What's new

Tour de Nagano

Mike

Maximum Pace
Sep 24, 2007
1,066
9
Ludwig and I decided to try and escape the stifling heat of Tokyo by heading to Nagano for an epic 3 day tour. If you've ridden with Ludwig before you'll know he loves to explore closed mountain passes and he certainly lived up to his reputation on this trip. It was a true adventure with amazing scenery, extreme weather and a whole lot of pain......if you're interested read on here (including photo's and maps)

https://tokyocycle.com/bbs/blog.php?b=70
 
Awesome roads and a great 3 dayer...shivering in Japan in summer? Some people would pay for that!

I'll be hitting Nagano from Sunday for 4 or 5 days...but will just do the odd short hill climb each day and a bit of hiking with the dogs...
 
Mike, thanks for the great time together, and the nice write-up.

Just in case people get over-excited by our climbing tally for the Norikura day: it was more like 3,500m for me (300m less to Takayama). Mapmyride gets confused by longer tunnels... We shaved off 800m alone by going through the marvellously broad and long (4.5km!) Gonbee Tunnel.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/jp/nagano/558128227740433845

The final day was 2,400m over 125km. But since it was so much hotter und more humid that day, it felt like a lot more.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/jp/nagano/265128227990447340

Norikura was really worth the trip. Probably the most beautiful place I have cycled around. And what a great feeling being able to do this on bikes when cars are barred and tourists have to make do with coaches and taxis! And of course not to speak of the great feeling of having conquered the highest road pass in Japan. 2,700m is a long way up!

Revisiting Takayama, Tsumago and Magome by bike was also very nice. If only Japan had preserved many more town like this! We could then make towns a target of rides, not just mountain passes...
 
Very Awesome!

Hey Mike, Ludwig,
I'm almost jealous! That was a serious 3-day ride there.
Mike, your first day was almost identical to my ride - The only difference was I had a few extra kilometers tagged onto each end, but the middle part was identical. I can guarantee you got to the top of Mugikusa-toge way faster than I did (pretty long climb, though, eh!?)
I've only every ridden with Ludwig twice though, once along Arakawa (very flat), and the other time at Mob's farewell ride, and I never pictured Ludwig to be the waiting kind - Sorry Ludwig, I misjudged you!
It sounds (looks) like it was a true adventure.
By the way, where are the roads in these three photos?
4911328019_f38ccd02e3_b.jpg


They look absolutely AWESOME! If you ever decide to go back and ride them again without inviting any of us, we'll never speak to you again :cool:

Great ride! Great read. Thanks to both of you.
Travis
 
Travis, all those pics are from the northern side of Norikura, an amazing place for sure. It was a rather sudden decision to do this trip, so much so that I only just packed in time the day before. Next time I'll be sure to post something before I go;)
 
Back
Top Bottom