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Risk of bear attack while cycling in the mountains

Was riding though 2-Chome the other night at kicking out time, and some Bear asked to have a go on my bike. Came out of nowhere, and gave me quite the shock, let me tell you. Was very polite though, and once I looked past all the hair and the big hands, I realised it was just another one of God's creatures looking for love.

I have heard that they get attracted to bright colours; I had a black hankerchief tucked into my rear jersey pocket one evening, and didn't see a single Bear. The next week I had a pink one with yellow spots and they were all after me. Weird.
 
I've never seen a bear while riding in Japan (lucky I guess), but Naomi-san had a close shave with a wild boar that came barrelling out of the forest in Chichibu right in front of her on a 45 km/h descent.
Yamanashi is also a great place to be based. You've got the Fuji "5th Station" roads (Subaru Line, Azami Line, Skyline), the classic loop around Mt. Fuji, some lovely passes around Kawaguchi-ko, easy access to the coast if you run down through Gotemba to Hakone. It''s brilliant.

Thanks Alan. If you had to choose only one route up Mt. Fuji, which one would you choose for best views and road surface?



R522 is a small back road running near the golf courses to the south east of the tunnel. If you can't see the number, you're not zoomed in far enough.

Route 206 (Hinohara Highway) is what you would follow after you descend from the tunnel on R33. From there you'd climb past Tomin no Mori and descend to Okutama ko.

Not much traffic through the R33 tunnel, as I recall. I only went through there once. It was a quiet mountain road, even on a Sunday.

Thanks Joe. Those routes look interesting.
 
Thanks Alan. If you had to choose only one route up Mt. Fuji, which one would you choose for best views and road surface?

I would go up the Subaru Line from the north. It's around 25 km and climbs from 800m up to 2200m.
 
I agree with Alan. The Fuji Subaru Line 5th Stage is at 2300 m. It's the best of the roads leading to the 5th stages. Most of it is only around 5% and probably only 7-8 % in the steepest sections, unlike that insane road on the south side.

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Here's my blog post from my ride in October 2011. You'll be fine on the way up unless it rains, but make sure you bring warm clothes for the descent. We saw icicles on the roofs of the avalanche tunnels near the end of the road. Basically dress for winter on the descent, a 40 km/h freezing wind is not much fun. You need good lights if you ride after dark, because a basic LED flasher is not going to cut it on a dark mountain descent.

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In 5 years of daily commuting in the Chichbu mountains, I have never come across a bear. Last autumn there were 3 sightings per week on average due to the shortage of food in the forrest and even then I somehow managed to miss them. As other people mentioned here, you have greater chances of being hit by a car. Now, if it was western Canada or Siberia then it wold be a different story. Grizzly is a reason to be concerned.
 
Edit: just saw my first bear today. About 150 m ahead of me on the (still closed) road up Shirane-San. He/she ran off into the scrubland as soon a he realised I was there. A bit scary on a deserted road 1800 m up in the mountains.
 
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