It starts out easy. Smooth sailing. Just enjoy the scenery. Beauty. Then suffering. Hardship, for a long time. But when you’ve reached the top, there is beauty again. And before you know it, it’s time to go back again. The return journey is effortless and thrilling, a rewarding payoff for the hardship you’ve endured. And then, it ends as smoothly and beautifully as it began.
The perfect day of cycling. For me. Others will say “pah, such a short and easy cycle?”, or “there are much more beautiful spots to cycle in Japan”. To those people, I say “fuck you, go away, this is my blog, what are you doing here, jeez”. I’ve been cycling all my life. In the past I often wondered why I often didn’t like the same things other people liked. When I was younger this made me insecure. As I got older that insecurity turned into stubbornness and just being comfortable with myself. I’m leaning more into the things I like, doing the things I want, and it’s been great. There is no place in the world I would rather cycle than right here, around Atsugi.
Today I cycled to Miyagase dam. It’s a route that feels like it’s mine. I “discovered” it a long long time ago, back when I was living here, before smart phones were a thing and I had to navigate the old fashioned way. I had spotted the mountain lake on a map, and made a route for myself with the least possible amount of turns and junctions. I went there by myself first. Then, a couple of weeks later, I sent out an open invite to all of the other foreigners who were working with me in Atsugi, and a large group of us went on a wild whole day cycling trip to the lake, most of them on good old mamacharis. That trip was one of the most memorable trips I’ve ever done in Japan. I hope that the other people who were on that trip feel the same way. I think, for a lot of us, it was one of the last things we did together before real life and real world responsibilities arrived or returned into our lives.
Unlike the first two cycles this trip I came prepared. I remember the little things that make cycling bearable in Japan: nipple plasters, a towel under my hat and around my ears so I don’t get sunburn, and an extra base layer for when the first one’s totally soaked in sweat. Turns out, when you’ve prepped well, cycling can be a lovely experience. Disregard my previous post, cycling is great again.
I’ve been back many times since then because it’s just a beautiful route. Every time I go I’ll remember without fail how incredibly alien everything was to me (I was really just a simple Dutch country bumpkin the first time I came here, I had never seen hills, let alone mountains..), and how incredibly tough the climb was the first time(s) I did it. I remember exactly the places I stopped to gasp for breath, to buy more drinks (the final convenience store before the lake shut down, sadly..), and to just sit and recover for a while. And I just cycle past it. I’ve gotten older, I’ve got all kinds of health issues, but I am definitely better at cycling than when I first came here. So at least I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.
There’s a “secret”‘ tunnel at the far end of Miyagase dam at the end of the lake, which leads to a very nice and quiet lakeside road that goes back along the far side of the lake. There’s a small-ish tunnel at the far end of the dam park that leads to that road. I’ve been there many times throughout the years, and it’s always been rather ambiguous about whether you’re allowed to go there or not. And by ambiguous I mean there’s no obvious barriers, English signs or Japanese signs with big red letters, so in my mind that means “try it and see what happens”.
Since no one shouted at me when I went in the tunnel, I happily continued along the nice and quiet lakeside road, until I got to the end. Contrary to previous years, there was now a big giant gate, which was closed. Next to it sat an old man, guarding the gate, looking the other way. Because why would anyone come from the inside of the gate, right? He really wasn’t paying any attention to the side that I came from, and at that point I could have easily popped my bike up across the guardrail to the side of the road, which opened up into a public car park, but I thought it would be funnier to surprise our gate guard. I gave him a “konnichiwa” and startled the shit out of him, and he asked me where in the hell I came from. I told him “from the dam”, and he seemed quite surprised, but not angry. Then he just opened the gate and waved me through. I guess I wasn’t supposed to have taken that road after all. It’s fun every time though.
The way back was fantastic. All of the uphill suffering on the way in turned into roads that were sloped just right for a decent but not dangerous speed going down. It was actually quite chilly at the lake, especially in the tunnels, but as I descended again the air became noticeably warmer as I got closer to sea level. What a great feeling. I really missed this. Finally a classic cycle day.
