May 22, 2011

Today was quite full, Joan worked two shifts, she and Stone had a video call with her parents and Aunt and Uncle, I got in a bike ride around the lake and Stone and I took our first ride in the new to us family truckster.

I had been looking at potential routes for rides that included some of the local mountains, and of course mountain passes.  I had a general idea of the route I wanted to follow - so we headed out.  The roads leading over the first pass were gentle in grade (less than ten percent) and had enough room for cars to get around a cyclist - so check, route is approved.  Basically, I followed two roads over passes to get to a section of the Northern coastline.  We took a left to head West in search of the smaller road that I wanted to cross back on.  After getting a bit lost and doubling back a few times I realized we were passing over the road on a higher elevated road.

After wiggling through the tiny town the road emerged from, I found the path I was looking for and quickly got excited - the map indicated it would be smaller and twisty-er ... little did I know it turned to gravel!  Hooray a gravel road that connected the coasts - finally a challenging place to bring my mountain-bike.  After a couple of splits I came to a gate.  I have yet to learn much Japanese, and all I could surmise was that the pass was still closed.  However, if I understood the sign correctly, it should be open in a few days.

Obviously I needed a new route, as I did not feel like doubling back - so a quick check of the map, and we continue West along the coastline toward the tip of the island.  The road followed the curvature of the mountains as they plunged into the Pacific ... and every few hundred meters there were homes tucked into the rock at sea level.  We came to the end - literally, and headed over the pass as opposed to heading to the fishing village on the point.

This is where the drive got very interesting ... the pass was gated as well - and open - starting from sea level we proceeded up at an average gradient of 10% with some sections easily in the 15% gradient variety.  I stopped counting switchbacks as we entered the cloud-bank that had covered the tops of the peaks.  Just below the pass on the decent (in the direction I was going) there was a parking area that would on a clear day have a stunning view; however, we were in the clouds and could see only a few hundred meters.  The decent was equally as steep and twisty and I did get to a turnout point to snap a few photos just below the clouds.

We made it to the bottom without incident and proceeded down the coastline and back to the house.  I am already beginning to plot and plan to get myself in good enough shape to get over the pass ... and I am really glad the "geared" road bike will be here shortly!

Images here.

Tootles,