I did two century rides in August two weeks apart (plus one metric century). The centuries completed 9 consecutive years of "Century a Month".
The first one (
on Strava, 164 km with 2,144 m of elevation gain) was to Yabitsu pass west of Tokyo, familiar to Bicycle Quarterly readers as one of Jan's favourite routes on his Japan visits. The road to the pass had been closed for repairs after landslides that happened in a typhoon back in October 2019. You could get there from the rural north side on Sundays when there were no workers around if you took a closed forest road to skip the point where the road was wiped out. Recently the road re-opened temporarily so I was able to do it without lifting my bike over any gates. However, another typhoon was passing over Japan and I ended up in a torrential downpour at some point. I had brought a rain jacket but my feet got wet. Luckily the rain stopped again and I could do most of the ride without pouring rain. I descended to the south side, turned around and cycled back up again to return via the north side.
On the way I saw an unexpected Mt Fuji view and this mural outside a shop.
Two weeks later I rode over the Nokogiri pass ("Saw pass") near Hinohara and then to the remote Nippara valley (162 km,
on Strava.
I wanted to clear a Veloviewer tile in that valley that a friend had also recently cleared via an old forest road. Both the Hinohara area and the climb to Nokogiri ridge have a scenic river valley with rocks and waterfalls.
As long as I've been cycling here I had always heard how bad the condition of the north side of Nokogiri was, but more recently the south side has not been in much better condition. Last time I rode it with friends, we hit a stretch of washed out gravel where rock slides had destroyed the road surface and one of my fellow cyclists fell over.
The forest road in Nippara valley was in far worse condition. The first kilometer or so after the gate at the bottom was not too bad, but then there was a second barrier, after which the road was in terrible condition. The official local government website described its condition as "collapsed". I some places that meant rough gravel, in others that running water had already carved a stream bed into it. I could ride for short stretches but for the most part I had to dismount and push my bike. Coasting downhill on the way back was easier, but I still had to walk quite a bit.
I encountered one motorcycle and one cyclist on Nokogiri and one pair of hikers on the second forest road.
Temperatures were fairly moderate on both climbs (23 C / 73F), given that down at lower elevation we were having 30 C / 86F and more.
On my way back to the bottom of Nippara valley and the main road to Tokyo I was greeted by a rainbow. They are rare in the local climate despite a lot of rain.
A British friend of mine once told me of a business meeting he had attended in Tokyo, as suddenly the building started shaking. Everybody around the conference room table staid calm, as this was just an earthquake, which Tokyoites feel every month. But a little later someone pointed out a rainbow outside the window and everybody in the room jumped up and rushed to the window to enjoy the view!
