D2 Oigawa valley

Route: Yoshida - Kawanahoncho - Kawaneonsen 
Bicycle: 81,8 km
Train: 26 km 
Total ascent: 1119 m
Average speed: 14,3 km/h
Riding time: 5:30 h
Weather: sunny and still very warm (for end of November), 16 C

For my first full day in Shizuoka I cycled up Oigawa. A river that can be very big, but currently only is a shadow of itself. For a more impressive river, I would need to come here again in late spring, when the snow is melting in the southern Alps. 

Still down in the broader valley close to Shimada was this submergible bridge. I didn’t cross it though slightly afraid of the strong side wind on a bridge without any rails. And well, I wanted to get going. If I stop for the first sightseeing a mere 10 km or so into the ride I’ll never “arrive” at destination. 

A little bit further along, I saw again the mountain with the kanji for tea 茶 where I had been cycling yesterday in the distance.It’s kind of hard to take a good picture of this character. Yesterday it was too dark.And today it was a bit too far.

Still down in the broad valley I came through this area off citrus plantations. Mainly みかん but also some Yuzu and other citrus trees. Surprisingly it didn’t smell of citrus, much in contrast to the intense apple smell a few weeks ago in Nagano. 

When I planned the ride yesterday, I made komoot not to choose the state road. Instead, I manually set it to the road on the other side of the valley, thinking that the state road for sure must be the busier of the two. I was wrong. The state roads actually is pretty small and currently even cut for a few kilometers where a landslide came down, after some major typhoon not too long ago.  That landslide did not only destroy the part of the state road, but also part of the train line. So nowadays the train only goes to Kawaneonsen. Which has a very cute old station building. I didn’t see it today, but this train company still uses steam machines and rides about three or four trips per day with them. 

Probably the highlight of today was this hanging bridge, which, in a day with a lot of wind, was doable, but scary to cross. Specially in the middle part where one is furthest away from the river banks, and very much exposed to the fierce winds that were reining  today.

Crossing this bridge however helped for the ride. Because I looked at the road on the other side and although this was the state road, It had barely any traffic. So I crossed over a normal bridge to the other much more tranquil side of the river and continued my ride there. 

After lunch, a few kilometers upstream I went to a Buddhist temple which claimed to have koyo in autumn. It was right but nothing stunning apart this one tree. Apparently this year in general the koyo season isn’t very good because it was too hot for too long in summer so the trees instead of going colorful go bare very quickly. 

From here I returned did a quick round around a light blue mountain lake (well dam) on very quiet roads, specially on one side of the lake. That road seemed to get less than a car per day. 

So quiet that I put my new bear bell in action.

From here it wasn’t too far and downhill to the onsen were I spent about 1,5 h soaking in salty hot water while looking at the mountain tops around. When one was standing on the rest area of the onsen one could also see the river and the railway bridge. There was even a timetable to know when the steam train would pass. 

But I took a regular old style train back down. 

D1 Teafields of Shizuoka

Route: Kakegawa - tea fields - hotel

Bicycle: 46 km

Train: 225 km

Average speed: 17,5 km/h

Total ascent: 418

Riding time: 2:40 h

Weather: sunny and warm (for being end of November), 17C says Strava but it felt way warmer

After a long week of work, a long weekend in Shizuoka! 

I have never been to this part of Shizuoka, but always when I come through here by Shinkansen going to Kansai, I admire the rolling hills with tea fields. 

Originally I had reserved also a Hotel in Hikone on Biwa Lake and was actually more inclined to go there, mainly because I was thinking that the koyo around Biwa lake must be really nice and because I wanted to go (again) to Miho museum. However, weather forecast for this area did project some rain, while the weather forecast around Shizuoka seemed to be sunny all four days.

I was really busy at work this week so stayed to work late on Wednesday and thus did not get up very early, but in a relaxed way and then set out to cycle to Tokyo station. As customary, I did not get a reserved car. Actually, there were no seats available in reserved cars anymore but instead I took an unreserved car which wasn’t even full and got an easy place to put my bicycle and departed a few minutes after arriving at the platform. However, I had no time to buy lunch at the station and recently there are no more food sellers on the train. So once I arrived in Kakegawa , the first thing was to get some lunch. I had seen that there was a castle, probably rebuild, and decided to get some conbini lunch and eat in the park of the castle. I don’t actually know if the castle has a park because when I got there, it seemed like one needed to get an entrance tickets to even get close to the castle. So instead, I had my lunch in a square below the castle. 

Then I set off along a small river with the typical small street/bicycle lane on both sides of it. Instead of taking a direct route from the station to my hotel, I took a route that was recommended on the webpage of Shizuoka prefecture that went through some apparently very famous tea fields. So famous that on the flank of one of the mountains, they wrote the character for tea 茶　with some vegetation. I didn’t get close enough to check what kind of vegetation they used, but I would hope that it was tea plants.Taking a picture, however, wasn’t easy as the mountain was already in the shadow.

I little bit further along I came through a high plateau that seemed to be the mecca of tea. 

From there one could even see Mt Fuji in the distance. 

From there it was a long, gentle descent nearly all the way to my hotel. I don’t remember how I found this hotel but essentially it’s in the middle of nowhere. A Japanese nowhere. Which means there are actually a lot of other buildings around like supermarkets, gasoline stations, private houses, vegetable fields, car repair shops… A cacophony of buildings and empty spaces, which don’t form anything by itself.

Somehow I got the bicycle room. Which is a room with enough space for a bicycle, but also a very strangely shaped room. My room doesn’t have a window, or actually, it has one, but the window is in the toilet.

I had arrived early enough to see the last hour of the Kyushu sumo event before heading to the hotels big bathroom and get a relaxing hot bath before going out for dinner. 

D2 - Fuji5ko and Shiraito falls

Route: Yamanakako- all 5 Fuji lakes - down to Fuji 
Bicycle: 108 km
Train: 140 km
Total ascent: 599 m
Average speed: 19,5 km/h
Riding time:
Weather: cloudy with a little bit of sun, no rain but quite cold, 7C

Cold autumn at last. After last weekend when it was still pretty warm, this weekend the temperature finally felt like November. In the morning from my hotel rooms there was no Fuji to be seen anywhere…

.. by the time I was ready to start the ride a little bit of Fuji was visible. 

The first lake was Yamanakako, which has a marvelous cycling path along most of its shore.

Lake #2 was Kawaguchiko, the most popular of them all with tourists. Along the shore was also a momiji festival, which essentially is an excuse to have food stalls and tourists in the same place at the same time. And more cars than necessary clogging up the road. But luckily after the festival the traffic also ended. 

Lake#3 is Saiko lake, which just seems to be an extension of Yamanakako.

Lake #4 is the rather small lake shoji, where I had lunch.

And finally lake #5 is lake Motosu a relatively big lake with little traffic.

From there I had 2 options: cycle back along the lakes to Kawaguchiko or cycle all the way down to the Pacfic and Fuji or Shin-Fuji station. And while I was a bit afraid of the long descent down to Fuji, because of the cold air, this was the way I took.  And I was perfectly dressed for the occasion: Undershirt with short sleeves, under shirt with long sleeves, Castelli jacket, wind resistant cap, baklava, cycling shorts, leg warmers, socks, closed shoes and gloves. 

On my way down I had seen that the Shiroito water falls were on my path. I had heard about them but didn’t really know what they are, but it was on the way, so I stopped. It’s apparently a major tourist attraction with a lot of shops  and a unique waterfall.

The tour planned in Komoot was saying that it would take over 900 meter of climbing when reality it were shy about of 600 m. This happens quite often. During the ride sometimes on a perfectly flat road wahoo was “seeing” steep hills, which just didn’t exist. This is not very practical because I might decide against a certain route for too much climbing, but if in reality it’s only about half of the climbing I might have done that ride. 

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.

D3 Nozawaonsen to Nagano

Route: Nozawa onsen - Hirataki - Nagano
Bicycle: 110 km
Train: 250 km
Total ascent: 1078 m
Average speed:  17.4 km/h
Riding time: 6:30 h
Weather: sunny and warm (for being November), 18 C

As I was already halfway up the mountain I decided to continue going up through the ski slopes. 

The road had very little traffic. I think there were more cross-country skiers that overtook me than cars. And overtake they did at a speed so fast I didn’t have time to get a good picture. A bit later another smaller group arrived and I was prepared and got them on video but they were nowhere as fast as the first group. Not sure if they were the Olympic squad or something like that. 

I however stopped a few times during the ascent to take pictures, enjoy the scenery and catch my breath. 

When I arrived at “the top” (it wasn’t really the top but the place from where a road descends to the valley), I decided to continue just a little bit more before turning and going downhill. From the map I thought that this road was a bit larger than the one I had come up from Nozawa but it was even smaller, and from tomorrow until end of May (!) will be closed for the winter. A bit early maybe considering how warm it was even on top today. There was so little traffic that on the entire downhill I only met 1 car and 1 motorcycle. The gradient of the descent was also good I did break a lot, but still doable. And not too many curves. 

The topic of little traffic surprisingly continued down in the valley thanks to two roads on both sides of the river. One with and one (nearly ) without traffic. 

Many varied roads and most of them with nearly no traffic! What a treat! 

While I am writing this I am sitting in the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. This being a long weekend, the shinkansen were really full. There were no more reserved seats on any shinkansen (which is fine by me as I prefer non-reserved)... but in such circumstances this also means that the non-reserved section will be really full. So well, I lined up at the unreserved car. The first Shinkansen that came was already full, but still a lot of people squeezed in. So many that they needed to apply the "backwards entering technique" you see so frequently with commuter trains in Tokyo. I waited for the next one, an "Asama" shinkansen, which starts in Nagano, so I was assured a seat and a cozy spot for the bike behind the last row. Surprisingly this shinkansen did not get overcrowded, not even in Karuizawa where I have often seen the Shinkansen to have standing space only. 

D2 Nozawa onsen to Ryuo ski village and back

Route: Nozawaonsen - Ryuo ski slopes - Nozawaonsen
Bicycle: 61 km
Total ascent:1,215 m
Riding time: 4:12 h
Average speed: 14,6 km/h
Weather: some clouds but dry, 15 C

When I was in this area a few weeks ago in Shibu onsen, I found an interesting place on Google maps. A gondola going up to lookout point where one can see, in the right conditions, a sea of clouds below. However, when I was here the last time the conditions were not right. Actually, the lookout point was in the clouds for that entire day. Luckily, they have a live feed on YouTube where one can check the current situation. So I didn’t go back then but now that I’m back in this area I planed to go today.

As I am staying currently, also in a ski station, the first thing to do was going down hills, all the way down. And then it was all the way up to the next ski village: Ryuo. And up and up. 

But on a quiet road with not too much traffic. Admittedly this picture was from a specially quiet road  so quiet that I was ringing my bell just in case any bear was around.

The climb up seemed endless and the valley station of the gondola definitely wasn’t in a “valley”. But rather very much up a hill… only that the mountain behind was even higher. 1,770 m to be precise. 

When I finally arrived I parked my bicycle and started my prep what to bring, what to leave with the bike, when I heard an amount that the next gondola is going to leave soon. And I just about still made it. On the mountain the first thing, before enjoying the view was to get lunch in a rather trendy panorama restaurant. After lunch the obligatory pictures of the view …

… and then I made it to the next gondola a few minutes later, and returned down back to my bike. From there it was mainly downhill until it wasn’t. Until I needed to cycle up again to Nozawa onsen. On the downhill I passed through an Apple plantation (and other fruits: pears, grapes, kaki…). So many apples that the air was thick with the smell of apples. 

I knew the whole time that the climb up to my ski hotel was waiting at the end of the day and I was very apprehensive of it and unsure if I would have enough energy to get up there. However finally it was easier than yesterday. Maybe because I already knew how the road would evolve and there isn’t any crazy steep section. 

Nozawa onsen was one of the several places where the Olympics of 1998 were held, apparently the Biathlon events. However they also have a ski jump arena.

As yesterday the owner of the lodge drove me down to the village where I returned to the only onsen in town with a rotenburo to wash and relax and then to have dinner. 

D1 Nagano to Nozawaonsen

Route: Nagano to Nozawaonsen
Bicycle: 70 km
Train: 250 km
Average Speed: 14.5 km/h
Total ascent: 1050 m
Riding time: 4:30 h
Weather: Warm, sunny and just splendid, 20 C

Another long weekend, again good weather... actually quite warm for early November in Nagano... and off I went again to Nagano. A few weeks ago, I had organized several weekends away booking even double accomodations in two differents places where I want to ride, so I could cancel based on the weather. The other option for this weekend was Shizuoka... but Nagano in early November is definitely the place to be. 

I got up early in the morning... but it takes me quite some time to actually get started, so finally I didn't arrive to Nagano station until shortly after 10:00 and rolled out just before 10:30. There are different ways from Nagano to Nozawaonsen. Obviously the easiest would be a train... however that isn't the plan here. The second easiest would be just to follow the river to the foot of the ascent up to Nozawaonsen... boring... so instead I planned to visit yet again Nojiri lake but with the late start, lack of sleep, and the ascent that is needed to even get to the lake I got tired mid way through, so shortened the ride a little bit. Still came pretty close to the lake... but not to the lake itself. But road through really nice autumn colours in the countryside. 

I always knew that at the end there was a hill awaiting me... I just didn't realize how much of a hill it was. It seemed endless to my already tired body... and even when I reached this sign of Nozawa onsen, there wasn't actually yet any sign of the village itself. For that I needed to cycle a little bit further uphill until a higher lying valley came into view. 

But the lodge I had reserved wasn't in town... but rather in the ski area of Nozawa onsen. So it continued up and up for me. However once arrived, I was rewarded by this nice sunset over the Japanese alps in a light evening breeze: 

My hotel itself was called "Lodge Hahnenkamm" like the ski descent in Kitzbühel. An other hotel up there was called "Pension Schnee". Very Austrian everything. 

I was the only guest for the entire weekend and the hotel owners were extremly kind. They drove me down to the village (which in meters isn't very far, but a steep descent), where I went to the only onsen in town with a rotenburo... but that was a very nice onsen: Furusato no yu. I had a nice relaxing bath there. It has 2 pools inside. One called "lukewarm" at 41-42 C and one called "hot" at 43-45 C. And a rotenburo which seemed to be cooler than the lukewarm option. The hot option initially might seem to hot, but after a while was actually quite enjoyable. As long as you don't move around in the hot water. 

The city itself, being an onsen town is actually dotted with onsen, aparently all free of charge and the ones I saw all looking very nice... but none of them have a rotenburo... and if I can have a rotenburo that is definitely where I am headed. They looked nice though. Very traditional. 

After the bath I had dinner in town, then called again my hotel owner, who came down to the village to pick me up again. 

D5 Noijiri lake and back home

Route: Shibu onsen - Lake Nojiri - Nagano
Bicycle: 83 km
Train: 250 km
Average speed: 16,6 km/h
Total ascent: 1135 m
Riding time: 5:15 h
Weather: a bit of everything (except snow), 13 C

For the last day of this very long weekend I made yesterday two different plans:

• Plan A: ride up to the gondola for Sora terrace. Apparently a place where one can often see a sea of clouds. But not today… thanks to their live feed on YouTube I could check and it was within the clouds for the entire day. 
• Plan B: ride (again) to Lake Nojiri. Again because I had been here about a year ago already and really liked the lake, the landscape and the small villages. 

Plan B it was. 

In the morning it was still raining at the hight of my Minshuku but by the time I was ready to leave the rain has stopped. But streets were still damp. It was a leisurely ride downhill. Not too steep and mostly on very quiet roads. 

On the other side of the broad and very fertile valley I made it up the hills on a road that was so quiet that hardly any car passed but still it was a wide road. A few small villages thrown into the landscape. All apparently with minimal services only. 

I don’t think I saw a single restaurant anywhere. But I knew that this wouldn’t be a problem because the lake itself is a bit touristic. Low key, but touristic for local people to enjoy fishing, water sports…

I had phoned ahead to see if a small restaurant was open, and it was. Riding there it started to rain lightly, nothing to worry too much about. But about 1 min after arriving and sitting in the warm room , rain started to pour down. While I ate my Curry rice and an extremely tasty tomato salad (of local tomatoes), the rain stopped and even a shy sun was making some intermittent appearance.

While riding around the lake I had a feeling like there was something wrong with my rear wheel. And there was. The wheel had lost most of its air. I tried pumping it up with my small pump, but either that pump is so small that only microscopic amounts of air enter or I did something wrong, it didn’t seem that the wheel was gaining any air. So I continued riding carefully until the next village along the lake where I asked at a few watersport shops and the third one (that was actually closed) I found a bike pump. With that proper pump I managed to pump it up. It seemed that it was leaking air from a lot of microscopic holes on the side of the tire. But I checked during my ride (there would have been the opportunity to take a train back to Nagano) and it seemed that the air was now holding. Will need to observe that. The tire is less than a week old and tubeless.