Mount Takao stands at the edge of Hachiōji like a patient dog, a green hill of about six hundred metres that Tokyoites climb in their hundreds of thousands. For a rider, it is a start and finish point, a convenient place for fuel, parking and a good bowl of ramen before the mountains begin. The city sits at the foot of the Tama hills, and the climate here is a few degrees cooler than central Tokyo.
Hachiōji has a clear identity. The local ramen is a shoyu broth with chopped onions floating on top, a simple, comforting bowl that sells at counters across the city. The city was an important silk centre, and its merchants traded in bales of silk that travelled to Yokohama along a road still called the Silk Road. In the sixteenth century, the Hōjō clan of Odawara held a castle on a hill here, which fell to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army in 1590, and the remains of its walls can still be walked. In late November, the avenue of ginkgo trees along the road to Mount Takao turns a brilliant yellow, and the city holds a festival beneath them.
The riding that starts here goes west. Route 20, the old Kōshū Kaidō, climbs past the foot of Mount Takao and through the long Kobotoke tunnel, then continues toward Sagamiko, Ōtsuki and the Chūō corridor. Other roads lead north-west to Ōme and the Okutama valley, or south-west to the Tanzawa foothills. The early morning is the best time, when the city is quiet and the mountains are cool. Sunday traffic is heavy on the way out.
Fuel and food are everywhere. The city has hundreds of stations and restaurants, and the area around Hachiōji station is lively with cafés and small bars. If you finish here at the end of the day, plan to arrive before the evening rush, when the roads back into central Tokyo are slow. A bowl of ramen after a long ride is hard to beat, and the soy broth, rich and salty, is just what a tired rider needs.