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トラさん
旅も終盤ですね！！ 頑張って！ そして楽しんでくださいね:)
 
Day 7

The last day... :)

YellowGiant by keitai said:


DAY 7: I SUPPOSE IT HAD TO HAPPEN SOONER OR LATER!

The day started out perfectly. A little bit cold, but nothing that 10 minutes of pedalling wouldn't fix. Traffic was light, the sun was shining, and almost no wind. Leaving Nobeoka, there's a long straight flat of about 5km, and then it starts to go up - I was expecting that, so no problem; just drop down and grind up.

BUT, after riding in the mountains (actually, the road followed the valley floor, and I think the highest elevation it reached was about 300-350m) for about 15km, I rounded a bend, and WHOOSH! One huge gust of headwind while I was on a climb - every cyclist's nightmare!

I actually laughed, because the climb wasn't that long, nor was the gust; and I was thinking, "wait 'til I tell the guys about this one"! Little did I know, that this was just a taste of what was in store for me for the rest of the day. The more I rode up the road, the more frequent these "headwind gusts" became, until finally, it was just continuous.

At 34km out of Nobeoka, my feet got so cold from the constant wind blowing into them, that finally, I had to stop in the sunlight, take off my shoes & socks, and rub my toes until they warmed up again. The socks I was wearing were useless, so I just left them there on the side of the road, and put on another pair. I rode for 1km, and had to stop again to change my gloves to the big thick heavy duty ones, and put on my big blue "Columbia" rain jacket. The timing was just right, because not long after that came the descent. 10km down, then another 10km of ups & downs - mostly down!

But the wind still didn't let up! Pedalling on a fairly steep down-hill, and having to push it just to hold 30km/h is humiliating... AND IT SUCKS!!! When I finally got to the turn-off - still Rte.10 - the wind was coming from the exact direction I needed to go in.

But first, I had to find a combini, so I could buy another pair of socks to put on - Daily Yamazaki, where I had lunch too, and wondered how much more of this wind I could take - AND, I still had one more climb to do. On the second climb though, once I was in the mountains, the wind (thankfully) let up. At the top was a 940m tunnel. I timed it right, and nobody came up behind me, but once I was on the other side, the wind was back there waiting for me - ALL THE WAY TO BEPPU!

But I made it here - frozen toes, and frozen nose. Checked into a nice hotel - 6,300en, and getting ready for tomorrow's ride back to the airport.

Should be back in Tokyo tomorrow night. See you all soon! T


THE TALLY SO FAR:

DAY 1: 88km
DAY 2: 154km
DAY 3: 92km
DAY 4: 149km
DAY 5: 122km
DAY 6: 142km
DAY 7: 121km (TODAY)
----------
TOTAL: 868km

TOMORROW, I'M EXPERTING ABOUT 110km, WHICH WILL BRING THE TOTAL TO 978km - 22km SHORT OF 1,000. IF ... I RIDE BACK FROM HANEDA AIRPORT...

I KNOW IT'S SHORT NOTICE, BUT DOES ANYONE WANT TO JOIN ME? I'M AIMING TO ARRIVE AT HANEDA AT AROUND 7:00. IF WE RIDE TO SAY, SHIMBASHI, WHERE EVERYONE CAN GET HOME EASILY FROM, WE CAN ALL EAT TOGETHER. SORRY ABOUT THE LATE NOTICE, AND YOU PROBABLY ALREADY HAVE PLANS - IF SO, NO PROBLEM. THIS MESSAGE IS TO THE PEOPLE WHO AREN'T DOING ANYTHING TOMORROW NIGHT.

LATER! T
Click to expand...


Pic 1: Leaving Nobeoka in the morning.

Pic 2: Entering Oita Prefecture - still on the "Windy Valley Road" - just before I threw my socks away.

Pic 3: The "windy valley", and the hills around Route 10.

Pic 4: How do you photograph the wind? These are the flags outside of "Daily Yamazaki", where I had lunch, and bought extra socks.

Pic 5: The tunnel at the top of the second climb.

Pic 6: 36 miserable wind-blasted kilometres to go!
 
Finally back home!!!

Day 8: MIXED EMOTIONS

The last day of a long tour is always the easiest (and the hardest).
After 7 days on the road, I knew what to expect from the roads and the drivers around me. And also, I just wanted to get back as soon as possible!

I left the hotel without having breakfast (I had ramen the night before, so...), and headed out as early as I could; 8:00 - The lessons I'd learnt the previous day told me that the wind gets stronger as the day goes on!
Similar to the day before, conditions in the morning were perfect - no wind, little traffic, sun shining, etc... But my mind was thinking, "when is that wind going to kick in?".

I rode directly north along Beppu-bay, and then after 15km, had to turn into the mountainous area - still... on Rte.10! It went up steep for about 2-3km, then down again before flattening off all together.
I had brunch in a small town called "Usa" - about 1,000 Kcal... enough to get me to the airport - then I just rode the rest of way (breaks were about 20km/1 hour apart, for 5minutes each).

My worries about the wind were unnecessary - even though the whole day, I was wondering when I would have that nasty head-wind, it never came.

In a sense, today was the perfect ride. There were no hairy moments, no unplanned route changes, traffic was normal - not too many trucks, weather was great.... No problems at all!
But it was BORING!

I got to the airport at 3:00, and bought a ticket for the 4:30 plane out of there. Arrived at Haneda at 5:40.
Caught the train home, which is where I'm at now.

As for the mixed emotions... I actually DID IT! And in the end, I didn't really want it to end.
I rode 978km in 8 days. That tops any ride I've ever done (or probably will do again); And I'm elated, glad that it's over, sorry that it's over, had a terrible time, had a great time... I miss it already!

But it's done.
Til the next one! Out! T
 
Congratulations on finishing such a tough but great journey.:D

It was so good reading about the trip and seeing some of the pics. Wow, some of the roads looked terrible and the stories of the head winds painfull for the immagination.:eek:uch:

Hopefully the pain of the journey was matched by the pleasure of the onsens, great scenery and some nice people you met on the way.

That was hard core cycling and a great adventure. I'm looking forward to meeting you again to hear all about it.

Great work Travis!:cool:
 
Welcome back, Tora-san,
トラさん、おかえり～。:D

8日で978kmは、さすが！天気もまずまずみたいだったし、毎日のレポートを楽しく読ませてもらいました。レポートに無い話も今度あったときに聞かせてくださいね。

まずはお疲れ～。ゆっくり休んでください。:angel:
 
Sora said:
トラさん、おかえり～。:D

8日で978kmか、さすが！天気もまずまずみたいだったし、毎日のレポート楽しく読ませてもらいました。
まずはお疲れ～。ゆっくり休んでください。:angel:
Click to expand...

Ditto!! Well done Mate.

Hope you had a few cold ones before you crashed.

Good motivational reading here for future tourers. If you get around to it as a wrap up of your tour, could you post a best 5, worst 5, and things you would do differently given hindsight?
Cheers
Simon
 
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