Sounkyo to Bihoro

We woke up to cloudy weather that nonetheless was not raining, unlike the forecast provided to us the night before. We thanked our lucky stars, ate a quick breakfast, packed our bikes and proceeded to ride down to the 4km tunnel that had a sidewalk. The tunnel was extremely loud, especially since it also had big blowers to keep it ventilated, so we rode as quickly as we could through that tunnel, only to be faced by another two tunnels in rapid succession as we rode past Daisetsuzanko, a lake that we might have stopped to inspect if it didn't start raining then.

As it was, the rain was only mildly annoying. Fortunately, despite the general climb to 1050m that we were promised, the grades were level (or close to level) inside the tunnels themselves, so even though they were annoying we didn't have to live with them for very long. The Sekihoku pass was nothing much to look at, and we passed up the Ramen shop in favor of eating from our saddlebags.

The descent on 39 wasn't very exciting either --- even in the rain, it provided no challenge whatsoever, and actually had several retro-grades to slow us down. We rode past pretty Birch forests, but most of the road was filled with tourist traps (like a fox farm) and various Hot Springs. We finally stopped for lunch near one of the Hot Springs at what appeared to be a food court, where I had some super-sized Soba (seriously, the amount of food you get at lunch isn't enough for a cycle tourist otherwise), and we used the bathroom. Looking at the map, I proposed that we push on to Bihoro for the night instead of staying at Kitami, but Mark and Yana looked at me skeptically.

Then began the long boring slog into Kitami. This wasn't bad, since we had a tail-wind, but I started this section with a flat tire with no apparent cause --- while I found the hole in the tube just fine, there was no corresponding one in the tire, and Japanese roads were in general so clean that it must have been some chafing at the interface between the tire and the tube. Secondly, as we approached Kitami proper, not only did the traffic get worse (we tried to use some secondary roads but the attempts proved short-lived and served only to slow us down), the traffic lights got more frequent as well, so despite the tailwind assist we were not making good time.

By the time we got to Kitami city center and found the tourist information center, Yana was definitely ready to consider riding to Bihoro. We were clearly now out of the usual touristy areas, since no one at the information center spoke English. I did, however, get a list of lodging for Kitami, and after we looked at them, decided to push on! I called the Bihoro Youth Hostel and made reservations, since I did not think we would make the information center there before it closed. I was informed that while we could stay there, there would be no dinner tonight. We then made a quick stop at a 7-11 for some snacks before riding over to 122 to Bihoro.

Getting off of Highway 39 was great, since now the traffic, while not exactly light, was no longer composed exclusively of heavy trucks and 18-wheelers. Furthermore, there was at least some rolling hills, so the monotony of the Kitami area was soon forgotten. We got into Bihoro at around 4:00pm, but took until almost 5:30pm to find the Youth Hostel because of an unexpected surprise: the town was having a street fair! We found it while searching for the hostel, lost and wandering through town center. I missed a turn and that took us into a closed street where the smell of food filled the air, and we could hear singing. We were directed to park our bikes, and when we asked where the Youth Hostel was, the parking lot attendant shrugged and told us he wasn't from around here either.

Since we were hungry, we bought some food and wandered around. Mark and Yana, being obviously foreigners (and dressed in bike clothes to boot), got lots of extra attention, including gifts from some vendors. When they tried to order Crepe, the stall had to find an English speaker, and the combination of flavors they asked for caused no end of amusement! By the time we were ready to leave, we determined that this was the place to have dinner tonight, and asked when the fair was closed. The response was that it was open till 10:00pm, so that was great! Furthermore, while we were wandering around, the parking lot attendant had asked around and then drew us a map to the Youth Hostel!

We still managed to get lost anyway, but once at the hostel, quickly took showers, changed into street clothes, and walked back for a pick-and-eat dinner which included fried noodles, some roasted chicken, crepes, and (of all things), an Naan made by an Indian --- the only other obvious foreigner we saw.

By the time we were full and ready to to back to the hostel (and to bed), we were quite pleased that we had gone the extra 20km to Bihoro.
120km,670m

Biei "Tomato" Minshuku to Sounkyo Hot Springs

We got up early in the hopes of beating the morning traffic on 237. The easiest way to leave early is to eat breakfast in your room with food you bought from the supermarket last night, so that's what we did. By 7:30am, Yana, Mark and I had paid the Minshuku (which was a very well-equipped one) and left, though not without having to explain that Brooks was going to stay another night, and would be paying separately. We had consolidated all our equipment the night before, deciding what to send back with Brooks and what would continue with us for the rest of the trip.

Riding on 237, even if we knew it was only to be for 8km or so, was still an unpleasant experience --- there was enough traffic to be annoying, and it was definitely noisy. Fortunately, we soon spotted the 7-11 just before the turn-off we wanted, and stopped there to pick up more food and use the ATM.

Once we turned off of 237, we had a completely different ride. First of all, it was a lot quieter, even though the route took us right around an airport! There was a lot less traffic as we routed around the outskirts of Asashikawa city, and the directions provided by the woman at the information office yesterday was correct and easy to follow. When the road finally started uphill, we realized that we had finally gotten through the city, and stopped at a golf-course/rest area to use the rest-room and eat our snacks.

Unfortunately, it chose that moment to start raining as well, so we now had to put on our rain-gear and resign ourselves to wet roads. Wet roads uphill aren't bad, since you're not going fast enough for your fenders to thoroughly wet your legs, and fortunately there wasn't enough traffic to splash us with water from tires, and what traffic there was was polite enough not to come close enough to do so. As we approached the Ishikari river, I sighted a bike path on the bank and sighed, "What a pity it's not going our direction." Well, after the bridge, I spotted the bike path on the other bank and it was indeed going in our direction. We debated a little bit as to whether the bike path was really going our way, but decided to bet on it. Sure enough, we soon saw signposts every kilometer that included Sounyko Hot Springs as a destination, marked off in kilometers. Not only that, those distances were lower than we had estimated the night before!

We had gone on the bike path long enough to raise our hopes that it would indeed take us all the way to Sounkyo Hot Springs when it ended as abruptly as it began, at a very well-built and brand-new restroom facilities and map indicated where the bike path would go. Explorations indicated to us that the map was indicative of future plans rather than of the current extent for the bike path, so back onto Highway 39 we went. Highway 39 was quite busy, and the traffic was fast, so it was with relief that we found the turnoff to 640, a little country road we had spotted on the map the night before. 640 went around the other side of the hill from 39, which meant that while it was a bit of a detour, it didn't actually add any climbing to our route, and escaping the noisy National Highway was a relief.

It was with sadness, then, that we had to rejoin the highway again after half an hour or so, knowing that this time there was no respite from it until we reached our destination. With only a brief stop for snacks 5km from Sounyko Hot Springs, we did the rest of the ride as quickly as we could. What we had not counted on was that the ride from Biei to Sounyko Onsen actually climbed to around 600m! There was a 1050m pass the next day, so it felt good to get that part over with. We arrived at Sounkyo Onsen at 12:30pm, which left us with a choice: either stay here for the night as planned, or do a bit of sight-seeing and push on over the pass and hit the next set of Hot Springs for lodging. A little bit of asking around yielded the answer that we were another 60km from the next set of lodging. I was undeterred by this, but both Mark and Yana had had quite enough of riding for the day, so we decided to explore the area instead.

First, we went over to the youth hostel to drop off our luggage. They informed us that they didn't have an actual hot bath, but could give us coupons to use the hot baths from either of the hotels next to the hostel. We then headed down the hill to have some Ramen for lunch. The food was delicious, but what was more remarkable to me was that this was the first time I had actually heard Japanese pop on the entire trip!

We then rode down to the gorge itself, which was a little touristy area that actually did not have much to see but a couple of waterfalls. When we rode to the end of the parking lot, however, we saw a gate across what must have been the path that visitors used to use to see the rest of the waterfalls. Being law-abiding bicycle tourists, of course, we did not hop over the fence with our bicycles and ride on the now-abandoned road. Nor did we explore the no-longer used tunnels that now looked like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. We further did not see the waterfalls that were now declared officially closed by the tourist board, and we most definitely did not see the gate that sealed off the actual landslide that caused the entire place to be closed. That fence would have been too high to hop anyway.

We then returned to the hostel and took a coupon to pay the 500 yen day-use fee for one of the hotels Onsen. This was definitely a Hot Spring as might be seen in a Hollywood movie: set on the 7th floor of the hotel, it granted us views of the surrounding mountains shrouded by fog. The outdoor portion was a narrow strip that while being outdoors, had enough of a roof and walls around it that it didn't feel very exposed. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it thoroughly, though it highlighted the blister I now had on the arch of my foot from the hike 2 days ago.

It also turned out that the hotel had no less than 3 Hot Springs, so Mark and I navigated the halls to find one of the other ones, a very nicely secluded one with its own lawn for the outdoor portion. It was a delight --- you had to go down one set of elevators, go to another set of elevators reserved for that wing of the hotel, and then climb a set of stairs to get to it, but it was seldom used as a result so we had the place practically to ourselves!

By the time we were finished with our baths and gone back to the lobby, huge tour buses full of students and tourists had showed up at the front door. The Japanese with their short vacations (10 days a year) are big fans of organized tour groups. Whenever an organized tour bus shows up, the tour guide would jump off the bus with a whistle, and guide the bus in using a coded series of whistles. It's amusing and fun to watch --- once. The tourists are then herded by the white-glove wearing guide (almost always a woman). Then again, this appreciation of uniformity is why the Japanese can board a plane and leave the gate in 10 minutes.

Dinner was hearty --- each of us got an entire fish on our plates, in addition to Miso soup, etc. I was also amused that the hostel had Totoro dioramas, and I took photos of my stuffed Totoro next to them.

98.9km, 802m

Asahidake to Biei "Tomato" Minshuku

I woke up early and used the onsen before breakfast, discovering that while the hot-spot on my foot was still there, the skin had amazingly not blistered. At breakfast, I persuaded the French lady to join us in conversation. She was a lawyer for the fisheries department of the government in Paris, and was visiting a Japanese friend in Tokyo. Since the Japanese are one of the few people in the world to have even less vacation time than Americans (10 days a year!), she was on her own in Hokkaido while her friend worked. Now she made us jealous, since as a government employee, she got 10 weeks of vacation (50 days!) a year, topping even the most generous employee policy in the US. As breakfast proceeded, however, we realized that she really did not like Japanese food, and was foisting off much of hers onto us. Needless to say, I shamelessly asked her for her Nori once that became apparent.

The others wanted to visit Tenninkyo Hot Springs on the way to Biei, but as a matter of principle, I dislike out-and-back rides, so agreed to push on ahead and head to town to get us lodging and meet up with everyone else later. The descent from Asahidake was lovely, with the gentle 5% grade just pulling us along at top speed. Since the speed limits were quite low, we were able to stay ahead of all motor traffic during the descent, and could tuck easily to achieve terminal velocity.

At the Tenninkyo junction we parted ways, I headed back down towards the Dam. Since I had plenty of time today, I rode on the dam itself before turning towards Biei, trusting my GPS unit to get me to Biei eventually. This method of deliberately getting slightly lost has served me well in the past, and it did very well this time as well, getting me onto a lovely country road and then directing me onto an unpaved forest road. Unfortunately, the last 200m was on gravel so deep that I had to get off the bike and walk. On any other day this would have posed a problem, but with the hot spot on my foot complaining it was sheer agony to take every step.

I eventually made it back to pavement and discovered that my unit had routed me onto a series of gently rolling hills that eventually led me back to Biei and the visitor center. Along the way, I encountered a Japanese gentleman shooting pictures from a hill top. I stopped to chat and discovered that I was one of his subjects as I climbed over the hill! I gave him my card in the hope that he would e-mail me some of those pictures, but I had no confidence that I had made myself understood.

Once in Biei, I found the woman who was so helpful two days ago, and we began a series of transactions. First, I wanted to know if there was a sidewalk on the 4km tunnel. She didn't know, so she called the visitor center at Sounkyo Hot Springs, where they confirmed that there was indeed a wide sidewalk through the tunnel. Then she proceeded to help me book the youth hostel at Sounkyo Hot Springs the next day. I then discussed various routes to get to Sounkyo Hot Springs from Biei, and she brought out a series of local tourist maps and proceeded to give me detailed directions through Asahikawa!

We finally wrapped up everything by booking a Minshuku in Biei tonight. Not only did she book us something really cheap at 3000 yen per person, she also offered to hold my luggage for me while I went off on my tour of the Biei area, and also to tell everyone else what to do when they came by the visitor center. I was so impressed by her helpfulness that I gave her one of my cards and asked her to look me up if she ever visited California. I was further amused that here in the Biei area, we were running a constant theme of agricultural products for the names of our accommodations.

I then proceeded to find a supermarket that she pointed me at, buy lunch and desert, and then start riding out of town to explore the Biei hills. The rolling hills in the area was very reminiscent of England, and indeed, by the time I got to the Shinzo Maeda gallery, I was not surprised to turn the pages of one of his photography books and discover him comparing the landscape around Biei to that of England. In the heat of the afternoon, the gallery was both a respite and very much worth a visit for its repeated views of the area in all seasons, something a casual visitor is unlikely to be able to do.

After the gallery, I followed signs to the four colors hill, which I could see as I approached the area to be quite the tourist trap. But as tourist traps go, this one was quite pretty --- they seemed to make money by selling food, drinks, and rides, but admission was free! I walked around, looking at various perspectives and trying to capture the moment, but the truth was that harsh mid-afternoon light just doesn't cut it for great photography. I did end up taking some photos for traveling Chinese people before riding back to Biei.

My front wheel had gone a bit out of true, and after a while I ended up at a local bike shop that had one of the more interesting truing stands I had seen. They were more than happy to let me borrow it to tension and true up my front wheel, before I headed over to the Tomato hostel, where I had enough time to take a shower and read some before Mark, Yana, and Brooks showed up, reporting that Yana had a flat tire. It turned out that one of her old patches had blown off.

Dinner was at the local Japanese BBQ place, where we had an excellent meal for a very reasonable price before repairing once again to the supermarket for our post-dinner dose of ice-cream and loading up for the next day's trek to Sounkyo Hot Springs.

69.5km, 567m

Biei "Potato" Hostel to Asahidake Hot Springs

Breakfast was served late this morning, so I took the opportunity to do a loop around the area before breakfast, taking in more of the sights. It was foggy in parts, but once we headed down into the valley it was sunny, a change from the Bay Area, where usually the fog is low and climbs took you up into sunny parts. I was very pleased to see that Japanese kids rode their bikes to school.

From Hokkaido

Unlike their ferried-by-SUV American counter parts, I never saw a single obese (or even slightly chubby) Japanese kid going to school --- they either walked or rode bicycles (and usually without helmets).

After breakfast, we headed to the local view-tower and then headed back through Biei to Asahidake Hot Springs. The road was well-signed, so there was no navigation difficulty at all. We rode past some gentle hills and a dammed lake before getting to the climb itself. The sky was clear and the weather warm, but the road was very well shaded and traffic was light. Given how polite Japanese drivers were, I felt justified in removing my helmt and throwing on my cycling cap instead.

Unlike Tokachidake, the climb here started out on the steep side but then quickly eased up. Having had one climb under their belt and starting out the day fresh from yesterday's rest day, nobody complained at all, and we easily made the hostel by noon. We had an opportunity to climb the tallest peak in Hokkaido (also called Asahidake) at 2291m, so we hustled and made it up the ropeway to start the hike around 3pm. The last ropeway descent was at 5:30pm, so despite the bravado and bragging about how they would rather miss dinner than not make the peak, I knew the clock was running.

Given the beautiful weather, I was surprised to find the path up revealing clouds, until I realized that steam emitting from volcanic vents permitted the mountain to generate its own clouds! The path from the ropeway to the peak was only 3km each way, but the trail was strewn with scree and loose rock, the worst possible condition for unsuitable footwear. Having learned my lesson from the day before, I had opted out of my Vibram Five Fingers in favor of my mountain bike shoes, which made the climbing much faster.

I am not in general a fan of mixing hiking and cycle touring, and this hike demonstrated why. It's difficult to carry suitable hiking shoes on the bike. Now, I'm undeterred by dirt roads, even if I have to carry my bike up, since I am at least assured of an easy descent. But hiking is tough on feet both up and down hills. We made it to the peak by 4:00pm, meeting a fireman at the top who said he saw us at Tokachidake yesterday just as he was starting on his multi-day hiking trip! He was considerably better equipped for the trail than we were, as every person coming down the mountain commented on Mark's flip flops if they noticed them. My feet were also getting rather sore, but the scenery was spectacular.

The descent was treacherous, however, as Brooks slipped once and Yana twice. I took it very slowly, given the hot spots on my feet, but knew that there would be hell to pay the next day. On the descent, we caught up with a mother-daughter pair who were on the tail end of an overnight trip in the area. Satomi was a teacher in Tokyo, and they were headed for the ropeway where they would catch a bus to Tenninkyo Onsen for the night. Regardless, it was a gorgeous walk down.

From Hokkaido

It was only a short trip from the ropeway back to the hostel, where the hostel onsen soaked up our soreness before dinner. For the first time in Japan, we ran into other foreigners: a German couple, and a French lady who was having an unfortunate time with both chopsticks and Japanese food. After dinner, I was waved into the common room by a Japanese couple who then proceeded to allow me to practice my Japanese --- it took me over an hour to communicate what I did, where we had been, and where we were going, but it helped my Japanese considerably.

It was then time to take out our Touring Mapple to figure out what to do next. Looking at the exits around Asahikawa, it was clear that there were no roads through Daisetsuzan National Park, which meant that we had to detour around the park. The road through Sounkyo Hot Springs looked promising, but there was a nearly 4km tunnel right after that resort which made me nervous. The hostel staff told us that while traffic on 39, the road through Sounkyo Hot Springs, was light, it was also very fast. Brooks did some mental arithmetic and realized that he had only a couple of cycling days left before he had to make it back to Chitose, which meant that it made no sense for him to go with us past Biei. All things considered though, Biei was not a bad place to end the tour, with a train station in town and an English-speaker at the visitor center who was very helpful.

As had happened before to novice tourists on my trips, Brooks had forgotten that I usually timed my vacations to span holidays. In this case, Brooks had ended up returning the day before labor day, making his trip a day shorter than necessary.
52.3km, 1772m (some via hiking)

Tokachidake Hot Springs to Biei "Potato" Hostel

Mark wanted to climb to one of the local peaks, but after climbing the 13% grade to the trail head at 1200m, we found overcast skies that had started to put rain on us. As we walked up the trail, I saw at an intersection that much of the area was closed anyway, but the path to some of the volcanic vents was still open. I had practiced quite a bit with my Vibram Five Fingers before starting the trip, but not enough to toughen my feet for a rough rocky trail, so it was slow going for me.

By the time we got to the vents, the weather had turned extreme, with cold rain soaking us to the bone. The vents themselves provided us with ample warmth, but once we left them to begin the descent, I was chilled. Japan is a very forgiving place for outdoor types --- even though I was freezing by the time we got onto our bikes and went back down to our onsen (where we had checked out but left our luggage behind), a word with the staff produced fresh towels so we could sit in the baths to warm up.

It was 11:00am before we felt sufficiently warmed up to leave the onsen, but fortunately by then the rain had also stopped. Getting back into wet bike clothes was wince inducing, but no longer something that risked hypothermia. As a precautionary measure, I stuffed some advertising literature down the front of my jersey. That turned out to be unnecessary, though, since once we got to 966 the road turned up a little bit, and once I had to work against a hill I warmed right up.

We stopped here and there, including a short detour for views, but then began a spectacular descent with lovely views but grades and curves so gentle that we did noot touch our brakes at all! Once at Biei hot springs, we stopped at the visitor center (which did not speak English), made a reservation for the Biei "potato" hostel (recommended by Lonely Planet's guide). We then stopped for lunch at a hotel which served Korean-style hot-pot just like bibimbap, but without the spicy sauce.

On the tourist map there was a listic for a potato-chip factory, which Mark and Yana wanted to see. Since the way there was on an interesting-looking road, and the connecting road (237) to Biei was marked as a designated scenic road on the Mapple, I assented and we made our way to 824 and Bibaushi, which my Chinese-trained brain translated as "beautiful horse cow". The riding was glorious: the day was sunny, forcing us to ditch layers and put on sunscreen. The minor roads rolled gently up and down. It seemed at times that we were surrounded by nothing but lovely fields and rows of farms, neatly arrayed.

By the time we got to the intersection with 237, however, there was no sign of the potato chip factory whatsoever. We thus rode to Biei on 237 instead, which turned out to be an exceedingly busy road with way too much traffic. Once at the visitor center at Biei, we found a lady who spoke English and had an extremely helpful attitude. She explained that there was no such thing as a potato chip factory, and that the map had led many visitors astray! We asked about the next day's destination (AsahidakeHot Springs), and she immediately gave us a list of lodging. After we made a decision (mainly based on price), we asked her if she could make a reservation for us. She said she wasn't supposed to, since it was another town, but then proceeded to make the phone call for us anyway!

In any case, having her make the reservation was a good idea for us, since when we eventually rode through the local hills to get to the potato hostel, I discovered that our reservation had not been recorded at all! Not only were they unprepared for us (though they did have a room available), but they would not serve us dinner and the local restaurant was closed, since this was the first day of September. Eventually, one of the hostel staff members was roused up --- he turned out to speak fluent English (having worked for Japan Airlines in San Francisco), and after consultation with the kitchen, he declared that they could feed us dinner as long as we did not expect cyclist-type portions. Clearly, previous cyclists had emptied out their kitchen in a big way!

While doing research for the trip, Mark had found that there are gardens in the area that are really pretty year round. However, the gardens had a strict closing time, and I really didn't want to miss dinner either, so we compromised by setting a strict turnaround time. Heading from potato hill back towardds Bibaushi in the evening light introduced me to the best riding that Japan had to offer on this trip. The rolling hills were lit up with a lovely golden light, and if not for the impending darkness I would have had a hard time sticking to the turnaround time.

As it was, we got within 3km of the 4-colors hill and then turned around into a fading headwind, but not before I became determined to come back to Biei for more riding. Dinner at the hostel indeed included a potato. Our English speaking friend then explained that except for a very few items (tomorrow's orange juice being one example), everything served at the dining table was sourced and made locally. The ultra-fresh produce tasted great, and after dinner we made another laundry run before going to bed in our bunks.
72.3km, 1001m climbed (some hiking included in these stats)

Furano to Tokachidake Hot Springs

Waking up early once again gave me a chance to walk around in the forest around our hotel/onsen, and then take in the onsen again. The Highlander Onsen was unique in that overnight, it would swap the male and female baths, which meant that the morning bath would be a different bath than the evening one.

Since the day was going to be a short one, we decided we would visit the cheese factory to see what they have. We arrived too late for the cheese-making class (which took 2 hours and started promptly at 9:00am), but enrolled for an ice-cream making session. It was my first time making ice cream, and all the utensils in use were very cute (tiny bottles of milk, for instance), and we got to even make the waffle cone as well as eat the ice-cream.

After that delicious morning, we headed back to town where we had to find a drug store for Yana's contact solution. After that, we prepared for the afternoon ride by eating at the cheese Ramen place in town, and then stuffing ourself with pastries at the local pastry shop.

Mark wanted to visit the Rokugo highlands, which looked real close on his tourist map, but didn't look very close at all either on my GPS map or the touring Mapple. Nevertheless, we had ample time, and arriving late was not an issue since we had reservations. I plotted a course in the GPS and soon we were on another gently rising road. Rokugo was featured in a well-known Japanese TV series, but since we neither saw it or read about it, all we saw were signs in Japanese pointing at interesting set locations during our ride.

Once past Rokugo proper, at about 400m, we started seeing beautiful views which needed no knowledge of Japanese to appreciate.

From Hokkaido

I recognized a signboard from Mark's tourist map and pulled into the publicly available spring, where car drivers filled bottle after bottle of what was billed as the best tasting spring water in the region, complete with regular testing to prove it.

From Hokkaido

We then descended a fast but straight road back to the North end of Furano, where after a short flat section we started climbing to Tokachidake Hot Springs under cloudy skies.

Like most gentle Japanese climbs, Takachidake's grade changes subtly, until at 700m or so, I found myself in my granny gear for the first time on this trip. At the intersection with 966, I dug out the brochure to show to the Inn at the corner, and the receptionist's desk pointed me up the hill, past the 13-14% grade sign. I was familiar with similar grades from years of touring, but this was everybody else's first tours, so there was no shortage of declaration as to the steepness of the climbs by the time we arrived at the Onsen at 5pm.

Any complaints faded away, however, when we saw the outdoor onsen which looked down from 1100m into the Furano-Biei valley. Lit up by evening light, it was a sight to behold, sitting in a lovely and well-constructed Japanese bath which we practically had all to ourselves.

From Hokkaido

From Hokkaido

Dinner was a self-administered BBQ, with lots of toppings and additional food.

From Hokkaido

69.1km, 1272m climbed

Yubari Forest Youth Hostel to Furano Highlander Onsen

We woke up again at 5am, still slightly jet-lagged. I walked around while Mark went riding, looking for a place to shoot the valley with fog rising from the bottom.

Breakfast was at 7:30am, and the food was again wonderful, but light. Seeking to get the 100km day over, we left at 8:30 to ride up 452. 452 was billed as the loneliest highway in Hokkaido, since apparently you could ride it from one end to the other without finding any food and water. We expected a fairly rural ride, but at the intersection saw a super market and a half dozen camping cycling tourists in front of it enjoying breakfast. Whhat I did not realize at the time was that the summer vacation season was winding down, and this would be last of the camping cyclists we would see for quite some time.

Past the supermarket, 452 lived up to its reputation, offering us rural but not lonely riding, first along Yubari river, which led to a dammed lake, and then a series of rolling hills punctuated by an occasional tunnel.

From Hokkaido

Near the second lake, we stopped for a snack and were captivated when a fox came out of the hills to beg us for food. It was so tame and fearless of people that Mark was able to get several shots of it almost eating directly out of his hand!

From Hokkaido

At the intersection with 116, traffic started getting heavier, with cars and tour buses coming past us at regular intervals. Yet Japanese drivers were so polite that it was never uncomfortable --- most drivers would use the oncoming lane to overtake, and buses would do likewise. When it was unsafe to do so, they would wait patiently for an opportunity without honking or otherwise behaving aggressively. Japan indeed lived up to my expectation as a mountainous country with polite drivers. After a series of tunnels, the road took a big dip and dropped us onto rest stop with a 3-sectioned water-fall. We took that opportunity to take a rest break and eat the rest of our food.

From Hokkaido

Not long after that, we hit highway 135 and turned off, beginning a brisk descent into Furano. Once in Furano, we found the visitor center, where the helpful receptionist provided a list of onsen in the area to choose from. We picked a cheap one but that required backtracking. Thinking ahead, we also booked an onsen at the Tokachi-Dake area, not the most expensive one, but one just below that.

Highlander onsen wasn't all that high, around 200m or so, but it had both indoor and outdoor onsen looking towards the mountains we would be riding the next day. Dinner was typically Japanese, accompanied by a glorious Alpenglow over the hills around us.103km, 886m of climb.

Sapporo to Yubari

We woke up to cloudy skies but dry roads, so after breakfast, we made ready and set out for Yubari.

In conversation with the hostel manager the night before, I had been told that 274 would be a decent route once we managed to get out of the city. To get there, I chose to pick up the bike path from the river at the center of town and then ride it until I got to route 12. Once on route 12, we stopped at a 7-11 for the ATM and some snacks. (Yes, 7-11 is one of the few places guaranteed to have an ATM that can access foreign bank accounts!) We then found the entrance onto 274, but I somehow got turned around and ended up on 274 North instead of 274 South. Of course, I didn't realize it immediately, so we spent the next half hour or so riding as though I knew what I was doing.

Riding on the sidewalk is expected of cyclists in Japanese cities, and really there were many places where the main road was moving extremely fast, and the sidewalk was the only place where we had a prayer of being able to read the signs at leisure. At one point, we saw a woman walking her dog on the sidewalk ahead of us. As we rode up to her, she saw that she was in our way, and then pulled her dog over and then bowed down and apologized to us repeatedly for being in her way!

From Hokkaido

Finally, we rode up to a river that looked familiar, and I realized my mistake. Not wanting to backtrack, we decided that we would try to recover by riding through Oasa. Once onto the side streets it was a relief, as the road took us over tiny bridges and little streams.

In Oasa proper, we stopped at a supermarket to use the rest room, and I spotted a bike shop and walked over with the map, hoping to get some knowledge. There was a road that looked like it went right through the park, and we decided it looked like a very pleasant alternative to all the roads around the park. The shop owner pointed me at the direction of the park, but then said that it was only suitable for mountain bikes. Of course, I've learned over the years to take such declarations with a large sack of salt, so we proceeded to ride to the park and check out their nature center and trail map.

The trail itself was wide with soft soil backed with a little gravel, which was very ridable unless it got very muddy. The sign in front of the trail said (to my Chinese eyes) that typical cars were not allowed. Well, none of us had typical cars (or bicycles), so away we went! As trails go, it wasn't technically challenging, but there were enough mosquitoes and other bugs that kept me moving at a good clip. It was also quite nicely shaded, a respite from the day which had warmed up quite a bit.

Midway through the ride, however, we found the reason for the closure --- the trail was blocked by a fallen tree, so once again portage was required. "You're 2 for 2 now --- every day on this tour we've had to carry our bikes over obstacles!" declared Mark.

By and by, we got to the end of the trail, which even Yana enjoyed. Tired of riding in busy traffic, we opted out of 274 in favor of the country road designated as 1080.

By this time, it was almost 1pm, and after a few kilometers, Yana spotted some cars turning right into a driveway. We followed, and sure enough, that turn off led to a restaurant placed right next to a produce store which served ice-cream. Lunch was an interesting hybrid of Japanese and Western food, all eaten with chopsticks. We followed that up with ice-cream from next door, only to find that the restaurant closed while we were having ice-cream. Japanese lunch places close at 2pm, so if we had pressed on we would have missed lunch altogether.

We turned off onto 337 towards Naganuma, where a buddhist temple caught our attention and we took a quick visit, interrupted only by Brooks losing the cleat covers for his Speedplay cleats and then finding it again. Once onto highway 3, the flat farmlands gave way to gentle hills as we crossed Yubari river. Characteristic of what we would discover about Japanese roads, the climbs were gradual, even subtle, until we hit a brightly lit tunnel, after which we found ourselves at a quiet ski-resort with a convenience store, where we stocked up for tomorrow's ride.

The descent into Yubari was similarly gentle. At the intersection with 452, we made a left into town and then zig-zagged our way into the hills where Yubari Forest Youth Hostel was indicated on the map. Not seeing any signs to the hostel after a good bit of riding, I stopped at a house where a woman was gardening outside and asked her where it was. She ran to find a man who explained (also in Japanese) that it was right around the corner. Sure enough, we had stopped to ask about it not more than 400m away from the entrance to the hostel.

Yubari Forest Youth Hostel looks much more like a country lodge than a youth hostel --- there were 2 log buildings, and the bathroom (as separated from the shower room) had a bath big enough for 2. It amazed me how much they fit into such a small house. The surroundings were all farmland, looking very rural, though the driveways were carefully manicured if you took the time to notice, with trees giving way to flowers that lined the roadside. I was impressed.

If the physical facilities impressed me, however, the food blew us away! We each got a piece of fish on a plate, and then a separately baked fish wrapped in aluminum foil, with salad carefully arranged and presented. One bite into the fish and I was sold --- flavors subtly seeped into my mouth as the fish yielded up juices. I couldn't believe that I was in a country where gourmet cooking was served in its youth hostels. After dinner, the hostess served us tea and then asked if we were alright with Japanese food the next morning? We said, "Sure!" "How about Natto?" she asked. "A little difficult," came my reply. I didn't like Natto any more than any of the others.

The hostel also had a laundry machine and dryer, which we took advantage of, discovering that the washer worked really well, but not the dryer.

Sapporo

From Hokkaido

I woke up to a light drizzle, and stepped out to find that Mark and Yana had gone out for a morning ride to explore the city and take pictures. At breakfast, Brooks, Mark, and Yana, brimming with enthusiasm, declared this weather ride-able. Well, the hotel served breakfast with Natto, so I took the opportunity to teach them how to eat Nori on rice as well as cajoling everyone into a taste of Natto. The look on their faces said it all.

It was a little blustery, and since we had a full day, we bought a day-use pass for the subway (which with its easy to use menu, and English options, was a far cry than my first attempt to negotiate the Munich transit system). We couldn't agree on where to go, however, so Brooks and I ended up exploring the fish market while Mark and Yana went to the Botanical gardens. The sushi was really excellent for the price, and well worth the trip.

From Hokkaido

Brooks wanted to buy some Japanese pens, and I discovered I had forgotten lubricant for my CPAP machine, which led me to a drugstore where I discovered that Google translate did a good job in helping me tell the pharmacist what I wanted.

From Hokkaido

Brooks and I walked around town some more, and then relaxed a bit at the hostel before visiting the Beer Museum for Jingus Kan (Genghis Kahn), the well-known lamb BBQ dish that's a Hokkaido specialty.

From Hokkaido

The museum's style was very cute, full of tiny diaoramas of various parts of beer making, and posters of Sapporo Beer ads all through the decades.

From Hokkaido

Dinner was Ramen for Brooks & I, while Yana and Mark, intrigued by Jingus Kan, went back to the beer garden for it. We regrouped after our respective dinners at the McDonald's for ice cream, and took a final walk through Pole-Town, the Sapporo underground shopping center, before returning to the Youth Hostel to make a phone call for reservations at the next day's accomodations. We then turned in for the night.

Chitose to Sapporo

Between jet-lag and the time it took to put together our bikes, it wasn't until about 11:00am that we had checked out of our hotel and taken the lift down to the surface street. It was drizzling, so I put on my rain cape and everyone else put on their rain gear.

We left the airport in the drizzle, riding across 4 lanes of traffic to get to the exit lane leaving the airport and marked for Sapporo. Within about 10 minutes, the heavy traffic convinced me to ride on the sidewalk that was marked as a bike path, especially since the road went almost immediately under a long tunnel. Fortunately, the rain was relatively warm, so I did not regret leaving my Skoody behind.

As I rode over an overhead bridge, I spotted the Sapporo highway (Number 36) below me. That convinced me to turn everyone around and ride towards the highway on the surface bike path which from the bridge looked like it led directly to Highway 36 rather than the bridge. A couple of false starts later, that bike path dead-ended right into a wire fence. Since it wasn't very tall, I proposed that we lifted our bikes over and climb over the fence:

"We're not even 20 minutes into the tour yet! The airport's still in sight and Piaw's already found something to climb over. We better document this!"

Brooks had his speedplay shoes, which were decidedly unsuitable for such adventure, and decided to take the long way around, meeting us on the other side of the fence. This gave us time to get all three of us over, and for Mark to adjust his brakes and for me to doff my rain cape (since it really was pretty warm) while waiting for him. (The detour around the fence turned out to be incredibly long, as I would discover later)

Riding towards Sapporo, we rode past a Nissin Ramen factory and a Sapporo beer factory before the the traffic got annoying enough to force us to ride on the side walk here and there. I pulled into a mall that had a sports shop, and for 1000 yen, bought an LED light that happened to fit onto my light mount in substitute for my Joystick Maxx which I had left in the charger hanging in my garage. I would discover later that the light was inadequate for any purpose except for being a placebo.

As the rain got heavier, I started getting hungry --- all I had was a Nutrition Bar this morning, and it was inadequate. At the next road side cafe, I looked at the picture menu --- it looked really great, so we went in. It was good to get out of the rain, and I ordered the biggest dish they had and was surprised to find that it came with both noodles and Katsu:

From Hokkaido

I ate quickly and with relish---everyone had told me how expensive Japan was, but this meal blew me away, not only with how tasty and yummy it was (the flavors were extremely delicate, while still being very rich), it was less than $9!

City riding in Sapporo was boring. Not only was the road busy, the rain kept coming on, though never very heavily. Once in Sapporo proper, I saw a sign for a youth hostel. Following it took us to the Sapporo International Youth Hostel, where not only did the staff spoke English, they put us in 2 Japanese style rooms since they weren't busy (they would usually put 4 people in one room).

We took Japanese style baths in the hostel's huge bath --- a Japanese bath is shared --- you take your shower and scrub outside the bath, and only get into the bath to relax, as in a hot tub. Then we went out in search of dinner, though first stopping at the 100 yen store to pick up that most essential of touring gear, the nail clipper. We also got side tracked by Nakajima park right as we crossed the bridge over into Sapporo downtown.

I'm told that Sapporo at night is a pale reflection of nightlife at a major Japanese city, but I definitely suffered a major case of sensory overload by the bright lights, crowds, and smells. In addition, since election day was just a couple of days away, vans with loudspeakers cruised the streets, providing a cacophony of competing political advertising.

From Hokkaido

We never did find Ramen Alley, but we found the new Ramen Alley, and after a bit of browsing, settled at one and had a delicious meal. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by a convenience store to try out some Japanese snacks, including chocolate crusted potato chips.

Brooks had brought his netbook, and took advantage of the free Wifi at the hostel to read e-mail. We didn't know it at the time, but it was the last time we would see internet access on the trip that wasn't tied to my rental phone.

Tatami mats and bedrolls are comfortable if you like sleeping on hard surfaces. Even though our ride wasn't too substantial (45.2km, 121m of climb), we slept early and well.

First day in Hokkaido

20 minutes out from the airport, I find a dead-end, and we end up climbing over the fence to get to the road we actually wanted to ride on. That means we actually are having an adventure!

It was kind of rainy, though, and tomorrow's going to be really bad, so we'll be in Sapporo for 2 nights to wait out the rain and do our touristy things, before heading towards Yubari and Furano.

The food is amazing. I knew I liked Japanese food, but the quality and price has blown me away (yes, cheap!). If you want good food cheap, forget France. Tour Japan!