Well spotted, Ian. I believe I adjusted the eccentric on the evening after the photo you were probably looking at was taken.
I am running a 38 x 17 combo right now, but before my daughter moved back to Canada from the UK I ordered a Thorn 43T chainring and 19T cog and had it sent to her to bring back. It's in my toolbox now and I'll probably throw it on before the next tour.
A few more photos from the ride.
1 One of the consequences of rural depopulation.The rail line between Sapporo and the southeast coast of Hokkaido closed down a few years ago.
2&3 Curse you, Komoot. This is my third cycle tour in Japan and I'm still waiting for a mapping program that doesn't send me on an adventure almost daily. After about 10 km riding in a beautiful valley with no traffic, my GPS instructed me to "turn left here". I thought “this does not look too promising” as it went past a farm, heading into the woods. A check of the map showed that the only other option was 10 km right back where I had come from, so off I went. After about half a kilometre the dirt road turned into a dirt path and pitched upward. It still would've been rideable if not for the 70mm of rain that had fallen overnight, making it very soft. After a few hundred metres though the path pitched up again and basically looked like a dry stream bed. Luckily for me, it only lasted for maybe 500m then began to improve. My fun for the day.
4 Sunset from camp.
