It's hard to sum up two months of cycling across Japan, but I've picked my most memorable moments and summed it up into three sections: highlights, cycling notes and budget notes. In the captions I've provided the specific names or locations you can look up for yourself. Highlights Food is always on my mind after … Continue reading Japan Debrief: Fukuoka to Tokyo
My last ride in Japan wasn't too eventful, most of it was along the highway and there wasn't much to see. Dark clouds were looming and I tried my best to reach my hostel before the rain started. With only 5km to go, the drizzle started and it stressed me out since I lost my … Continue reading Japan Day 61-62: Riding Tokyo to Narita and Flying Out
It was a bit drizzly today, so I stayed in Yokohama at my cousin’s restaurant for a while and waited for the rain to stop. The ride was pretty smooth, the main highway was really spacious and there was a generous bike path for most of the journey. Surprisingly there weren’t many cars on the … Continue reading Japan Day 56-60: Riding Yokohama to Tokyo and Exploring
Aside from my legs feeling a bit stiff, today's ride was fairly manageable, there were just a few detours towards the end to avoid toll roads and stairs. I was excited to visit my cousin in Yokohama, Chi Hanh, who I haven't seen in more than 15 years. She owns a Vietnamese restaurant with her … Continue reading Japan Day 54-55: Riding Hakone to Yokohama and Rest Day
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 … Continue reading Japan Day 53: Fujinomiya to Hakone
Today's ride was pretty grim, the whole sky was grey and the rain started the moment I started cycling. It was unfortunate because the area is famous for five great lakes, where you can see Mount Fuji in the reflection of the water or surrounded by flowers during different seasons. I ended up taking the … Continue reading Japan Day 51-52: Riding Fujiyoshida to Fujinomiya and Rest Day
I procrastinated for most of the morning, helping myself to some cereal, which I haven't eaten in months, then lounging around until 11am. I knew today's ride was going to be rough, I looked up the elevation profile and saw that there was a tunnel at 950m above sea level, while I was currently sitting … Continue reading Japan Day 49-50: Riding Kofu to Fujiyoshida and Rest Day
I was naive to believe that today's ride would be flat, there were two main climbs to push through and then I flew downhill to Kofu at the end. There wasn't anything I really wanted to photograph, as most of the route was parallel to a major highway. It was just amusing to see Hotel … Continue reading Japan Day 47-48: Riding Matsumoto to Kofu and Rest Day
I finished off the last bit of bacon and eggs and enjoyed the cruisy ride, almost entirely downhill to Matsumoto. I cycled through twelve tunnels and luckily there was maintenance occurring on the fourth tunnel, which meant only batches of cars could go through at once. The tunnels were much busier, longer and bumpier than … Continue reading Japan Day 43-46: Riding Norikura Kogen to Matsumoto and Exploring
Today's ride was rough, but unfortunately my Garmin bugged out and I couldn't get the stats for my efforts, but hopefully these snippets should tell the story. The 1000m of elevation was split into two parts, the first 500m at the very start, across 8km before the insane section with 11 consecutive hairpin turns. With … Continue reading Japan Day 40-42: Riding Hirayu Onsen to Norikura Kogen and Exploring
Jenny on Wheels 