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@xDOMx
As dark turned to light with the sunrise, we approached Usui Pass and the top of the climb, topping out just over 1,000m above sea level. The sighting of sunrise marked a prodigious moment in the ride, the first part of the entire ride in which we could proceed unaided by our lighting, together with the first moment at which the awe-inspiring Kōyo (changing of the autumn leaves) revealed itself in all of its coruscating glory (it was also at this moment that we discovered one of the animals causing noise on the climb, a Japanese wild boar shuffling hurriedly in the foliage).
Despite our elation at having reached the top of the climb, the temperature was down lower than we had anticipated, a numbing -4°C with the wind chill reducing it to less than that, thereby leading to a convulsing rethink and change in clothing and strategy before we could descend into Karuizawa (Nagano prefecture). This in itself marked another challenge of distance cycling in this season, temperature range (in all, we would experience a range of -4°C to 20°C during the ride).
The descent will stand out as the moment that, regardless of being as prepared as I could be for the cold, I was the coldest I have ever been on a bike. We were chilled to the bone whilst descending potholed, freight-destroyed roads, all whilst seemingly not losing elevation; our hands and toes bearing the brunt of the bitterly cold gusts. As the sunlight began to warm our frigid bones we ducked into a konbini in order to not only put away some breakfast, but to further defrost ourselves using hot canned coffee.
Already well over 200km into the ride, we continued through the cold of Nagano prefecture and into the warmth that a drop in elevation and the start of our time on the Chikumagawa River brought us. The aspect facing us changed to rolling mountains, a gamut of fiery autumn colours, the sun on our backs and the Japanese Northern Alps lurching behind us.
Whilst we were thankful to be surrounded by such stunning panoramas, the cycle paths were largely of bad quality and shook through our now suffering and sleep deprived bodies; the tendons in my wrist, due to pressure and the rubbing of tendons against plates, were now causing shooting pains to travel up my body at every shudder. We were all starting to look and feel somewhat drawn but, despite this, we maintained the feat of not falling out once.
Moving past Iiyama and almost into Niigata prefecture, the end was almost in sight, albeit the KMs seemingly weren’t tumbling and I definitely became guilty of ‘Garmin watching’. A relatively modest 4km climb around Iiyama brought with it a sense of closure that this was the last of any climbing and that, from the top of the climb, the last 40-50km would be largely downhill or flat.
Descending into Niigata prefecture, through Myoko and down the Sekigawa River to our final destination, Naoetsu and the Sea of Japan, we were faced with only a mild headwind. As we stared out from the downtrodden coastal town, the blue expanse that lay in front of us signalled the end of what was, for all of us, the longest single ride we had ever embarked on.
Cutting back from the coast on the final 12km to Joetsumyoko station, where we would board the bullet train (‘Shinkansen’) back to Tokyo, we held a quiet regard for what had preceded in the past 17 or so hours. Having packed our bikes into ‘rinko’ bags (bike bags required in Japan for taking bikes on public transport), we attempted to chip into the calorie deficit (partially at least) by, to all intents and purposes, inhaling some food and drink before moving onto the Shinkansen and thundering back to the capital.
The feeling of elation on arriving home, the come down from that elation and the descent into chasmic fatigue, nourishing myself on home cooked food, and the sinking into a deep sleep all added a full stop to what was a truly unforgettable navigating of the entire width of Japan.
The link to the ride on Strava can be found HERE
Photos from here are taken from the Flickr and Instagram of both myself and a mate. The links are:
MY FLICKR // MY INSTAGRAM
MY MATE'S FLICKR // MY MATE'S INSTAGRAM