Leg Amputation

Today I finally after much effort completed my cycle trip. Today was probably the hardest of them all but that probably just makes it all the more worth it, right.

I started today off with an early start having already decided to do parkrun in Otsu. I planned the route around doing this months ago so by this point I couldn’t let old me down and had to go for the run, even if I knew I was going to pay for it later. The run was nice and the sun was out and shining, making the “Sunshine Beach” parkrun really work for its name.

After parkrun I headed back to the hotel which was across the road to pack the panniers for one last time. Today was going to be a long day and there was going to be some hills so I was not so excited.

I hopped on the bike and started pedalling away. I stopped in at a konbini for some water and a sandwich, a daily classic, and one of the guys standing outside started admiring my bike and we had a quick chat. Unfortunately he could understand everything I was saying except for the fact that the bike was rented and not mine, so he thought I had a really nice bike, maybe that’s not so bad.

As I rode off I encountered my first hill pretty quickly. I tried my best to ride up it, I really did, but after a few hundred metres I decided to just walk the bike instead. I did this for all of the hills today. My legs weren’t starting to get really tired and the run this morning didn’t help.

The downhills were nice, and I got to catch up on some time I lost by walking and I soon found myself in Kyoto where it was just a gentle descent all the way back to Osaka. At this point I relaxed a little and just cruised back along the rivers, though I still had a couple points where I just needed to get off the bike.

After some tremendous effort I made it back to Osaka, head straight for the bike rental store and stopped my watch for the last time. It was nice seeing the totals for the trip being added up for the last time and seeing how far I’d ridden.

Once I dropped off the bike I was headed immediately for Fukuoka where the rest of the devhouse group would be, trying their absolute best to knock down the dylandrinks.devhou.se counter.

With the luck I have, I made it to the bar where the group was when they were only 2 drinks away from resetting the counter completely. I was honestly proud of how far they had moved the needle in just a few days but I wasn’t going to let them have it.

We went and had dinner at some sit down stalls along the river before heading to the Airbnb for the night.

My whole body was tired and I was very keen to get some rest. I think even though the cycle absolutely killed me and there were a couple of stressful moments where I was trying to fix the flats I was getting, overall the cycle was fun and I would love to do it again sometime with some company. The sights were absolutely delightful and I really enjoyed riding through of the small villages, farms, mountains, and along the lake.

Back on the road

Yesterday was a rest day because I bailed on previous plans to head to Tsuruga so was instead now in Takashima for two nights. I also needed to buy more spare tubes thanks to the flats I got the day before. My legs were quite thankful for the rest day as they are starting to feel quite heavy and tired.

I knew today was going to be a long day, although it was going to be quite flat, so the plan was to just head out and slog out the distance. The ride started out riding through the last of the farms and villages that I would experience before eventually heading back into civilisation where it felt comparatively like I was in the middle of the city.

I made a brief stop for lunch and kept on my way. As I headed down the lake eventually I caught sight of the Prince hotel in Otsu where I would be staying tonight, but this marked my final stretch around the lake because this is where I started from 5 days ago. It felt a little surreal.

As I was looking out over the lake earlier in the morning, the lake is so large that with some mild fog I couldn’t see the other side of the lake at all, it was just a blur. Now at the end of the day I had made it the whole way around. It almost felt like for a moment that I never left Otsu and it was all just a dream.

I finally made it to the hotel after much relief and checked in for the night, followed by a nice bowl of ramen and gyoza to tie off the day.

Stranded in Takashima

Today has been almost the opposite experience to what I had days ago. The day had started well with an early wake up and strolling ride through the farms and villages of the quiet Nagahama as I took the 5k ride to the nearest konbini. I stocked up on some more water and grabbed myself some breakfast before heading back.

I had finally got the camera working I had thought so I was excited to get back on the road and start filming the adventures. There was no one else at the guesthouse except for me so I just packed my bags and sent the host a message saying I had left. I headed off for the mountains and was having such a peaceful and joyous ride that I had forgotten to start my watch. If it wasn’t for the power save notification I don’t think I would have ever noticed.

I wasn’t too mad about the climbs today for some reason, I just felt good. By the time I made it to the top I was met with a beautiful tunnel to ride through, and after exiting to a gorgeous view over the lake and mountains as I left the mouth of the tunnel it was a straight descent back down, just letting the bike do the work, wind blowing through my hair and just taking in all the scenery.

After making it through some more tunnels, some more sights of the plains, and one more big climb, I met some monkeys on the road. I passed one and almost went to stop to take a photo but it started yelling at me so I quickly rode off. There was some more up ahead so I stopped with some distance between us so I could take some photos of them, not before another monkey started coming from behind and chasing me. I quickly got back on the bide and rode for dear life.

Today’s ride was rather short and I was in Takashima well before I needed to check in so I decided to go and see what else was in the area. I could see a nice avenue on maps and the photos looked really pretty so I headed off in that direction.

That’s where the day went sour. After riding off for about 10 minutes, I felt something off with me wheels and noticed my back tyre had gone flat. Again. I wasn’t too worried because I had just bought two spares yesterday so I could just replace this one and still have one spare, the only issue that I thought might happen was the spare that I had bought was a size too small because it was the only ones they had in stock but I thought it would be fine enough.

With plenty experience now under my belt I replace the tube with ease, not without the help of monkey, and was back on my way in no time. No longer than 2 minutes later I hear a POP and the back tyre was flat again. Knowing the other spare I had was the same size I figured this was just fate and the tyre wasn’t meant to be. It was nearing time for check-in so I just made the walk of shame to the accommodation and I would figure out what I would do later.

By chance because I had bailed on Tsuruga and the north shore where I was meant to be tonight it meant I would be in Takashima now for 2 nights, and I had also booked reasonably close to a train station, so I figured that I could just spend my day off training to a city where I could go to another bike shop and buy more tubes, this tome the right size though.

After dumping the bike, and going for a stroll along the beachfront to clear my thoughts, I checked into the accommodation and made a plan to go into Kyoto tomorrow and visit one of the large shops, and if that doesn’t work out then I just train back to Osaka and take the bike back, but either way I think I have a way out some I’m not completely stranded. Or so I hope.

Ah, the serenity!

Today can best be described serenity. Not only because the farms, plains, mountains, and the lake surrounding me were all beautiful and peaceful, but I stopped in to purchase two spare inner tubes so I was mentally at peace as well! Today I discovered the true peacefulness Japan’s countryside has to offer, seemingly leaving civilisation altogether.

This morning started out quite calm. Unlike yesterday I had gotten up early enough to stop into Lawson to buy a quick breakfast and stock up some water for the ride, a lesson harshly learnt before. There was no rain, but the sun wasn’t burning down either so I was looking to a rather calm ride without needing to worry about the weather too much.

I set out back down the country road I had come in on yesterday and found myself back on the Biwaichi path at the same point I had departed at. I’m making a conscious effort to return to the path at least where I had left so that by the time I complete my ride I will have completed the entire path without any points missed.

I follow the path back along the lakeside and already had my first place to stop in mind. I wanted to purchase some replacement inner tubes for the bike because after losing my spare yesterday I was anxious that I would get another flat but this time I would be stranded, and this could happen when I’m nowhere near a town to get it fixed.

As I was heading towards Hikone, the next big town, I started seeing signs for the Hikone Castle and thought it might be nice to start stopping into places along my ride rather than just travelling between towns and not seeing anything. I rode into town, following the signs into the castle and was surprised that the road went into the castle walls and I could ride within the walls, it was pretty surreal.

Boy, the climb up to the top of the castle which sits at the top of Hikone was absolutely worth it, but I spent the whole way up praying this was case because the legs are starting to tire and they weren’t happy. I got some nice photos of the castle and of the landscape surrounding and it was all so pretty seeing the big town and the mountains and lake surrounding.

After the castle I went and picked up my tubes from the local bike shop. The guy there was really nice and wished me good luck on the rest of my ride.

Back onto Biwaichi there wasn’t much along the rest of the journey. The towns, the people, and civilisation had started to disappear as I started to reach the depths of the countryside of Japan. Little did I know at the time but this would be the last time I would see a konbini without making a detour from the path. The rest of the ride was rather meditative and filled with either silence or me just singing some absolute bangers to myself.

It was about an hour and half of just farms, the lake, and some small villages along the way. I eventually made it to my guesthouse for the night, but before checking in made a 10-minute ride to the nearest 7-eleven because I worry sometimes they lock guesthouses and I might have a nap that takes too long. Luckily I have the whole house to myself where I’m staying so I don’t have to worry about this, also there’s no lock on the door anyway.

It’s cozy here, and I think that’s how I’d described most of the day, at least after leaving Hikone. Tomorrow I look forward to a shorter ride, and I think I travel though some more parks and greens-paces.

The Plains of Shiga

This morning I woke up and had been dreading getting up and leaving since last night. I had gotten a puncture while I was strolling along the lake’s edge and after walking the bike back and placing in garage I knew I would have to fix it in the morning. The garage was small, and the guesthouse was small and intimate so I decided to just checkout and I would fix it before stating my ride.

Even last night I had dreamt that my other tyre went flat and I was panicking. When I woke up it was also raining, which the weather had told me the week would be dry, so I spent the start of my day hungry, wet, and trying to change the back tyre of my bike under some small shade in the park. I eventually got it all fixed and was on my way.

The first part of my ride I accidentally made a small detour but was back in track in no time and could now follow the Biwaichi trail which follows the whole lake around with a painted bike path on the road and on the path. I prefer road riding than to being on the path because the road is generally better maintained and flatter, and I can go faster on the road without worrying about pedestrians.

Shortly into my ride though I was facing headwinds that felt like they were going at a million miles per hour. It was so bad that I witnessed a couple in front of my get blown over on their bikes and into the side railing. It was funny, but not really. I asked if they were okay and they said yes and got back up and on their way.

I eventually moved onto the path because the wind was so strong and I was riding directly against me that I was riding at less than half the speed I normally ride at. I was having a bad time. I decided in this moment that I would bail on my plans to ride to the north shore in a couple days and I would just stick to Lake Biwa where I wouldn’t have to encounter any hills.

The fast moving winds did start to calm down, and I started to head in a direction that was at least not straight into the wind. I came up to a point where I could follow the scenic path around the lake and through some tourist spots or just follow Biwaichi directly inland. I decided to go inland because at this point I was just tired and didn’t care for any scenic views.

But this was definitely the better decision. I rode up one hill, which I thought there wouldn’t be any, and was tired again once at the top. However as soon as I started rolling down that hill, I was met with the most beautiful scenery looking over the plains and farms that were surrounded by hills. It was truly in awe.

I stopped a view times along here to take some photos, and had to tell myself that I’d taken them all and just keep going because I couldn’t keep stopping so much. I eventually found my way to the road that would lead me to my next destination and after I turned the wind was pushing me down the road and I felt so energised by the scenes and the help of the wind.

I was going so fast. For what had started as such a bad day with what felt like everything going wrong, my mind had changed completely by the end of the day and I was so happy. I checked into my hotel for the night which was in a container, and went and got some dinner for the night.

The Mighty Hills of Otanacho

Today was the first day of my Lake Biwa bicycle adventure. I woke up nice and early, eager to back on the bike and set off towards Ōtsu.

I first picked my bike up, the lady at the shop was so lovely, we were talking how the weather will be very good which is a change from all the rain there has been recently. We almost forgot my helmet but luckily she remembered just as I was leaving and called me back.

I quickly went back to the hotel to transfer all of my stuff into the panniers and then set off on my way. I wanted to first head to the western shore of Osaka so that I could say I rode from each side of the country, but I started to get lost and preferred to conserve enter early in the trip so I just started heading to Ōtsu.

I had forgotten to download Japanese maps before I had set off, so I had no good way to guide me other than checking my phone, but this would be too finicky so I decided to just vibe it instead.

I followed the Yodogawa river as this would take me to Kyoto at least, and I was mostly correct. My Strava plan had me following the south side of the lake, but I had ended up on the north side, figuring it’s the same river in the same direction I figured it’d be okay.

It was not okay. The path that I had been following eventually just ended and I was dumped on the local streets to figure out myself. Fortunately there were signs to Ōtsu and I quickly checked if I could ride my bike along these roads. Eventually though the signs disappeared and I was once again lost. Turns out I was just 2 blocks away from where I needed to turn and then it was just straight to Ōtsu.

I eventually found the correct path and was in a good mindset again, until the hills started. I knew there was going to be some climbing on this ride but I wasn’t fully prepared for how much of a climb. I even got a Strava award for my largest ever climb!

After the hills I was once again okay. The rest of the ride was downhill, and I just let the bike do its thing, delivering me straight to the main section of Lake Biwa and the end of the first days ride.

Tilted Tokyo

I write today’s post perched on a step along the Dotonbori River in Osaka after a short two days in Tokyo. The streets are busy, the crowds are out, and there’s a nice smog of bbq smoke that has settled on the river.

Today I spent most of the day travelling, on trams, trains, and the Shinkansen, ready to start my cycle around Lake Biwa from tomorrow.

Tokyo started by meeting up with the remainder of the devhouse group after we had checked into the airbnb. Our first stop was a nice little cafe run by a very chatty man. Amongst many of the conversations we had with him, he gave us some recommendations for some food and drinks we could get that night, we were eager to try them out.

Trusting the locals, we headed to an isakaya by Sumago station, where we had rounds of sushi, and rounds and rounds of lemon sours. We had a lot of run here just drinking and chatting, but the staff were eager to show us the door when they were close to closing.

Not yet ready to end the night we were on the hunt for a karaoke bar. We found one place that was open all night, and we set off for the adventure. We spend the next few hours blowing out our vocal cords and belting out some absolute bangers. Once we were done we all headed back for home, and Gloria and I said that we would lead because we knew the way, which was surprising because we only took this route once. I came clean the next day that I was actually using my maps.

The next morning our first plans made was we needed to find some costumes for the Halloween bar crawl we were going on that night. I also wanted to purchase a certain film stock for my camera and we set out to there, where we would follow up with the costumes.

I managed to find the film in the first shop I went to, which I was cautious of because I could only find a single online comment from a year ago saying it was there. After this we went to a local chain for some lunch, and this place was criminally cheap. We managed to get two meals with drinks for just $16!

Our costume hunt after this was nothing short of an ordeal. We scoured 4 different donkis in 3 different cities, one even being a mega, in search of some costumes. What was meant to a group of Pitbulls was creatively pivoted to the girls dressing up as cops.

Costumes and props in hand, we headed back home after the long day and we all had naps and got ready for our crawl. I started playing some Pitbull while we were getting ready to hype us up, but some people were still sleeping and got mad.

We headed to the first bar, and as soon as we got there I knew that the Mr. Worldwide was going to be a hit with some people shouting out at us and asking to get some photos with us.

We tracked onto two other bars, but unfortunately the free pouring spirits and the free shots on each bar were starting to stack up and I need to make a quick exit at one point. A couple other members were feeling the same so we headed on an adventure back home.

The next morning we all got up, packed our bags, and all headed in seperate directions with devhouse being split 4 ways. I ventured off to Osaka by myself, and had a relatively quiet afternoon, trying to save energy for my rides.

I look forward to spending the next week in Japan sat on a saddle. I hope that I will be able to keep you up to date and won’t be too tired.

Matsushima and a cruise in the ocean

Despite a fairly rough and tiring day yesterday, the sun gleaming into my bedroom at 7:30 in the morning was enough to wake me up from a short sleep and to kick start my day.

Today we decided to head down to a town a couple train stops away that had been recommended by friends because of its scenic bay views. A stop in the conbini as a natural waking action for an iced coffee started the day before we packed our bags and headed out.

The train was quiet and the station we arrived at almost seemed deserted in its mossy and overgrown nature, it had a charm to it. We headed down towards the bay and purchased some tickets for a cruise that would take us around the water and the islands near Matsushima.

After the sweaty walking around the bay, the sea breeze as we stood out on the second level deck was refreshing. We got to see many of the small islands and odd natural occurrences around the area. It was a sight to behold.

Before heading back to Sendai, we stopped and had some lunch and a small place and we had some sushi, which I followed with a lemon sour. Classic.

Back into Sendai, we discovered Zuihōden. Wandering back we searched for some bars or somewhere we could eat. We ended up at a small Irish bar, where the bartenders seemed very keen to have a chat to us about the drinks, devhouse, and what we were up to.

One of the bartenders recommended a nice place for us to go and have some dinner after. We walked to this place and was met with a door that was half as tall as we were. We weren’t even sure if it was open but we entrusted in our translation and stepped inside to this beautiful restaurant.

We had rounds of karaage chicken, gyoza, sukiyaki and more. It was very delicious. The place was classically Japanese themed and was very cozy inside.

Following we had a brief search for a bar to continue the night but to no avail we instead headed back to the airbnb where we instead finished the night with rounds of strong zeroes.

The great migration

This morning I had a sleepless night as my immense excitement for travelling to Japan grew. I woke up nice and early and finally started packing my bags, I almost couldn’t find my passport last night so I was a little stressed but I knew it would be fine.

My first stop when we got to the airport was to head down to the lounge. I had a pass that I had linked and so it only made sense to get the most bang for my buck and start drinking some beers. I smashed down 3 and then headed to board the plane with Bailey and Damian where I planned to down some more inflight.

The flight was more manageable than what I thought it was going to be. This was the first time I’d be taking a long haul flight during the day in economy. Over night is fine because you can just sleep some of it away, and last time I was in business so life was good.

This time I just watched a few movies, played some games on my switch, and had some short naps. The next thing I knew we were descending down through the clouds and the runway lights of Narita airport shone brightly.

Upon landing I was hoping that the flight was the last slog of a trip that we had to do and that things would speed up. Boy was I wrong. Our first task out of plane was to get through immigration, and we were in line for over an hour. Finally through immigration and customs we went down to the train station, headed for Tokyo.

Between not being able to correctly buy Shinkansen tickets, and having a mild level of stress around our timings, we successfully made it into Tokyo and had a ticket for the last train to Sendai. Finally in Sendai we hopped in a taxi for half an hour, more desperate than ever for a Strong Zero.

Met by Julia and Yashuk when we finally arrived, we were greeted by strong zeroes and some snacks. I was very relieved. We shared some stories of all of our adventures in making our ways to Sendai, and after 20 hours of travelling we slunk off to bed and fell fast asleep.

devhouse 2!!!

As I write this I’m getting the last of my preparations in order for the next devhouse trip which starts from this Sunday! After last years success, I think this year is going to be at least as fun and exciting.

I’m excited particularly this year for the variance in adventures that each member of devhouse will be embarking on, and I think this will lead to a lot of interesting stories at the end of our trip.

I’m also looking forward to my own extension of the trip where I will be completing a 7 day cycle that will take me from Osaka, up and around Lake Biwa, and all the way to the north shore of the country before returning back around the other side of the lake and to Osaka. I’ve been doing some bicycle training for the last few weeks so I hope that I’ll be prepared.

I look forward to writing more stories from this Sunday, and reading the entries from the other members!

See you then :)