D2 - Fuji Subaru Line

Route: Up to the 5th station of Mt Fuji
Bicycle: 68 km
Total ascent: 1509 m 
Average speed: 13,6 km/h
Riding time: 5 h 
Weather: Sunny , not too warm, not too cold, around 20C

Living in Japan means going up Mount Fuji. Hiking I tried once 31 years ago and only got from the 5th to either the 6th or the 7th station. But by bicycle today, I managed to get up all the way to the 5th station where the road ends.

I had some trepidations about this long climb, but finally it was easily rideable, just very long and I have to admit a little bit boring.

The gradient is relatively stable, I think the steepest section of 1 km was slightly below 9%. There are pillars every kilometer so you have a good idea where you are and they also tell you the expected average gradient for the next kilometer.

Although there are a lot of cyclist going up, and maybe this weekend even more than normally, because next weekend is the  big hill climb challenge… However, there is no vending machine or water up until to the fourth station at 2020 m of elevation. 

The bottle I bought down still in the village at the convenience store was empty after about 6 km. Actually, it wasn’t empty, but I tried not to empty it until I knew where I could find some water. I found on the map a glamping site and was able to get additional drinks from their vending machine. I also asked a cyclist on the route, if he knew some vending machine up, but it turned out that the machine he remembered didn’t exist anymore. Surprisingly, there was no vending machine at the toll gate, where even as a cyclist you need to pay ¥280 as entrance fee. Which is only a 10th of a car.

After that, the “stations” of Mount Fuji start. When I attempted to hike up Mount Fuji back in 1995 it was a very frustrating experience. I knew we started at the fifth station and the tenth station is on the top so you start hiking, and we hiked at night, and after a while you start seeing some lights in the distance and think “okay, great there comes the sixth station”. And so far so good. Then you continue and relatively swiftly after, you see some more lights so I thought “okay, well that’s going better than I thought that must be the seventh station”. But that is not true. It is simply that the sixth station has a lot of different accommodations. I don’t know if I would have managed to get all the way up if I had known in advance, but it was extremely demotivating to be still at the sixth station even after passing so many huts that I always thought “okay, now this must be the seventh station”. So finally, we spent the night on a bench in front of one of those stations. 

For the cyclist cyber this problem doesn’t exist. There are markers every 100 m how much kilometers are missing to the fifth station and also the 1st to 4th station are generally only one. However, really only at the fourth station there is a place where you can buy food and drinks. I actually don’t know about the food. The place was already closed.

I’m writing a lot about drinks rather than my cycling experience. But I have to admit I’m paranoid of running out of water while cycling. I don’t think I ever actually did run out of water and I always have two bottles which probably together are a little bit over 1 L. When the first bottle gets about half empty, I start with my paranoia where I can find some more water. Normally in Japan, this paranoia isn’t very strong, because there’s vending machines everywhere so there is really no risk to run out of drinks. But when I’m in more remote places or on climbs, but I don’t know yet where the vending machines are my paranoia takes hold of me.

Overall, I would say that the climb was relatively boring. It’s never really challenging, which obviously is nice, but except for the last few kilometers there are also no views. So essentially, it’s a long, long road with a median gradient, riding up through a forest. Plus cars, plus buses. While I was riding up, I wasn’t really enjoying it, between my paranoia for the vending machine and the relatively boring uphill. But maybe now that I know where the vending machine is, I would enjoy the ride a little bit more. The downhill was actually quite okay, while long (30 km), it’s not steep. Thus, once I was back at the foot of the mountain, I already wanted to climb up again.

On one of these stations, I ask some cyclists if they knew where to find a vending machine and their tip with the fourth station was correct. As they were already riding downhill, they even shared some of their water with me. Which was very reassuring.

Enough about water, vending machines, and boring climbs. Now some pictures of the day: 

Before starting the climb proper, I had a good view on the target: 

While climbing generally, you do not actually see Mount Fuji. Which makes sense after all you are on the mountain.

 

The second station was the only one without any amenities at all. At the first and the third there was at least a toilet and at the forth: a toilet, a vending machine and a small bar, which had already closed for the day.

Further up one could see the crater. 

And from the fifth station one had a view over the northern Alps, Tokyo, Hakone, etc., etc. it’s always impressive how high mountains can look so low if you are on a much higher mountain.

Back down from the mountain I passed through the Mount Fuji exhibition area. I wasn’t interested enough to actually dedicate some time to it, but maybe for a rainy day. It’s something to keep in mind. Although I wouldn’t really know why I would be here on a rainy day.

 

Before finishing the day, I wanted to have a last look on Mount Fuji and gave a quick spin around a small part of lake Kawaguchi. Before heading back to my hotel and soaking in the hot onsen.