koribeyer
Speeding Up
- May 29, 2008
- 409
- 5
Hi All,
I just got back from a cycling tour of Tohoku (full report coming soon) and wanted to pass on a road warning for anyone heading to Aomori for the holidays.
If you plan to circle the Shimo-Kita Peninsula (on the north east side of Aomori) it is only safe to do so *counter clockwise* Due to road construction and what looks to be a bit of a landslide on part of the road between Oma and Hokegaura (sorry, I don't remember it was before or after the town of Sai) the road is only partially paved, strewn with rocks, and in one part only gravel. If you do the peninsula counterclockwise, the bad part of the road is uphill. Going up wasn't so bad but going down would have been really dangerous. I hit 60km/hr on nearly every decent that day despite trying to go "slower" due to my touring set up. Hitting gravel suddenly going 60km/hr would have been bad....
It's a beautiful climb and the biting flies only start swarming if you drop below 12km/hr.... needless to say, I got bit quite a few times.uch: A local told me that's because my bike shorts are black, but I don't know if there's any truth in that.
The rest of the roads were in pretty good condition, though after Hokegaura I took the inland road past Kawauchi dam rather than climb the south west corner of the peninsula, so I can't speak for what those roads are like.
Have fun! Be careful not to hit any monkeys!
I just got back from a cycling tour of Tohoku (full report coming soon) and wanted to pass on a road warning for anyone heading to Aomori for the holidays.
If you plan to circle the Shimo-Kita Peninsula (on the north east side of Aomori) it is only safe to do so *counter clockwise* Due to road construction and what looks to be a bit of a landslide on part of the road between Oma and Hokegaura (sorry, I don't remember it was before or after the town of Sai) the road is only partially paved, strewn with rocks, and in one part only gravel. If you do the peninsula counterclockwise, the bad part of the road is uphill. Going up wasn't so bad but going down would have been really dangerous. I hit 60km/hr on nearly every decent that day despite trying to go "slower" due to my touring set up. Hitting gravel suddenly going 60km/hr would have been bad....
It's a beautiful climb and the biting flies only start swarming if you drop below 12km/hr.... needless to say, I got bit quite a few times.
uch: A local told me that's because my bike shorts are black, but I don't know if there's any truth in that.The rest of the roads were in pretty good condition, though after Hokegaura I took the inland road past Kawauchi dam rather than climb the south west corner of the peninsula, so I can't speak for what those roads are like.
Have fun! Be careful not to hit any monkeys!
