NY2023 D8 Up in to the hills and down to Biwako

Route: Kyoto - Ohara - Takashima - Biwako

Bicycle: 101 km

Train: 25 km

Average Speed: 19.1 km/h

Total Ascent: 752 m

Riding Time: 5:17 h

Weather: Sun & clouds, but no rain today, 4C

On my last day, a bigger ride, up the hill I cycled up a part on Day 6, and then up and up. There is a long, very straight valley parallel to the Biwa Lake, with a good road, not too much traffic and a nice incline, not too steep. So actually quite perfect, both for riding up, as well as rolling down. This is the view from close to the highest point:

Shortly after I entered a tunnel (the first in a row of maybe about 3 tunnels) and when I came out, there was this:

Snow! But the road was very much free of snow, so no problem at all for riding: 

This descent was quite perfect, only the road surface could have been smoother... but I guess one cannot complain for a road with relatively little traffic and harsh winter conditions, it was reasonably well maintained and had a perfect incline. And nice panorama off the road:

On the mountains around and the one here in the distance, there was already snow. Not a lot of snow though... but that is probably going to change over the coming weeks. 

Continuing down and down, I came to Takashima, which was my minimum goal of today, as that is the first place with a train line, but it was still early enough in the day, and I still had energy, so I continued on riding along the famous Biwa-ichi cycling road. This is in some places a real cycling road, in others it is just a blue line on a street. Sometimes there is a fast track (generally on the bigger streets) and a slow course, which is generally more on smaller, neighborhood streets. 

Along the way, in an area with not a lot of space between mountain and lake, so on a rather busy road, there was this torii standing in the Biwa Lake in the late afternoon sun: 

At around 80 km in, I still felt I had enough energy, so I decided to make this my first 2023 100 km ride. Last year, I only managed one 100+ km ride, since moving to Japan. (I don't remember where and when, but probably it was a rather flat ride). So I continued on, always parallel to the train line and for most part on the Biwa cycling course. Although at some point I must have missed a turn... but sometime later I found the course again. And anyway, with the train line to one side and the lake to the other, there isn't any getting lost. I had planned to look for a station once I hit the 100 km, and by pure chance right at that point, a sign appeared showing to the right for Ogoto Onsen station. I had comfortable time to pack up the bicycle, while it got dark outside. Then hopped on a rather empty train directly back to Kyoto station.