Jayves Rando Blog: Tohoku Touring 2012: Day 2

Today is the highlight of the tour... to traverse 42 km of dirt road of Shirakami World Nature Heritage surrounded with Japanese beech. I'm on one of the remote dirt road in Japan and I don't expect any convenient store during the ride at all!

I expected a tough day ahead so I woke and prepared early and left around 6:00 after a breakfast of cereal and soya milk. I was greeted by a barking dog on my way out of the beach and I bark back sending the bluffing dog running away before the owner came looking back for his dog.

Bought a 500ml Coke, filled up two water bottles and another 2 liters of backup water in the bag for this ride. I expected lots of water on the streams after the rain but bought water anyway just in case. On the way up before the dirt road starts, I was being follow by a truck and wonder why he wasn't passing me. When I looked back, he waved and mentioned that the road ahead is dirt road and not good for cycling. I nodded with confirmation and answered that I know. He wished me luck and he went off. From my experience climbing in East Tibet, i know it will be a rough and tough ride climbing with a 20-inch wheel and 1.5" wide tyres. I proceeded anyway....

The weather was cloudy and appears to rain with black clouds ahead. I know that the forecast today was sunny and climb to the first peak to decide to whether to continue or not on a bad weather. The weather didn't changed at the first peak and was worried if I should continue deeper into the forest. I know it will be difficult to get help on this remote road if the weather turn south. Took a few minutes to make the decision but finally decided to push on after confirming at the direction of the cloud and wind and having faith on the sunny forecast. Once I descended on the first peak, there is no turning back. Turned out that the weather didn't disappoint. There was almost no vehicles on the road and mostly cars from the construction company up the road.

The climbs was tough but the descent was enjoyable. I got flat front tire on the second climb. It was a very small puncture and I quickly patch. I wasn't able to find the cause of puncture and move on (this will haunt me later). At the bottom of the second descent, I rested for few minutes and had a coke and dried dates for lunch. I also picked up a pocketful nuts that looks like Japanese chestnuts hoping for a quick boiled nut snack later. At the third climb, I met a man who was picking up a similar nuts and asked him what kind of nut it is. He said the nut is Tochi (橡) and usually chopped and mixed with boiled rice. It can be used as medicine also but warned me it cannot be eaten raw. I thanked him and moved on. At the third peak, I saw a couple of tourist bus, which means I'm closer to civilisation after more half a day in the wild... I enjoyed a long off-road descent until Anmon Aqua Green Village area (暗門) where I had a late lunch of curry rice and ramen around 14:00.

There is a mega dam construction project going on this part of the road. Lots of trucks, dusty roads and construction everywhere... From Aomori side, K317 is a dirt road that extends until a few kilometres to the tunnel to Akita prefecture. Except for the bad road, the scenery was beautiful. Lots of fir trees and alpine looks. Enjoyed the long downhill until another flat tyre at dusk. The small puncture was in similar location as the previous puncture. This time I focus on the area and found a very small wire that punctured thru the carcass. I pull it off with a plier and patched the tyre. Now it is dark and continued the descent with a nice moon shine but I missed the view of this beautiful valley.

Had a quick dinner on the first convenient store I found and nearby settled on the back of a building in Michi No Eki to camp out for the night. I was tired and slept quickly after on the road for almost 14 hours.