so i’m writing from an inn in kyoto after taking the bullet train from tokyo. we’re a day behind already on the planned ride back to tokyo thru the mountains of central japan. just me and an old roommate are gonna ride thru the nastiest passes on honshu, the main island in the japanese archipelago. i’m beginning to think that this may have been the dumbest idea i’ve ever had. the profiles for the climbs later in the trip are just vicious.
goodbye to cushy stays at the u.s. embassy residences, hello to paying thru the nose for hotels and probably sleeping on the ground without camping gear once we get to the mountains proper.
we’re debating whether to jump on the bikes tomorrow and hammer out 90 miles to gifu, just to get us out of the hole. we haven’t been riding all that much since we got to japan, so that would be pretty harsh. i guess we’ll decide tomorrow.