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Ride OMG, You mean I could get dirty??? Yes!!! Oct 29

bloaker

Sincerely A Dick
Nov 14, 2011
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5,770
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We will meet in front of the McDonalds at Zushi Station (East Exit) at 0630. After some introductions and coffee, we will head out toward Asahina via the Oike trail. After a short road stint, we will regroup head into Kamakura. If there is a consensus, we have a beer stop along the way..... yes, event as early at 0800, they have been accomodating. We will continue on and eventually end up in the streets of Kamakura and a Mini-Stop. This is a good spot to get food/water.
We will contiue up the street less than a mile and duck back into a trail that will lead us to the tombs. Once there, we will leave the bikes on the main trail and head up to the final resting place for over 150 samarai and priests. This is our destination and anyone can stay as long as they like.
From here - there is an option to head back toward Kamakura or Zushi. I will be happy to direct you to where ever you need to go.

Please note.... none of us have been to the tombs as this area has been closed since the spring. It may be amazing or lack luster... but I am beyong intrigued.

Regards,
Michael
 
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Oi! Soaker! What happened after the morning brew? Are you still in custody after desecrating a world heritage site?
 
Geez, I am glad you posted. I did not post the date of the ride!!! Updating the title!
 
https://www.relive.cc/view/758852089

OK - this ride did not disappoint. We met at Zushi station allowing time for a Tokyo ride to make the trek down.

First we road from Zushi to Asahina. This route is fun, but the direction we were going is more uphill than down. No real climbing, just a long leg burning ride. We get to a section of private land we walk through (rules are rules) and then the fun starts. We took a quick breather to take in some of the sights in the middle of the woods.

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We continued on in the slick conditions - but everyone was able to stay upright... so far. When we made it to Asahina, we decided it was a good time to hit a combini. After a water refresh and a snack, we headed into Kamakura.

This is the view as we enter Kamkura. We are overlooking Opamma (far right) & Sea Paradise (straight ahead) from this point.
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This section of trail is not in anyway difficult, however the growth and vines can catch your bars... again not a big deal, but what the picture doesn't capture is the 30m drop if you make a mistake.
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We continue on and get to the most flow-like sections of trail. It seems the rains the night before scared off most hikers as we only encountered maybe 6 the entire ride.

We finish this section of trail w/o many pictures simply because you never think to take pictures when you are having the most fun. We even skipped the beer stop due to the lack of hikers - didn't want to give them time to realize the trails were great.

(to be cont'd)
 
So on the last bit of trail before we pop back out into civilization is usually pretty sketchy in idea conditions. With the rain... there was nothing ideal or confidence inspiring about this section. The first rider goes for it and doesn't get too far before he has a foot down and laughs at how impossible the trial feels. I give him some time to make his way down before I start... I get well past his foot down mark and find that it truly is just luck regarding traction. I continue on until my front tire touches the wrong root... I am tumbling before I even realize what happened. The third rider ends up getting to my mark, but finds himself in a similar predicament immediately after.

We laugh it off and head out to the road for roughly 1km of pavement before we duck back in the woods...

The entire ride up until this point was to kill time. The Mandarado Yagura area doesn't open until 1000 and at this point, it is 0945. We have 25 minutes of riding to do before we get there... This is where I get excited. In all seriousness... I have been looking forward to seeing this since last winter.

Warning: Picture dump coming....
 
As we are nearing the tombs, the pedestrian traffic increases significantly. This is good! This means there is interest. People want to see this!

We ride down some steps to a nice rocky feature. The hikers are all very nice and practice their english and we speak our broken Japanese with them. They quickly point us toward what they thing will be impossible to ride... They seem quite entertained as we handled it.

We now get to the entrance. We lay the bikes down and head in.
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There are three workers there handing out a pamphlet and willing to answer questions. I speak with them a little bit, but once they learn Nigel is from Britain...... talks turn to Brexit... Americans exit stage left... :)

The first place I go is to the overlook to take it in...
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This is 800 years old. Just standing there on an overcast day with the moist cool air... I still have not found the word that best described it. It was surreal almost. I stood there just taking it in until Nigel was able to #Brexit the gate area and join us.

I have biked past this at least a dozen times, but it is well hidden and I refuse to jump the gate to explore... so to me - it is just mind blowing I have been so close, yet had no clue what was here.

We moved down from the overlook and I got some close cell pics.... enjoy....

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There are three sections to this site.
There is the overlook area. The main burial area is in the center, then you can walk about to another section to the left. This is where the pictures of empty caves were taken.
I read the signs that are there and it seems they still are trying to understand how it worked. There is an area they believe to have been an incinerator. There were also some other things they believed to be where the bodies were prepped. I was just stuck on 800 years ago.... in my head, that just seems like caveman times. How this was constructed and how it survived the weather, the wars, etc... it is just amazing.

I am sure I am leaving details out - but if anyone else wants to head out there, here is some info...
http://voyapon.com/samurai-mandarado-yagura-kamakura/
https://www.japantoday.com/category/travel/view/mandarado-yagura-off-the-beaten-path-in-kamakura
http://hatbooks.blogspot.jp/2013/04/mandarado-yagura-cave-tomb-restoration.html
http://www.bukenokoto-kamakura.com/e/contents/kiritoshi.html
 
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