Coast to Coast Cycling in Japan

Coast to Coast in a fun way: 2 overnight hot springs stays, BBQ dinner, lots of parks, and roads free of speeding cars. See rural Japan, and enjoy great cycling. Recognized by JitenshaJin magazine.

Successful Completion: 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009

Route Description

Purple marks the start in Niigata. Gold marks the goal on the Bay.
Red triangle is a large mountain we hope to view: Asama-san.
Lines are colored for each day of the ride. "N" marks Nagano (south)
and Niigata (north), and "G" marks Gumma. Colorless (black) lines
mark prefectural borders, of which we cross 4.

Recognition

The JitenshaJin Magazine article about this ride can be found in 4 parts: Part 1, JitenshaJin Coast to Coast from 2008. Part 2, JitenshaJin Magazine article on Leo's Coast to Coast ride. Part 3, JitenshaJin article. Part 4, JitenshaJin article.

Agenda:

Friday: train to Joetsu, Niigata. 上越市、新潟県
Saturday: 135 km Japan sea - Komoro (Nagano).小諸市まで。
Sunday: 130 km Nagano - Nagatoro (Saitama). 長瀞まで。
Monday: 130 km Saitama - Tokyo bay. Then ride home. 葛西臨海公園まで。

Members:

Pending research and planning for next run. Contact Leo to Join sometime in 2010. Member introductions down below.

Plan:

3 days of riding. After meeting in Joetsu, each day's schedule will be finalized one day at a time. Weather will be a factor: if we see bad conditions early, we might wait. But more likely, if we see bad conditions late, we'll leave extra early.

Day 1: Long and hard day, so we'll leave early.
Day 2: Hard, and with difficult navigation.
Day 3: Not as hard, and easy to find the way.

Route:

See image above. Some highlights:

Chikuma Gawa千曲川 cycling road. A 25km stretch of day1.
Unno「海野宿」 in Ueda, Nagano. A traditional Japanese old town. Day1, afternoon.
We cross the "continential divide" at an elevation of -- 980 meters -- on day 2, morning, in the mountains south of Karuizawa. 「和美峠」
Safari Park in Gumma. Day2, afternoon. Watch out for Tigers and Lions.
Our stop on day 2 is at YouKouTei Ryokan 「養浩亭」 in Nagatoro. Cost will be 12600/ea.　Meals included. Meal option: BBQ elected.
End point of the tour: Kasai Rinkai Koen, where Ara-Kawa meets Tokyo Bay. Please plan your own ride home from here.

Add in and bail-out points. If, for reasons of fatigue, exhaustion, mechanical breakdown, urgent business necessity, or demands of a loved one, anyone needs to leave early, these stop points will be available to catch a train home. If anyone happens to be late or miss the starting line, try to target one of these points to catch up with the group.

Day One - bail-outs

Naoetsu Station, Joetsu. 直江津駅
Ueda Station. 上田駅
Near Nagano city. 長野駅

Day Two - bail-outs

Yokokawa Station 横川駅
JoShu IchiNoMiya 上州一ノ宮駅

Day Three - bail-outs

Nagatoro 長瀞駅
Akabane

Weather:

A year ago, weather during October in Nagano and Niigata was overall good this time of year. The exact weekend we are targeting, first part of October, was bad for 2 days. We have a good chance for nice weather, but need to be prepared, and keep fingers crossed.

Gear:

The 10 Essentials of Cycling

maps
food and drink
spare tubes, tube patch kit
pump
bike wrench and tool kit
mobile phone
helmet
rain/weather wear
first aid kit
lights for night/tunnel/dark places riding

Other goodies: cash!, spare tire for long trips, shoe cleat covers for walking, spare lube in mini container, compass, camera/film, notebook/pen, gloves!, sunglasses, chapstick, balm against chafing ...

Things we get at a minshuku and need not bring: yukata robe, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo.

Suggestions

How to train: Time to work on your equipment - get it in perfect shape - then you are ready.
Fast riders help the slow riders: while waiting for the group, whoever gets out ahead, we'll want to do recon, scout routes and terrain for future rides, keep an eye out for bike shops, sights to see. We'll want photos, and of course, tasty places to grab food and drink. Also need people to set the tempo.