WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2006.
ATSUTA to OBIRA 107km 6h:08m
Noone forgets the first time, you're panicky, nervous, excited, don't know what to expect.. and then you enter closing your eyes and holding your breath. Tunnels are one of the biggest challenges to a bike tour in Japan. The bubble money of the 80's convinced every MP to build massive theme parks, dam every (and I mean every) river in Japan, and build bridges, big spanning bridges, and rather than blow aside any mountainside, they would first reinforce the landscape with godawful concrete slabs holding the land down and set up landslide/avalanche guard rails, and then, they made tunnels. Tunnels everywhere. "What? There's a 40m stretch where we can't get around? Build a tunnel!". Tunnels of course, save alot of hill climbing, at a huge cost surely. Tunnels for cars = good times. I remember as a kid going on weekend camptrips with the family, Griswold style. There was one tunnel that was semi long going into BC, and we'd all rip the windows down in the car and Dad would lay on the horn for us to hear the echo. Yes, we were easily amused back then I guess. Since coming to Japan though, tunnels have become second nature. My civil engineering studies from so long ago still force me to think about how they built the tunnel, or how the forces are keeping that bridge up. Tunnels for bikes = usually hellish and life threatening. But I've got ahead of myself here....
After a horrible fitful sleep, hearing trucks rolling in and past, people talking, vending machines humming, I was up just after 5am. There was a small green van parked near me, in it was a middle aged Japanese guy from Shiga-ken who was traveling around Hokkaido on a month long solo tour. It's always nice to meet Japanese people who are breaking the norm, who don't mind being the proverbial 'nail that stands out', but don't get nailed back down into the 'harmony'. When I went to hook up my B.O.B. trailer, I realized one of the pins was missing. It must've fallen out since the rubber safety band is so old that it deteriorated and broke off (even though I just bought this in June....). Mr.Shiga-ken helped me search on hands and knees through the grass and gravel to no avail. The pin (as you'll hear about later....alot) is crucial to the trailer staying attached to the quick release on my back tire. Without it, or even with only one side clamped to the bike...well it would be ugly. I had one spare that I now set up on the bike, and he grabbed his fishing wire to make sure I wouldn't lose it again, and even put bright green tape on it so if it does fall off again, it'll be easier to find. This is all well before 7am. One last check, and I found it! Safe for now....
I rolled off north towards Rumoi, again not having a sniff of a clue where I would stay. Gear issues seemed to be the theme of the day though, when my speedometer mysteriously stopped working and I momentarily panicked about how far along I was on my route. It started again after I took all other electro-magnetic devices out of my handlebar bag and moved them to my backpack. This wireless speedometer is starting to become like one of those TVs, where you have to set up a coat hanger on the top for an antenna, and hold your hand at 45degrees NW and cannot have any spoons or forks in the vicinity, touchy little bugger.
The hills up to Hamamasu were tough, and had me sweating at a steady clip. Then the tunnels, oh the tunnels. 3000m, 2400m, 2800m, you name the distance, they built one to match. Its interesting when you're halfway through the tunnel, there's sometimes an exit sign lit up in the musky air saying 1500m to that one and 1900m to the other one... comforting. Some tunnels have a small sidewalk built up, luxury ones have a guard rail to protect you from the keitai (cell phone) typing drivers bearing down on you. The norm is a sidewalk just wide enough for a bike/trailer set up, while my left arm brushes the wall and looks like charcoal by the end. It actually takes considerable concentration to not wobble or weave at all for that long of a time, especially with the echo that reverberates around you when a vehicle approaches. At times you think it must be a massive truck coming by the sound, but then its a little Cube Car. The sound is absolutely terrifying though, I admit it. There were times I would hear a truck coming in hot and I'd stop and hunker against the wall almost fetal-position-like until it passed. Many tunnels actually don't have a sidewalk, only a 1 foot shoulder space of broken down 40 yr old pavement. When I hit these tunnels, I tighten the bandana around my face (the air quality CAN'T be that good), I check all my flashing lights (backpack, seat post, headlight, and valves), and I bear down and sprint through it praying the cars behind me show mercy. The last tunnel before I rounded the coastline to Mashike was under construction. They waved me through their lane (they were only checking for cracks and leaks), so I had the entire construction lane to hum past and not worry! Oh the bliss..
Mashike is one of my favourite little fishing towns in Japan. Japan Inc. definitely left it in it's wake, but it's simplicity and beauty have held. One year ago to the week I was here for the first time with Jaysee and Mef when we camped out near Shokanbetsu Dake. We decided for a midngiht climb up the mountain to be near the summit when the sun came up. It was a hair-raising hike with only headlamps to light the way, and music/country/city word games to keep us from thinking about what those two little eyes that lit up belonged to back there. For the challenge it provided us, it remains one of our favourite mountains. Today I peddled through remembering this, and stopped by the river where the salmon are all valiantly trying to get from the mouth of the river upstream, attracting crowds of locals coming out to see the yearly spawn.
I was on my way to Rumoi, most tunnels far behind me, enjoying the perfect sun and the shining Japan Sea on my left, when I saw a car stopped on the road ahead. The lady had crossed the lanes and was standing on my sidewalk ahead. I had a weird feeling. Suddenly as I'm almost past her, she flags me down with, "Stop stop, Canada?". I slowly look back to the big CDN flag on the back of my trailer, "Umm, yesss". It turned out her daughter Eriko lives in Victoria, BC, and she was calling her daughter from the side of the highway, to Canada, so she could talk to me. Eriko gets on the line, and our conversation was pained and awkward, I'm not sure, were we supposed to hit it off? Talk politics? I don't know still. She asked, "So like, did you meet my mom in the store or campground or something?". I said, "Oh no, she just pulled me over on the highway while she was going to work". She was mortified and asked that I forgive her mom for being so weird. It was a funny story and broke up my day so I didn't really mind. Her mom just gets excited about Canada and is obviously proud of her daughter living there and her ability to speak English (fluently it sounded). Crazy Mom then presented me with some bread snacks which I happily accepted and I waved (and bowed) as I rode off.
I could've stopped in Rumoi, but there's not a good onsen nearby, a crucial requirement for where I'd stay each night. I had heard from Wakako (she's from Rumoi) that the next town up the coastline called Obira has a nice onsen and campground nearby. I trudged on, semi delirious in the heat and running low on energy. I found Yuttarikan Onsen and happily parked my bike and went in for a bath and a soak. I'll explain onsens in another less lengthy blog posting, so stay tuned. It was a great soak and I felt refreshed. I watched another great sunset, then noticed the camp ground was at the top of a hill, a big hill. It took awhile to get to the top, and by then, I was dripping again, thereby negating all positive cleansing effects the onsen had afforded me. The campjo master was a funny old man, charged me for 2 days. I said in my politest 'correcting' Japanese, that I was only staying one night and would be leaving early tomorrow morning. He replied that that may be true, but youre here today, AND youll be here tomorrow, that's two days, 600 yen please. Don't mess with rules and order in this country I guess. 6 hours riding today has left me spent...and yet another early sleep for me.
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