☆Jabble English☆コミュのCycling to Hiroshima (Day 2: To Shizuoka)

So we made it to Hakone. We had heard that after Hakone would be the hardest part of the trip… and it was!

We heard that after Hakone there would be about 20-30km of uphill climb. We were a bit worried but we were confident we could do it.

On day 2 we woke up to the friendly sound of rain. I’m being sarcastic, it wasn’t friendly at all. In fact, it was the last thing we were hoping for. Not only were we going to have to climb 20-30km uphill, now we were also going to have to climb uphill in the rain! And to add insult to injury, it was cold! The previous day hadn’t been that cold at all, but started getting a bit cooler the closer we got to Hakone.

After waking up we had to decide what to do. For a brief moment we considered staying in the tent and waiting for the rain to stop. We probably could have gone and spent the day relaxing at an onsen, but we ultimately decided that staying in Hakone for the day would be a waste of our time. So we decided to press on… in the rain!

So off we went! At first it wasn’t that bad. I put on three layers of shirts because it was cold, but after about 20 minutes of climbing I was sweating so hard that I decided to take off a couple layers. Ryan on the other hand hadn’t brought any long-sleeve shirts!! But at this point, we both probably didn’t need any. We were sweating bullets.

On the way to the top, Ryan and I experienced what I thought was our biggest defeat of the trip. On a couple occasions the slope was so steep that our pace was barely faster than walking. We had climbed over 20km, were beat tired, drenched in water… so we decided to get off our bikes and walk. I felt a bit defeated because our goal was to “cycle” to Hiroshima, not to walk. But we only walked for a few minutes then got back on our bikes and continued. And finally we saw it… the top! Needless to say we were ecstatic!

From the top it was a long way down… or so we thought! As we raced downhill we quickly realized how cold the weather really was. I put my three layers of shirts back on, but the wind still seemed to pierce through my clothing. Ryan, on the other hand, had no long-sleeve shirts and admitted that he was freezing. We cruised into the town of Lake Ashi. Luckily for Ryan, the 7-11 had a rain jacket that offered him a lot of relief from the cold and rain. We got some food and saw some beautiful pictures of Mt. Fuji in the shops. But guess what??… we couldn’t see Mt. Fuji! It was so cloudy and foggy that Mt. Fuji was nowhere to be seen! In fact, we didn’t see Mt. Fuji the whole trip! It was my biggest disappointment of the whole trip. The only time we had a chance to see it was on the previous day. We saw a dark silhouette of Mt. Fuji on our way to Hakone, but we never actually saw the mountain during the day.

From Lake Ashi we continued. But much to our disappointment, we were climbing uphill again! Fortunately, it only lasted for about 5-7km. But after that it was all downhill! By far that was the most exciting part of our trip… for me! I had bought fenders for my bike for this very occasion (because the faster you go the more water that kicks up in your face). But Ryan didn’t have any! So for the 20-30km that we were flying down the mountain, Ryan had water splashing up in his face! It was also a little dangerous because the road was wet… but we were flying! It was amazing!

Finally we reached the bottom, cruised through Numazu, on toward Fuji city. In Fuji city we decided to eat. We went into a convenience store but didn’t see anything we wanted. We asked the staff if there were any family restaurants in the area but there weren’t. Instead they told us about a sento called スーパー健康ランド in Shizuoka. Outside the sento we met a really nice Brazilian guy who was living in Japan and he offered us a place to stay at his house. It was really generous of him but we declined.

So it was getting dark and the sento was about an hour away, but we decided to shoot for it! We quickly ate at すき家　and got back on our bikes for Shizuoka. This was probably the first really dangerous part of our trip! In hindsight I think we were cycling on the route 1 bypass. I had the flashing rear light on my bike turned on, but the huge trucks speeding past us were unnerving. The road was so dark but we couldn’t turn back and there was no place to stop. So we decided to pick up our pace. So for the next 45 minutes Ryan and I cycled as hard as we could, primarily because it was so scary and we wanted that part of the trip to be over. During that stretch we averaged about 35km/hour. The adrenaline was really pumping as we rode.

And finally, there it was スーパー健康ランド! Oddly enough, the scariest part of the whole day was 2 minutes before we arrived at the sento. A huge truck almost hit be from behind. I don’t know if he didn’t see me, but he was way too far over into the shoulder of the road. He missed me by less than 1 meter! My heart was racing, but we finally arrived.

(to be continued…, the sento and Day 3)

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