Bicycle: 54 km
Total ascent: 1382 m
Average speed: 12 km/h
Riding time: 4:31h
Weather: Sunny , 10 - 15 C
Perfect weather today to ride up on a nearly private road, relax in an onsen close to the pass, and then ride down the other side into the autumn leaves in full splendor around Urabandai. I had ridden the same route And the other direction last year on an extremely foggy day. Today was the absolute contrast. Since they built a new road with a lot of tunnels that is closed to bicycles, the old road has practically become a bicycle road. There are cars, but maybe every 10-15 minutes one car passes.
In my typical water-panic mode after drinking about half of my two bottles after only about 5 km, I decided to take a detour to a roadside station to refuel. Finally, I did arrive at my final destination with one full water bottle, one full bicycle bottle and just one empty drink bottle. But better too much water than not enough.
The climate itself is a steady, gentle climb never to steep. The autumn leaves in the upper parts had already dropped. I had originally considered to finally give it a try to cycle up the Asama Bandai Skyline but (1) I was afraid of the descent being very cold because actually the ascent was relatively cold and (2) the trees were bare up there. So instead of cycling more, I decided for more onsen. There is a succession of onsen hotels close to the intersection where the skyline starts. Most of them were actually closed to day guests, but one was open. When I called, I had already passed it targeting a different one that turned out to be closed, they told me on the phone that their rotenburo was closed. But it turned out that it was only their big rotenburo that was closed. There was one that changes every few hours between men and women, and then there was another one in the women only section as well. I didn’t want to dwell too long because I was still afraid of the cold on the descent, so I went to the one that changes between men and women regularly. It was all built out of wood, and the water is highly sulfuric. Which you smell out on the street, and see while lying in the water as the sulfur precipitates on the wooden tubes that feed the onsen.
I couldn’t take a picture of the actual onsen as I wasn’t alone, but from the street one can see where the hot water steams out of the ground and smell it as well.
After soaking, I had a light meal and then put on all the layers I had. However, actually, the descent wasn’t so cold, because this side of the mountain was now in the afternoon sun. As I was getting lower, leaves on the trees returned to their autumn display. Although autumn colors are nothing, specially surprising to me, they are definitely nice to look at.
For most of the days, I was on very quiet roads, just a few kilometers in between the connected through the main national road. Which wasn’t too busy today either.
The day started with a soak in the onsen of my high class hotel in Tsuchiyu onsen (One of the pools that I couldn’t try yesterday as it changes daily between men and women) and ended within third bath in the big hotel I am staying in Urabandai. Somehow, I had read about this hotel that the onsen was quite small. I don’t really think so. It has a rather large inside pool and a nice rotenburo. I sent some of these hotels. There’s food and drink for free nearly all the time. From 3 o’clock in the afternoon, there’s some snacks and free drinks, including alcoholic drinks in the lobby, then there was buffet, dining, and even after dinner there were more drinks and snacks in the lobby again. The buffet dining was actually rather good. I also took the opportunity in the evening to wash all my clothes. The washing machines were located in the onsen area and they had some hammocks there, where I rested for the two hours that the washing machine took.
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