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Hilly two day route from Tokyo

Paul Manson

Cruising
Feb 10, 2016
9
1
Hi I wondered if anyone had any advice for a two day route starting and finishing in Tokyo (bike bags on train an option on return leg) and an overnight somewhere.

Ideally two long days with a focus on long climbs. I have done a few of the circuits around Ome and Chichibu over the last few months and last weekend went from near Kofu - Kyoto (tried to go over Norikura but got shut down at 2,500 due to snow), so perhaps something heading more north or further west out to Fuji, but any ideas really appreiated.

cheers
Paul
 
For some reason doing this comment third time in a row, but: Izu.
Pack your bike and go to Odawara. There are no good hills in Kanto plain. Ride from Odawara through Hakone (16 km long climb), through Mishima (flat, but short) towards Toi on the seashore. It is perfectly possible to get in one day to Matsuzaki which is a tiny, lovely town in south-western Izu. And then ride towards Shimoda on the seashore, visiting Irozaki. There are so many hills, you will be tired of them. And the nature is gorgeous there.
 
Or get on a train and head North up into the hills / mountains of Tochigi and Fukushima. Otherwise you are just wasting a bunch of time riding across the Kanto plain. 95% of roads up there will be open by now. If you haven't done Hakone/ Fuji area yet that is another option.
 
Hey thanks guys, I haven't cycled around Izu or further north in Fukushima so will explore those options, thanks for the advice. I ended up going around Fuji from Tokyo over a couple of days, the GW traffic made some sections pretty unpleasant, but over all really enjoyable.

One lesson I learnt was some of the mountain roads are not complete, we tried to go over a pass near Tanzawa and the ascent from the south was a complete road, but on the decent the road was a series of tarmac bridges (complete with road markings) joined by long sections of unfinished rubble strewn trail! almost seems like it was just abandoned (perhaps post bubble?)

Cheers
Paul
 
One lesson I learnt was some of the mountain roads are not complete, we tried to go over a pass near Tanzawa and the ascent from the south was a complete road, but on the descent the road was a series of tarmac bridges (complete with road markings) joined by long sections of unfinished rubble strewn trail! almost seems like it was just abandoned (perhaps post bubble?)
Sounds like Inugoeji - didn't you have to negotiate a locked gate or climb over a fence to get onto the road?
 
Hi Mike - you are right there is a gate that you can bypass on either side by bike. I naively assumed (my Kanji comprehension is very basic) that it was a snow gate - closed until a set date and was fairly confident that the snow would be gone from having recently hiked in the area.

...but I should perhaps be less adventurous, although there were a few cars, that had braved the gravel track on the north side, which paradoxically wasn't gated. Is there a history behind that road?
 
It might not be the same one, as you don't mention the long, unlit tunnel at the pass. There's not much of a history to tell; the road was being built by two local authorities and one of them ran out of money or enthusiasm or both.

The hiking trail (the real Inugoe-ji) above the tunnel is spectacular.

off_road.jpg P10100881.JPG 0271.jpg
 
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Here's a pro tip for planning routes: Strava Global Heat Maps shows you where riders with GPS devices are riding and recording and sharing their rides. The more intense the line, the more people are riding it. If a line is really faint or non-existing, there's probably a reason (almost) nobody goes there.

Inugoe-ji road

SafariScreenSnapz001.png

Kanagawa r515

SafariScreenSnapz002.png
 
Thats the one Mike, sorry didn't mention the tunnel.

thanks for the heat map tip, the lack of traffic on inugoe-ji makes sense, I'm surprised I didn't break a spoke or worse on the (slow) descent.
 
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