Spirit of Japan 3

Be Sailboat

Posted on 2016-05-04 08:17 by rv

Today marks the last day of my coastal adventures. I had been expecting an average, perhaps slightly easy, day of cycling. It could have been raining, hilly and with the wind against me. But the universe gave me a break today. It was sunny, flat and the wind was powerfully on my side. Today was probably one of the most successful cycling days I've ever done.

I started off cycling north towards the coast and noticed that there were hardly any cars around. This must have something to do with golden week, as well as some of the roads I've chosen. The roads were not the most direct route to the destination, and those roads are always the best for cycling. They're quiet and lovely. Today I started out on a coastal cycling path and then switched to regional roads going through sleepy Japanese villages and wide-open rice field plains. Later the land became wedged between mountain and ocean and there was a bit of tricky coastal road, but it was all good fun. All thanks to the wind.

That amazing wind. I encountered a few cyclists going the other way today, and they were suffering like mad. The wind was insanely strong. Without doing anything it would occasionally propel me to speeds of around 35kph, and in one instance it actually blew me up a 3% incline that I had began to slow down from. Even when the wind was less strong I had no problem keeping up a pace of around 30kph, with significantly less effort than it would have taken any other day. It was fantastic.

Of all the traffic participants I seemed to be the most positively affected by the wind. Walkers were annoyed by the wind, motorbikes slowed down a lot to avoid being blown over by sudden gusts. Road cyclists going my direction didn't dare go fast because their bikes are so unstable, and one gust could blow them off the road. I, on the other hand, was cycling on a supremely stable sailboat with loads of surface area for the wind to blow on, and loads of very well-balanced weight to keep the bike stable. I had a blast. The best part was thinking to myself "I don't have to go back the same way today". I just couldn't keep the smile off my face.

It was tricky at times, especially when the road turned a bit and put me in a crosswind. If you're not going exactly the right direction then the wind can be very quick to suddenly give you a nudge towards a gutter or into a car. But those bits did not come often and most of the time the wind was near-enough in my cycling direction. The best part was getting up to about 30kph, which must have been around wind-speed, because the sound of the wind disappears and everything just gets perfectly quiet. You can hear the wind shearing past signs and houses, and you can see it making waves in the water that lay on the rice fields, but at the right speed it did not affect my bike at all. There was just serene silence. And music. Excellent music.

When the plains ended the road became a bit more hilly, and a lot more tunnely. As I was about to head into quite a long tunnel I noticed a side road going around, so I took that instead. It led me onto an amazing walking path that ended up at a famous site which is better described here. It used to be one of only two ways to the west of Japan. It was an unexpected monument and it really me appreciate more the roads that I am traveling on. It also did a great job of making me feel like a traveler.

Thanks to the amazing wind I did 80kph in 4 hours and ended up in Itoigawa quite early. According to the cyclocomp I've climbed 600 meters during those 80 kilometers, but I hardly have any recollection of it. The wind just made it so easy. I really almost felt like the day ended too quickly. But it was too late to do another 60 kilometers in the mountains and find accommodation.

I had planned to camp in Itoigawa because I couldn't find any hotels online, but since I was in the center of town I had a look around. The very first hotel I went to was cheap and had room, so I reserved it. I cycled to the campsite anyway, but it was quite a climb. 10-15% inclines.. When I finally reached the top it turned out to be a posh holiday park thing with tennis courts and baseball courts, so I decided I was happy with my hotel room instead.

The end of the trip is nigh! It's still a good week to get back, but I'm starting to feel the mood shifting towards an end. I'm a bit sad about it ending, but I remember when, at the end of the second trip, I tried to extend it by doing another stretch, which ended up just not feeling right after a while. A proper end must be had.

I am 50 kilometers away from Joetsu, which is where I took the ferry to Sado island on my second big trip. I'll be in Matsumoto soon, where I've been once before, with good friends and great memories. After that it's not long to the Fuji five lakes area, which is where I started my very first solo cycling trip, now over six years ago. I've been to the five lakes area many times, with many people, and it's an area that's hard to forget. I'll be spending some time there before taking the same road back to Atsugi that I started on all those years ago. I've come full circle. Kind of. Minus a few bits of coast. But it's the thought that counts :)

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Nope

Posted on 2016-05-02 13:42 by rv

Today was tiring. I started out heading towards the coast and found a lovely road that was wide, smooth and didn't have too much traffic on it. Then I noticed a sign for a cycling road, but I was kind of happy on my current road so I ignored it. Then I saw another sign, and then another, so finally I followed the signs onto a steep bridge and then down again, and suddenly I was surrounded by big fat hornets doing suicide runs on my face. I managed to avoid them as best I could and reached the seaside cycling road just beyond the hornet danger. The cycling road was.. nonexistent. It was a sand path. What the fuck, Kanazawa? You think that's a cycling road? Seriously poor show. I had to go back through the hornets to get back to the nice road.

You'd think I'd learn from that experience, but noooooo. A few decakilometers later I saw another seaside path that looked enticing, so I took it. It was really nice for the first 5 kilometers or so, but the next 15 kilometers were just completely monotonous pedal-pushing, with a noisy highway on the right side and a very dirty, garbage-ridden beach on the left. And nothing else. For 15 kilometers. To make matters worse the path that started out only slightly bumpy became worse and worse, and some bits were basically made up of independent concrete slabs that were not aligned very well, leaving a gap of several centimeters between them. So every 5 meters or so I would hit one of those gaps and my tires would cry, my luggage would jump and my butt would hurt. Seriously, Kanazawa, you call that a cycling path? You do not know what cycling means.

I arrived in the center of Kanazawa well before noon, and for a while wasn't sure what to do. Should I cycle further or see if I can find some local hotels and laze about town? I decided to have a look at Kenrokuen first to see if it wasn't too busy for me to have a look. But even before I got there I knew I wouldn't stay in Kanazawa for the night. Trying to navigate through the center of town was just madness: tourists everywhere, entire classes of school children, various foreigners or various levels of annoyingness, and traffic stuck in a standstill full of tourists trying to find a place to park, packed so tight together that it was hard to even get around it by bicycle. Definitely not my idea of fun. I turned around and cycled the fuck out of there. Kenrokuen will have to happen on another trip. I would much rather prefer to be in a place that's only 90% as nice as Kenrokuen if it means that there'll only be 10% the amount of people there. People ruin places.

On the bright side, the weather was absolutely perfect today. It's finally warm enough for me to not have to worry about being too cold, no matter what I do on the bike. I could be drenched in sweat from an uphill and it'll just dissipate happily without me getting too chilled. Lovely. Well, partially lovely. I'd hate to complain even about this, especially considering I love this weather, but my body isn't built for it. I cycled in shorts today because it was nice and warm, and despite all the sun lotion I applied to myself every few hours one of my legs got seriously sunburned. My face was already starting to come off from the sun from the days before, and today only made it worse. I took a sun break today mid-afternoon, not sure if it helped much. It was a good break though.

Side note: many strange insects have been on me. I've had something fly into my eye twice, despite my cap usually deflecting things. Today something managed to fly up one of my nostrils. I blew it out. Various weird and dangerous-looking insects have been stuck in my cycle shirt, but I always managed to brush them off. A lot of creatures seem to be doing suicide attacks on me and are specifically targeting my holes.

Since I was on the road again I decided to cycle on to Toyama, which was a good 60 kilometers away. I took a road that seemed like a fairly direct route, and also had a highway/bypass next to it so would hopefully not be too busy. The road was indeed not too busy. It was also way steeper than I expected it to be. I knew it would cut through a bit of mountain but didn't think it would climb 200+ meters.. It was a pretty tiring climb, but good fun compared to the ridiculous climbs in the Tottori area. And after the climb it was all flat roads all the way down to Toyama.

Good progress was made today. I did three days worth of cycling in two, but I'm about to undo that. I cycled myself into a corner, sort of, although most of it can be blamed on golden week. It's just so insanely busy everywhere during golden week that all hotels are either sold out or insanely expensive. Also, rain is expected with high certainty the day after tomorrow. I'm not confident that I can get decent accommodation at my next destination, and I don't want to get caught by the rain in a shitty campsite in the middle of nowhere. Again. So I'm taking the next two days to relax, recover, not get sunburned and maybe do some bike maintenance. The brakes are the next part that needs some work. That, and maybe a new front tire.

I had real trouble finding a hotel for tomorrow. Today I got lucky because booking.com provided me with a last-minute discount, but trying to book a hotel for tomorrow on booking.com meant prices that were triple the nice rate. I could wait it out and hope for a discount rate tomorrow as well, but given how everything's sold out already and there's rain on the way I'd rather not risk it. I considered cycling to the next town and camping tomorrow, then booking a hotel for the (rainy) day after, but there's no guarantee that'll work either. There seemed to be no safe and comfortable option for me anywhere within cycling distance.

A solution presented itself, but I don't know if I just got really lucky (I mean: used my fantastic hotel-finding skills) or if things just aren't as fully booked as I imagined. I marked a bunch of hotels on my map and took a walk around town. The first hotel looked ridiculously sleazy and I didn't even bother asking. The second and third hotel were fully booked. The fourth hotel had space, and was cheap, and had coin laundry, so I booked it for two nights. I'm quite pleased with this discovery. The hotel is in a meh location but it has all the business-y-ness of business hotels, and is way cheaper than anything I could find online.

I'm taking a chance on the weather report. If the rain hits early then I waste an extra day here. If the rain hits late then I'll be cycling in the rain, or will have to take another rain day. If that happens I won't have many slack days left. So let's hope that doesn't happen.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

A mad dash north

Posted on 2016-05-01 08:34 by rv

Today was a day that did not go according to plan. It went better than planned. Much better.

From Tsuruga about halfway to Kanazawa. That was the plan for today. I had intended to cycle along the coast for about half the day and then turn in to a mountain road that veered off towards the city of Fukui, inbetween two mountain ranges. The reason I planned it that way is because of trauma from the 'coastal' roads after Tottori, which were just utter shite really. Way too steep, way too zigzaggy, and nothing useful in ways of facilities along the way.

Turns out, none of those things are true about the coastal road going north to Kanazawa. The 305 was a fantastic cycling route: extremely flat, beautiful scenery along the way and loads of restaurants and vending machines. The weather was great too: nice and warm, and with a slight tailwind cycling was good fun. On the fly I decided not to take the mountain road and just kept going along the coast. I had worried that it would take forever if the roads were hilly and the wind was against me, but everything was in my favor and I made excellent distance. Note to self: must take photo of caterpillar crossing the street. There's always so many of them in the morning.

Everything went great until I got to the end of the coastal road and back into populated area. There was a camp site I had marked which was a bit out of the way of the main road. That 'bit' turned out to be a 10 kilometer detour through a fairly hilly road full of annoying tourists and overcrowded tourist attractions. I was even stuck in a traffic jam for a few minutes. Yuck. You can definitely tell that golden week is in full swing. Tourists everywhere.

When I got to the camp site it wasn't very busy yet. I soon found out why: it cost 4500 yen. The only was I can describe my reaction to that price is: that is just fucking ridiculous. No motherfucking campsite is worth more motherfucking money than a motherfucking cheapass business hotel. No matter how fancy you think your shitty camp site is, there's just no way it would be as nice to stay at as a hotel, so if you're going to ask for that much money it's pretty clear that you're targeting rich-ass tourists. I literally told the guy: (accidentally in a voice that was probably a bit too loud >_<;) "Way too expensive! I can't do that. I'll find someplace else". So I did. And I didn't.

I cycled on to the second (and last) camp site I had marked in the area, which was quite close to a massive theme park, which was clearly crazy busy. Unlike the camp site, which did not seem to exist. I didn't mind much at that point. If it had existed it would likely have been expensive and touristy as well.

From there I had two options: cycle to a nearby town to find a hotel, which wasn't quite in the wrong direction, but it wasn't much in the right direction either. Or option two: just cycle on to Kanazawa and see what I'll find on the way. With 95km on the cyclocomp I went for option two.

After some inefficient cycling on some local roads I managed to get back on the 305 heading north. I saw a very direct road leading straight to Kanazawa and figured it'd be loaded with conbinis and other useful stuff, so I could make it a long cycle day without any issues. But when I got near the direct road it turned out to be the highway bypass road thingie, which means no cycles allowed. I changed direction and had to cycle another few kilometers to get back onto a road that actually went anywhere. Amazingly, just as I got to the junction, there was a lovely conbini waiting for me. I really needed a proper break.

With my mind still set on cycling all the way to Kanazawa I quickly checked the internet for weather, and snuck a peek at the booking.com app for nearby hotels. I didn't except much from it really, and when the first hit was an onsen hotel 30 kilometers away for 90000 yen per night I was about to close the app immediately, but then I saw the second hit: a cheap-ish business hotel less than 2 kilometers from my current location! Woohoo! I did not expect that. It was in the wrong direction but I figured it was worth a detour.

So now I am in a place called Daishoji and I have no idea what's there to see around here. My legs hurt like hell but I'm still kind of curious to explore the area. In the end I haven't saved myself a day in terms of progress. Kanazawa is still a half-day cycle away, and any further destination would be just a little bit too far. Since I've got time I'd rather take some more interesting roads and zigzag around a bit, rather than rush to the finish.

JMA's weather report keeps changing every time I look at it. Yesterday it said that Tuesday would be dry, now it says that there's a 70% chance of rain on Tuesday. They're kinda crap, really. Only useful for the immediate next day, and even then they can be pretty wrong. I'm not too worried for the next few days, since I'll be in a fairly populated area. There'll be places to hide under if the rain hits.

One last thing: biker gangs are bloody annoying. They ruin nature and every single place they visit.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Dry and mighty

Posted on 2016-04-30 08:00 by rv

The morning started out with a blue sky and no wind. It was warmer than yesterday too. Yet somehow I just felt lethargic. The motivation only started to kick in after I had done the morning conbini run and put some music on. The road to Obama was pretty straightforward and even had a cycle road surprise near the end which was nice and scenic. At one point a policecar going in the opposite direction passed me, then moments later it overtook me with its sirens on. It drove very slowly for a while, nearly keeping pace with me, but keeping ahead of me a few car lengths. Then it pulled away a bit and stopped at a roadside parking space not too far ahead. I was sure they were going to stop me for something, but before I could reach them they started moving again and went somewhere else. Huh.

Since Tsuruga isn't too far from where I was starting from I took the scenic route from Obama and followed route 162 along the coast. It was a very nice route, with a whole bunch of tunnels that, surprisingly, had quite a wide sidewalk area which was perfect for cycling. This went great for 4 or 5 tunnels or so, and then suddenly the next tunnel's sidewalk was the usual narrowness again. Because I was already in motion as I was approaching the tunnel and didn't want to bother getting off the bike to place it on the road I just kept going on the narrow sidewalk. Then the tunnel got darker and darker and I couldn't see shit. It was like a balancing act. My front light really is only useful for others to see me and did not help me see at all. I somehow managed to reach the end of the tunnel without any issues. Lesson remembered: always stay on the road, never take the sidewalk..

I cycled along the western shores of lake Mikata and lake Suigetsu, intending to take the horribly squiggly scenic mountain road north of the lakes. But when I got to the north of lake Suigetsu I noticed a little path marked as cycling road which looked really nice, so I took that instead. It took me all the way around the lake to the other side, and a tough climb took me back into civilization. I wandered around the Mihama area a bit, exploring some random roads, and eventually cycled on to Tsuruga.

I've changed my plan for the next few days. I had been intending to get to Kanazawa by cycling along the coast on route 305, which is about 200 kilometers of indirect coast line. That will probably get boring, so I decided that tomorrow I'll do about half a day along the coast and then take a semi-direct (but mountainous) road inland towards Fukui. Kanazawa is still a bit away from Fukui, but it should be doable in one day.

Must find chain spray. It's squeaky.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Back on track

Posted on 2016-04-29 12:36 by rv

There wasn't much that could happen today that would make it worse than yesterday. And, in a shocking twist surprise, nothing bad happened! Well, almost nothing.

I really felt an urge in the morning to immediately take the nearest narrow mountain road, no matter how steep, to get back onto the road that I had wanted to take yesterday but ended up not taking because of the rain. The first mountain road turned out to be an excellent 5 kilometer climb with no traffic or other signs of life through a quiet and peaceful forest. It was amazing and never got close to being as steep as yesterday's start of the day. I think I'll have nightmares about that area..

Climbing came easy this morning and I soon coasted down the road going into Yosano, the town next to Amanohashidate. Amanohashidate is one of the three most scenic views of Japan and I was really excited to be able to cycle it. I got there quite early in the morning and there were still a lot of clouds, but already there were some tourists wandering (and cycling) around. I started out at the non-touristy side and did a slow and leisurely cycle across the sandbar, stopping on the way to eat some of the food I'd brought and to look out at the scenery. It really is a fantastic place. It felt impressive, and old. My pictures didn't turn out very well because of the lighting, and I wasn't too happy about how touristy the area is, but I do want to emphasize that it is an amazing place and well worth a visit. I'm glad I saw it. (Unlike Tottori's sand dunes which were just meh).

It was still really cold today! Temperatures under 15C and quite strong winds made for a very chilly ride, but I managed to find my balance point, where I generate just enough heat to stay warm but not enough to sweat. Sweating is deadly when it's cold and windy, it just immediately chills you down like crazy and then takes ages to dissipate while you're shivering from the cold.

My goal is to reach Tsuruga in two days, leaving it open where to stop in the middle. I marked some camp sites and hotels on the way and decided to not do anything crazy, since I'll be stopping in Tsuruga tomorrow anyway. As such I wasn't feeling in a hurry today and kind of just enjoyed the cycle. I was cycling through Maizuru, which seemed like a lovely place, when I passed a bunch of naval ships, and moments later a gate with a guy standing there letting people in to take photos of everything. I couldn't resist and had a look as well. Quite impressive, them big ships.

The weather report betrayed me shortly after that. It was supposed to be cloudy but without rain. I felt raindrops, had to get off the bike and pack up my backpack for the rain. The rain was extremely mild and kind of went away again after a short while, until I exited a tunnel from a mountain pass and it just blasted me full-on in the face. It was maybe 10 minutes of extremely cold rain, enough to drench my pants, but my windcoat somehow managed to keep the rest reasonably dry. After that the rain stopped and the sun occasionally peered through the clouds. Combined with the strong wind I was dry again soon after.

I reached a little town called Takahama fairly early in the afternoon. It was exactly halfway between where I came from and Tsuruga so I checked out my first potential accommodation: a generic business hotel. They had space, I didn't push my luck, and Takahama became my final destination for the day. Since the hotel didn't let me check in yet I cycled around the town and took photos. There's some impressive coast line here, and a very nice park, right at the edge of the land, surrounded by ocean. I mildly considered cycling a bit further to the next town over, but there just seemed to be a stationary rain cloud blocking my path. I went in that direction two or three times today, and the rain always started exactly at the edge of town. Peculiar.

Besides it being a bit chilly and getting caught in the rain once, every little thing today was just.. fun! Going up the quiet little mountain road in the morning, looking around Amanohashidate at a leisurely pace, the random naval visit, the decently-paced cycling roads, arriving early at my destination and exploring the area.. Everything quite contributed to a near-perfect day of cycling. Off the top of my head I can only think of two similar near-perfect days: the second day of my first Kyushu trip and the Hikari day on my first big cycling trip. There have been a lot more great cycling days, but those two come to mind first when I think of my best cycling days. Interestingly they both involve getting lucky with accommodation out of ignorance. Ah, the advantages of being unprepared..

Earlier this trip I wrote about the cost of the hotels being on my mind. I had rationalized the expense, but at the time it still didn't feel like it was the right thing to do. Now it does. I'm fully immersed in the trip and I remember how great it is to at least allow myself to stay in at least the cheapest of hotels. It gives me the option of camping, rather than the obligation, which makes it a hell of a lot more fun. Everything is more fun if it's a choice. (?)

Tomorrow should be a fairly short cycle. After that, two tough days with likely camping. Then probably a break day. Shimonoseki - Tottori was the start. Tottori - Kanazawa is the middle. Kanazawa - Tokyo will be the end. Long ways to go yet.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Getting punched in the face by the rain

Posted on 2016-04-28 07:53 by rv

Today was not as magical as I had hoped. I didn't have internet at the camp site yesterday, so all I could do was hope for the best when departing since I didn't have access to a weather report. I remembered that the rain was supposed to clear up later in the day, and I took a chance that when it started clearing up in the morning, I assumed it had just cleared up a little faster, and I was in the clear. Clearly I was wrong. I hate that paragraph but I'm too tired to rewrite it.

Yesterday didn't end as magical as I had written either. I had put my sleeping mat and bag up at the concrete slab and went to bed when it had gone nearly completely dark. Still not a single person had showed up, but something happened that put me on edge right before settling in. I had taken a walk on the beach just before going to sleep, and it was nearly pitch black dark already. Then I saw something running in front of me from right to left, really fast. It looked like it could have been a dog or a large fox, I'm not sure. It ran towards some trees in the distance and then I heard a horrible screech. I'd never heard anything like it before. I don't think it was a dog because no one was walking it and Japan doesn't have wild dogs. Anyway, not the kind of thing you want to hear just before going to bed.

As I got settled into my sleeping bag I started remembering all the scary excitement of sleeping in a place that's not really meant for sleeping. It takes time for me to learn to recognize all the sounds and lights around me. Only after that am I able to sleep. I'm really glad I invested in a good sleeping bag because I wasn't cold at all. I even had to take a layer off because it was too hot.

That's when the mosquitoes got me. The sleeping bag did a good job of protecting me, but my face was still sticking out. I'd made sure my orientation was so that my face was on the windy side, but no luck. I got bitten on my eyebrow, cheek, cheek bone and lip. The lip one really swelled up for a while. It's also the one that got me frustrated enough that I finally went and set up my tent. Goddamn mosquitoes.

I had a decent sleep and woke up at 6AM to the sound of rain.. lots of rain. So I slept more. At 7AM there was still rain. At 7:30AM there was still rain, but I figured I should get up and pack up, since I wasn't going to stay at the sad camp site for longer. Around 9AM it was still very cloudy but the rain had mostly stopped. It wasn't an unpleasant cycling experience.

At least, until I hit the first hill. The roads have gotten more and more severe as I'm getting further along on this road, and today's roads were just crazy. Constant 10-12% inclines, with some 15% ones stuck in for good measure. That's going a little bit beyond my fun threshold and well into my 'just constantly panting and focusing on not dying' threshold. Madness. It was still quite scenic though. It took me ages to even get through the first 10 kilometers. By then I was exhausted and soaking with sweat. 15% is just ridiculous..

My luck with the weather didn't hold. Before I reached 30km it started raining again, constantly increasing until the wind, which had also increased, was just slapping me in the face with raindrops. It was also way colder than yesterday, and I was not happy. I may have mentioned the word 'despair' before, but I don't think I've quite emphasized how strongly that feeling gets on a day like this. You know you've got at least 10 kilometers to go until the next town, you know there won't be any shelter up ahead, just massive hills and dangerous downhills, and it's likely that the next town will be some local yokel place with no conbini or hotels you could take advantage of. It's killing to know that you've put yourself in a situation where you can't just stop and pause the game, where you have to move forward in order to not lose. On a solo cycling trip that's not a feeling you can share with anyone. It's all on you. That feeling of despair is intense.

(On a lighter note: that feeling of despair always completely disappears at the end of the day when you've somehow gotten lucky at acquiring accommodation, and then suddenly it all seems a bit silly :) )

I found a roadside station where the restaurant was just getting ready to serve food, so I took the opportunity to have a break. My clothes were soaking wet and I changed into my last dry cycling shirt, though I had to keep wearing the wet undershirt. The food was great. First warm meal in a while, and it was all-you-can-eat, though I did not indulge too much for fear of upsetting my stomach. I waited a long time to see if the rain would let up, but it didn't. So I went out in the rain again, on to the next town. I was completely soaked again in less than a minute, more wind blasting more rain into my face.

It wouldn't have been that bad if it wasn't so cold. Being soaked is fine as long as the temperature's nice and warm, but if it's cold you really need to push your body to stay warm, and you end up just exhausting yourself. Not a fun feeling. I saw a sign for national road 666 while in this state, but could not be bothered to get out my camera. If the weather is so bad that you can't be bothered to take a scenic road or to take a picture of something, then that's probably a very good indicator that you shouldn't be cycling.

At this point I wasn't really considering going all the way to Amanohashidate, which is where I had been planning to end up today, but I didn't know if there was any place in-between that I could find a hotel at. I tried at Amino, where I walked into the train station building and asked a random person at a random counter if she knew of any cheap hotels nearby. Turns out I walked into a travel agency and she took it as a personal challenge to single-handedly call every single hotel in town. Amazingly, every single hotel in town was either fully booked, on holiday or way too expensive.

I had really not expected this. I considered just sucking it up and rain-cycling all the way to Amanohashidate, but really didn't feel like it. I asked if they knew any business hotels nearby, and finally had some luck: there were two.. but it was 8 kilometers away. Considering that my only other option was to cycle 20 kilometers to Amanohashidate I had no choice but to take it. As I walked outside with a map to the hotel in my hand I noticed my raincoat had fallen down from the bike and landed in a puddle. It did not seem any wetter than it had been when I wore it.

It's easy for frustration to creep in on a day like this. I get angry at the most ridiculous things. I get angry at the roads for being too steep, angry at the towns for not having hotels, angry at the rain for not doing what the weather report predicted.. All is of no use, of course, and the only person I could possibly blame for my situation is myself. But it's easy to forget that when you're on the bike.

The last stretch wasn't too bad. I pushed myself a bit, knowing that it was likely that one of the business hotels would have a room for me. And even if they didn't, I would be 8 kilometers closer to Amanohashidate, which is also not too bad. The rain did not let up, which meant risking my phone every time I had to take it out to look at the map. It's such a sad moment when you take out your phone, find out that it's wet so you reach for something to wipe it with, only to realize that every single piece of clothing you're wearing is completely soaked and would only make things worse. I ended up holding it up by the thumb and index finger of one hand while carefully touching it with my other. I should not have done that. If I lose that phone I lose all my maps, and I will be more miserable than I was today. No more rain cycling.

Also, I nearly crashed, just when I was nearing my destination. There was a long crack going along the road that seemed like it was equal height on both sides, but it turned out it wasn't. I was tired and maybe not seeing well because of all the raindrops in my eyes, or maybe I just didn't care enough any more, and went into it with too much speed, going downhill. When I realized I had miscalculated I immediately did a controlled emergency stop, but it was pure luck that made me get away with it. The bike could have slipped out from under me when going from the high side of the crack to the low side, or I could easily have locked up something while braking. Luckily everything went fine, and I took it as a clear sign that I had done enough cycling for the day.

I made it to the business hotel and am doing laundry while I'm writing this. It's a bit of a cargo cult business hotel: they've got all the things that make a business hotel business-y, but somehow they've all done them slightly differently, and slightly worse. But I am definitely not complaining. This place is paradise compared to continuing to cycle in the rain. I'm finally warm again.

Worst day of this trip. One of the worst days of all time in my cycling history. It can only get better from here.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Clarity

Posted on 2016-04-26 03:40 by rv

Today is a break day. After cycling with the old man yesterday I realized I don't need a break day. I need it to feel optimal, but even if I don't have one I can still continue cycling, just at a suboptimal level. I'll be more tired, more hurt, but that doesn't mean that I'll enjoy it less. I've no doubt that the old man has gotten further, with less break days, than I have. That really puts things into perspective.

I've gotten so good at / used to cycling trips that I manage to stay in the optimal 'zone' almost all the time. No pesky human interaction because I pre-book hotels, no getting lost because I have offline maps, no camping in random places because I know exactly where the hotels and camp sites are. 'Optimal'.

It doesn't have to be this way, of course. I could just throw my phone away, but a map book and start asking people the way, cycling until it hurts and camping wherever is convenient. But that just doesn't feel right. That is, at least by my standards, a worse situation than now. I have it easier thanks to technology. Pretending that technology doesn't exist is just denying reality and making things artificially harder on yourself. You can never go back. Progress must be made.

So I made progress. Today I entered the locations of camp sites, hotels, scenic roads and places to avoid into my offline maps. I made a plan to do certain distances every day, and I think I've fleshed out how to get back to the Tokyo area. I can take break days for rain, but my general start and end points of each day are pretty much decided. There's some tough days ahead, but nothing much tougher than what I've done already. And even if it was tougher, if the old man can do it, then so can I. He inspires me. Thanks to him I have no excuse to feel like shit at the end of the day.

I'm going to head north-east tomorrow, starting to make my way towards Kanazawa. It may rain tomorrow and the day after, but the weather predicts that it'll be sunny and hot after that for quite some time. The first stage of the trip is over. Now I'm in the heart of it.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Beaten by an old man

Posted on 2016-04-25 07:15 by rv

The Man, The Legend

Today was a tough day. The way to Tottori was a long 90+km road. Unending. I had done about 20 kilometers and was suffering up a hill when I heard a 'konnichiwa' from my right, and before I knew it this old man had gone past me! He seemed to have no trouble with the hill at all. Despite all of his luggage, which seemed heavier than mine, he was spinning the pedals like crazy, doing a cadence of at least 70rpm. I don't think I've ever seen anyone on a loaded touring bike tackle a hill at that cadence. My usual cadence doesn't really go past 60rpm, and on hills I'm closer to 50. Mad! And he kept it up, too.

Naturally I couldn't just let this slide. He was the first touring cyclists I've spotted on this trip so I wasn't going to let him get off with just a 'konnichiwa'. I pushed myself a bit.. well, a lot.. and managed to catch up with him. He slowed down a little for another uphill bit and I asked him a few of the usual questions. He didn't seem very interested in talking, or rather, very interested in not talking, so I let him be and hung back. From there on I managed to keep on his pace for a while. I took some stand-and-drink breaks and eventually lost sight of him.

But not much later I found him again! We were both going to Tottori, and there's really only one road that goes to Tottori (at least, only one that bicycles are allowed on). He was looking at his map, trying to figure out which way to go. I showed him my phone maps and told him that going straight was probably the safest bet, if not the most direct route. He said yes and promptly ignored me and went left. I figured I might as well follow him, and it was a good thing too because his way was much more direct.

I kept behind him for quite a while, keeping up with his pace but definitely breaking a sweat and pushing quite hard. Eventually he pulled in for a break and I did so too. There I learned of this legend's name, his purpose, and his age. I tried to get him to exchange email addresses too but he said he did not use email. I should not have been surprised by that, I guess.

He had already done the distance of my trip, going the opposite direction from Tokyo to Shimonoseki, and was now on his way back. He started the day at Matsue, a town I passed yesterday, at least 30 kilometers away! When I asked him how much he usually cycled on an average day, he said: 120 to 140 kilometers. Holy crap. And then I just had to know. I had to ask how old he was. So I asked him.

He is 69 years old.

I still can't believe it. I had estimated him at at least 50, probably 55-ish, and I thought it goddamn impressive for a 55-year-old to be cycling the same distance I was doing. But it was far, far more impressive than that. He was doing way more distance than I was doing, and at that age too. I imagine when I'm 69 years old, if I try to cycle my legs will just fall off.

I didn't need more convincing of this legend's abilities, but I got it anyway. I passed him again a bit later on when he took a break somewhere, and I took the opportunity to push myself a bit harder for the next stretch, maybe 15-20 kilometers or so. Eventually I completely exhausted myself and had to take a mandatory lunch break at some middle-of-nowhere bus stop. I was there for less than 10 minutes when the old man showed up again, stopped to ask me where I passed him, which he seemed particularly discontent about, and then cycled onwards again, still with that ridiculous cadence. For all the rest of the day, every time I thought of that fantastic person I couldn't help but wow. I tip my hat to you, good sir. May you have good travels.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Flat land and tall bridge

Posted on 2016-04-24 09:21 by rv

Today, while I was sitting in a park having a break, a guy noticed me and came up to me to make conversation. A funny question that brought me back to reality was "why [of all places] are you coming here?". The 'of all places' was very much implied in the way he said it. I didn't really have an answer, other than "it's on the way to Tokyo which is where I'm headed". That doesn't really answer why I'm heading to Tokyo by bike though. It's just a thing I do, apparently.

The other question he asked me was: "Is it fun?". I told him 'sometimes'. The truth is, a lot of the things about a cycling trip are not fun at all as you're doing them. They only become fun once they're over. Once it's over and you're on your way to the airport you suddenly notice that you've become so accustomed to your bicycle that you're really going to miss it, and the daily routine of packing up, cycling, conbini lunch, checking in or camping, and so on. It's a hassle while you're doing it, but after it's over it's just become this amazing experience. There really is nothing else on this world that makes me feel as alive as this.

That said, I'm right in the middle of the experience right now, and there's just no possible way for me to make myself believe that it's amazing when it's cold and grey and windy and my nipples are chafing and I'm starting to feel sweaty despite the cold and getting worried about sweat chills and getting worried about rain.. All this stuff goes through your head when you've pre-booked a hotel that's still 70 kilometers away and you've already committed to paying for it. Once again, booking.com app, a big minus in practice, because simply calling the hotel reserves you a spot without any commitment to paying. Or I could just lighten up, don't take things too seriously, and Be Bird. I know, I know..

I've noticed a trend in this area: when the weather report says the weather will be clear, it's not. It's extremely hazy, sometimes even dark, until late in the afternoon, when it finally clears up. Oddly enough it only seems to get colder throughout the day (at least until it clears up).

I decided to cycle north around lake Shinji since that seemed like the least direct route to get to Yonago, so hopefully there'd be less cars. It was indeed fairly quiet today. There was a brilliant cycling road leading straight out of Izumo all the way to Matsue, which I quite enjoyed. There were quite a few other cyclists, since it was Sunday and this was clearly a tourist spot. At one point I passed a cyclist who was looking at me quite intently as he passed me. A second later I heard a loud 'CLUNK' and when I looked around he was still in the process of hitting a metal pole at the side of the road, and narrowly avoided smashing head first into the asphalt. I asked him if he was okay but he just looked embarassed and was eager to get going again. It was like a scene from a slapstick movie.

Matsue was a bit muh, and I got lost trying to cycle around the castle. I ended up at a McDonalds and decided to have an early lunch. After telling the cashier in Japanese what I wanted, and having gone through several menu options and questions, she suddenly got confused when I said 'hai' when she asked if I wanted to eat in, and did the dumb gaijin handling routine on me and started pointing at things because she thought I didn't understand. This was kind of frustrating, especially after you've already shown that you can speak Japanese, but then again, McDonalds is not known for hiring the best and brightest.

Every day I have at least one despair moment. Today it came when I was cycling towards a hopefully scenic island full of traditional Japanese stuff. I was following the signs, which led me completely needlessly up into some hills, which pissed me off a lot because there was a perfectly fine coastal road available. In the middle of the mountains I noticed that following the signs would mean making a massive detour, and again on a mountain road, so I took a crappy road back down to the coastal road. Some time lost there. When I found the long bridge to the island, which mostly turned out to be a bit of raised land with only a road on it, it was just so far from what it could have been that I got annoyed. Completely irrationally, I know. Who am I to complain that some random place doesn't look like it did in my imagination? But I was 50 kilometers into the day, my butt hurt, the supposedly clear weather was not clear and the 'traditional Japanese' island turned out to be a windy coastal road with not much to see. I probably missed out on some of the nicer bits of the island because of the shitty signposting. Did not like.

But there's a point of light at the end of the tunnel, though I'm not sure you can call it light, and it wasn't a tunnel, it's a bridge: the Eshima Ohashi bridge. Infamous for its ridiculous steepness. When yesterday's me planned the day he thought it would be an awesome idea to get the achievement of having cycled the steepest bridge known to man. Today's me had saddle pain and kinda just wanted to get to the destination. Before seeing the bridge in real life I had been really worried that I would have to go in my super-lowest gear and wouldn't be able to stop because the bike would fall over, which would be really risky. Instead, what I found was a casual gradient of 6% at the most, which did not compare to the 8-9% of Japanese mountain roads, and especially not the ridiculous incline of the hotel slope at Hagi. In case of the hotel slope I really was down in my lowest gear and could not stop for fear of falling over. The bridge was a piece of cake, even with luggage. Achievement unlocked!

I mentioned this yesterday, but I thought about it again today: there's practically no randomness to this trip! I pre-plan a day in advance, I know what I'm doing, and my face doesn't look innocent enough any more for random passers-by to offer me a helping hand. Less camping in general, definitely less camping at random places. I know it sounds weird, but I'm kind of ok with just paying more for (cheap) hotels. That said, I would definitely not pass up an opportunity for randomness if it presents itself. We'll see what happens.

Random thought: you're only ever in doubt about something if the options you have are nearly equal.

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3

Be Bird

Posted on 2016-04-23 10:36 by rv

(Bit of a long post this time. I stuck yesterday and today in one post, and also added random thoughts.)

Today was one of the worst types of days you can have in a cycling trip. It wasn't outright raining, so I felt like I should cycle, also not in the least because I've already taken one rain day this week. But the entire day it was grey, dark and looming with the threat of impending rain. I managed to check the weather radar a few times while on conbini breaks and it was constantly just behind me. It was only mild, but still, I felt like I was cycling to get away from the rain. But I should talk about yesterday first.

Yesterday I was too tired to blog. I had arrived in Hamada after 97 km of cycling just one mountainous road. Coastal, yes, but in this bit of Japan the mountains go right to the coast, and the road is somewhere inbetween and always going up and down. When I arrived I felt proud of my accomplishment and went out for a walk after finding a hotel. When I got back to the hotel the tiredness hit and I slept for just over 10 hours, quite unintentionally. Hamada is one of those dead towns of Japan. They all have a train station, but despite that there isn't really any activity. The main shopping street was filled with closed or abandoned little shops. And like some Japanese towns they feel the need to play background music. Probably to make it seem less empty. For some reason Hamada chose to fill the silence with gangsta rap.

I did bung it up a little when it came to searching a hotel. I basically walked into the first hotel I saw, got quoted a fairly expensive price and mentioned I was kind of looking for something cheaper. The owner offered me a cheaper rate of 6600 yen, so I thought 'why not' and committed. When I looked out my room window, directly opposite of me was another business hotel with a giant sign right in front me: 'rooms 4800 yen'. Beh. Lesson remembered: always shop around before committing.

The cycling wasn't easy. I was following route 9 for most of the day. There weren't many detours possible since there was just a lot of mountainous terrain, with not much of interest along the way. The best thing about not being completely unfit is that I'm able to feel the rhythm of the road again. It's that feeling of slowly creeping up the hill, passing the top and then cycling into a little valley between the mountains, with a little farming town wedged between the mountains, the road and the ocean. And then the road takes you up again into the next mountain and to the next valley. The global rhythm of mountains and valleys is great, but it's also the little rhythm of the road narrowing and widening, of crossing bridges and tunnels, of passing construction workers, of taking a wide corner while a car is passing you, of cycling uphill next to a sidewalk and getting surprised looks from sidewalk cyclists when you're passing them. It all contributes to the general feeling of the road, and it's usually the thing that comes first to my mind when somebody asks me about somewhere.

Once you're in this rhythm the roads and the traffic just automatically make sense. You know automatically which side roads you should take because they'll be quiet shortcuts, and which side roads not to take because they'll go somewhere else. You know where your position of the road is and how other traffic will react to you. In the first day or two I was still a little anxious about partaking in traffic but that feeling is completely gone now. I simply am on the road, just like others are, and I know how they will react to me. I don't feel bad about where I cycle or worried that people will hit me. I make sure I make the right moves so that cars and trucks will see me, and I will get out of the way if I think there is a chance they haven't seen me or might get too close. It all happens automatically, it's just part of the rhythm of the road.

Japan is an amazing country to cycle in for many reasons, one of which is its excellent infrastructure and facilities. Roads, even secondary, narrow, mountainous roads, are of amazing quality. Main roads will have loads of conbinis, restaurants, supermarkets, malls and anything else you can think of. You're hardly able to go more than 50 kilometers on a main road in Japan without being able to buy anything you could possibly need.

It's not quite the 'adventurer' or 'explorer' vibe if you're cycling in a country like Japan - I'm aware of that - since you're never really more than 10 kilometers away from civilization, but that also is not the point of why I'm doing this trip. I'm not quite sure any more what the point of this trip was. I don't think it's had a point. Until now.

The point of this trip is to witness modern day Japan. To see how cities are shaped, to see how they connect, to see how the people travel. I find infrastructure fascinating, and traveling on the roads from city to city really makes me realize how fragile our infrastructure really is. Sometimes all it takes is one road failure to cut off an entire section of the population from the rest of the country. The people of Kyushu are experiencing this right now, sadly.

There are certain things that don't really fit into the 'theme' of the trip, as defined above, and also things I specifically dislike. Temples and shrines, I love to see those. There's just so many of them throughout Japan, and all of them have their own interesting history and are still visited by the local people today. I like less the temples and shrines that have become so famous that they're now a tourist attraction. But I'm a sucker for a good photo, so I'll visit those if they're near my route.

In terms of things I specifically dislike, I saw one thing today that I only recently realized I dislike, maybe even hate. It's nothing practical, like tunnels or trucks. No, the thing I hate is artisan patisseries in the middle of fucking nowhere. They're only put there because it's a road that leads to some shitty tourist attraction for the posh Tokyo-ites to visit because they can't be without their shitty fancy bread for so long. So you're on this road somewhere, usually mountainous or industrious with little else around it, and suddenly this building pops up that's completely out of context and does not fit in at all. 99 percent of the time it will have a badly spelled French name and a nice cafe attached to it. Indoors, of course, because you wouldn't want to sit outside in the real world. Fuck those places. Seriously.

Back to the topic of roads and infrastructure: secondary roads are fantastic because they're completely empty. It's also why they suck. For example: today I veered away from national route 9 for about 10km to take a smaller road that was a bit closer to the coast, and also went past many smaller train stations and local village centers. The road was wide, straight and completely empty. Hardly any cars passed me at all, because they were all on the big boring national road. The cycling was a lot better on the secondary road, but there really is nothing in ways of facilities. No conbinis, no restaurants, just the odd grocery store, undoubtedly run by an old couple, next to a train station that's not much more than a shack.

Today was the first time I encountered a road I could not take. I was still on a secondary road off route 9, but suddenly the rest of the road was blocked with a barrier. Looking at the map I couldn't imagine anything dangerous to me that would make it uncyclable, since the next town was less than a kilometer away at the other side of the road. So I took a peek inside the blocked-off area. It turned out that a whole section of road had completely collapsed with no easy way for me to get my bike to the other side, so I went around instead.

The past two days have been pretty tough. Route 191 and route 9 are not easy roads for cyclists. They keep going up and down, they're full of trucks and tunnels and places where the roads narrows enough for traffic to be an annoyance. It's mentally and physically draining. I usually start out dapper in the morning, put some happy music on and enjoy pushing myself a bit for the first 30 kilometers or so. The second 30 kilometers are tough, but doable. After that I'm just wet from sweat and not thinking, only pushing my bike up the next hill, no longer caring about traffic or anything else, just focusing on the cracks and patterns of the road.

Most of all, I remember why I need to defend my position on the road. I always forget this and try to sometimes take the sidewalk bit, but it always (!*@&%£^%& always) either narrows, gets very bumpy or simply ends without any way to get back on the main road. It is always, always a mistake to not cycle on the main road in Japan. There is only one exception: tunnels. If there is a secondary tunnel, or a wide bit of sidewalk in the main tunnel, then you should take that, but immediately get back on the main road after the tunnel.

Trucks don't like me sometimes, I imagine. It will look like I'm cycling way too much towards the center of the road. But the thing is: it's their fault. The weight of the trucks has warped the road so much that it's become impossible to cycle nicely on the side. Sometimes there's a nice bit of space between the sidewalk and the white line on the left, and I try to cycle in that general area when the road is wide, so that trucks can pass me, but sometimes that area becomes narrower and disappears, and then I have to venture to the right side of the white line. But the trucks have pushed down the asphalt so much that it's created a ridge to the left of where their tire hits the asphalt, pushing it up. That's a peaky little hill that's impossible to cycle on because you'll fall off. It also reduces the cycleable space to the left of the white line even further, so I end up with only one decent place to go: exactly where the truck's left tire normally goes. And that means the trucks have to go around me. I am perfectly OK with this.

Random thing: I saw a garden shop that was called 'Be Bird'. I somehow kept thinking this to myself today whenever I felt moody. "Come on, dude, Be Bird!" I don't know exactly what that means, but I will try to keep it in mind.

There's so much I'd forgotten about cycling trips that have all come back to me now. It took me a few days to get used to it, but now I'm in exactly the same mindset as I used to be during past trips. It's that groove, that rhythm of the road, that's just impossible to not get into. On days like today and yesterday, with not many side roads and no real need to constantly look at my map for navigation, I just get into a real good rhythm, no matter what the weather is like, and just keep going and going and going.

The booking.com app isn't as brilliant as I previously said it was. Or rather, relying only on booking.com is a strategy that's not very useful if you're in a rural like the one I am in now. A lot of hotels are not on booking.com, and as I'm writing this I'm sitting in a hotel that was reported as full on booking.com, yet still had space for me when I showed up at the door. As I was parking my bike in the parking lot I could feel the first raindrops. Today has had a very successful ending, given what options I had.

Since booking.com didn't have anything available I figured that going to the city center would not be a good idea, since it's Saturday today and all hotels were booked full. Instead, I found a camp site about 15km before the city as my first option. It was less of a cycle and cheap, but also in a bad position for the next day since I'd have to cycle a lot more to get to my next destination, which is also a case of "there's really nothing in-between, so I have to go at least this far". A distinct lack of options.

I arrived at the camp site quite exhausted and dead, but I knew the road would get easier from there, since it would lead into the city and there'd be less mountains. So I called up a guest house and reserved a bed in their dorm room just in case, and then cycled into town. I was completely dead by then, with no energy left, and still completely drenched in sweat and sweaty clothes from all the climbs. When I reached the city I took a quick break to change my shirt, and it completely changed me. I somehow had forgotten how nice it feels to be all warm and dry again. Since it was still a bit early to go to the guest house I figured I'd hit up some of the hotels to see if they had a spare room. Lucky me, the second hotel I tried was both cheap and right next to a Sukiya. I'd only eaten one onigiri and one piece of bread today in my race to stay ahead of the rain, so I was very happy with that.

So I'm happy now. I had, by all standards, a shitty day. The weather was grey and terrible and uninteresting. The road was boring and difficult. But in the end, I managed to level up my overnight options two times and I had a great lunch/dinner. Maybe that's also part of the point of this trip. It's not about feeling happy all the time. Sometimes you really do need to suffer to appreciate the good things in life. Even water tastes like the best drink in the world if you're really thirsty. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to choose my own hardships.

90 kilometers per day is probably a bit too much. I can physically do it, but it doesn't leave much leeway for exploration or picture-taking. It's not a problem on a day like today, with grey weather and not many side roads, but on a nice day in a nice area I want to do less kilometerage and enjoy the area more. Tomorrow might be a day like that. There's some interesting places to see :)

Final note: I can't believe how seriously I take things somehow. Life is better if you don't take things too seriously. I've written myself a note "Take things less seriously!!!"

Posted in Spirit of Japan 3 | Tagged artisan patisserie

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