Monthly Archives: August 2013

This is why I love taking the bike shopping in Hiroshima

It is views like these that make shopping trips to Hiroshima so much fun.

A dam nice view
A dam nice view

Sure, I could make it Hiroshima in just over an hour on the highway, but why take the highway when I can make it in just over two hours while enjoying views like these?

Shooting from the Saddle

Sometime when riding the focus becomes too much on the process, whether it be the technique or the speed, and not enough on the surroundings. It was for this reason that on this day I strapped my DSLR around my neck and decided to take a nice leisurely ride among the rivers and mountains between the Japan Sea and Hiroshima prefecture.

Off-season at Osa Ski resort

Off-season at Osa Ski resort

The ride started around 13:00, and it was about 30℃ (85℉ for you Americans) and 75% humidity. Not a great time to be following good ATGATT philosophy, but at least all of my gear is well vented. The gear actually does a good job of keeping the sun off of me, while allowing the wind in, so it is actually rather comfortable. (I feel the need to state this, as when people see me in my full riding gear under the blazing sun the first thing they ask is “aren’t you hot in there?”).

I followed route 5 from Hamada through Kanagi and then Asahi, where  the road opened up offering a beautiful view of rice fields in the foreground with green mountains to the rear. (This is where I must mention that taking photos with a DSLR while wearing riding gloves and a modular helmet is an interesting challenge, and not exactly conducive to Ansel Adams quality photos…). From there the route followed along a small river, where I spotted a few fishermen out catching dinner. It was just beyond this point that I stopped at a curve in the road which passed around a rather large boulder. This boulder looked more like a mountain in miniature, and it was located right where the river took a bend. I found a great spot to sit and watch the river flow towards me before it passed off to my right. If it weren’t for the cheeky bastard who had decided this was a good spot to burn his PET bottle collection I would have stayed longer, but I have filed that spot away as a nice place to take lunch in the future.

It was from here that the road led me into Mizuho. The entrance into Mizuho was marked by the sudden appearance of a nicely repurposed gondola. As the town is renowned for its skiiing at Mizuho Highlands, I found the novel use of the worn gondola quite fitting. This was not the last of these I saw either, so I imagine that most of the bus stops in the area are the same. After passing through Mizuho I entered into the fun little section of route 5 that heads into Oasa. As the road gets quite twisty and narrow there I did not stop to take any photos. It would make for a nice ride video sometime though, if I ever get a camera mounted on the bike…

Coming out of the twisties I found myself looking over another field of rice; this one showing signs of sagging and getting heavier with rice. It was after passing through this valley that I reached Hiroshima prefecture, and therefor the halfway point of my daytrip. Turning from route 5 to route 79, I started my return home, putting the sun to my back. 79 led to 40, and then on to 186, which would lead me right back home. I always enjoy riding 186, and it is one of the highlighted routes in the Chugoku/Shikoku Touring Mapple. It is a nice winding road, with some nice views of the Shimane countryside. I have often found myself wishing I had a camera, or the time to slow down and appreciate the road more, so this day was my chance. So it was that I finally took a photo of the van/shed that is always one of my favorite landmarks on the road. I wonder, was the roof put on before or after the van was put out to pasture? Either way, it seems to make a nice spot to store things…

Passing along through another winding section of 186, and then to the more open area, I came to the spot where the road looks down upon a beautiful river. I have always viewed this as I passed by at around 70 kph (45 mph for the Americans out there…), so it was nice to pull over and snap a picture. I found that by having the camera focus on the foreground I was able to more accurately replicate the way I usually see it… Just down the road a bit I decided to turn left down a dirt track, which turned out to be my first off-road experience with this bike, and see if I could get a better view of the river. I did not snap any keepers, but I did quite enjoy riding down a grass two-track road for a while. I ended up doing a three-point turnaround after a few kilometers, as you never know how deep into the mountains some of these roads go, or where they will come out for that matter. It was just as I completed the turnaround that I spotted the large black snake racing away from my foot. I wonder if I stepped on him. I like to think that my riding boots are fang-proof, but I don’t feel the need to test that theory any time soon.

After my off-road adventure, I took one last stop off at the Osa ski resort. I took the chance to stretch my legs, hydrate, and watch a few old men play miniature golf in the shadow of the now green ski slopes. This is where I took the photo at the head of this post, and where the camera was put away. Unfortunately, it was at this point that time caught up with me, as my son’s soccer practice was coming to an end and I had to rush home to pick him up. So, while my leisurely ride with my DSLR ended with a bit of a mad rush home, I would have to say that I highly recommend riding with a DSLR around your neck. It is a reminder to keep it slow, as any excessive speed would lead to your camera swinging wildly about you, and helps to keep your focus on scanning the surroundings for interesting things. Overall, it was a great way to slow down and enjoy the ride.

Touring with Taiga

Ever since I decided to buy a bike last summer, my son and I have been talking about touring together. Due to some complications with transferring my motorcycle license from the USA to Japan, I was not able to ride with a passenger until August 1st; approximately eight months after I brought home the bike.

So it was that  on August 2nd Taiga and I saddled up for our first ride together up the coast to the city of Oda. We spent the night there at a friends new house, and walked downtown to enjoy a local festival. Beer, paper lanterns, and oddly enough, hula dancers.

It rained through the night, and on through the early morning, so we relaxed in our friends’ new kitchen enjoying coffee and good company until the skies cleared up. Around noontime the grey skies were replaced by blue, and Taiga and I rushed to put on our gear and get on the road. The plan for the day was to head inland and do a lap around Mt. Sanbe, and then take the inland route home southwest through the mountains and along the rivers.

The Ride Home
The Ride Home

(The  map of our ride to the right is from an app on my iPhone called PlaceMe. Basically, it uses your phone’s GPS to drop a pin anyplace you stay for more than 5 minutes each day. Not a great app to keep on your phone if you are cheating on your spouse, but it is very handy for logging your stops while touring.)

We hopped on the bike and chose a route in Google Maps that would bring us in a loop around the mountain, allowing us to meet the rest of the group at Sanbe Burger about 45 minutes later for lunch. The first 25 minutes went smoothly, as we followed a winding route around the base of the mountain, but then we had to take a small detour to take the first photo below. It seems that the rain the night previous had washed out our route. No worries. A quick photo stop and then we were able to get back on the route a couple hundred meters down the road. We then continued on for another ten minutes before the skies opened up and unleashed on us. It was like Zeus’s hot tub overflowed, as it just hammered down on us for about five minutes. After that, it was back to blue skies, but now Taiga and I were riding along in wet clothes… As Pooh would say, “Oh, bother”.

To add insult to injury, we arrived at Sanbe Burger moments after the rest of the group only to find that they were sold out of burgers for the day… Seeing as there were no burgers, and we were standing around feeling damp, we decided to get back on the bike and let the wind dry us off a bit. We stopped off at the Sanbe Dam to take some dam photos and watch the dam fountain. We had some dam father-and-son fun, and decided to get back on the dam road.

We didn’t stop for a while after our dam break, as we were really enjoying the cooling sensation of the warm breeze drying our clothes as we wound our way through the back roads of Shimane. Eventually we connected up with route 261 along the Gonogawa river, which is one of my favorite roads in the area. We were enjoying the gentle curves of the road, perhaps a bit too much so, when I spotted a police car coming from the other direction. I slowed down just in case, but he banged a u-turn and pulled in about 500 meters behind us. (Can you imagine how pissed my wife would be if I were to get busted for speeding with my son on the back the bike on our first trip together? I certainly can…) So as I traveled along at a strategically selected three km/h above the speed limit, keeping one eye on the mirrors to see what his intentions were, I had just noticed that he had turned on his party lights when Taiga’s voice came over the communication system.

“Daddy! Look! Monkeys!”

Yes, there were two Japanese monkeys crossing the road right in front of us. A moment of panic about running over a monkey, and then the comforting realization that the officer must have turned around to check on the monkeys instead of me. Saved by the monkeys…

Since we had missed out on Sanbe Burgers earlier, and as it was nearly approaching dinner time, we decided to stop messing about with monkeys and head to the Mos Burger at Yuhi Park. Overall, not too bad for Taiga’s first overnight bike trip. I am looking forward to our first moto-camping  trip to Akiyoshidai soon…  I’ll keep you posted. 😉

(This post has been post-dated to match the actual dates of the trip.)