Today’s ride sucked, the elevation map explains it well enough, the steep bit was a two hour climb which only covered 14km. My legs refused to pedal after 4km, so I walked for 8km until my legs decided to cooperate again.

Along the way I stopped at some vending machines for some icy cold drinks and tried a new snack that I’ve been noticing in convenience stores in the muesli bar section. Unfortunately it was disgusting, like stale shortbread which sucked all the moisture from my mouth. Even the ants dodged the crumbs that I purposely dropped.

Once I reached the top, there was a rest stop , where I could get away from my bike for a bit and enjoy some ice cream.

The descent was really fun and I got a good photo of Lake Ashi, where you can see a pirate ship sailing across in the background.

I remember seeing these road bumps on my ride to Nara, they stop you from slipping as you climb, but totally mess you up if you’re descending

Arriving in Hakone was pretty cool, the Lawsons convenience stores here are brown instead of blue and my hostel was actually quite nice. For dinner I smashed a plate of pork fried rice and finished some left over chocolate for dessert. Around 9pm the hostel owner took us down to the river to watch the fireflies, which were glowing in the hopes of finding a mate in the next week or so. I chatted to some Aussies for a little while, but I felt so exhausted and headed to bed early.