D3 Nozawa onsen back to Nagano

Route: Nozawa onsen - Kaesa - Tokyo
Bicycle: 35 km
Train: 250 km
Total ascent: 328 m
Average speed: 18.1 km/h
Riding time: 1:54 h
Weather: sunny and WAY TOO HOT!

After the rather cold day in the wet yesterday, today was my return to the valley and with that the heat.

Up in Nozawa onsen, there is skiing even in summer on plastic slopes. My mother always tells me that the one and only time she tried to learn skiing was on a plastic slope. And not even on a mountain, but in Frankfurt in a stadium where they had put a plastic slope on top of the tribune, some motor oil on top so that it would be nice a slippery and then it was time to learn skiing. Surprisingly she never got the hang of it nor enjoyed the experience. These snow(plastic)boarders in Nozawa onsen seemed to enjoy it more. 

There is a lake close to Nozawa onsen, but the direct road is closed since a long time (it was already closed all the previous times I came up here. As today I hadn't any special plans I tried if the closed road was passable for a cyclist... but it wasn't. So I went a long way downhill, just to cycle up again to get to the "famous" lake. And yes, it's a nice, serene, small lake on which people do some kayaking. 

On the shores was what looked like an old school house now transformed into a relaxed bar. Very relaxed indeed. Although there were hardly any guests, it took an eternity for them to scrape up two balls of ice cream. 

From this place it was downhill and then in the valley all the way to Nagano... or so was my plan. But with every loss of meter of elevation the temperature kept soaring and once down in the valley it was simply too hot for me in the middle of the day to continue riding. 

And instead of risking a heat stroke, I took a quick glance at google maps, found a nearby very small train station and was in luck that the next train would depart soon, but not too soon for me to reach the station and pack the bicycle up. I think I even had time for a quick visit to the loo and refueling the drinks. So a rather short day in the saddle... but after quite some time finally again a weekend away with my bike. 

I had planned a longer weekend away later in September, and while it turned out to be perfect weather, I also managed to catch a cold right in time to bind me to bed for the entire long weekend :-( 

D2 - above Nozawa onsen in a cloud

Route: Nozawa onsen - Uenodaira 

Bicycle: 32 km
Gondola: 3 km
Total ascent: 1139 m
Average speed:  10,6 km/h
Riding time: 3:05 h
Weather: cloudy and rainy, 20 C

The day started with a marathon and finished with some sumo. In between I went cycling. 

During the night and early in the morning it was raining but by the time I got on the bike it had stopped. However it only had stopped down here in the valley. Up in the mountain I was in one big cloud that left everything very wet. 

Initially there was a bit of a view of the valley. But later on there was nothing. Just gray rain. 

Anyway I made it up to Uenodaira where some valiant performers were trying to entertain a small crowd, probably of other people and their parents who where going to perform. 

I asked at the gondola if it would be possible to take it down to the village as riding down in the rain wasn’t really appealing. I already don’t like downhills. But cold, rainy, long downhills are definitely not my definition of fun. And yes, it was possible. Probably this doesn’t happen a lot, but they allow bicycles. Mainly the idea would be for Mountain (!?!) bikers to go up and the ride down. But they were happy to admit a road cyclist who wanted to go downhill. 

With that knowledge I road a bit more , probably up to the highest point. Which should be a bit below 1600 m of elevation. But then returned and took the gondola down back to Nozawa onsen, where it was not raining and comparably warm. 

Apparently this is the view from the gondola. Not today though. 

D1 - Maguse onsen and Nozawa onsen

Route: Iiyama - Maguse onsen - Nozawa onsen
Bicycle: 39 km
Train: 270 km
Total ascent: 899 m
Average speed: 11,9 km/h
Riding time: 2:55 h
Weather: finally not hot. Maybe around 26C and cloudy

Maguse onsen is one of the best onsen I have been to: An onsen with a great unobstructed (!) view of the landscape around. 

I have been to my fair share of onsen, including in the mountains, but more often than not even when theoretically they are in a beautiful landscape, you can’t actually see it while chilling in the bath as it is obstructed for privacy. Here they built the onsen on the hill in such a way that it is not visible from the street, so you get to enjoy this view while relaxing in the hot water. Paradise in onsen. 

Obviously taking pictures was prohibited, but I had a short time where I was the only guest and quickly took a few pictures. Before a group of Japanese elderly women and foreign young women arrived. They seemed to work in hotels in the area and used their day off for a trip to an onsen. 

I didn’t really have a specific plan for this weekend. I had reserved a room in “my” hotel in Nozawa onsen hoping for a bit of cool weather. And I wasn’t disappointed. First night sleeping with a duvet since several months. In Tokyo it was so hot this summer tgat I have given in to the temptation of air conditioning and even slept some nights with the a/c on. So sleeping under a duvet (even if only partially) was very refreshing. 

Due to lack of planning I didn’t have a reserved seat in the Shinkansen and even managed to somehow buy the wrong ticket and it took me an eternity to correct it. So while I should have been with 30 min + at Tokyo station to line up for the unreserved seat, I just made it in time to the platform and somehow squeezed into a full Shinkansen with bike and everything standing all my way to Iiyama. So when I arrived I assembled the bike calmly and then made a plan and saw nice pictures of an onsen at the station: Maguse onsen. So there I went. 

After the relaxing bath it was downhill, as that onsen is on a different mountain slope than Nozawa onsen , and then up again. 

I still remember the first time I came to this hotel in Nozawa onsen. I had booked it without checking the terrain. And it’s above the village at the bottom of the ski slopes. I remeber that the ride up to Nozawa onsen seemed endless. But not so today. It helps to have risen a certain route already and to know at which point one is nearly up.