Woke up to the sound of rain hammering our tent and grudgingly pealed ourselves out of our sleeping bags. Its difficult to break camp in the rain, trying to keep wet gear from contaminating dry stuff. Big pain in the ass. We pedaled down to a nearby gas station in rain jackets to review our maps in a dry place- and to sip some hot coffee of course. We had a very general route plan for the next few days: head towards Nagano, which is a good distance through the Japan Alps. Telling people we were heading to Nagano by bicycle invariably elicited laughter and a shake of the head. Silly Americans. Little did they know our actual destination was not Nagano but Okinawa, over a thousand miles away.
For this day we had no set goal. We weren`t super eager to ride in the rain so we figured we would just ride until we didn`t feel like riding anymore. So we cast off our rain gear and resigned ourselves to being wet. Once we got going our moods lifted and the rain stopped bothering us. It even began to feel good in a peculiar one thousand needles stabbing you in the face kind of way.
As we stopped now and again to check the map we became encouraged. We were moving much faster than we thought we would given that it was entirely uphill. Around lunchtime the rain was still coming down and we stopped to eat under the thatched canopy of a roadside produce stand. An old man there gave us each a a fruit that I`d never had before. It was part tomato part orange- pretty tasty. We thanked him and rode on. We passed some of the most beautiful scenery we had yet seen. All Misty mountains and huge river gorges with granite crags on either side, wooden bridges getting us across. We were feeling invincible riding through this landscape at 40 mph and soaked to the bone with sweat and rain.
The incline we had been steadily moving up all day was leading to Shinshu Pass, an intimidating high point along our route, the presence of which had been a nagging weight in the back of my mind. We hadn`t even expected to be dealing with the pass today. But around 3pm we realized we had covered a lot of ground and there was a chance we could make it over the pass before nightfall. Feeling emboldened and energized by our progress, we decided to go for it. But the hills we encountered were like none we had yet seen. They seemed to be nearly vertical. In my lowest gear I was having trouble pedaling and i had to stop frequently to regain the energy to continue. We were starting to lose day light and I had no idea how much farther it was to the top. I started to wonder if this was such a good idea. The idea of turning back and finding a place to camp at a lower altitude was becoming more and more desirable. Perhaps stupidly, we pushed on. My head was pounding and my legs were on fire. Seeing the crest of the pass was like a mirage. It took nearly everything we had to give but we made it. Feeling weightless, we rolled down the other side without pedaling, letting the lactic acid take over our legs. I felt less triumphant than cold, wet and exhausted. The hard part was over but I had hit a wall. Its a strange feeling when your body starts to utterly shut down. We were both light-headed and weak and had to stop to eat a granola bar. We continued on desperately hoping for a dry bed and a warm meal which we were lucky enough to find. We ate dinner and drank some coffee but no amount of food or drink was going to make us feel good. We felt like shit and needed sleep. We rented a Japanese style room with a straw tatami mat and crashed hard on the floor knowing that Shinshu Pass was behind us.
For this day we had no set goal. We weren`t super eager to ride in the rain so we figured we would just ride until we didn`t feel like riding anymore. So we cast off our rain gear and resigned ourselves to being wet. Once we got going our moods lifted and the rain stopped bothering us. It even began to feel good in a peculiar one thousand needles stabbing you in the face kind of way.
As we stopped now and again to check the map we became encouraged. We were moving much faster than we thought we would given that it was entirely uphill. Around lunchtime the rain was still coming down and we stopped to eat under the thatched canopy of a roadside produce stand. An old man there gave us each a a fruit that I`d never had before. It was part tomato part orange- pretty tasty. We thanked him and rode on. We passed some of the most beautiful scenery we had yet seen. All Misty mountains and huge river gorges with granite crags on either side, wooden bridges getting us across. We were feeling invincible riding through this landscape at 40 mph and soaked to the bone with sweat and rain.
The incline we had been steadily moving up all day was leading to Shinshu Pass, an intimidating high point along our route, the presence of which had been a nagging weight in the back of my mind. We hadn`t even expected to be dealing with the pass today. But around 3pm we realized we had covered a lot of ground and there was a chance we could make it over the pass before nightfall. Feeling emboldened and energized by our progress, we decided to go for it. But the hills we encountered were like none we had yet seen. They seemed to be nearly vertical. In my lowest gear I was having trouble pedaling and i had to stop frequently to regain the energy to continue. We were starting to lose day light and I had no idea how much farther it was to the top. I started to wonder if this was such a good idea. The idea of turning back and finding a place to camp at a lower altitude was becoming more and more desirable. Perhaps stupidly, we pushed on. My head was pounding and my legs were on fire. Seeing the crest of the pass was like a mirage. It took nearly everything we had to give but we made it. Feeling weightless, we rolled down the other side without pedaling, letting the lactic acid take over our legs. I felt less triumphant than cold, wet and exhausted. The hard part was over but I had hit a wall. Its a strange feeling when your body starts to utterly shut down. We were both light-headed and weak and had to stop to eat a granola bar. We continued on desperately hoping for a dry bed and a warm meal which we were lucky enough to find. We ate dinner and drank some coffee but no amount of food or drink was going to make us feel good. We felt like shit and needed sleep. We rented a Japanese style room with a straw tatami mat and crashed hard on the floor knowing that Shinshu Pass was behind us.
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