Obamine Pass

Overview

Obamine Pass is a Category 2 climb in Japan, running 9 km from a start elevation of 356 m to a summit at 951 m. On paper it is a mid-length ascent with a net elevation gain of 595 m — a figure that suggests a steady, honest grind at a manageable average. Riders looking for a repeatable session or a race-day benchmark will find it long enough to matter without being an all-day objective.

The number that reframes the climb is total ascent: 1,225 m against just 595 m of net gain. That 630 m gap means you climb more than twice your net elevation across the route, giving back roughly 630 m to descents and dips before clawing it back. This is not a single continuous wall — it is a stair-stepping profile, and the undulation makes the effort harder to meter than the net figure implies. Expect to repeatedly break rhythm, brake, and re-accelerate.

How the Gradient Unfolds

The 6.64% average is a blended figure that flatters the easy sections and hides the sharp ones. With 630 m of hidden descent folded into the route, the true climbing pitches must be well steeper than the average to still deliver 595 m of net gain over 9 km. Plan for the profile to swing, not settle.

• Flatter and downhill recovery sections between the ramps, where you give back elevation
• Repeated short, punchy climbs rather than one sustained gradient
• The steepest ramp arriving abruptly out of a dip — shift early and stay ahead of it

Pacing Notes

On a smooth climb you could hold a single target. Here, even-speed pacing is a trap: matching a fixed speed forces spikes far above your sustainable power output on every ramp and coasting on every descent. Pace to effort instead, letting speed rise and fall while your power sits in a controllable band. Absorb the descents as genuine recovery and meter the climbs so you finish each ramp with something left. Know your ceiling before you go — the FTP estimator gives you the anchor to pace around.

Gearing

The re-accelerations out of dips are where undersized gearing bites. Run a compact or sub-compact chainset with a wide-range cassette — a 34×32 or 34×34 gives you the low-end cadence to spin the steep ramps rather than grind them, which matters when they hit repeatedly. Check your setup before the ride; discovering you are over-geared on the first punchy pitch means a long day of muscling it.

Summary

• Length: 9 km
• Average gradient: 6.64%
• Net elevation gain: 595 m
• Total ascent: 1,225 m
• Category: 2

Obamine Pass rewards riders who read the profile rather than the average. Pace to effort, gear for the ramps, and treat the descents as rest — the 1,225 m of total ascent is the real work.