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Japan 2023

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RonS:
  I must start this post with a tip of the hat to all of you who are able to post journals in real time on your tours. That was my grand plan, but, the reality was that I had neither the time nor energy to make a daily blog post with my glacial keyboarding speed and rudimentary photo editing skills. I did keep a paper journal, and took many photos, so I can now relive the trip while enjoying a cuppa and learning how to keyboard and use photo editing software. My prose and photos will never match the likes of John Saxby or Simeon, but I hope you will enjoy them.

  A little back story and then I’ll get to the main event. I first visited Japan in 2018 when one of my daughters was working there as an English teacher. I was smitten. Although it was not a cycling holiday, having only cycled one day on rental bikes, I knew it was a cycling paradise and vowed to return for a proper tour. We all know what happened in 2020, so, with my retirement approaching and restrictions falling, I decided my retirement gift to myself would be a grand tour of Japan. On June 23 I retired after 43 years of driving trucks. On August 8 I turned 65. On August 16 I was en route to Japan for the next 7 weeks.

  The trip. This was my first big tour. All I had done previously were motel tours in the two week range, so it was very much a learning experience. I decided my top priorities were to enjoy myself, meet people, and see the countryside. I decided to make the distance fit the time, not the time fit the distance. As such, the only plans that couldn’t be changed were fly to Sapporo, fly from Sapporo to Fukuoka, at the other end of the country, September 13, and fly home October 6. Everything in the middle was open. This proved to be fortuitous, as I arrived during an unprecedented heat wave, which lasted almost the entire trip, and my loosely planned daily distances were drastically cut. I only saw about 2/3 of what I planned in Hokkaido. Fortunately, Japan has an extensive rail network, and I just had to put my bike in a “rinko bag’ to take the train back to Sapporo when I ran out of time. Likewise on Kyushu, the southernmost main island, I never planned more than one day ahead as to where I would go.

It’s difficult to compress a 7 week adventure into a couple of paragraphs. There’s too much bouncing around in my brain. For now I’ll leave it here with a couple of teaser photos.

Photo 1- We're off! The sign reads "Japan 2023" on the left, and the right is "day number xx". At the bottom I added "Hello. I'm Ron" That and the flag opened the doors to many enjoyable encounters.

Photo 2- A little of the open Hokkaido countryside

Photo 3- How open? There was so little traffic on the main highway between Teshio and Wakkanai that I had no trouble laying the bike down in the middle of the road to take the shot.

Ok. Need practice with the uploading of photos. They're out of order. But I'll get better!

Matt2matt2002:
What a great adventure.
Thanks for sharing.

Re your mention of posting journals in real time; yes, snap.
My 50+ days on Thailand was fantastic but towards the end I found keeping my journal on Crazy Guy a bit of a pain. Which was strange since I was enjoying my ride there enormously.

I'm in two minds about keeping a journal for my return trip next year.
Here's a link if you're interested:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/TimetotryThai

Best
Matt

John Saxby:
Great stuff, Ron, a proper and well-deserved retirement gift to yourself! 

Good on yer, mate, as we (well, some of us) say in the Ottawa Valley  ;)

Looking forward to the next chapter(s).

Cheers, John

RonS:
 Interestingly enough, Matt and John, you were the two I was thinking about most regarding real time journals.

 Instead of a day to day account of the trip, I’m going to start with a few posts about the trip, and Japan, in general.

  Part one  “Getting there is not half the fun”.

  My included baggage allowance for all flights was 2 pieces 23kg each, and that included the bike. Getting everything for the trip into the bike box and one set of 45L panniers shrink wrapped together was a royal pain, not so much for the weight, but the volume. I wound up strapping my helmet to my backpack as carry on. I did get a thumbs up from the ANA baggage staff at the airport, though, when I put the bike box on the scale and it was 23.0kg.
The plan for next trip is to buy a 100L duffel bag from MEC or REI (750g) and use it instead of just the panniers for the checked bag. Then things that go on top of the rack don't have to go in the panniers for the flight. This setup should be easier to carry, too.

Part two “Two panniers are not enough for a seven week camping tour”.

  My reasons for the two pannier setup were twofold. Firstly, as per part one, I didn’t want to incur a hefty excess baggage fee. Secondly, Two extra panniers and a front rack equals 3kg added to the bike before you put in the first pair of socks, and I really wanted to keep the weight down. This proved to be a false economy for this trip. The roll top Arkels were so crammed full that:
1: I never really developed a packing system. It was just stuff everything to fit.
 2: On the few instances where I bought groceries for supper instead of eating out, I had to carry the grocery bag by hand on the way to the campsite- there was really nowhere to put it.
The plan for next time: Four panniers and find some weight savings somewhere else.

Part three  “ Sweat eats bikes”

  My trip coincided with a once in a hundred year heatwave that also had 90 percent humidity thrown in for good measure. Never have I sweated so much. The first week I was drinking 10L per day and 250ml was coming out as urine. I didn’t notice the havoc it was causing to the bike until the damage had been done. Every bit of exposed steel ( steerer tube, front fork dropouts, where the paint has worn, tiny scratches ) rusted. My brass bell, polished like a mirror, looked like the Statue of Liberty at the end. The worst thing was when I was reinstalling the fork after having removed it for train travel, and the star nut had rusted out. Luckily, a bike shop was less than a km from the station.
Plan for next time. That’s easy. Rinse off the bike!

Photo 1: All packed and ready to take the train. Carrying the bike, 2 panniers, and the handlebar bag, with a backpack on, was a challenge.

Photo 2: Re assembly in the unmanned train station.

Photo 3: My once gleaming Crane brass bell after a sweat bath

Matt2matt2002:
Ha Ha RonS
Yes packing the bike for my flight was err... fun. But I've now flown x4 times+ so have it down to somewhat of a fine art. But finished up using a cheap duffle bag to bag the panniers and gear. Plus my saddle and seat post to keep the weight down. Of course with Sod's Law, nothing was weighed going out with KLM.
I've had very mixed results with the weight/size issues.
Coming out of Addis Ababa on Turkish Airlines, I was waved through security (!) and check in.
From Sri Lanka, the check in lady smiled, said I looked tired & waved me through the excess baggage section.
In fact I'm trying to think of any flight that gave me hassle. But of course there is going to be a first time - so play safe. It's never good to kick off a tour with hassle before getting onto the flight. There's enough of that with the possibility of flights not connecting or being cancelled.

One of my mottos is; It's not the destination that matters; its the adventure getting there.

Cheers

Matt

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