Day 3 & 4: lots of hills but no rain
Day 3 was a transition day, part train ride and part bike ride fron Agemetsu, around Mt Daigamine, to a small Onsen in Kiso. I needed to take the train to get me from Kansai up further north, which was too far to ride given the time I have. I avoided (most) of the rain and did a short 20 miles, but had over 2600’ of gain. A lot of up for such a short ride.
Day 4, riding ftom Kiso to Kumamoto via the Mmidono Dam lakes, gave me the longest climb so far, about 2.5 hours of 7 to 13%. Nice downhill! Plus, a twisty climb to ride over, and avoid, a crazy long tunnel.
I stayed in a typical Ryokan, in a remote wooded region, with a very nice inside and outside onsen. As I was taking off my cycling shoes (outside of course), the woman working the front desk rushed out, took my shoes, stuffed them with paper (they were a tiny bit wet), and propped them against the wall. I’ve had this happen before, I guess it’s a thing at these old mountain ryokans. Around
The rice will ready to harvest very soon.
Nice roads going through small towns.
A typhoon problem. Sometimes “no” means “maybe” but in this case I think this NO really meant no.
So it was time for a reroute.
As i crested this hill dozens of monkeys ran out of the bushes crossing the road and doing a high-speed tightrope walk on the electrical line. By the time i got my phone (most accessible), they were gone except for the two furry blobs i circle
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robert j. mang cycling/travel 