Planning
It was time to embark on an epic bicycle ride across Japan.  I had done day trips outside Tokyo, and wondered what existed beyond the concrete and steel structures that seemed to continue on forever. Callum, my buddy from work, and I, decided to spend two weeks biking from Tokyo to Fukuoka.  The trip would be roughly 1200 KM [...]

On day two, we awoke to the sunlight shining through the windows of our Ryokan room and rose to meet a delicious breakfast served at 7:00AM.Today, we were to face the most grueling ascent of the trip, up 900 meters.  To give you a feeling for the climb, here’s an elevation profile (Copyright Sora Suga [...]

Day three was pure intensity.  Callum’s friend had gotten into a nasty wreck when they were riding motorcycles together the weekend before, and the hospital had just opened his room up to visitors.  Callum decided to visit him for the day and meet me that evening in Hamamatsu, 120KM from Fuji. We began the day [...]

The next day I awoke with a new wheeling fervor.  Slightly disgruntled by the previous day’s setbacks, I was exited to assemble my bicycle once again and ride 100km.   I felt bad for the help at the hotel, which had to endure the confusion and terror of looking at my blood–stained sheets.  I felt [...]

Callum and I woke up in Nagoya on Day 5, with two days to reach our target Osaka, 200km away.  We didn’t have a set destination for this day, and decided to ride until we felt like relaxing somewhere in the less populated zone before Kansai propper.  I woke up and tried to view our [...]

We awoke in Kameyama ready for a vigorous hill climb, up about 300 meters.  We climbed the hill in about an hour and a half and reached a massive tunnel at the top.  Then we began a 60km slow descent to Kyoto.  The kilometers flew by as we passed wonderful features of the industrial, natural, and social [...]

Morning in Kyoto began with a meal and multiple cups of coffee at a restaurant attached to the hotel.  We packed our bags, checked out of El Inn, and mounted on our cycles to find the route to Osaka.  It was a mere 40km away, so we figured we’d be there in about two hours [...]