My New Whip

As fun as riding the train (densha) through the Japanese countryside might be, the 40 minute ride (+20 minute walk) to work everyday lost in novelty in the first month. Not to mention the expense, I was paying about $5/day getting to school and home and that adds up (would be $1200 for the year). Unfortunately, you forfeit your free-will when you become a JET (they don't tell you this, its in the fine print), and my schools administration can not allow me to use a car or motorcycle for work related purposes, including getting to work. No other JET's school has exercised this right (most seem to encourage it), but alas... that is the nature of my administration. And so I regressed to my 16 year old self and took to a bicycle. I got a killer deal on last years model Fuji 4.0 road bike from the Japanese equivalent of eBay and have been riding to school on clear days. It actually takes me a little less time than the train/walk; more specifically, I found it takes the same amount of time as Springsteen's Born in the USA album (I think most people who read this will probably be able to ballpark that.)

The train goes through several tunnels, needless to say it wasn't really an option for me to take the same tunnels on my bike. So armed with my memory of a google map (dont have a printer), I set off to find my new route to school. A piece of advice for those who decide to plan bike trips via google map: maps don't do elevation changes justice and if most roads go through long tunnels that means there is a mountain. There is one road that uses a 1.5 km tunnel to get through the mountain, but its along a highway and the shoulder disappears 100m into the tunnel (I tried it once... never again). And so I was left with the old abandoned, pre-tunnel one-laner that goes up and over the mountain. Clearly engineered before the invention of switchbacks, this road would put any cars 1st gear to the test... and for that reason, few ever actually drive on this road (prefect for biking). Baldwin Street, near my old flat in New Zealand, claims to be the steepest street in the world, its not:

But most of the ride is quite pleasant, including this stretch that reminds me of the Burke Gilman:

Heading down off the mountain and into the town where school is:

The road was also subject to a mudslide that made it on a meter wide in one place, definitely helped make this road my own private highway:

I guess there actually is one unavoidable tunnel. As old and forsaken as the rest of the road, no cars use it either, and if there is an earthquake it'll be the first thing to go:

Anyways, its been good. Excellent way to wake up in the morning and Im no longer dependent on the hourly train. With the added benefit of ~25-30 miles/day exercise cycling over a mountain; not to mention, I can ride to school in the same amount of time as the train took. That being said, I'm still looking for wheels, preferably with a motor of some kind attached, to do some weekend adventuring. My school administration "doesn't think its such a good idea," its like having strict but passive aggressive parents; but they can't actually do anything. Rode past one of these the other day for about $800, what do you think?