On a drive south of Lecce, we saw thousands of olive trees that have been hit by a bacteria that chokes the trees to death. It reached southern Italy in 2013, and since then, it has killed one-third of the 60 million olive trees of Puglia.
The Mediterranean was an amazing color. That’s Alison in a olive press cave.
A stormy sea, a medieval village with LOTS of stone, and an early Antoni Gaudi designed residence.
This trip starts in Bilbao. (Click on an image to launch a slideshow)
El Alpujarra is the southern portion of the Sierra Nevada. The cycling here is about as good as it gets: fantastic roads, great climbs, amazingly courteous drivers, and beautiful scenery.
Cycled a month in Andalusia using Montejaque as my base. The riding there is fantastic. Some photos are below.I also did 3 days of riding on Mallorca, and pretty much hit the highlights Northwest of the Ma-13, covering 185 miles with 19,000’.
On the plus side, Mallorca cycling certainly scores high on my three main criteria for day-trip rides. Roads: mostly perfect and a joy to ride on. Terrain: Loved the climbs and descents, couldn’t ask for a better cycling topography. Scenery: nothing short of spectacular. I have never in my life seen so many recreational cyclists (not counting the likes of commuters in Northern European cities, or Japan). It was truly amazing, which leads me to the not-so-plus-side.
Many places in the world, especially Europe are suffering from “over tourism”. Think, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Barcelona and a whole bunch more. In my opinion Mallorca has hit that for cyclists. I never thought I would say this, but I think there are far too may cyclists there. Add the staggering numbers of bikes – and lets face it, when you get those kind of numbers, you’re bound to have a lot or riders who don’t have a ton of experience with that type of cycling – to the endless stream of cars, trucks, and busses, and you get a situation that is less than idillic, and frankly, dangerous at times.
I left Selva pretty early for the climb up to the summit then to drop down to Sa Calobra, and on that initial climb I was alone, and it was wonderful. I was also alone on my descent into Sa Calobra so I could fly down the hill. At the bottom, zero tourists, no cyclists as it was still pretty early. However, on my ascent, as I got past the halfway mark, a phalanx of busses, cars, and a growing wave of cyclists were coming down. As the busses can’t make the turns around the switchbacks very effectively, it requires full attention to keep from getting squashed against the guardrail. Not exactly a peaceful ascent, though, as I was still pretty early, there were sections of serenity that I relished.
The ride to Cap Formentor was also pretty early, but once again, not early enough. There were literally thousands of cyclists, endless cars, and on my return, buses coming up as I got near Port de Pollenca on the final descent.
Would I go back? Maybe, but only if it was convenient, say I was going there to sail, but I would do the rides leaving at Civil Twilight, and made sure I was finished well before noon. I like cycling in Andalucia better, plus there’s more to do here when you’ve finished riding.
Images from Mallorca
After yesterday it was great to have a mostly sunny day on the bike. I normally pick small roads when touring in Japan. But some of today’s roads were really small. And a few of the diversions required a bit of effort to get around, and one road was completely blocked off requiring a total reroute. The ride ended up being 50 miles.
I have three navigation systems running, 1) a Garmin Edge 1030, 2) a Wahoo Element Bolt, and 3) the RWGPS app running on my phone. The Garmin gives me a great map and turn-by-turn directions, the Wahoo gives me instant syncing with my RWGPS website route and custom cues, and the RWGPS app on my phone gives me audio cue prompts. And all three give me vastly different elevation gains for long, hilly rides that have lots of up and downs. Garmin said i climbed 6200’ today. Wahoo said 3950, and RWGPS said 4250.
It felt closer to Garmin, but not 6200’. Maybe 5200, but its hard to tell. Obviously.
This road was a bit of a mess but was very rideable.
This required the removal of all bags so I could climb over the trees carrying my bike. 
And yet another one to climb over
Then I saw these signs. Yea, “Therapy Road”. It was therapeutic all right.
And more stuffed characters.
The forecast today was for 100% rain. And it was 100% accurate. Leaving in the rain is always the hardest.
But, it was a great route with lots of small quiet roads. And LOTS of rain.
Something I’ve only seen in Japan, and it’s very commonin rural areas
I may not be able to read the sign but I can see that the typhoon is forcing me to find an alternate route…
…. and it wasn’t too far out of the way, and it was pretty along the river, but it sure was wet
[ LIVE UPDATE: I just felt an earthquake sitting here in my hotel room! ]
I stopped for coffee in the small, VERY HILLY village of Setenil de las Bodegas.
The old bridge in Ronda
The blue town of Juzcar
Just another great cycling road in Andalucia
Whitewashed, perched villages are everywhere
These goats bounded in front of me. It was all I could do to grab my phone and shoot.
These last two are of the killer climb up to Torcal de Antequera,
and me with my rental bike.
Im cycling in Spain for 10 days. Here’s the route:
…and this is why Spain is a great cycling destination…
Great roads,
Lots of climbing,
Little traffic,
Lots of respect for cyclists (could use this sign on Old Santa Fe Trail),
Picturesque hilltop villages,
And yea, some really great cycling roads
Hokkaido is a really big island. Our route occupied a thin vertical sliver down the western side of this vast Prefecture.
Our group
8 days of open spaces, farms, some nice climbs, lakes, and some busy roads circumnavigating the edge of the Uchiura bay. Oh, and that particular section had about 13 tunnels out of the total of about 20, with another dozen or so “galleries” (kinda half tunnels).
A 2.5 km tunnel… just pedal like mad.
In all, we cycled 492 miles (787 kms) and climbed 23,747 ft (7420 mts) and there was rain day.
Hokkaido is an OK place to ride, a bit unvaried with lots of farms and open spaces. The roads are good, some great, but some are simply ridable. I’d say there are more young Japanese bike tourers here riding with fully loaded panniers and camping gear then anywhere in Japan. Apparently, going to Hokkaido cycling – which is not really on the radar for most Japanese and is considered a remote place – is a thing to do for young Japanese boys.
HOWEVER, the food here is amazing. Wonderful seafood: scallops, uni, small fishes, crabs, plus some wonderful ramen and udon. The udon is particularly nice, being light and subtle. I could forget the cycling and simply do a food tour of Hokkaido and it would be fantastic.
above, sorting baby scallops so the can be tossed into the sea and become these…
more wonderful Hokkaido seafood…
Next, Honshu….
The Length of Japan cycling tour starts next week. I’ll be the ride leader for our 30 day journey from the northern tip of Hokkaido, Cape Soya, to the southern tip of Kyushu, Cape Sata. It’ll be over 1,600 miles (2,600 km’s) with more than 100,000 vertical feet of climbing (30,000 mt’s) on (mostly) fantastic roads.
There will be plenty of updates and photos here during the next month…
A few days in Kochi. One of our favorite meals in Japan is katsuo no tataki, or bonito seared over a flame of burning straw. This is the signature dish of this region. Cooking it looks like no fun.
A few simple examples of elegance in Japanese design…
Then we went to the velodrome where they hold Keirin races. Keirin is Japanese cycle track-racing for the sole purpose of gambling. Kinda like the horse race track in the US. The only women were working, 100% of the betting was by men. Unfortunately, the actual race was being held at another track, so these guys were betting and watching it on video monitors. There are velodromes all all over Japan, and the race schedule moves around the country all year long.
And then this: on the street, delivering fish, with the truck running, the woman is whacking off the head of an eel.
And of course the price of specialty fruits and vegetables. About $36 for a box of tomatoes. And these were NOT the most expensive I saw, yesterday I saw a box of 20 small tomatoes for $50!! They better be damn good,
Typical road in the area, and below a woodland cycle route…
Those two spots are where Alison and I sit in the temple.
We’re in Japan for 5 weeks; three of them are at a Zen Retreat on Kyushu.
Our typical daily schedule includes waking up at 5:00 for 30 minutes of chanting, followed by an hour of meditation, then tea time, and an hour of Yoga. Then, a few hours of “Samu”, or service to the temple, taking us up to lunchtime.
The afternoons are mostly free, with Alison doing a daily art project, calligraphy with the monk, and hikes to the beach or the village.
I’m bringing my bike, and plan to do a daily bike ride up into the tiny, twisty, quiet roads into the hills. My Spring Training.
There’s internet, but we will be on a self-imposed 3 week total news blackout. No politics. No news. Just doing the Zen thing and me cycling as much as possible.
The Little Indigo Museum in the small village of Miyama, north of Kyoto. We took a subway, two trains, and a bus…but it was well worth it.
Hiroyuki Shindo has been using Indigo since he was a young man.
The pottery village of Shigaraki
There were art installations around the village, this one inside a kiln
Some photos of Nagano, Obuse, Matsushiro, and Takayama…
In front of Zenkoji temple in Nagano
These are of a procession in Nagano, going between a small temple and the enormous Zenkoji, which takes place at night for a few weeks each year
Takayama
Fire buckets are everywhere in Japan, usually red, but these must be faded
Obuse is known for its chestnuts. The town has footpaths paved with blocks of chestnut tree wood
Shot through a window covered with a spotted UV pattern
A steep path leading to a beautiful shrine outside Obuse
Castle ruins in Matsushiro, a 10 mile bike ride from Nagano
Young Monks repairing a torn shoji screen
Alison and I were cycling around Takayama…photo not taken by me
A Soba making demo…
The precision of the cutting was something
The D.T. Suzuki Museum in Kanazawa…
At the Contemporary Art Museum, Kanazawa…
At a wasabi farm…
Just some random shots…
Soaking feet in tubs with apples…don’t ask…
Phones…
My bike on a local train. A few stops after I took this photo, the train started filling up, so I moved my bike to the front where there were no seats. There was more than 4′ of unoccupied bench next to me, and only a few tiny spaces here and there in my car. This was a local line…not a tourist route. At further stops, more people boarded than departed, but no one took the space near me, they just squeezed into the other spaces. I didn’t take it personally.
I’m not sure this is even physically possible
I cycled through that half tunnel
A festival in a town I cycled through
These wrapped ears of corn are displayed all around. Must be a autumn thing.
It’s been raining off and on the last few days. Fortunately, I’ve been mostly on very small mountain roads so the rain hasn’t been a huge issue. Plus it’s been pretty light and reasonably warm.
Setting out in the rain
Taking a break to get dry for a while
サラダ says “Sarada” or salad, but Salad Road?
The only other place in the world I’ve seen wood so neatly stacked was Switzerland
Primping for the camera in front of Kumamoto castle
The menu at the restaurant last night. I can read Hiragana and Katakana pretty well but I can read absolutely zero Kanji, so this was mostly useless for me
A bike shop. It was open for business if you could make it through the mess
48 miles and 4200’…with lots of ups and downs and some pannier-load challenging grades. They call this the “Japan Alps” region, which has some passes up to 8000′, that I’ll do in a few days, but the elevations are nothing compared to the US Mountain Region. Nonetheless, the climbs are still a workout.
Small mountain village
This region is known for its many traditional thatched roof homes
First time I saw a shrine dedicated to a big root. Nice root, though.
In my route planning, I’ll always choose the “route less traveled” when possible. This section was definitely less traveled.
robert j. mang cycling/travel 