D1 To Yamanakako

Route: Hashimoto - Doshi - Yamanakako 
Bicycle: 64 km
Train: 32 km
Total Ascent: 1412 m
Average Speed: 13,2 km/h
Riding Time: 4:45 h
Weather: grey and a little bit of rain in some moments, 7 C

For this weekend I planned to ride to Fujisan and then halfway around it. To the starting point I went by train from Meidaimae to Hashimoto. A very convenient way for me to get from Tokyo to the foot of some mountains and the countryside. Under 2 km from my house I can catch a direct train that passes probably every 10 minutes or even less and gets me out into the green in 30 to 40 minutes. Once at the station, I put together the bike again.Today there was a local group of promoters for cycling in the area, who had set up a specific place to put your bike together with a bicycle rack, and also some tools. But for them, the important thing was that you completed a survey. I don’t really think I need a specific place to put the bicycle together, especially because it wasn’t really close to the exit from the station, so actually, it was a little bit inconvenient. But if they can improve the cycling infrastructure in the area it will be welcome.

From there I was off into the mountains, following the road that the cyclists took at the Tokyo Olympics a few years ago, and I took a few months ago when I came to Yamanakako the last time.

It is a long road all uphill never really, really steep, so I can make up my way slowly, but steadily. At approximately the midway point, there is the village of Doshi with several options for lunch. Today I went to a small restaurant of an elderly lady who transformed her living room into a curry restaurant. She had one of those vending machines for tickets for lunch, with a lot of buttons that seemed to indicate that there was a lot of different choices. But she also had pictures of the menu and actually they were only two choices. Either curry with fried chicken, or the same dish without curry. All the choices in the machine were for the spiciness and the amount of rice.

It is a long road all uphill and then only about 4 km downhill to the lake. Originally I had planned to ride around the lake ones like I did back in June. But it was kind of cold and damp and no Fuji in sight so instead, I went directly to an onsen not very far from my accommodation. The same onsen I went to in June and actually also the same hotel that I used back in June.