Give A Dream A Chance

Day 2: Choshi to Mito

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 10:25 Site Administrator
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28 August 2011

Day 2: Choshi to Mito
Distance: 93KM

We woke up early to the sounds of birds and ocean waves. Our bodies ached from head to toes. Any cyclist who has done serious cycling knows that the second day of the cycling us the most painful day. As much as I knew the pain cannot be avoided, I also knew that pain won't last long and you just learn to live with it and eventually it will go away. So with this thoughts we took off vert early.

I was taking the lead and tried to keep average speed to 20KM/HR (which was our target) and we covered fair amount of the ground during the early hours but after a while my head drops and I watch my spinning feet. My knees bob up and down...up and down. I started to talk to myself - keep paddling - don't let up the pace - keep it up. Sometimes for a few minutes, the aches and pains disappear in the rhythm - the burning turns to warm glow.

Between Asahi and Orari, we stop at a grocery store and I literally collapse, exhausted. We bought some instant ramen and had asked store owner to pour hot water and for our surprise  we had pleasant surprise from total stranger. The lady invited us to her living room and offered us a table but we insisted to stay outside in the back of the store and while we were having our ramen she gave us grapes, pickles and two warm cups of teas.

We reenergized ourselves after the lunch and Sam took a lead and them we slowly increased our average speed.

Once again, today we rode along the coast but not so much near yje beach. I thought that there was a bit traffic more than I wished. I was carrying my stuff in a carrier so I had to be bit careful as as cyclists we are sharing the road with others and so we are at the mercy of not only whether, but of every driver on the road. We are in a constant state of vulnerability. We have no roof over my head and no walls to hide behind and no doors to lock.

I was supposed to camp about 10KM before the Mito city but I've decided to ride with Sam to Mito and stay in a hotel at Mito. We reached Mito around 3PM and Sam packed his bike and head back to Tokyo and I got a room right on the train terminal.

At the hotel I met Yatabe san who lived in Canada and she really was very kind and made my rather tiring day a wonderful one. She had called a restaurant for me so I can enjoy Natto (Mito is famous for Natto). We talked a lot about Canada, charity work, traveling, etc. I still having difficulties uploading my blog to Facebook and both Kyo (Yatabe san) and her coworker ( another wonderful person) Tomoko tried to help me out but we couldn't still upload - it could be that message is too long?

Donny

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 10:38
 

Day 1: Chiba to Choshi

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 10:23 Site Administrator
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Cycling to Tohoku
27 August 2011

Day 1: Chiba to Choshi
Distance: 93KM

I was waiting for this day for a while - since the last tour to Osaka via Japan sea I have been longing for get back on the road: to move through the nature, to feel the wind and the cold and the sun on my skin. I’d been seeking this moment, to reconnect with the nature. When I go biking, I enter into a world of my own far away from civilization. I get to enjoy the sun, sky, warm breeze, birds’ call and so on and I think it the closest that I can get to flying.  This helps me rise above my daily commute in crowded train, ignore the clamoring of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature.

My plan (this time) was to follow the same route in 2009 "Ride forA Dream" all the way to Iwaki and deviate there to avoid radiation zone and go via Koriyama through mountains to Sendai and continue cycling along the coast line all the way to Aomori.

However at the 11th hour I had to change the plan mainly because of Sam, who rode with me both in 2009 and 2010.

Sam decided to join me riding on first two days and was an offer I couldn't and wouldn't want to refuse as we have been riding since I arrived in Japan. 

Consequently we change the original plan of going from Tokyo to Mito and decided to avoid city traffic and take train out of the city and cycle in less traffic route.

 We took off on Saturday around 830. We rode upto Tokyo station and took the train to Chiba. At Chiba station we started our journey - start riding  across Chiba prefecture towards  Choshi via Kujikuri.

It was perfect weather for cycling (not so hot and cloudy) and we thought it would rain later on the day but weather remained the same throughout the day. Chiba turned out to be a pleasant surprise soon we realized that we knew very little about Chiba.

At around 3 we reached the coast around Kujikuri and start riding north along the Coast line and we discovered a designated cycling route along the beach. As soon as we reached the beach we both lay down to take a rest and we had very quick power nap.

It was great to relax listing to the sounds of ocean waves - even though we both wished that we could stay there longer, we both knew we had to keep going as we had to reach the destination.

When we reached Choshi it was dark and finding our desired camping point on the beach proved to be bit challenging than we had anticipated. We had to cycle about 10 KMs toward Kimigahama (opposite direction of where we would be heading tomorrow) in the dark.

At around 7PM we located the beach and we decided to have "A" beer before putting our our tent on the beach at near by cafe. The first beer probably one of the best tasting beers we had for a long time and we ended having more than one beer (of course). it really was difficult to get up from the table to walk to the beach to put our tent. After setting the tent we walked to the nearby hotel for onsen.

There is nothing like soaking yourself in an onset (Japanese natural hot spring) after 100KM of cycling ride. By the time we reached to the beach we didn't want anything else but to sleep. Our bodies was in so much pain and I can't think of better way to end the day sleeping on the beach listening to the waves all night.

Donny

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 10:39
 

2011 Ride Intro

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 10:14 Site Administrator
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I was waiting for this day for few weeks (may be more than that).  I've been wanting to get on to my bicycle and just take off so for short period of time and so I can mentally be far away from civilization and  rise above my daily commute in crowded train, ignore the clamoring of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature and myself instead and refresh myself.

My plan (this time) was to follow the same route in 2009 "Ride forA Dream" all the way to Iwaki and deviate there to avoid radiation zone and go via Koriyama through mountains to Sendai and continue cycling along the coast line all the way to Aomori.

However at the 11th hour I had to change the plan mainly because of Sam, who rode with me both in 2009 and 2010. Sam decided to join me riding on first two days and was an offer I couldn't and wouldn't want to refuse as we have been riding since I arrived in Japan.  Consequently we change the original plan of going from Tokyo to Mito and decided to avoid city traffic and take train out of the city and cycle in nature. We took off on Saturday around 830. We rode upto Tokyo station and took the train to Chiba. At Chiba station we started our journey - start riding  across Chiba prefecture towards  Choshi via Kujikuri.

It was perfect weather for cycling (not so hot and cloudy) and we thought it would rain later on the day but weather remained the same throughout the day. Chiba turned out to be a pleasant surprise soon we realized that we knew very little about Chiba.

At around 3 we reached the coast around Kujikuri and start riding north along the Coast line and we discovered a designated cycling route along the beach. As soon as we reached the beach we both lay down to take a rest and we had very quick power nap. It was great to relax listing to the sounds of ocean waves - even though we both wished that we could stay there longer, we both knew we had to keep going as we had to reach the destination.

When we reached Choshi it was dark and finding our desired camping point on the beach proved to be bit challenging than we had anticipated.

We had to cycle about 10 KMs toward Kimigahama (opposite direction of where we would be heading tomorrow) in the dark.

At around 7PM we located the beach and we decided to have "A" beer before putting our our tent on the beach at near by cafe. The first beer probably one of the best tasting beers we had for a long time and we ended having more than one beer (of course). it really was difficult to get up from the table to walk to the beach to put our tent. After setting the tent we walked to the nearby hotel for onsen.

There is nothing like soaking yourself in an onset (Japanese natural hot spring) after 100KM of cycling ride. By the time we reached to the beach we didn't want anything else but to sleep. Our bodies was in so much pain and I can't think of better way to end the day sleeping on the beach listening to the waves all night.

Donny

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 10:21
 

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