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Ride VeloViewer tiling in Japan

Finally, was that a bagel on your bike seat or is that a new type of padding?
Donut tempt me into any more puns.

(Sorry, @Kangaeroo)

Yes. It's a Costco cheese bagel, packed with other stuff. Great picnic food.
 
@Karl - can I ask you about this section south of Dōshimichi on your "More gravel than expected" ride? Were you walking or cycling? Remember anything about the terrain?

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My best recollection...
Section 1 - paved for a bit then gravel. towards the ridgeline was gravel/sand
Section 2 - if you head down or up this section, it is sand and 4WD road towards 413 with sand/gravel near the top (I had to walk the lower part of this section)
Section 3 - I haven't ridden, but I'd expect it to be relatively decent gravel. If I were to do these tiles again, I think I'd do section 1, 3 and 4.
Section 4 - Varies between sand, single track and pea gravel (as I recall)
*to get that tile where section 3 meets section 4, you'll have to scramble a bit. If there ever was a rideable trail that goes south from that juncture to the ridgeline, it is no longer there
Section 5 takes you through an auto-camp site but once you're through it, it was single track or gravel to the top.

Caveat - it's been a while so my memory has faded a bit, but I don't think I had to walk anything except the scramble for the tile at the juncture of 3 and 4. Should be a good place to play with that new Niner of yours.



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Plan the ride; ride the plan. This is the recipe for happy tiling.

Thanks again to @Karl for the tips. As plotted above, I did sections 1, 3 and 4. The climb was long and tough. Just before the pass, there's a gate/fence that I had to lift the bike over. Then the sand got rather too soft in the final 100 m and I ended up walking for a very short distance.

In the earlier stages I found several gates that were just held closed with chains, rather than locks, to prevent animals from roaming outside the official hunting zones. Haven't seen that before. (Welcome to Yamanashi: public toilets are on lockdown!)

After all the gravel and sand, I was really enjoying paved roads again so I kept ascending after nabbing the two tiles above Michisaka tunnel to see how far the rindō goes. It keeps going after the summit, but I couldn't find it on any map and it seemed to be going back into tiles that I already have. Perhaps it continues now all the way back down to r35. I'll probably never find out, because there are other, undiscovered tiles waiting for me out there...


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At this rate, there won't be any Golden Tiles left. :cry:
That's the plan, eventually 😜 - but I think your Tanzawa hiking tiles are safe for a while longer.
How do the new Niner work out?
I'm really pleased with my Niner MCR 9 RinDO. It's expensive. It's heavy. But the comfort of having suspension front and rear is worth the trade-off for me on rides like yesterday's; my rigid CX frame would rattle me so much, especially on descents. (I could slow down, but where's the fun in that!?) The Schwalbe Land Cruiser tires I transplanted from the CX bike seem to be really hard-wearing and offer a nice sweet spot: hard centerline for long stretches of tarmac (with suspension locked-off), but enough grip at the sides to cope with gnarlier conditions (boinnngg).
 
how far the rindō goes. It keeps going after the summit, but I couldn't find it on any map and it seemed to be going back into tiles that I already have.
I found a very faint trace on the Strava global heat map, so someone has ridden this unmapped rindō. Blue dots are as far as I got yesterday, green dots follow the trace. It seems to go down (in elevation) another 200 m or so, and then just stop. Weird... but by no means unprecedented.

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Another plan brewing for fairly soon - although not sure exactly when. Part of my scheme to get as much of Fujisan into my cluster this year as possible. And worth a side-trip to Oshino Hakkai springs without the normal busloads of tourists. May require a few sections of scrambling.


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That rindo looks like it is paved in some sections then dead ends at the circled part according to satellite view. Wouldn't want to have that mail route.
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I've had this route on the drawing board for most of the winter, just waiting for longer days and good weather. Didn't plan on CV19 though. It is getting harder and harder to avoid using the rinko, especially as I watch my Golden Tiles disappear into the overstuffed Tile Bag of my nemesis, who will go unnamed (but you know who you are).


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It is getting harder and harder to avoid using the rinko
I've barely used my car for years, but by golly it's getting some miles on it these days. Disadvantage of car vs train is that I have to go back to where I left it, and then drive. On the upside, it's not a train.

If there's a day we're both free and apparently asymptomatic, I'd be open to a socially-distant drive...
 
Let me know when/if you plan on doing the route you posted in the near future. I have a bit of free time, so probably can join you... provided you're willing to put up with my slow pace.
 
Sunday's forecast was for a strong SSW wind. My tiling protégé and I decided to ride the wind along the Kujukuri coastline of Chiba, from Ichinomiya to Chōshi. I'd done most of it before, but that was all long Before Tiling so there were a few pickups I could do too.


Started out quite silly...

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More adventure soon became necessary as the river path was closed for unnecessary construction...

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Just ploughing along with the tailwind was great fun, though. 35 km/h with no effort, for a couple of hours.

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As the coast turned gradually toward the east, however, that lovely tailwind became a crosswind, and lifted up clouds of fine sand that got everywhere.

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Despite the sandstorm, couldn't forego a little walk on the beach. Also: TILE!

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Couple of tiles to be had in the fishing village, but the cliff looks daunting from this angle. Plenty cliffs to come. The flat beach ride is over.

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Part 2

Didn't know whether we'd be able to get this tile from the top of the cliff. It turned out - after trudging through a field of rotting cabbages - that we couldn't. The tile border passed about 2 m ahead of the last safe foothold.

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So it's down to the rickety breakwater we go. The access road was abandoned and covered with a landslide, but that part wasn't too bad.

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But the breakwater was uneven, and very slippery for cycling shoes where it was wet. Not many people go here, I think.

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Another slightly tricky tile by this lighthouse - tricky because the headland was closed to visitors with massive storm barriers. Some climbing required. But it would be a shame to go all this way and miss a tile, so...

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Mission accomplished! I spend more time riding (spookily empty) trains than riding my bike. That's one of the perils of tiling. But I really enjoy visiting new places with a little geotech-challenge built in.

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Where next....!?
 
a brief report for those who, tiring of normal routes, wonder what else is out there:


Masked up and got a solo late start from Iwaki station. Heading northeast, the rindo 227 around Kanomata river had a section closed with a road collapse but no problem for bikes to walk around. Meeting up with the main river leads to a very pleasant single lane following the river.
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Looped west to the Takase River Gorge (253). This was under construction, but unmanned when I went by. That said, probably would have been turned around if the construction crew was there. Spectacular area though, and when the repairs finish would highly recommended.

Just for @Karl - I found one of them yamakagashi sunbathing here. Somewhat poisonous but this one was digesting a frog, so it couldn't bite me (see: leg sticking out of mouth).
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From there, the route touches the edge of the abandoned zone next to Fukushima Daichi. While I do hop construction signs for mountain roads, for the record I did obey all the no-bike signs - no trespassing occurred. They prohibit bicycles and pedestrians anyways at the eastern-most point in the route per this sign, where I turned around:

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Would not recommend trying to take any of the rindo shortcuts on the edge and just use the main road because they are all either blocked or in incredible disrepair (fallen trees / completely overgrown by forest). Huge amount of wildlife living in the area compared to what you typically see even in more rural areas of Japan - saw fox, tanuki, badger, and innumerable green pheasants.

The area is being converted to half solar farm, half garbage dump after the incident - sobering stuff.
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Continued down 35 south . At the intersection to 288, had to convince the gate guy that I could go on 288 west (away from the coast). As various convertibles drove by with the top down, I pointed out that it was not great but not terrible for bikes. He didn't have HBO and missed the reference, but let me by. Headed away over the small mountains south down 399, a steep night-time descent to end the day.

And well, that's a wrap. Decided to move back to the states and am flying out in a few days. Thanks to all the TCC folks that I got to ride with and for all the advice (even if I ignored some of it)! It was a pleasure. Ride boldly and tile on.
 
@sean-e Sorry to hear you're moving on, Sean, but all the best back in the States. I did enjoy our ride last year and your ride reports were a real highlight for me on here over the last year🙂
 
@sean-e though we've never met, I really enjoyed reading your adventure stories. Maybe you could share some stories from the States every now and then.
I wish you all the best.
 
Solid adventuring once again Sean! Looks like an interesting ride!

Verily enjoyed the various epics. Wishing you safe & happy riding - best of luck in the states!
 
@sean-e What?! Moving back to the States? That sucks (for us).

Enjoyed riding, hiking and snake rousting with you. That long hike-a-bike up near Tanzawa was an adventure I won't forget. Hope you'll keep us posted on your adventures back in the States.

Best regards and happy trails!
 
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