DAY 58: My Day

There are few times in the span of your lifetime that you wake up knowing that this is going to be the best day of your life. Today is that day for me. And it's not even because of an unforeseen stroke of luck either. No....if anything, it is through a series of unexpected and unfortunate events, as well as many special moments I chose to have...that this day came about. 


I wake up 10 minutes before my alarm rings. I feel like my mind has been going on and on all night, as if I slept with one eye open the entire time. I sit up. Wow...........this is it, I think to myself.


Before hitting the road, I have to do laundry and charge my phone. Two things I managed to forget to do in yesterday's exhaustion. I go outside to the adjacent laundromat. I smell something foul in the air. For being the best day of my life, it sure does smell like sh.... I say to myself as I walk. 

By 10am...I am on the road. Combini breakfast. Then on the road again. I feel like a million bucks! Awesome....just plain awesome. After only 10mins of riding.....I finally see it. A road sign that says "this way to Sata" on it. It hits me so hard it takes everything in me to hold back the tears. I have about 60km to do today.

I keep going. Out of Kanoya. As I ride, I look up and say "don't send me any trouble...........not today....please!". I am not my usual defiant self. I say it with determination, but I am also at peace. I am not afraid... but feel like trouble has no place for what today is. I feel one with it, not against it. Then.....just like that, I hit 2000 miles.

Hold Them Back
As I pedal, I reminisce about all of the things I had to do to get here. It's tough....the tears just want to fall out, but I keep holding them in. I was originally going to rush all the way to the end, but I find myself going at a fast but comfortable speed, enjoying my surroundings as I pedal. 

I am looking around at everything. So this is how the last day looks.....this is how victory feels like. I go from laughing to holding back tears of joy several times. I pass a farmer in his car. He sees me, with my watery eyes, and the biggest smile on my face. He lights up and genuinely smiles at me from inside his vehicle. Does he know? How could he? But then....I know I am not the first....and everyone takes this road.... I think to myself as I pass him.

Mirages
As I keep pushing, passing each and every single small town on the way, I keep looking for Cape Sata. There it is! I stop....look......but it doesn't look like it. I keep going. An hour down, another cape......that has to be it! But it's not. Strange.........I should be able to see it by now. I get my trusty phone out, use the GPS and point in the direction of what could be Sata. The peninsula curves west the whole way......but Cape Sata, right at the tip, turns east and hides behind the last mountain in the distance. 



Alright....no more looking at the coast.....concentrate. Hidden till the end...I say to myself, as I smile. I keep pushing on.

Enter Sata

Then...I see it. Sata.....reads the road sign. I am here. But this isn't it! Jeremy warned me about this. You see, Sata is not a monument, like Cape Soya for instance (my starting line). No.....Sata is a place. And its not big.......it's massive. So once you are in Sata, you have to get to the Cape of Sata where a pink booth is, inside there is a natural reserve dotted by the smallest villages, and past that....passing the last tollbooth is Cape Sata's park, and at the tip of THAT...where the last road ends....is a tunnel, (it's not over) inside... is a pedestrian-only park with mountain trails.......and if you manage to get all the way here, if you do not give up on the way, you will see stairs. And right here....on top of the last step.................is the southernmost point of mainland Japan. It's not over till it's over huh? But then...............I wouldn't want it any other way. 

Vox Populi

I see a sign. It reads 10km to Cape Sata. The time has come. I stop in a small town, holding my bike with my legs as I have been so accustomed of doing.  

(Vox Populi by 30 Seconds to Mars if it doesnt work)

(Sorry, no pictures for this part). I open my front bag....take out my earphones. I don't put one on as I always have. I am not listening for traffic, looking out for cars and being careful. On these empty roads, whomever passes by better get the hell out of my way, drive around or go back to where they came from. This is my road. I have waited so long for this moment....to listen to this song. As I pick my tune and stick it on repeat, I feel insecure about how good this moment will really feel. But......instantly...........as the drums of the song blast at full volume in both of my ears, I feel it..........................and a fire begins to burn wildly, never this large and violent before in my entire life, consuming all the fears and insecurities left in my heart. Something I have kept chained up is finally set free.

I push as hard as I can now. HARD....like never before. Using all my strength. After only the first climb, I am exhausted. I have done 40km by now, yesterday 130km, and so on and so forth all the way back to Hokkaido. I am tired....but I am even more determined. Nothing in this world, will slow me down. I keep pushing as hard as humanly possible. Sata grants me one last true challenge. The mountain that hides the Cape itself. 

I scale it fiercely! I don't hear anything but my song. I am panting hard, my lungs hurt by the amount of air that they take in and out. My heart feels like is going to explode, beating strong, like a war drum, keeping the rhythm for the millions of organic cogs and parts that must work in symphony for me to make it to the top. 

This is the end. My phone is on, internet is on, GPS is on, I ate all my food, drank all my water. It all comes down to this. My teeth are out and a look of pure determination is on my face. The body knows it. The mind knows it too. This is the end. "USE EVERYTHING!!!" in a rage commands the second to the first. The body obeys without a moment of hesitation. Sweat runs down my face like a river, and I stay in the highest gears the entire time, uphill, enduring the final punishment. The climb is pure torture. I am overheating. My teeth are out. I groan and moan.....I push........I push! You will not stop me! I have come for you....Sata. Show me.......show me your Cape Japan!.......Give me what I came here for! 

More and more.....up and up, the mountain never ends, my body feels like it is going to break down at any second. The focused mind keeps the body from falling apart and giving into the pain. The mountain never ends. I look at the road. Damn you pavement. Damn you mountain. Damn you world. Damn you universe. Damn it all. I will make it. I will win today. AAAAAAHHHHHH I yell as loud as I can! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Again!....scaring the few onlookers that are near by. My knees hurt. My calfs feel like cramping up. My thighs are done. One... last... damn...... push...... Up and up...and then...................................

CAPE SATA
I reach the peak and ride down, full speed, in the middle of the road. Down and down until I see a sign. Turn right to Cape Sata. I turn and see it instantly. The pink tollbooth. This......this is the Cape. My Cape. I don't stop. I still don't see the tip and it's lighthouse. But I don't rush anymore. I begin to slow down. I never look at the clock today...I am at the end, this is all for my enjoyment.

I slowly ride up and down the hills of Cape Sata, looking around me in awe at the fact that I am finally seeing it with my own two eyes. It is beautiful. Oh....you should see how beautiful it is. So peaceful. My breathing returns to normal, and my sweat evaporates. Large butterflies fill the warm sub-tropical air. Palms and all sorts of trees cover the sides of the last road, all the way up to the tip of every gorgeous peak. I even get off....walk my bike, cool down some more. The earphones are off.....and the sound of the wind, the birds, and the sea... is the only music in my ears now. True beauty.

I try to remember and relive my entire adventure from tip to tip as I make my way into this place.....one I have only imagined in my dreams till now. 

I still don't see the tip of the Cape. I keep going, passing by a beautiful beach and the last human outpost. Never rushing. The air is warm but not hot, the sun is out but I am shaded by clouds, and I......I feel amazing! At last, I see the last tollbooth. I pay the lady, and she hands me a ticket to the Cape's Park. I look at it, smile, and continue. 

Where All Roads Stop

If all roads lead to Rome, then at the opposite end are places like this one. I go up the last mountain and then, I feel it. I know I am going to see it now. My mind has been following the landscape subconciously, analyzing it, studying it. I know it in my heart, completely....and sure enough, as I stop, get off, and look up.......I see the lighthouse. 

How long have I looked at pictures of this. I am here. But I am not done. No.....Cape Sata keeps going. I need to get to the southernmost point, what this place is known for. 

I pass by the Latitude 31 sign and finally, I see the parking lot I have looked at so many times on Google's Street View. I can't believe it. I rush into the tunnel and enter the absolute final step of my journey. 

I look at the steep narrow mountain trails and decide this is it for my bike. I take pictures of the total kilometers done, say goodbye and take a few steps. But then....I feel wrong. I went all the way back to Fujinomiya to end it properly. Why would I leave my bike behind now? So close to the end? ....I turn around, damn it all I say, you are coming with me jitensha, we are going to the finish line together.

The End

I traverse the tight winding trails. It is a thick forest that surrounds me. Finally....I see the Cape`s shrine. At last! I stop....pay my respects, and wait for the monumentally profound moment I expect to have. But......I do not get it. Strange.....I think. Oh well. I continue. Up and up, through tunnels of trees and bushes. Out, up, left, right and so on and so forth. There are many paths, but I manage to pick the only one that leads to the place I want to go. It is obvious for some reason which path is the right one. 

FINALLY!!! I see the stairs!!! I am so tired at this point. The stairs look infinite. I climb them. Boom...boom....booom...boom....boom goes my bike on each step, heavy, carrying all that I own.

Then.......... I see light. 

The steps end. 

I push my bike up, one last time.....

and finally......

finally, I make it to the tip of Cape Sata. 

The southernmost point........................................................... I have cycled the length of Japan.

65km to the end

3280km total from Cape Soya to Cape Sata
And the satisfaction to say:I HAVE CYCLED THE LENGTH OF JAPAN, WAS THE PROTAGONIST OF MY OWN UNFORGETTABLE ADVENTURE, AND ESPECIALLY......I CAN DO ANYTHING I PUT MY MIND TO.