. I started a chat session with the Clear customer service person, and here's how it went. Apparently any outage less than 24 hours isn't even reimbursable, and if they DO give you a credit, it's prorated, so you might get a whopping $2.00 credit.

Your question is: had an outage last night at midnight. was this maintenance?
You have been connected to Angel Jewel.
geoff: Hi
Angel Jewel: Hi geoff! I’m sorry to hear you’re having issues, but I'll be happy to help you today.
Angel Jewel: Geoff I would like to review your account and provide you with connection information.
geoff: yes please do

geoff: are you still there?
Angel Jewel: Yes.
Angel Jewel: May I have the phone number associated with your account, please?
geoff: 425-401-6554
Angel Jewel: thank you Geoff one moment as I locate your account.
Angel Jewel: Geoff are you able to connect to the interent with your clear device.
geoff: I am now
Angel Jewel: Around mid-night the towers do get updated this could of caused your internet connection to be lost.
geoff: it was out for about a half hour
geoff: I work at night and uptime at that time is important to me
geoff: my connection to my work was interrupted
Angel Jewel: I do apologize that this has happened. I would recommend if this does happen again contact us via the phone to trouble shoot to see if we can get you to by pass the outage.
geoff: your phone support is not open at midnight
Angel Jewel: Geoff even rotating your device and moving it to another location can help.
geoff: or did that change recently? I've called in the past and wound up wasting my time getting a recording
geoff: I've experimented moving the device around, and the location it is in now has very good reception 99.9% of the time.
geoff: but last night it just went to chasing lights with no connection for a half hour
Angel Jewel: Okay, moving your device and powercycling can help.
geoff: is there a way for you to search and see if there was any scheduled maintenance last night that was affecting my area?
Angel Jewel: I would not be able to see that information now.
geoff: what does Clear consider acceptable downtime ?
Angel Jewel: During this time it can take usually 2 to 24 hours.
geoff: so it's OK if my service is down for 2 hours?
Angel Jewel: If your service is out for that period of time we will credit your account for time with out service.
geoff: what about 30 minutes?
Angel Jewel: Geoff if i gave you a prorated credit for 30 mintues with out service it would only be a couple of cents.
geoff: so you're saying that Clear considers a 30 minute outage that interrupts my work essentially worth pennies.
Angel Jewel: The credit is prorated.
geoff: what incentive is there for Clear to keep their network up ?
Angel Jewel: What do you mean Geoff.
geoff: I mean, it seems like Clear doesn't really care if their network goes down for a few hours because if anyone notices and complains, they can send them a credit for 50 cents.
Angel Jewel: Geoff in our terms of service is it states we only apply credit to account that had no service for 24 hours or more. If there is an issue with our end.
geoff: so the answer to the former question is: Clear considers outages of up to 24 hours acceptable service.
Angel Jewel: It is not because we do not care for our customers. I do understand the fraustrations, but i this is company policy.
Angel Jewel: It is not our intention to not have service. However, being that we are a wireless internet provider sometimes occasional updates to our towers are necessary which may interfere temporarily with your ability to get online. Also, we do perform routine maintenance to ensure that our service operates to the best of our ability. I do apologize for any period of time in which you were unable to use your service.
geoff: Ok, I think we've talked around this issue enough today.
Angel Jewel: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
geoff: No.