At a market I stopped at for some lunch on day 3, they set up a chair inside in front of the air con. I asked if I could wash the peach I bought, and the wife whisked it away, bring it back peeled. She also brought a big glass of tea with lots of ice.

They had a shy 2 year old watching me, but he always froze when I said hello. As I left, his mum brought him up to me, and he says in a tiny voice, "ganbatte" (good luck). He'd obviously been coached his mum. Cutest thing ever!

To be fair, there has been more good than bad. So many people have been kind and supportive and just plain lovely.

There was the lady who let me hang out in her noodle shop during my first mountain climb, even though I didnt buy anything. Could barely understand a word of her dialect, but super friendly. A customer really boosted my spirits by telling me I was almost at the top.

Kids have waved from trucks, students have given directions, and one more story next message..

For a supposedlyreserved people, Japan sure has its share of uncouth hicks. Some drunk 30 year old witch just tried to kancho me with her umbrella.

A kancho is a 'joke' kindergardeners usually pull, where they jam their index fingers up someone's butt. Pretty dumb for an adult to do, but hey, I'm a foreigner so its funny!

Not as bad as the drunk guy on the ferry yesterday peeing in the car hold in front of me and later trying to grab my balls, I suppose.

Life sure is tough in the middle of a typhoon. Been to two onsens, toured a beer factory, had a mighty fine dark beer, and got a foot/leg massage. Yes, life is tough here in Matsuyama.

That said, I needed this more than a ride through constant rain and heavy winds, while going over mountains.

The worst is yet to come. Should hit in an hour or two, prolly when I go for food.

Typoon is bigger than I thought Day of rest for me. Golly, and Dogo Onsen right by my hotel. Whatever shall I do today？

I'm pretty sure the weather reports are saying the typoon's center will cross over the entire prefecture, hitting full on at about 6 PM. This is one big typhoon!

Do I do the crazy thing and try to make it to the next town？ I feel the energy to go, but I know it's not very sensible.

A typhoon is headed to Shikoku. I may not be leaving my hotel tomorrow. Whee. Wonder If the trains will still be running...

I really struggled at first- I was getting pretty baked. But the hill wasn't very big, so I soon got to the top.

Doing that and the speedy descent really woke up my legs, and it was easy riding the rest of the way into Beppu.

There, I found a ferry to Shikoku. On board I met a fellow cyclist, from Tokyo. We chatted for a bit and biked through town together. Very fun, unlike the ferry, which ended with some drunk man shouting bad English at me, and peeing on the car deck.

Now a poll for you, dear readers! Should I:

1. Cycle back to Usa Shrine, checking out the festival going on, then catch a train to Beppu, aiming for the 4:30 ferry to Matsuyama, or

2. Cycle around Futagosan Peninsula and on to Beppu (98 kms) over two days, then ferry to Shikoku, and taking lots of trains eastwards.

I want to try and get to Okayama by the 2nd... need to make up for the lost day at the start to do so.

Smooth ridng all the way to Usa, which turned out be smaller than I thought. The lone hotel looked nasty, it creeped out for some reason.

So on I went, in search of someplace better. 10 kms down the line, I found one. It has a fake church attached so you can have a western style wedding there. Classy! On the plus side, I sleep in a double bed tonight.

So, actual cycling began at the hottest point of the day. Not clever, especially since the road was an 8 km ascent up to a 400m height. My first major hill with bags, and it nearly killed me. I took 2 major stops, many breaks, and walked a fair amount of the way.

At the top was a tunnel, which was good cause I got out of the sun! It was all downhill - I have a new top speed.

At the bottom I found a cycling road! That was gorgeous riding, riverside or through farmland.

Day 3
Goal: Usa
Actual destination: Jungotakada

Estimated distance: 68.5 kms
Distance traveled: 74.9

Average speed: 18.14

Mountains: 1, 400m (winner: Eric by a hair)
Tunnels: ~14 (all but one on a cycling road I found)


I didn't leave Hita until about noon. Some dumb kid ran into my bike yesterday, apparently direbtly into my front disc brake, as it was bent up. I also visited a hilltop shrine, and cycled along with the father of one of the local JETs!

Day 2
Goal: Hita (made it!)

Estimated distance: 66 kms
Actual distance: 72.43 kms (bit of wandering around)

Average speed: 18.22 overall (since km 1 on my odometer, tough to raise it!)
Ride Time: 3h 52m
Travel time: about 7 hours(!)

Mountains: 2 nice, easy ascents; 2 most excellent descents.
Tunnels: 0 (hurrah!)


I must admit, I felt terrible this morning. I was sore, I was tired and bleary, and I wanted to quit. I think it's the constant starting and stopping on busy roads that really drags me down. From Yanagawa to Kurume, I was shockingly slow, two hours to go 20 kms. Bleah!

Once I got out of Kurume though, I got into farm land, and it was smooth sailing. In plains areas like this one, they always seem to do the same thing, have the main road close to the mountains on one side, have it practically straight a light maybe every few kilometres. I love country riding, oh yes. And for once, I got through Kurume without incident! ...except for a really terrible lunch.

Anyways, I really picked up the pace, got a rhythm going, and I felt very good indeed, all the way in to Hita. The opposite of yesterday, where I was good in the morning, and terrible in the evening. The heat did not help. I was stopping constantly just to get in some shade or into somewhere air conditioned. Between 12 and 2 I just wanted to crawl somewhere and sleep. Man it was hot.

The first thing I saw getting in to Hita proper was an 'urban pyramid', which I am convinced every city must have. Yes, let's make a pachinko parlour with an Egyptian theme, and attach a stone pyramid in which there is an arcade. Classy.

Having some technical difficulties. Kind of worrisome so soon on the trip. My front bag holder is broken, in a way in which the brace can't be removed, meaning I can't fix the problem. It slides down every so often to rest on my brakes. Not good. I've created a jury rig, but not a very good one. I will try to make something better tomorrow. It's understandably hard to get it to stay in place, with all the bouncing around I'm doing. Japanese roads are terrible. If you're on the sidewalk, you have to deal with constant dips up and down (one was so severe it launched my front bag off my bike). If you're on the road, you have to worry about trucks, and run over the recessed drainage grates, which causes your bike to shake violently, especially if you're carrying a lot of stuff. I'll persevere, though I may be sending some of my stuff home earlier than I'd planned. Too much weight...

Writing this from an internet cafe. I had some requests for changes to the page. You can now all comment on my entries! Not that I can read these comments until well after I arrive home, but hey... had to sign up for a member's card, even though I'm just using it for one day for one hour. Japan is obcessed with member's cards. The place is pretty swank, with cubicles for internet use, or playstation 2, or just relaxing. There's a book & DVD room you can grab stuff from, you can even get food delivered to your cubicle! There's a rack of blankets and pillows near the entrance. I fear many a geek lives in this place.

Anyways, sorry for the verbosity. Maybe it's better when I use my cell phone and am restricted to 500 letters. :) Off to my hotel and sleep!

About 1/3 of the way to today's destination, Hita. Been quite hot, so it's nice to stop and rest, even if it is in Kurume.

Spent the morning looking around Yanagawa. I didn't ride on a boat in the canal, but I did ride alongside them for an hour or so. There are tons of temples in town, but the odd thing was that a good number of them had play areas in their grounds, and two seemed to have kinergardens attached. Saw a school out doing morning exercises. Cute!

Went out to get some dinner, found a very nice noodle place. Food was excellent, with some of the most potent wasabi I've ever had. Nasal exploion!

The proprietor was super nice. After telling him I had ridden from Kumamoto, he started giving me a shoulder/back massage. Violent but oh so enjoyable. Before I left, he offered another one. I love the country!

Going was a lot harder than I planned. Didn't even leave until noon. Too many things to do!

First 3/4 of trip was okay, but I lost hope or something while try to find that hostel I couldn't stay at. My hopeless search through Yanagawa didn't help either. (Completly missed downtown the first time through)

Yanagawa seems nice. Its dominated by a large series of temples, and is surrounded by a canal you can get ridden around. If they take bikes, I'll do it. No bus back..

Day 1
Goal: Setaka
Actual destination: Yanagawa

Estimated distance: 60 kms
Distance traveled: 88.17 kms

Average speed: 18.18 kms

Mountains: 3 major hills
Tunnels: 0


Looking at a list of youth hostels, I found one not too far off my planned trip. So, instead of coming to Yanagawa in the first place, I went to Setaka and found out it was full in person. Go me.

On the plus side, I went past lots of gorgeous farm land. Can't belieive all the dragonflies around.

TRIP DELAYED A DAY. HAD SOME LAST MINUTE PAPERWORK TO DO. HELPS TO HAVE A PASSPORT THAT ISNT EXPIRED.

ALL GOOD NOW THO, AND READY TO ROLL... AFTER A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP.