Category Archives: Japan Trip

Just because we finished riding does not mean we finished Japan. We had a few days built in to see what big cities were like, since all our biking was in very rural areas. First stop – Hiroshima. Stayed the night, which was good, as we spent most of the day at the Hiroshima A-BombContinue reading “Japan Compendium”

Last day in the saddle for a while….. Left Imabari at 8:30am as a group and snaked our way through the dock area to the first of several LONG bridges. This is a very popular biking area – where we had not seen hardy any bikers the whole trip, now they were all over theContinue reading “Ride Day Nine – Imabari to Onomichi”

Well, it was supposed to soak us with rain, but what the heck, it was not too bad at all! (except for the slippery wet pavement, but more on that later…) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44638512?privacy_code=3wFmK5Q8mNTlH02w1auCnQh4wq7dWmOg Of course, there were mechanical failures – both Bridger and I had 2 flats each and a couple of minor repairs. That said,Continue reading “Ride Day Eight – Sukumo to Imabari”

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44637994?privacy_code=EDUHeIAPdOkQauQiQ2Ji7VeLBhXRd4JZ Another great day riding, if you don’t take into account the tender portion of our rears. Of course, always start out with Japanese Fish Breakfast: And then onto the ride – now, you have lots of time to, um, observe, what you ride by. I will say Japan has an enormous amount of theContinue reading “Ride Day Seven – Ashizuri to Sukumo”

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44237179?privacy_code=yXBFB9DdHqpcyzqeBWf0PKXq5FPmTj53 This was just a beautiful ride along the coast, lots of rolling hills followed by stunner tiny roads alongside the water. The weather was awesome, with clear blue skies. As per usual, Bridger looks refreshed and happy and I look like I just chased him up a hill (which I did). End ‘O Day,Continue reading “Ride Day Six -Shimoda to Ashizuri”

Kumakogen to Shirokawacho 2023 https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44637465?privacy_code=Ja55837Eskkps457wXDZGTfR1eol6DYv As you can see from the elevation map, this ride was an awesome breeze! We took the time to look around, take off on unmarked roads and just relax a bit. The scenery was spectacular as we pretty much rode together as a group. A couple of notes on thingsContinue reading “Ride Day 5 – 90% Downhill and therefore an official Dream”

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44241866?privacy_code=LUtinfK4rCsV0qIYvjxSnqp10wYThsnv Well dang, more mountains! We started out in partly cloudy weather and finished up with a beautiful sunny day! The small mountain roads here are amazing – they are narrow enough that you think they are bikes paths (until a car shows up outa nowhere!), We went down a couple of downhills today thatContinue reading “Ride Day Four – Sameura to Kumakogen “

Left our comfy digs for an exhilarating 60 miles – in the rain . Well, it didn’t start out that way, but then threat was there. About a quarter of the way in, drizzle commenced, increasing to a full fledged rain at the end. That said, the country side was quite beautiful, with little windingContinue reading “Ride Day Two- Rain, Rain, go away..”

Today started with a 4 hour van ride to a remote area on Shikoku Island. Did a bike fit and a spin to make sure the old body remembered why I was here – to ride a bike and not a barstool. This is a profile of todays ride – short and sweet: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44239975?privacy_code=uYVg7ozpZeqefIj66hd9kGWlVSUneYFY OK,Continue reading “Ride Day One – Warm-up”

Sameura to Kumakogen https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44666201?privacy_code=P6XZPpH9QHwxzKx21G2aiXGeY7gMB8Ie The longest ride of the tour, we went 128km and crested one of the highest mountains in Japan. It hurt, but was a rewarding experience. After weaving along rivers in the sun for the first third of the day, we embarked upon the premier climb of the tour: Mount Ishizuchi. KnownContinue reading “Day 3 – Just one damn long uphill ride”