I have been housebound like most of the world for the past two months because of Covid-19. Now that spring has come to Japan I am getting anxious to go on my next trip. It appears that the situation is starting to take a turn for the better. I am hoping I will be able to go on a trip in June. In the meantime, I released a new episode of the Wayfarer Pedalcast. Episode 10 features and interview with my daughter, Pearl. She went on a unique trip in March to visit here friend in the neighboring prefecture of Chiba.
When Pearl asked me how far it was to Kamogawa in Chiba I told 100 kilometers. When anyone asks how far it is to someplace I have two stock answers. 30 km or 100 km. If I feel like it is close I say the former. If I feel like it is far away I answer with the latter. It would probably be better if I just admitted that I don’t know or just told the questioner to go look it up.
Many countries in the world were already in life or death battle with the corona virus. So some readers of this may already be getting into a lather and ramping up into a rant over how irresponsible it was for us to allow Pearl to go on a trip at a time like this. Buy you have to realize that despite Covid-19 being all over the news, Japan was still relatively untouched by the disease. We still had only reported deaths and the number of infected was still well below a thousand people nationwide. Compared to other nations this was no worse than seasonal flu outbreak. Of course, we were concerned but it still seemed like the worst of the disease would pass over Japan. We now know better. But at the time it
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]]>Bike Ride, Bike Race, Bike Porn
2019/11/03 -2019/11/04
I bet that headline got your attention. It’s not as salacious as it sounds. Stick with me for another paragraph or two to see what I mean. Early in November I took an overnight tour to Makuhari in Chiba with my friend, Mario.
Every year there is a huge bicycle convention called Cycle Mode in Makuhari Messe, a very slick convention center in Makuhari Chiba, about a half hour ride or so from Tokyo Disneyland. Hundreds of bicycle and bicycle adjacent companies gather to pimp their wares on the hapless bicycle freds of Japan. If you don’t know what I mean by fred check out the now retired Fredcast podcast. Anyway, there were lots of gratuitous carbon fiber and brightly colored bicycle gadgets. There are quite a few events that occur in conjunction with Cycle Mode. One of those events is a cyclocross race at the nearby mountain bike and BMX park.
Mario and I struck out Sunday morning after kitting out his bike with my spare rack and panniers. We made great time rolling through the Musashino area of Tokyo Prefecture. The second worst thing about riding to Makuhari in Chiba is that you have to cross the breadth and width of central Tokyo. Both Mario and I are veteran Tokyo road warriors so we know all the least worst roads in Tokyo to cycle on. At least, when it comes to the western half of the city. There is a fairly large gray area on our mental maps once we get past the center of the circle formed by the Yamanote Line. I have ridden east of the Yamanote circle only twice before. And there is where we find the worst part of riding to Makuhari. A little section of road that passes through a suburb called Ichikawa. I’m sure (at least I think I am sure) that there are nice places in Ichikawa but the most direct route from my house to Makuhari doesn’t take me through those parts. Instead, it takes through the industrial part where there are factories, malls and bad traffic.
Once Mario and I got out of the snarl that is Ichikawa and Funabashi the ride got more pleasant. Unfortunately, by that time we were almost to our destination. Makuhari Messe is a world class convention center with its modern design, surrounding hotels, upscale restaurants, sports stadium and mid sized train station but you wouldn’t know it from the bike path a few kilometers away. The hotels and office buildings grew in stature above the trees as we drew bearer.
Despite telling Mario the plan for the weekend. he was still pleasantly surprised when we got to the mountain bike park. I should mention that Mario is Italian. I guess that much could be guessed by the name. His mamma and papa didn’t call their baby boy Mario because they met at a Donkey Kong arcade. Mario swears that he neither speaks nor understands English. However, he is a capable speaker of Japanese, albeit with a Kansai accent with occasional relapse into Italian. So, all our communication is in Japanese. No doubt, Japanese who hear us talking find it entertaining; two foreigners speaking Japanese. What’s wrong with them. Why aren’t they speaking English? Anyway, this lack of a common native tongue between us may contribute to Mario’s not fully grasping the full scope of our adventure until it happened. That is it’s own sort of fun.
The races had been going on all day but we only got there just in time to enjoy some exotic beer and watch the final race. A short word about cyclocross for the uninitiated. Cyclocross is not as we’ll known as road racing or even mountain bike racing. It is like the love child of passionate moment between road racing, BMX, mountain bike racing and a parade at Disneyland while parkour ate popcorn and watching on the sidelines. The racers follow a course tha includes pavement, some offroad tracks, up hills and dismounting occasionally to life their bicycle over obstacles.
My plan for camping was to set up our tents in the mountain bike park. The sun set as the winners we’re making their speeches on the podium stage. It was a bit too crowded to set up our camp so we got back on our steel steeds to search for a convenience store to get some food for breakfast and a beer or two to wash down our pasta. By the time we got back to the park it was good and a dark. The race organizers were winding down their clean up activities. We found an out of the way place to cook our pasta. By the time we were done eating we had the park to ourselves. We set up our tents and I enjoyed a bit of hot chocolate (appropriately seasoned with crime de menthe). We talked until about 9 when the rain that was threatening all day told us it was time to retreat to our tents.
Day 2
It rained steadily until about midnight. I hunkered down to watch a video or two on my iPad. Sometime during the night my head started to hurt and I was feeling a bit queasy. This happens to me sometimes while camping. I took some Ibuprofen and donned my raincoat for a stroll around the park. I eventually felt better and got a few hours sleep.
I discovered during my midnight perambulation that we were camped a few hundred yards from the ocean. It was just out of sight beyond some trees and thick brush.
Mario and I ate our breakfast and broke camp while the race organizers showed up to do one more sweep of the grounds to pick up trash.
A visit to Bicycle Mode was on the agenda for the day. But before going to Makuhari Messe we took a ride along the beach bike path to find a geocache.
Cycle Mode is a yearly bike convention that is held in Tokyo and Osaka. Bicycle manufacturers, bicycle accessory sellers and other of purveyors of cycling adjacent goods and services congregate to peddle their wares to the unsuspecting bicycle geeks of Japan. The vendors come from around Japan and even overseas. There is also an indoor demo course where visitors can borrow the latest bikes for a test ride. There is also a bike school for kids where they can get free lesson on two-wheeling and try out a variety of different types of bicycles. I think one of the most interesting displays were by various regions in Japanese promoting their prefecture as a cycling destination. The free cycle maps and brochures prodded my inner desire to travel farther afield looking for adventure.
Mario is an outgoing type and is quick to strike up a conversation with strangers. As we passed a booth displaying bicycles from an Italian brand he suddenly starts chattering with a Japanese salesman in Italian. It turns out, the fellow used to be Mario’s boss a few years ago. What struck me was that Mario was not at all surprised that he would meet someone he knew in a strange city 60 kilometers from home.
Here’s where we come to the not-really salacious part of the trip. Bicycle manufacturers brought their best to the show. I am a sucker for bicycles that are somewhere on the path less pedaled. I didn’t notice any wooden bicycles this year but I saw a bicycle with a frame made from bamboo that was absolutely intriguing. I also saw a bicycle that had a very steam punk-like vibe to it. Looking at it made me image riders with long black coats, aviator goggles and a Victorian London accent. I thought the longbox cargo bike was fascinating. There was a section dedicated to vintage and handmade bicycles too. I will ride almost anything at least once. Unfortunately, the most unusual and unique bicycles were for display only. One brand that both Mario and I found very fetching was Bruno. This European company makes a very attracting small wheel bicycle. This type of bicycle is called a mini velo. In most cases the frame is a regular road bike-like configuration. Perhaps, slightly smaller that average with small 20 inch wheels. The company makes a very a sexy versatile, mobile bicycle. Finally, I would guess that at least a quarter of the bicycle vendors offered electric assist bicycles in their catalog.
Many of the bicycles were priced way out any normal person’s bicycle budget. Most of us can only fantasize and lust over such bicycles from a distance. The show seemed a lot smaller in scope and a good deal less crowded than previous years. It feels like cycling has been booming the last few years but maybe the boom hasn’t translated into more bicycle sales.
We stayed a couple hours at Cycle Mode, ate some lunch in the food court and then hit the road to return. The ride home was uneventful with the exception of a detour to visit Funabashi Shrine. Mario has a hobby similar to geocaching. He visits Shinto shrines to get a goshuin stamp. Many of the larger shrines offer visitors to put their official stamp (goshuin) into a book specifically intended for the purpose. These books are just a fancy cover enclosing blank white pages. The stamps are the official seal of the temple. The shrine priest, caretaker or other shrine official will sign the books in very pretty calligraphy. The stamp and the signature only costs a few hundred yen. After the shrine we hid the road again. We took a break somewhere in central Tokyo at Mini-stop convenience store. Other than those two short stops we pedalled straight home.
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]]>2019/08/17 – 2019/08/18
I returned to Ome hard on the heels of my trip the previous weekend. This time with my daughter, Pearl. We left late in the afternoon and arrived in Ome well after dark. Having been to Ome the previous weekend the route was fresh in my mind and we found our way to Kami no Fuchi Park on a peninsula jutting into the river in the midst of Ome City with no trouble at all.
Day 1
We both had prior appointments barring us from an early start. The plan was that we were going to meet where Tamagawa Josui Canal crosses Tachikawa Dori. I was busy during the day and forgot to attach the rack to her bike. She had to do it on her own. It is a hassle because a rack and her kickstand can co-exist on her bicycle. In order to remove the kickstand you have to remove the rear axle. Despite this, she handled the task on her own. When we finally met up I did have to tight her quick release axle but other than that she did the job.
We rode along Tamagawa Josui until we got to Haejima. It used be there was a traffic light on highway 16. That was the only safe way to cross the road. But some time in the last few years they replaced the traffic light with a bicycle and pedestrian tunnel under the highway. On the west side of the road the trail becomes very narrow. Basically single track going through a wooded greenway. It was my first time on this path. After dark is probably not the best time to go down a unlit path for the first time. But it wasn’t far and we didn’t have any problems.
Serendipitously, I found Kumagawa Gocho-Bashi Dori, the road that cuts over to Okutama Kaido and eventually the Tama River. It was my first time riding the western end of the Tamagawa Cycling Road at night. It is not lit at all. Fortunately, it is not heavily used after dark. We took a brief rest in Hamura where water is diverted from the Tama River to make Tamagawa Josui Canal. It was too dark to see the Tama Brothers statue. From Hamura it was less than an hour to Kami no Fuchi Koen where we made camp.
One of our camping neighbors had a dog with a nervous disposition. The slightest disturbance set it to barking its head off. I got up in the middle of the night to go the bathroom and had to walk past barking mutt’s tent. It had finally stopped barking for a while but when it heard me walk past the tent it starting yakking again. Somewhere on the other side of our tent there was another family with a dog. At times bother were barking like they were have a long distance gossip session or were trading smack talk. It was a noisy night.
Day 2
I tried to sleep in but between nervous mutts and early day campers I couldn’t sleep much. We hung out in the park for a while and Pearl waded into the river. The river bed is rocky and not easy to walk barefoot on. I forgot to bring flip flops so I stayed out of the water for the most part.
We didn’t have a fixed plan for our second day. Maybe we would go to Okutama and Ogochi Dam, maybe not. In the end we decided not to go to Okutama. Instead of going home directly we detoured due east to take a loop around Lake Tama on the Tama Cycling Road. That was really nice and going clockwise around the lake is a rare experience for me.
Lessons Learned
Don’t forget flip flops or some kind of shoes to wear in camp. Something that will dry quickly or it doesn’t matter so much if they get wet.
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]]>2019/08/09 – 2019/08/11
In mid-August I took the opportunity to go for a weekend bike tour. I had 2 nights of stealth camping. After work on Friday I rode about 50 km to Ome. This time I was rolling without a plan for the most part. At best it was very vague. Ride to Ome, spend the night. The next day, ride to Okutama and Ogochi Dam. Either stay the night there or continue on around Okutama Lake or return to Ome or go home. See? A very nebulous plan.
Day 1
There is a campground outside of town up in the foothills surrounding Ome. Before leaving I noticed I noticed on a park inside the bend of the river right in the center of town. The park looked like it might be a good place to do some stealth camping. The campgroundin the hills is called Kaze no Ko, Taiyo no Ko campground. (The name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.) I stayed here once a couple of years ago when I participated in the Lake Okutama century ride. It only costs 300 yen a night. Like most other campgrounds in Japan you need to make a reservation. This particular campground only has a few camping spots. I called city office which manages the campground to make a reservation. There were openings the problem was that you have to check in by 4 pm. That wasn’t going to happen as I was leaving after work. I decided to take my chances and go anyway. In the worst case scenario where all the official camping spots were taken I could probably still find a place to pitch my tent. As it turned out I needn’t have worried. There was only one other family in the campground when I rolled in around 9 o’clockish. I pushed my bike up the steps to the spot farthest from the family so that we could both have a modicum of privacy. They were curious and probably a bit worried at first about my late arrival but after talking the father a for a minute they seemed to be reassured that I wasn’t some crazy criminal (just a crazy foreigner). When I packed up and left about 7:30 in the morning the camp administrator still hadn’t come by to check so I stealth camped in an official campground for free. I would have gladly paid 300 yen if asked but nobody asked.
It was very humid. I noticed that the humidity went up as the temperature dropped during the night. When I finally tucked in for bed around 11:30 there was a 85% humidity. The humidity made it hard to sleep. I’m glad I didn’t bring a sleeping bag on this trip. It was not needed at all. Trying to sleep inside a sleeping bag when all sweaty would have just stunk the whole thing up. I just laid out on top of my air mattress. It took me a long while to sleep.
Day 2
Before starting for Okutama I decided to checkout the park nestled within the bend of the river in the center of town. The park is called Kami no Fuchi Koen. It wasn’t that far from the campground and it was mostly downhill to get there. It turns out the park is quite nice. The river makes a large u-turn which creates a peninsula shaped feature that is surround by the river on three sides. The park is accessed by two footbridges and a path from the fourth side. There is a grassy area up on the banks of the river under the shade of trees and rocky beach along the waterline. I thought I could stealth camp in the wooded area but it turns out that camping is allowed – for free – on the beach.
At Kami no Fuchi Park there are two huge wooden barrels on display for making shoyu (soy sauce). They are turned on their side so you can see inside them. I can’t image how and when people would need so much shoyu. It is unquestionable that Japanese people use a lot of shoyu but these barrels would make enough for everyone in the town of Ome to put shoyu in their cooking for a year. How often are these barrels used? I don’t know. There wasn’t any explanation displayed with the barrels.
I hung out at the park a few hours and then decided to head further upriver to Ogochi Dam and Lake Okutama. There was a possibility of rain in the afternoon but I went anyway in the hope of getting somewhere before it started. I thought that maybe I could camp somewhere near the dam.
It was a gradual but steady uphill climb to the village of Okutama. Okutama is the last station on the Ome Line and is a well-known starting point for hiking into the nearby Okutama mountain range and Mt. Kumotori in particular. The day I arrived the village was preparing for a festival so it was more lively than usual. The street vendors were still setting up when I arrived. I took a break at the bus stop and information center across from Okutama Station. It was there that I noticed the beware of bears sign. I was hoping/not hoping for a friendly encounter with a bear. It was highly unlikely since I wouldn’t be leaving the road or developed areas.
I continued the last 7 or 8 kilometers up to the dam. From Okutama the road gets significantly steeper, especially near the dam, and there are several tunnels. One of the tunnels is nearly 2 km in length. Some people don’t like going through tunnels. I can understand why that might be. Often they don’t have any shoulder or sidewalk and they are usually dark and damp. I appreciated that the temperature was significantly lower in the tunnel as it was quite hot and humid by the time I reached the tunnels.
The dam, might seem like an uninteresting destination, but it has more to offer than you might expect. There is a large rest area behind the dam where you can picnic and get out from under the sun. In my case I was staying out of the rain as the raindrops started to fall just as I started to climb the last steep slope before the dam. Fortunately, it didn’t rain long at all. ¥Visitors can walk along the top of the dam and there is a little 3 story observation tower in the middle of the dam. On the second story there is a little museum, in this case “shiryokan” is an appropriate description, showing how the dam was made about 65 years ago. The real treat for me was the map room on the third floor and, of course, the view. The map room is unique. The entire floor is a map of the lake and the surrounding area. Along the edge of the map are numbered vignettes of points of interest in the area. You can walk on the map floor and find the numbers and get a feel for the lay of the land. Combined with the great view from the windows you can get a unique perspective of the area.
It was about 1 o’clock when I reached the dam and despite cycling for about 25 km uphill I was surprisingly not very hungry. I had planned to have some pasta for lunch. I briefly toyed with the idea of eating at the ramen restaurant across the street but didn’t really feel like eating very much. Maybe it was the heat. Instead, I ate the fruit I had with me and some GORP trail mix. I realized that it probably wasn’t a good idea to camp near the dam as it was clearly monitored by the police. I hung out about an hour or so and then decided to go back to Ome. I didn’t even look for a campground near Okutama. I decided to try my luck at Kami no Fuchi Koen.
The descent from Ogochi Dam to Okutama seemed to last no time at all. I covered the 7 K in what seemed like 20 minutes or so. It was probably longer than that but the effortlessness of the descent made it seem quicker. When I got to Okutama the festival was underway and the street leading to the station was lined with food vendors and sellers of other festive goods. I found a kakigori (shaved ice) vendor in no time a had a very refreshing cola flavored sno-cone. Thus refreshed, I continued on my way to Ome.
I remembered a pizza place just outside of Ome and got it into my head that I would like some pizza for lunch. Unfortunately, when I got there there weren’t open yet and they wouldn’t be open for a couple of hours. The restaurant was good 4 or 5 km from town. Too far to return after setting up park. I decided to find something nearer to the park.
When I finally rolled into Ome it was about 5 o’clock. I found sandiest place on the beach to set up my tent. There were still many people with tents set and barbecue sets on the beach. I assumed most of them would be going home before it got dark.
I found a restaurant and a convenience store about a 10 minute ride from the park. Despite being sweaty and probably a little stinky I had a wonderful dinner of tonkatsu, shredded cabbage and miso soup. On the way back to the park I picked up some breakfast essentials at the convenience store.
By the time I got back to the park the sun had set but too my surprise there were still many people there. They didn’t show any signs of leaving either. Also, unexpectedly, there were many foreigners around. I didn’t recognize the language they were speaking but somehow I got the impression they were Mediterranean. I have absolutely nothing reliable to based the assumption on. It is just a wild guess. There was a large group right behind my tent and it seems there was a large group of Japanese revelers on either side.
I have to say that none of the groups were rowdy or ill behaved but when you have large groups of people relaxing, talking and laughing they can get a little noisy. I assumed they would eventually settle down for the night. And they did settle down but it was later rather than earlier. I can’t say that I blame them. I would be laughing and talking too if I were with a group of friends and family camped on a river bank. So for the second night I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked.
Day 3
I slept in as late as I could manage but ultimately was back on the road by 9:30 or so. I plotted a course that would keep me as close to the river as possible with the intent of going to Hamura then following the generally very quiet route along the Tamagawa Josui Canal which passes just a kilometer or so from my house. My other goal was to, as much as possible, to stay of the very busy roads of Shin-Ome Kaido, Ome Kaido and Itsukaichi Kaido. The 30 KM ride back home was uneventful but I found a route from the headwaters of Tamagawa Josui Canal in Hamura and the town of Ome that has good roads and less traffic than other major roads.
Lessons Learned
I learned on this trip that I do not need a sleeping bag in the summer. I might want to consider getting a light camping blanket but a sleeping bag is unnecessary for the Kanto area in summer.
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]]>2018/12/15 – 2018/12/16
I took what is probably my last camping trip fro the season. I spent a night in the Oi Futo Ryokudo, a narrow greenway that is about 50 meters wide and about a kilometer long the low areas along Tokyo Bay. The greenway is sandwich between two heavily traffic roads but thanks to the trees there is a sense of isolation despite being in the city. I don’t think there are many places in the City of Tokyo proper where you could stealth camp without being noticed.
The main objective of this trip was to experience sub-zero (celsius) temperatures. When I was growing up in Wisconsin camping was always a summer activity. I experienced some cold weather on my previous trip to Motosuko but it never got below freezing.
Packing
When I went to Motosuko I wasn’t prepared for cold weather though I was expecting. I planned to take a jacket but forgot it when I was packing up my panniers. This time I prepared for the cold weather. I wore jeans and long socks. I also had a hoodie and my high-vis cycling jacket as well as two pair of gloves. For a sleeping bag I used a Logos bag that has been packed away in my closet for years. I don’t really know if it is warmer that the sleeping bag I used on my other trips. I assumed that it is warmer because it is puffier and I can’t roll it up as tightly. It turns out that it was warm enough.
A word about my gloves. I don’t have expensive gloves. They are probably the cheapest kind you can find. I bought them at my local 100 yen shop. The first pair is black and very tight and thin. They are the kind that have the first and second finger cut off so that you can use your smart phone without taking you gloves off. I wear these gloves during the fall and the spring but I found they are not enough for the colder months of winter. For winter, I have another pair of gloves that I got at the 100 yen shop too. These are what are called gun-te. Basically, they are very cheap work glove that people wear to protect their hands when they are doing physical labor. These gloves are full fingered. In order to use my smart phone with these gloves I cut off the very tip of the finger on the first two fingers. On cold days I wear these gloves over my black gloves. Since my hands are bigger than the average Japanese the gloves are bit tight on me but they work for me. These gloves are pretty but they keep my hands warm enough most of the time. You may wonder why I don’t get a proper pair of gloves. The reason is simple. I lose gloves…a lot. It is a waste of money for me to wear expensive gloves because I will probably lose them before the season is over. I have gotten really nice gloves for Christmas and my birthday and I always feel bad when I lose them.
Food
The nice thing about camping in colder weather is that you can pack food that you really can’t in summer because it would spoil. This time I carried butter, eggs and milk without any fear of spoiling. During the heat of summer I would worry about the eggs and milk going bad and the butter would have turned into a greasy, runny mess.
The Campsite
I had a late start, leaving the house around 3:15 in the afternoon. By the time I arrived at Oi Futo Greenway it was already dark. Fortunately, I knew exactly where I was going to camp. I camped under a wide wooden foot bridge. Standing under the bridge the bottom supports are almost in reach if you jump. There doesn’t really seem to be much use for the bridge as there is a perfectly passable path that runs parallel to it just 10 meters away. The bridge is more decoration than a functional bridge. It spans a dry gulch which I think has never had water in it. I knew about the foot bridge because several years ago I hid a geocache under the eaves of the bridge. The campsite was perfect. People walking over the bridge couldn’t see me and if I didn’t make any noise passerby couldn’t hear me either. Of course, I was plainly visible from the parallel path. Nobody passed by on the path until the next morning but I did hear someone tramp over the bridge once while I was setting up and a couple of times the next morning. For those who are considering stealth camping it should be noted that Japanese people are early risers. At least elderly people tend to be.
I have ridden my bike in winter before so I am used to that. It is tricky because if you dress for standing still you bundle up and then start to sweat once you get moving. Everything you hear about cold weather safety warns against sweating in cold weather. If you dress for action you start out cold and you get cold every time you stop for more than a minute. I tend to run hot so layers are important. When I was younger I had more hair on my head. Nowadays, if I don’t cover my forehead with something my forehead gets painfully cold. Years ago, I never anticipated this side affect of growing old. Who does? For this reason, I don a skullcap du rag. It is thin enough to wear under a helmet and warm enough to keep my brain case from freezing.
The Weather
The weather was clear and the temperature dropped with the sun. As mentioned earlier, one of my goals of this trip was to camp in cold weather. The temperature dropped to -3 degrees celsius. I came through the night without turning into a popsicle. My tent is not rated for really cold weather or snow I wouldn’t take it into snowy country. I’m not sure what my sleeping bag is rated for. For these reasons I think this trip is the last trip of the season.
Lesson Learned
My take away from this trip is that my phone batteries don’t last as long in cold weather as they do in warmer weather. Especially in my older devices. This is something I already knew but had forgotten. It has been a long time since I tried to use electronics in cold weather over a long period of time. Next time I will make sure I bring enough auxiliary batteries.
Conclusion
Over all it was a fun little trip and it is on my lit of places to return to in the future.
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]]>2018/10/19 – 2018/10/22
My trip to Motosu-ko was maybe my best trip yet. It rained, the nights were cold, I had brake troubles, I lost my favorite flashlight, broke two tripod mounts and I gashed my leg yet still it was a wonderful trip. I spent a day and night with acquaintances old and new, I saw some fabulous scenery and felt real good about my performance during the trip. Heaps of Type II fun but even more fun of the first type. This was my longest trip ever in terms of days out on the road. Four days of riding three nights camping, 261 km traveled and over 3,000 meters of climbing.
I had originally planned to take a 3 to 4 day trip to Niigata that would include skirting the edge of the Japan Alps and over 200 km of riding. One of the advantages of this route is that I would have had a guaranteed place to stay in Niigata. Well, for reasons I won’t get into I changed my plan. There is a annual geocaching camping event at Lake Motosu at the same time so I changed my plan. I am glad I did. My overall goal is to build up my experience and skill for longer and longer trips. My trip to Boso was about distance and the goal for this trip was about climbing. On the way home I purposely picked a route that looked like it would have some very steep climbs. I wanted to challenge myself. I did not have a good experience with the few steep climbs I encountered in Boso due to the heat. This time I wanted to seriously test myself in the mountains.
Day 1: Home to Yanagawa
The first day out took me around Lake Sagamiko. Sagamiko is in the western part of Tokyo Prefecture in the valley below Mt. Takao. I stopped at a convenience store across from a park on the shore of the lake and ate my lunch in the park. Because it is so close to Tokyo, Sagamiko is popular place for day trips. There are several camp grounds nearby and it is only about 30 km from home so I can see myself taking some overnighters to Sagamiko in the future. When I left in the morning there was a forecast for rain shortly after noon. My intent was to get to my campsite before the rain started but I got off to a late start and I always underestimate how much time I fitter away taking videos and photos. As I realized I was getting behind schedule I checked the weather. Each time I checked it showed that the rain forecast kept being pushed back. That was good for me. Finally, when I was about 4 kms from the campground near the Shiotsu station the rain began to fall. Fortunately, it wasn’t a heavy downpour. I found the campground easily enough but there was a chain across the road leading into the campground. It was already around 3 pm, it was raining and the next closest campground was too far away. The way I saw it, I didn’t have any other options. I rode past the chain into the campground. It was completely deserted. There were many downed trees which showed some attempts to clear them away. There was white tape to show where the driveway had been redirected around a huge fallen tree. It had the feel of a place that had been shutdown for the season. I set up my tent under a roofed picnic area that was just large enough for the tent and my bike after pushing aside a wheelbarrow and some rotten chairs. It was stroke of luck because it kept my tent and gear mostly dry. Just a stone’s throw from my tent was a small pond with a pipe dropping runoff from the mountain into it. It burbled all night and the sound was almost indistinguishable from the sound of the rain. When I awoke in the middle of the night I couldn’t tell if it was still raining or not. The rain did stop sometime in the night.
Day 2: Yanagawa to Motosuko
The second day was definitely the most exciting and a perhaps the most dangerous. It started out fairly normal. I awoke early as it seems to be my habit when camping. As I was starting to get ready to pack up the kanri-nin, camp manager, came by. He looked at me, he looked at my tent and my bike, held out his hand and said, “1000 en wo itadakimasu.” He wanted me to pay the fee for camping. I was okay with that as I had intended to pay anyway. Of course, if he hadn’t showed up I would have been happy to camp for free. After handing over the money he told me that the water was delicious. I had already tried the water and agreed with him. I thanked him and he went about his business. I think the only reason he showed up is because a young couple rolled in with their car and started setting up their tent. I suppose they had made a proper reservation. Unlike me who just showed up. Just showing up at a campground doesn’t seem to be the proper way to do camping in Japan.
I rolled out of the campgroung around 7:30. This is when I saw my first interesting wildlife. A pair of what I think were quail waddled into the brush at the sound of my bicycle. At least, I think they were quail. When it comes to birds there are a lot of species I don’t recognize. The route was a steady climb for most of the trip. Even so, it was a nice ride. Like the day before there was rain forecast for the afternoon so once again I intended to get to the next campground before it started and once again I underestimated how much time I would waste taking video and photos. But again, like the day before, as the morning wore on the forecast for rain was pushed back to later in the day. I wanted to get to the campsite by noon because I was going to attend a geocaching camping event that was scheduled to begin at noon. It was potluck style. Since I couldn’t pack a lot in my panniers I wanted to stop at a grocery store about 10k from the campground to pick up some meat to barbecue. I realized that I had somehow missed the store altogether when I got to the edge of the national forest that surrounds Mt. Fuji. I stopped to set up my camera to take some video. As I was walking back to my bike I heard some rustling in the trees. I caught a glimpse of a deer running through the brush. It wasn’t one of the those shaggy, grey kamojika that are tough as an old leather boot and about as ugly. It was a sleek Nihonjika. I couldn’t see it well enough to tell if it was a buck or doe. I tried to take a video but all I got was a fleeting glimpse of it running through the underbrush. That was the second wildlife of the day.
The sky was getting grayer and grayer as I rolled through the afternoon and up the last big long slope before rolling down in the valley where Lake Motosuko is located. I entered the Fuji Panorama Line which is really scenic road that is wide, only moderately busy and recently re-paved. I came to a greengrocer slash restaurant and stopped to pick up 4 ears of corn. They didn’t fit in my panniers so I dangled the bag from my handle bars.
A little further ahead at the 102 km mark I expected the route to descend at a side road that appeared to be a shortcut. From there it would only be about 4 or 5 more kilometers to the campground. I need to say something about the mapping application I was using. Ride With GPS is a very capable route mapping app which choses routes with cycling in mind. It uses OpenStreets Cycling maps and USG topographical maps. It tends to favor less heavily trafficked routes and shorter routes which is great if you are cycling. However…..it sometimes routes you onto less than ideal tracks as in the aforementioned side road. The side road turned out to be a very rough hiking trail which had been severely damaged by the typhoon. Under good conditions it might have been barely passible on mountain bike. It was a bad place to take a fully loaded touring bike. I was expecting a nice 2-lane rode so I missed the turn off at first. I doubled back and couldn’t believe that the trail was actually the rode but it was where the map said there should be a road. I decided to take it anyway. Sometimes, the trails that Ride With GPS leads me to are real gems. This was not the case. I was hoping it would get better. It didn’t. By the time I realized this was a bad idea I was so far along it was easier to continue than to go back. In several places over the next 3 km I had to get off the bike and push it. The way was littered with fist sized, sharp volcanic rocks and downed trees. It would have been a bad place to get a flat tire. Additionally, my brakes were in real bad need of adjusting. They had almost no stopping power. I was using my feet to slow me down in places were I could still ride. Finally, to make matters worse I started to hear thunder off in the distance. With each rumble of thunder “Not yet. Not yet. Please wait just a bit longer. Please don’t rain yet.” It would have been very unpleasant to get caught in a downpour. I gashed my shin somewhere along the way. I didn’t realize it until much later.
Fortunately, bad paths don’t last forever and the rain held off long enough for me to get out of the woods. I went to the campground on the shore of Lake Motosuko that I had mapped out and to my surprise it was closed. I checked my geocaching app for the camping event information and found that I had mapped my route to the wrong campground. I had a brieft feeling of disappointerment. It was good thing the right campground was just a couple of kilometers back the way I came. I did find my friends, set up my tent and patched up my leg. And then it began to rain but I didn’t care. I had made it to my destination with 4 ears of corn dangling from my handlebars.
I ate very delicious and varied campfire delicacies and dried my wet clothes and saddle cover by the fire. I talked about geocaches and other geeky topics with my friends. I came to the conclusion that geocachers are just people who like to spend time outside and use geocaching as an excuse to get off the couch.
Thus ended my second day of riding.
Day 3: Motosu to Seseragiso
The third day was a smorgasbord of beautiful scenery. I had breakfast with the Pork Queen of Japan (She even went to America to “meat” the Pork Queen of Iowa) and her husband Bun-san. I warmed myself by the fire for a little bit and then headed out. The rain had cleared up during the night and the morning dawned clear and crisp. Some of my fellow geo-campers took off by car to catch a glimpse of Diamond Fuji. As far as I could ascertain Diamond Fuji is a phenomenon you get when the sun rises directly behind Mt. Fuji giving you the typical sun flare that occurs when the sun is partially blocked by something. I did not join them.
I packed up my gear and left about 7:30. I made brief stop to tighten up my brakes which I should have done before leaving the campground. I planned to ride about 60 km. I was expecting this day to be the hardest day of the trip because my return route would take me up a very steep climb. After a brief ascent out of the Motosuko Lake valley I would descend quite a bit before ascending again to my campsite at the end of the day. Ride With GPS told me the ascent would max out at 22%. I was fully expecting to walk up the steepest parts. More about that in a bit.
The route followed the northern shoreline of Lake Saiko and Lake Kawaguchiko. The scenery was magnificent. From many places along the road I got amazing views of Mt. Fuji rising above the lakes beyond the southern shore. The sky was blue and clear as a bell after the previous day’s rain had washed the air clean. The 15km along the lake fronts was flat and easy riding. I made good time. The area is dedicated to tourism so there were many rustic and delicious looking restaurants and cafes but it was still too early to stop for a meal. I wish I had taken time for some touristy activities. The area around Kawaguchiko is particularly oriented around tourism. There was even a bicycle path along the lake and I saw people with rental bicycles. I thought I might stop at the east end of Kawaguchiko for lunch. It was still before noon. Despite that I stopped at a cafe that promised German sausages but they weren’t open yet. I decided to keep going until I found a convenience store where I could sit down for a bit. The ride from Kawaguchiko was a fast 20km roll downhill. I feel like I barely pedaled for most of the way. My speed frequently topped 30+ kph. I picked a Family Mart that happened to be at the corner where I would have to leave the main road and start the 7km climb up to the campground.
What I didn’t realize was that I was headed to the wrong campground…again. By “wrong” campground I don’t mean that I was going to miss a campground that I had a reservation at. I didn’t have a reservation. It just wasn’t the campground I had originally planned to stay at. It turns out that campground was still 15 km further down the road and up the expected 22% climb. Don’t get me wrong. I still had a steep climb ahead of me. It just wasn’t the climb I expected. I arrived at Seseragiso Auto Camp without much trouble despite the steepest ascent of the trip so far. The camp seemed to be run by an administrator that lived on site. There was a pen for a couple of goats and there were futons airing out in front of the big house. There were small one room bungalows that could be rented as well as barbecue areas. And no one was around. The main house was dark and looked empty and the goats were kind of smelly.
Since it was still early I back tracked about a kilometer to an onsen and enjoyed a hot bath and a grape ice cream cone. While I was looking for a place to charge my phone and batteries in the main rest area an old lady invited me over to sit next to her. So I did. She seemed to be a local resident and regular patron of the hot spring because she talked on familiar terms with the staff. She wanted to tell me that she had family in America and asked my the usual questions. I told her about my trip and showed her my photos of Mt. Fuji that I had taken from earlier in the day. She showed her appreciation then left me to my thoughts and battery charging.
After the bath I returned to the campground but still saw no signs of anyone around. There were no campers and no staff. I picked a spot near the noisy stream as far away from the big house as possible. If nobody noticed me I would get a night of free camping. Nobody noticed me. The stream was pleasant but camping so close to it may have been a mistake because it was very noisy, especially in the still of the night. It kept me awake later than I would have liked. With the added elevation the night turned cold making it hard to sleep. I had forgotten to bring a long sleeved shirt and a jacket so I put on my rain poncho and hunkered down in my sleeping bag. It was tolerable…just.
This is how the third day of cycling ended.
Day 4: Long ride home.
The cold and the hard ground got me up early. The temperature had dropped to 5 degrees Celsius during the night and it was still cold when I woke up. I decided not to linger for breakfast. I had can of pineapple, packed up my gear and left. The steep slope I had sweated up the day before nearly turned me into and icicle on wheels on the way down. The wind chill factor caused by the 35+ kph wind from my rapid descent numbed my hands and the exposed skin on my legs and face. I couldn’t wait to get to the bottom. I was still wrapped in my rain poncho for warmth but it wasn’t entirely successful in holding back the cold. At the corner where I stopped for lunch the previous day there was also a Mickey D’s steakhouse. I pulled in there for breakfast. A McDonalds breakfast is one my favorite culinary delights. The hamburgers I can take or leave but I am a push over for a Sausage Egg McMuffin. My electronic devices were still low in juice so I plugged in while I ate and waited for the day to warm up a bit before I continued my journey home.
When I got back on the road the temperature had risen enough to shuck my pancho. The ride started out swift as I continued to descend but I soon began the climb I was expecting the previous day. It was certainly steep. I kept turning the cranks all the while expecting it to get worse and telling myself that it was okay to get off and walk if I had to. I didn’t. Though quite steep, it turns out that I was offered a cheat right where I expected the climb to be its steepest in the form a tunnel that cut through upper part of the mountain. From their the descent was fast but because the road had many sharp turns I found myself braking a lot. As the day wore on so did my brakes. At the top of one the last steep descents I felt my brakes give out. I was already going to fast too stop but luckily there was a side road ahead thayt climbed up the draw that I was barreling down. I pulled in fast and let the incline slow me down. Whew! That was a close one! By chance, a custom roadster convertible that had passed me a few kilometers back had also pulled into this side street and the driver was doing something, I don’t know what. When he passed me earlier I thought to myself that I wish I could have gotten a picture of the car but there was no time to get the camera ready before he was out of site around the next curve. I knew I would never see him again. But here he was on the same side street that save my caboose from a serious wipeout. I had a second chance to get a photo and even talk to the driver. I didn’t take it. I concentrated on fixing my brakes. When I was ready to go he drove off just as I was pulling out me camera. Alas, a lost opportunity.
All along this descent there were little villages. They didn’t seem to have much to offer. There were a few shops but it was mostly houses. I wondered what the people who lived in them did for a living. For the most part, the land was too steep for farming. The area had a very isolated feel even though it was only a few kilometers from the main road. I passed the campground I had originally planned to stay at. I came to the conclusion that I would not have wanted to make the steep climb then sharp descent at the end of the previous day. It was more enjoyable to do it in the morning. The rest of the trip from their to Lake Sagamiko was pleasant. I bought lunch at the same convenience store that I had on the way out and ate it in the park across the street. The sun had come out and the day was warming up nicely. After lunch I lay down on a grassy slope facing the lake and took a short nap.
The rest of trip home from Sagamiko was urban riding and something of a let down after the beautiful scenery of the previous 2 days. It was a very dull and uneventful.
Home again. Jigetty jig.
Lessons Learned or Re-remembered.
Fact One: The mountains get cold at night. Remember to bring a jacket. Gloves might be a good idea too. The mornings are cold and it appears that I am an early riser when I camp. Maybe my sleeping bag is not adequate for really cold weather. There is a significant temperature difference between the Tokyo Bay Area and inland. Even just a 100 km away.
Fact Two: The map is not the land. As good as a route looks on the map you still don’t know what lies ahead until you go there. Sometimes a shortcut takes longer.
Fact Three: My air mattress seems to have a slow leak. It starts out fine but in a hour or two I find myself on the hard ground. I don’t sleep well on the ground.
Fact Four: Rivers are noisy.
I am glad I had a rain poncho and first aid kit along on this trip. I used both for the first time. Besides my shin the other casualties of this trip were my flashlight which I lost at the second campsite and 2 iPhone tripod mounts which rattled apart from vibration and fell apart while riding. They are littering the road somewhere between my home and Lake Saiko. My tripod with the phone mount was bungeed to my bike rack so I could take it out quickly. I didn’t notice when the first one fell off. The second one I kind of noticed. I thought I had heard something drop onto the road while going downhill. I made a cursory check of my bike from the saddle but nothing seemed amiss so I continued on. I didn’t want to lose my momentum so I kept going. That was a mistake, I should have stopped and went back to the place where I heard the noise. The other and most serious casualty of the trip were my brakes. After a day or so of intense use they go out of adjustment. Plus, my cables are fraying at the place near the brake housing where they bend. I should have them replaced at the bike shop but in the meantime a turn of the adjuster screw brings they back into working order again. Mad Max the Surly Blue Beast Road Warrior has disk brakes. When they are in working order they are fantastic. Even in the rain. When they go out of adjustment they are no better that ordinary caliper brakes.
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]]>I took a quick overnighter to Lake Tama. It is called Tamako in Japanese. The lake is actually two lakes, Lake Sayama and Lake Tama, created by damming a branch of the Tama River. The lakes are a reservoir for the greater Tokyo area. As such, they are closed to all types of water recreation. No swimming, no fishing and definitely no boating. However, there is a really nice cycling/walking path that starts on Itsukaichi Kaido near Kichijoji and runs for about 10 kilometers before it gets to the lake. This portion of the path is not ideal if you are on a training ride as there are many barrier where the path intersects with the many roads it crosses. However, once you get to the Lake loop you have 10 kilometers of uninterrupted cycling over rolling, wooded hills. There are several points of interest along the route. The first being the dam itself. The dam is of the earthen type so there are no electric turbines or massive concrete structures making it inviting to local wildlife and insects. Below the dam is Sayama Park. More about that later.The path passes by the Seibu Amusement Park, Seibu Baseball Dome and Tamako Shrine. There are several large parks on south side of lakes that offer some off road riding if that’s your jam.
Day 1
I got a late start on the first day but it didn’t really matter so much as I wasn’t really going very far the first day and I knew where I was going. It is only about a 10 kilometer ride from my house to Sayama Park where I intended to camp. I took my time getting there because I was pulling my homemade trailer which I have named the Dragon’ Wagon, and because I made a brief stop to find a geocache. It is the first time I have been on the dam after dark. It was very pleasant and, dare I say, romantic? Being alone, the romance of the location was completely wasted on me. Oh, well. There were more people about than I expected. I shouldn’t have been surprised though. Being fall, the sun sets early and the weather was really nice. I sat at a picnic table in the park below the dam to make my dinner. After eating and cleaning up I went in search of a campsite. Officially, camping is not allowed in the park but no-one in charge was around after dark to chase me away. I camped near the edge of the woods near the train tracks. Even though the trains were still running until about midnight the noise didn’t bother me at all. The 2 or 3 idiots yelling in the wood were annoying though. I have found stealth camping or squatting is not a problem in Japan, especially if you arrive late and leave early. One thing to note is that Japanese senior citizens get up early in the morning to go walking and hiking. They say that people need less sleep when they get older. Since Japan is an aging society there are a lot of senior citizens traipsing through the woods and early hours of the morning. I noticed many years ago, that when I go hiking in the mountains, no matter the time of the day, I always see more elderly people hiking in the woods than young people. The only downside of the day, and in fact, the whole trip was that my bike fell over at the campsite breaking my smartphone holder.
My multifunction smartphone holder, headlight and speaker has been a very disappointing piece of equipment. This is the second one. The web site sent me a replacement after I complained about shoddy design. They asked me if I wanted a refund or a replacement. I took a replacement but I should have taken the refund. I will post a review of it soon.
The Draggin’ Wagon
During a period of unemployment a few years ago, I made wooden trailer to pull behind my bicycle. I made it more out of need for something to do than the need for a trailer. I use it occasionally for grocery shopping, to go to my guitar lesson and a few times for laundry runs. It is almost entirely made from wood. The box sits on a pair of mountain bike wheels from my son’s old bicycle. The wheels are mounted onto the box frame by metal dropouts I made from some brackets I got at the local home center. The tongue of the trailer is a piece of PVC pipe over a piece of wood. There is a golf ball sized hole over in the pipe the fits on the hitch. The hitch is a piece of 2×4 that I mounted to my rack with some brackets and wing nuts. The ball of the hitch is a golf ball with bolt through the middle to fixed it to the 2×4. I works pretty much like a ball hitch on a car or truck. Finally, I have painted it up in blood red with hot rod flames yellow. It tends to turn heads when I go by. I get a lot of exclamation and praise from small boys. The trailer is really handy for hauling heavy loads. I have put 30 plus kilos of groceries (includes two 10 kilo bags of rice) I have hauled we laundry to the laundromat and used it to bring home a load of pavement tiles from the home center. It is a handy thing to have but I am not sure I would trust it over a really long bike trip.
Day 2
The weather was perfect for cycling. Not too hot, not too cold. I followed the bike path around Lake Tama. This bike path is one of my favorite places to ride. On one side you have the woods that surround Lake Tama and Lake Sayama like a green bathrobe and on the side of the path you have a sparsely travelled road (by Tokyo standards) that cuts through intermittent parks, woodlands and an occasional manmade structure like a shrine or baseball stadium. The trail is almost always in the shade and it has the right amount of up and down to make is a fun ride without being too strenuous. I hid some geocaches to replace ones that had disappeared and checked on others that I had placed. All the while, the Draggin’ Wagon was tracking along nicely behind me.
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]]>Last weekend I took a trip to a place I have been wanting to go to for years. Wakasu Island. Wakasu is a manmade island in Tokyo Bay just a bridge span away from the mainland. It’s distinguishing feature is a 100 meter tall wind turbine which can be seen from a long way off. I used to be able to see the wind turbine from my office window on the 20th floor of the Citi Center Building on Tennouzu Isle. I used to day dream about going there. I would look at maps and plan routes to the island when I needed a break from work. I really wanted to see the wind turbine up close. I have been fascinated by wind and solar and other renewable energy sources for a long time. On top of that, the mechanics of generators and electric motors are really interesting.
Day 1
I left late in the afternoon fully aware that I would arrive at my destination well after sunset. I don’t mind at night. In fact, in the summer, it preferable to day time riding in some ways. The traffic is also much lighter. The biggest downside is that it is dark when you get to your destination. I rolled into the campground some time after 10 pm. I wasn’t expecting there to be a campground at all. I thought I would stealth camp somewhere in the park so I was very pleased there was a campground. Campgrounds mean easy access to bathrooms and plenty of water. Like most campgrounds I was supposed to make a reservation. The advantage of arriving late is that all of the management staff has gone home. There is no one to stop you from taking your pick of available spots to pitch your tent. There were a few small family units settling in for the evening but it wasn’t nearly as crowded as I would have expected a campground close to Tokyo to be on a Saturday night. So I set up my tent at the edge of the campground and took advantage of the picnic area to have a sit down at a picnic table to cook and eat my dinner. A most interesting thing happened while I was setting up my tent. I put my headlamp on while pitching my tent so I had both hands free to work. I noticed about 10 or 15 meters away something glowing, reflecting the light in the grass. I thought, “Hmm, that’s interesting. I have to check that out after I am all set.” Then I promptly forgot about it. Later, just as I was getting ready to go to bed I saw two sets of reflecting objects closer by. This time I could immediately tell that the source of the reflections were the eyes of 2 cats. As they came a little closer I saw that one was a kitten and the other an adult. I decided that the first reflection that I saw earlier must have been the kitten. It is not unusual for stray and abandoned cats to take up residence in Tokyo parks. They are usually wary and avoid close contact with people. Of course, they are a nuisance to other wildlife. The other thing I noticed that night that totally took me unawares is that the sidewall of my new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire that I recently put on my back wheel glows in the dark. I thought the white stripe around the side of the tire was just decoration but it turns out that it does more than just looking cool.
Day 2
As usual I didn’t sleep very well on the ground. As a result, I woke up very early. I had my breakfast then I took a nap in the canvas directer style chairs that were in the picnic area. Perhaps, I should have spent the whole night there. In the light of day, I took a spin around the island. Since I have longed to visit here for so many years I thought I should take my time enjoying it. I think that if I ever go to Wakasu again I will camp on the grassy knoll right under the wind turbine. The whole island seems to be dedicated to leisure. Most of the island is taken up with a golf course, camp ground and fishing area. The only other purpose it seems to serve is as a stepping stone to get to Tokyo Gate Bridge which towers just of shore from the fishing area. I really wanted to take my bike over the Gate Bridge but unlike the Rainbow Bridge bikes aren’t allowed on the bridge even in you get off and push them across. How unfriendly! Instead of taking a more direct route home over the Gateway Bridge I went a longer way around through Odaiba and over the Rainbow Bridge. Bicycles are allowed on the Rainbow Bridge but you are not allowed to ride them. To enforce this rule a guard at the foot of the bridge sidewalk straps a wooden skateboard to your rear wheel. You can see this in the video if you haven’t already watched it.
I enjoyed some geocaching on my second day. I found one cache in Shinkiba Park and did maintenance on a handful of my own. It was pleasant visiting some of my favorite places in Oi Futo Park and Yashio Park. It was cooler riding beneath the trees. Oi Futo Park is a surprising park. It is a long, narrow strip of wild greenery that runs alongside Wangan Doro down the center of Jonanjima. It has a dirt trail and some wooden boardwalks and that is about all it has in terms of civilized trappings.
Sore about Brooks Saddle
The most significant realization of this trip is that my ass told be that Brooks Saddles are overrated. Many touring podcasts and blogs sing the praises of Brooks Saddles. The claim is that the leather saddle will shape itself to the contours of your posterior. I have ridden on it for about 700 km or so not and I ouind that after about 20 km or so the seat feels real hard. The other downside is that the dye used to color the seat has leached out of the leather. Because of the humidity and heat recently and all of the rain we have been getting the seat is getting wet from the rain or my sweat which is causing the dye to stain my shorts. My shorts look like I had the Hershey squirts while riding. Brooks saddles are quite expensive compared to other bicycle seats because they are made from leather and mostly handcrafted. For my part, I think I should have saved my money and gotten something cheaper that is a bit softer and wider. Years ago I got a Brooks saddle when I bought a used Jamis Aurora. I didn’t like it at the time so I swapped it out for the original saddle the seller included. I sold the Brooks for 2,000 yen on Craigslist. I didn’t realize at the time how expensive a new saddle is. I probably could have gotten more money for it. The original owner had kept it in really good shape. I should have trusted my first impression of Brooks Saddles and gotten something else.
When I first got the saddle the leather was polished to such a beautiful sheen that if the seat was attached at just the right angle my butt would slide all around. I remedied the problem by buying a 2,ooo yen padded seat cover. Since there was a cover on the seat I assumed it would be protected from the elements so I didn’t apply the included leather dressing. I assumed incorrectly, the aforementioned rain and sweat soaked the saddle cover and the saddle beneath. The moisture made the leather soft and pliable. It shaped itself to my bum and the seat cover and lost its beautiful finish.
The other downer of the trip is that my iPhone holder broke. At about the same time that I got the Brooks saddle I bought a Rock Bros. multi-function Smart Phone holder. It combines a phone holder that attached to the handlebars with a bluetooth speaker and light. A cool concept that is not well executed. I will have separate product review later on. Let’s just suffice it say, “Buyer beware!”. The phone holder clamp broke so I was not able to use it hold my phone. All the other functions work but for the main purpose of the product it was useless. I needed to keep taking my phone out of my pocket every kilometer or so to check my route. Plus, geocaching, by the nature of the game requires heavy use of your phone.
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]]>22 July 2018
About The Video and Blog Article
This video is a different on several counts. One, it is not about an actual tour. Two, it has subtitles in both Japanese and English! The subtitles were a lot of work because even though this video is the shortest video I have made so far it is all talking. Fair warning: I translated the Japanese myself so there will be mistakes.This video and blog post are a follow up the video and the blog of my Boso Hanto trip that I took back in July. You should watch and read those entries first before jumping into this one. The third thing you should know about this post is that the video was taken shortly after my Boso Peninsula trip but this article is being written many months later. The footage has been waiting impatiently on my hard drive for me to get around to editing it. I finally cleared up enough time to get around to it. I am looking forward to putting this to bed and clearing it off my hard drive.
In A World Where…
If you watched the video from my trip to the Boso Peninsula you know that my tire was spiked by a screw on my way home. I ran out of space on my camera so my adventures in emergency road repairs is missing from the Boso Hanto chronicle. About a week later I had some problems with the same tire and I took some video of my doing the repair on my front porch.
I have been having a problem lately with the sidewalls of my tires wearing out long before the tread wears out. I replaced the tire that I was riding on before with a Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire thinking it would last longer. That was at the end of July. It turns out that the Marathon Plus also wore out on the sidewall in November. It was a little bit disappointing. The Marathon Plus only lasted a little more than 3 months. Now, in that 3 months I road more than 3,000 kilometers. That would be more than 1800 miles for those of you who are metric system challenged. (Get with the program people, it’s the global standard!) I don’t know what the official life expectancy of a bicycle tire is but I think it should be more than 3000 km. In November, I was forced to change the tire again but couldn’t find any Marathon Plus tires at my usual bike shop haunts. As I needed one in a hurry I bought the best tire available which was a Bontrager. The Bontrager tire wore through the sidewall in February. In the end, about the same life span as the Marathon Plus. I think I still prefer Marathon Plus tires. They have a sturdier feel to them. Here it is in February and I am once again looking for a new tire. I couldn’t find any in stock at my local bike shop and they weren’t getting anymore in stock any time soon. They finally suggested I get them online from Amazon. That’s what I did. I order a tire and 2 spare tubes. Both were delivered in 2 days. Incidentally, I think I am still rolling on the same front tire. A CST Traveller.
My hat is off to the guys at Blue Lug who weren’t afraid to direct me to Amazon. To be honest, I can get bike parts cheaper and quicker from Amazon or some other online store but I appreciate the expertise that the mechanics at Blue Lug have and their passion for bicycles. They won’t lose me as a customer just because they can’t undercut Amazon’s prices or delivery times. In fact, I have an appointment for a complete overhaul by Blue Lug in April. In the words of the Terminator, “I’ll be back.”
I am wondering if there is something wrong with my rims. I will be keeping a closer eye on this new tire. Hopefully, I will be able to identify the cause of the problem or this new tire will last considerably longer. Only time will tell. In the meantime, enjoy the video.
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]]>This was a really good overnighter where I stealth camped along the Tama River.
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