Weekend in Shizuoka

Day 1
Route: Hamanako lake 
Bicycle: 82 km
Train: 280 km
Average Speed: 17.1 km/h
Total Ascent: 504 m
Riding Time: 4:46 h
Weather: sunny but cold, 2C

Today was the first ride with a group of cyclists from Osaka I had been in contact for the last 3 years. I had found them on their internet page just at the beginning of Covid and met a few members of them in Osaka in preparation of a ride to an island in the Seto sea, but a few days later the government asked that people don’t do any group activities and don’t travel, so the ride got canceled. But I had made it into their - extremely lively - Line group. Now finally I managed to join a ride. And what a ride! 

The day started early in Tokyo to be at 8:30 already at Bentenjima station, but then the fun started. I had been at this very station 5 years ago on my ride through Japan but didn’t ride around the lake back then. 

The organizer before the ride had asked me about average speed suggesting that they’d go at 25-30 km/h, which was a bit intimidating, but it turned out to be considerably slower, so we had a lot of time to enjoy the views.

And take pictures. 

It seems this group specially enjoys taking pictures of bicycles all nicely lined up.

Hamanako seems to be famous for eel, so for lunch we went to an eel place. The first few we tried were already full and we would have needed to wait for 1+ hour, but finally we found a restaurant with space for 8 and really tasty eel:

After lunch one of the participants slowed down a lot, but now we were at the forest from the station, so we made our way slowly back. Close to the station stands this torii in the lake and we took some special go pro pictures. While taking pictures we were standing around a lot so it got really cold. The group had decided to put the bikes in the bike bag and take the train to Hamamatsu, but I was cold at that moment and I don’t specially like to disassemble and reassemble my bike, so I rode the last ~ 12 km into town… and actually arrived before everyone else. Early enough to get a shower before dinner. (It seems Hamamatsu is famous for gyoza).

Day 2

Route: Hamamatsu - Omaezaki - Yaizu 
Bicycle: 100 km
Average Speed: 19.6 km/h
Total Ascent: 298 m
Weather: sunny but cold, and a strong tailwind, 4C
Riding Time: 5:04 h

On the second day we went from Hamamatsu along the coast to Omaezaki and then to Yaizu. We did choose the right direction, we had a very strong tailwind along the entire coast. 

I did this same ride (or at least a part of it) in 2017 in my 2 months cycling trip through Japan, but in the other direction, from Shizuoka to Hamamatsu. Day1 back then was nice... Day 2 was in the rain and I got so wet that I searched for refuge in a shopping mall, changed in a toilet, called a taxi and went to the nearest train station and from there to Bentenjima (the same train station as yesterday), where I had already reserved a hotel. But today the sun was shining, the wind was blowing strongly from behind so we sailed down the coast. Sometimes riding at 30 km/h along with little effort. 

However the problem with the sand on the cycling path continues:

2017

2023

Only that now those parts are closed, diverting the ride to a normal road for long stretches. So what could/should be a very nice ride on a cycle path along the shores of the Pacific, in most places is just a ride along the road. It seemed that the planners had indicated some secondary roads even further inland, but we took the main road.