May 29

Hikone - Komagane


It was a gorgeous ride today, but we sure worked for it!  Up for a 6 am breakfast and then at 6:45 we piled on a bus for a 2.5 hour bus ride.  I'm not sure why we did the bus trip, but it gave me a bit of time to start doing some research for our days off in Tokyo.  

Onto the bikes shortly after 9:15.  A beautiful day - and not too hot or humid for a change.  We started the day off with a 17km climb of almost 1200m.  Oh boy.........  I figured I would be walking part of it, but I actually managed to stay on the bike.  Just a couple of photo stops along the way.  The first 10 km was on a road with a fair bit of traffic, including heavy (although not long) trucks.  Not hugely pleasant, but pretty and the climbing grade was reasonable.  I seem to recall the temperature reaching 30C, but with lower humidity and intermittent shade it wasn't too bad.  Here's a picture I took shortly before the turnoff onto a quieter road; about halfway up our climb.


Once we turned left onto Road number 8 we left the traffic behind and rode in much more shade.  Also - the temperature went down as we climbed higher.  By the time we reached the top of the climb for lunch, it was about 14C.  Really pretty riding.  A number of folks saw monkeys along this stretch.  The forest was alive with noises - monkeys, birds, frogs?.  And - lots of monkey poop along the road.  Just stopped a couple of times for pics.  These are about 2/3 of the way up, with Peter kindly adding perspective.




Nearing the top, with the views opening up.




There's no doubt it was a tough climb for me, but gorgeous!  Lunch at the top, and then the downhill began.  It seemed to go on forever.  Again - on a quiet, twisting road; just stunning!


Lots of little streams and waterfalls coming down.


I stopped in one place just to record the sounds of the forest; so much life in there!  And - shortly afterwards I saw a monkey scoot across the road.  Gone into the trees before I could get my camera out!  Still life too............


The downhill went on for about 20 km.  All on a quiet, twisting, forested, and incredibly beautiful road.  TDA has done an amazing job of finding these quiet, stunning roads for us to ride on.  

This reservoir indicates that we're coming back into civilization


A bit more traffic and a few trucks, but much less than we were led to believe we would see.  Back to small towns and agriculture along the road.  Orchards too, and beautiful flowers.  






We must have done some climbing today; we can see some residual snow in the mountains.  We're a few hours drive from Nagano (host of the 1998 Winter Olympics).  


I knew from the map profile that we would have some climbing in the last 30 km, but I really wasn't mentally prepared for just how much there was; ugh!  And - a pretty steady headwind.  Oh - and about 30C.  Good thing I had good reason to stop for a few more photos.





As we passed through the last small town before coming in to Komagane, there were gaggles of schoolkids on the sidewalks.  First time in Japan that I have seen schoolkids without uniforms.....

I was pooped by the time I got to the hotel.  It really was a beautiful and fun day, though.  My bike was making some noise on the big climb, so I had Max look at it.  He just tightened a few things, but all good.  I think it was just picking a lot of debris off the wet road in the shade.  So - I cleaned it a bit, put it in a "sock" and carried it up to my room.  Good thing we're in singles again tonight.  Very small room.  With the bike and luggage, there's just enough room to turn around.  Back to traditional lodging again tomorrow night, I think.  Another big climbing day ahead...........

And that's a wrap...........


Stats for the Day:

Garmin:  68.92 km.  5350 feet up.  4391 feet down.  I'm short a few km (and probably ascent too) because the Garmin goes on "auto-pause" when I'm going too slowly.  And - although I didn't have to walk any of the hills today, it was on auto-pause quite a bit!

RWGPS:  72.3 km.  1977 m up.  1687 m down.


Komagene

Population:  32,000

Wikipedia and Japan Travel:  Komagene is a city located in Nagano Prefecture.  The city sits between the Southern and Central Alps.  It has several great attractions including the very historic Kozenji Temple, designated as a National Scenic Beauty spot.  




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