I leave early. Way early. I went to sleep when the sun was setting, and now I find myself leaving the campsite in the mountain under the stars. I stretch as usual. It is cold. Freezing actually. I am wearing everything I own that is clean. An unholy hunger takes over me, but fortunately I find a combini quickly. First plunder of the day. Seems all this extra cycling I have been doing comes at a cost afterall, I think to myself.
Monkeys!
As I am about to leave the empty resort town, the sun shows itself finally. And then I hear .... monkeys. I see one, then two. There is a whole bunch of them in the trees near by! I approach them, offering food as usual, but the little bastards let it go to waste. I take some pics and vids and leave satisfied. Been wanting to meet the monkeys of Japan for a while!
The Japanese Alps
Yama (Mountain), as you may recall from earlier posts, is one of my mortal enemies on this trip. Unlike the other 3, Yama doesn't come to you, you go to him. Today is the day I enter his domain. The road steeps up ridiculously. I walk half of the time. I am deep into the Alps, and 3 days of doing extra kms now become my weakness. I am exhausted. My legs feel unrested. Exactly as they felt last night. This is bad. Today will be rough.
I climb for hours in total and complete exhaustion. I go through all my drinks in no time and in a few hours I find myself hungry again. This is strange, I just ate. Regardless I keep climbing. And climbing. The kms do not come out. 10am, only 15km?! Terrible!
Payback Time
Fortunately, Yama out of all of the enemies is actually the kindest one. First he brings on the abuse. Terrible terrible abuse. Then, he pays you back, in the same exact amount. I reach the top. I can almost touch the heavens. My ears pop from the elevation. And then......for the next half hour, I fly down the mountain at 50km per hr, constant! No cars behind me. Not once. I turn fast, over and over, like I am some kind if professional cyclist. Amazing! I scream from the rush as I pass under a huge red bridge.
I reach the bottom. Greatest thrill yet! I wish I could do it again!
At the bottom, I find a combini. Second raid of the day. This time I go crazy and purchase 20 bucks worth of junk, including an energy paste.
Fuel Time
I find a restaurant a couple of mountains later. Third sack of the day. I order for two people and almost feel sick for being so damn full. I leave barely able to move. After an hour my body starts up again. The energy thingy, the combini junk, the double dose of lunch, it finally kicks in. The muscles have something to eat. I find my strength again and push like a madman trying to reach Tokyo.
The City Begins
After a nice collection of what are the scariest and most dangerous of tunnels yet, I finally reach a city. I am 130km from the capital. But the city keeps on going and going. I try to find a camp-jo, but after heading up another mountain I say the hell with it. Done with mountains today. With no plan, I head into the city.
Luxury
I keep going, no plan yet. I keep looking but this place is different. No green. No empty places I can stay the night. This is bad. The sun is setting. Give me one more hour Taiyou (sun), I say. But the star keeps going. Well, the Earth keeps turning I should say. Anyways, I now am in the most urban place I have seen yet, and night is coming. Out if exhaustion, I fall off my bike in a gas station. Lost my balance. Of course an amazingly beautiful girl was passing by. Just my luck. I wonder, perhaps that's why I fell in the first place. I was not paying attention in the first place. I don't know. I don't care. I have no place to rest.
I finally do what I have been holding out on for 20 days. I find a hotel! Yes! Finally! A roof over my head.
I find a rather cheap one. Go inside. Bathe for two straight hours, blast music, eat and blog. Fricking amazing. Tonight, I sleep like a baby! Nite. Haha!
98km
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