FROM THE SOURCE

FROM THE SOURCE

Corey Kubber  //  Entrepreneur. Innovator. Visionary. Philanthropist.
Interests include Social Media, Technology & Science, Health, Food, Photography, Entertainment, Travel, Business

Jun 25 / 7:28am

Rural Japan

This past Saturday, I rode my bike for about 7 hours. According to www.mapmyrun.com, I only went 30 miles. Well, that's without including the many times I got lost and went in circles/looked around...so I wasn't going that slow. And hey, it says I even climbed 1000 ft- not bad for a first time. Who am I kidding though. I was about to pass out on those steep slopes, and I couldn't make it without walking up the bike a few times on those mountain roads. 

My boss is super nice and is letting me borrow his bike for the next few weeks. I already rented a bike from my apartment building, but anyone in my position to borrow his bike would have also taken him up on his offer (even though I was nervous about being responsible for it). You see, the bike I rented on my own is what the locals call a mamacheri aka a mommy's bike with a basket in front. And it has an impressive 3 gears. I feel like I burn more energy riding that thing than it saves me- not to mention the bumpy ride it gives me. Now when my boss first mentioned I should borrow his bike, I didn't really want to. I might break it, or what if he needs it and I have it and then I would feel bad- or worse- if it gets stolen he will fire me ahh!" was all I could think. But I overcame those feelings, and the second I sat down on it, I was in love. It basically feels like effortlessly flowing across the ground, and when I'm riding it I can no longer feel the bump of every crack in the pavement. I'm afraid to ask how much it costs given it's sleek look, and 10+ gears. Oh and get this, the light on this one actually works.

 

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Mamacheri bike
*I'll add a pic of the other bike here later

So I set off on my first biking adventure not just in a long time, but EVER. I had a map and a mountain in the distance to guide me- Tsukuba Mountain. It's the tallest mountain in the area measuring up at 877 m (2877 ft). Ok so it's not that tall, but it's tall enough to be a mountain- I don't take pride in climbing big hills. Now I'm used to looking at a map with road names, maybe adresses, but Japan is not so simple. In Japan, only the largest main roads have names! Wait- what!? So how do people find their way? Landmarks, exact directions, etc. A lot of good my little map did for me- especially when I was surrounded by nothing besides fields of rice- literally. I didn't realize it at first glance, but all the little roads I was trying to navigate on the map were hardly roads at all. Most of them looked more like walking paths. And many were only connecting town to town or separating fields. I don't think a single one had a name. My strategy was to look around and visualize what the scene would look like from GoogleEarth, and then look back down at the map to try and figure out where I was. Forget about looking for exact paths, I only tried to figure out a general direction. This would have been much easier if I only wanted to visit the mountain, but Nagao Sensei (my boss) told me about a small town I should check out to see what life out of the city is like. Additionally, I couldn't go straight toward the mountain because I had to be on the lookout for a bridge over the nearby river.

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It was a bit difficult navigating through roads that all looked the same...
but at least I could enjoy nice scenery when I was lost!

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I don't know how often they burn the fields, but they happened to be doing it in a few places.

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Wheat in the foreground, fire in the background.

Eventually, I made out ok and found some cool places along the way. But I didn't get to climb to the top of the mountain! In fact, I was racing the setting sun even having skipped the mountain climbing part of my journey. I did manage to get about a quarter of the way up befor I realized I was out of time. Now I've climbed mountains before on foot, and never had any problems. But on a bike- it wasn't easy. Let's just say it was a good workout. On the way down, it was so steep the brakes began to overheat and I had to stop. The only way to go down at a speed less than lethal was by constantly holding down the breaks. It was still fun though and maybe a little scary since I was going at least 25 mph on a narrow, bumpy road with turns.

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The "lunch" I had during my break- sitting on a bus stop bench on the mountain.

Inside the white and orange box:
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I picked up this chocolate cake and sweet rice dessert in one of the little towns I passed.
The thing wrapped in the paper is dry ice to keep it cool! Cool! :P
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The view.

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Another great view, if the power lines had not been in the way.

 

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My descent...

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This is what most of the houses look like.

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My view shortly after descending. If you look on the mountain, you can see the path I took. (look where you can see the buldings/houses)


I rode back on the same path which is called Rin Rin Road- a road entirely for bikes. Very convenient. It travels exactly where its useful, between south of Tsukuba, all the way north to Tsukuba Mountain. Rin Rin has two meanings, but I only remember one of them. It's supposed to represent the sound of the many bicycle bells passing by. "Rin rin, rin rin!"

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In the red lettering: "Tsukuba Rin Rin Road"
As you can see, it's very long, and connects the two JR railways.

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A cool passage


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Rin Rin Road and Tsukuba Mountain

On the way home, I couldn't escape nightfall, but thankfully I got back to familiar places just after it became dark. And then the ride home from there was only another 10 or 15 minutes. The sights along the way:

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I was amazed to see a Big Boy restaurant...

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I was not so amazed to see a Wendy's...
but I did go inside to get a Frosty ^_^
A great way to end the day.