Go West, Young Man! ( to Hiroshima)

On this, our fifth day of cycling in a row and our last full day for this trip, we decided to bike all the way to Hiroshima.

OK, it wasn't quite that simple. Rain being in the forecast for this afternoon and all day tomorrow meant we only had a short window of good weather. Plus, there really isn't much anywhere to stay between Onomichi and Hiroshima, though we could have stopped about halfway at Higashihiroshima (East Hiroshima). Getting up this morning at 5 was only a little painful, as our bodies were starting to feel the wear of continuous cycling. It's one thing to bike every day. It's another to bike through mountains and crowded streets with bumpy roads, bad sidewalks, lots of poorly timed stoplights and a 20# backpack in direct sunlight with no shade every day. It's a lot of fun (except for that bit on route 11), but it makes you a little sore.

 Well, we really wanted to get out of Onomichi early, because the whole first section of the ride was going to have to be on one of the main roads, route 185, through the region, because the mountains and ocean squeeze down to a very narrow bit of land just west of Onomichi. Thus we found ourselves at 6am pedaling as quickly as our little bikes would go down 185 before all the trucks woke up and realized we were on their road, and we were mostly successful. Arriving in Mihara, the first town west of Onomichi, we were able to turn off onto a smaller route that took us up and over what I think was Arigahirayama.

Tunnel approach. This one was very short

On the other side of the mountain was Takehara, a historical town with a lot of things to see and a ferry to Ookunoshima, the Rabbit Island. Unfortunately, trying to beat the rain, we only had time to stop at the station for some lunch

Sorry guys, maybe next time (Presto!)

The station at Takehara was small, but had a 7-11 Kiosk where we could get some snacks to go along with our trail mix. They were running a lottery and we spent over ¥1000, so Sumi got to reach into the mystery box and pull out a prize. The last time this happened, she won a free bottle of placenta.

I wish I was joking

Well, second time's a charm. She won a free cafe latté! While that is only slightly more appealing to me as the placenta, Sumi was quite pleased, and this made our stop in Takehara a success. That and the cute little bird casts on the parking separators

 Back on the road, we were forced back onto route 185 for a little bit until we got to Akitsu, another small coastal town, and could turn off back into the mountains, this time to climb Kanashiokuyama. It was a quiet, beautiful ride up, bamboo and pine forests, old terraced rice fields, and nearly perfect weather.

Hand-made stone terraces

Reaching the top of the mountain, we were greeted with a few nice signs

"Welcome to East Hiroshima"

East Hiroshima City Saijo-cho

and a 1/2 mile long tunnel with no shoulder or sidewalk

Being all downhill, we put on our lights, waited until no one was around, then made a mad dash through the tunnel. There were only a few vehicles behind us at the end. It had also begun to rain slightly.

As we made our final descent into Saijo city, the inevitable finally happened. A flat tire. After all of the biking on really bad urban sidewalks and through overgrown brush, it was only a matter of time. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but I've had so much practice changing inner tubes, I had the new one on and ready to go, including digging out the spare tube and pump and using said tiny portable pump, in ten minutes.

Sumi felt the need to capture this for posterity

It was sprinkling and lunch time, so we found a konbini and sat down to figure out what to do. The rain was light, but was likely going to get heavier as the afternoon wore on. There was nothing in East Hiroshima, other than farms, and we were likely not going to be able to ride tomorrow, as the forecast was rain all day. We were already wet. So, we made the decision to suck it up and go for it. We had no clue how to get to Hiroshima without riding on the busy highways, so there was a lot of map checking (in the rain), a lot of last minute detours to avoid route 34, which had become the main thoroughfare. We passed through the town of Kumano, which is known for its calligraphy (it even has a Calligraphy Brush Festival and Oversized Calligraphy competitions).

Calligraphy stores, schools, etc were everywhere

and possibly the creepiest pachinko hall decoration ever

a 15 foot tall king of diamonds is watching you...

and finally our third and final mountain of the day, Kanagadoroyama.

If you do enough biking in Japan, you start to see the tell-tale signs of "This one's gonna be steep". We refer to them as "the squiggles". It's when your map starts looking like this:

"The Squiggles"

Well, it was either that or get hit by a truck, so we opted for the former. And for the next 45 minutes or so, in the intensifying rain, we climbed. And climbed. And at a certain point, you kind of stop realizing how high you have gotten, or how long you've been climbing as you get lost in the activity and effort of the ascent. We saw perhaps four vehicles the entire climb, because who climbs an isolated, steep mountain on a Tuesday afternoon in the rain? Only an idiot would do something like that. Well, for their effort, these idiots were rewarded while turning a corner at the start of our descent, with an unexpected view of Hiroshima

The end is in sight!

The descent into Hiroshima was very steep. So much so, that with all the rain, we rode our brakes heavily all the way down, having to stop and rest our hands about halfway, and walking some of the steeper (10% grade) slopes to avoid sliding off the mountain. Finally reaching the town, it took another hour to weave our way through the suburbs of Hiroshima (a city of over 1 million) to our hotel located next to the Hiroshima train station.

Our hotel, the Hotel New Yorishiro, is a business hotel with some traditional tatami rooms. The shower was almost as wide as my shoulders (almost), meaning we had to stand sideways in the shower to fit, but it was clean, quiet, and dry.

After all that work (about 90km) over three mountains, we were starving. And where do you go when you are starving in Japan? Coco Ichibanya Curry House (round 3). As we left the hotel on our way to dinner, we were greeted with a flood of people looking like this

Go, Carp!

It appears that we chose a hotel very close (about 6 blocks) to the Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium

It's actually on the stadium as that

where the Hiroshima Carp play. The game had been rained out, and all 45,000 fans were making their way home. It was definitely unexpected. As an aside, I've always felt that, perhaps with the exception of the Ham-Fighters (what does that even mean?), that the Carp was the silliest name for a baseball team that I had heard. While I still feel that way, the Carp (koi) is apparently an important part of Hiroshima history, so there is a good argument to be made. I'm still not convinced about the Ham-Fighters.

This also brought to my attention that the Mazda corporation comes from Fuchu, an inner suburb of Hiroshima. And that the company was originally called The Tokyo Cork Kogyo Company. And that the name comes from the Japanese god of light, mazuda. And that its first vehicle was the Mazdago autorickshaw

Looks like a tricycle to me

Enough of that rabbit hole. Tomorrow looks like all rain, so we're grounded for a day and will likely be playing tourist and visiting some museums and trying to stay dry.