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Continue reading →: The Electric Train to Deep North
It’s been a very crazy day so apologies in advance if this post seems hurried – it is. I overslept my alarm in Sapporo and just stuffed my stuff into my bike bags, then I overturned my room looking for my phone. The reception desk was empty so I rang…
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Continue reading →: Preparations in the rain
Sapporo is laid out in a grid. A pedestrian has to stop and wait every 100 metres to cross a road, giving you a good minute to appreciate the icy rain that the wind pushes into your face. At one intersection an ambulance with lights and sirens stopped and politely…
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Continue reading →: Arrival
I was sitting in Kansai airport when the ground began to vibrate with a noise like an engine. My subconscious mind said, “Lorry.” The vibrations went on and the sound got louder. It wasn’t a lorry or a jet. I messaged a friend who lives in Kyushu. “Earthquake!” He sent…
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Continue reading →: n+1 of PreparationsIn the equation n+1, n equals the number of bikes you currently own and +1 the number of bikes you need to buy to complete your collection. As there is no one, perfect bike, there is no endpoint in this equation, so you keep on getting new ones until you…
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Continue reading →: Peaks (and troughs)The wisteria is blooming in Switzerland and people are stopping to smell the lilac tree in our garden where it overhangs the fence. In northern Japan, the snow is disappearing and the cherry blossom wave that started in the far south a month ago is about to make the leap…
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Continue reading →: Creeping Ever Closer
I’m leaving for Japan on the 6th May and I am starting to ask myself whether I’m doing enough training. I find myself nervously checking the elevation profile of the harder days and comparing them against my current training. On Tuesday, I was supposed to climb a col but for…
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Continue reading →: Falling in LoveSometimes I can virtually hear my bike thinking, “Why am I being ridden by such a donkey?” I have a Cannondale Topstone 5. It’s a carbon-frame gravel bike with rear suspension and top notch gears and brakes. It’s a poor man’s mid-life crisis soft-top sport’s car, and I love it.…
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Continue reading →: The Doorstep MileI woke up this morning and thought of all the reasons it wasn’t a good day to do the ride I had planned. I had slept badly, my knees ached from fencing last night, it was probably still raining, It was 8.15 and I was still in bed and I…
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Continue reading →: Riding the RhoneI started booking accommodation a few weeks ago and now I am mapping bike routes, typically with a copy of The Roads to Sata open on my desk and the Garmin route planner on my screen. Booth walked the route in the 1970’s using paper maps and reckoned he had…
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Continue reading →: Before You Set OutJourneys start months before they begin with maps and guidebooks and the metaphorical note to the milkman – No delivers ’til June, please! They start with thrill of Going Away keeping you awake and staring at the route behind closed eyelids while everyone around you sleeps. They start with an…
The
Himedo Machi
Cycling Club
“How will you find that thing the nature of which is unknown to you?”
A blog about my 3,000km bike ride across Japan.
First Post I About Me I Strava I Insta I
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The Himedomachi Cycling Club 