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.
Photo Gallery
Video
Home | Photo Gallery | Podcasts | Videos
]]>