Success! Arrived at Cape Soya

Got up in the rain. Broke camp at 0530. The first 45 miles were in driving rain and a 30 mph headwind.
Terrain was like the dark side of the moon. Nothing to see.
We arrived in Wakkinai at 1130, dropped some of our gear at the hotel and had the rest of the gear shipped via Black Cat (Kuro Neco).
We then pace lined the remaining 14 miles to the cape.
Victory.

Day 12 in the bag

95 miles today. My leg held out fine .Painful but fine. We are at the onsen now. Clean, dry and ready to set up our tent and eat.
Only one more day of riding left. Tomorrow we will ride 55 miles to cape Soya then 18 more back to Wakkinai to our hotel and plane back to Tokyo.
Hard to believe we are so close.

Slight setback

My left thigh is getting a bit more painfull today. Only 70 miles to go. Joy.

Break @ 45 miles; day11

Quick stop for a beer. Look , no robes. ;-)

Day 10; Epic Day

We rode nearly 150 miles today. In the rain .Very difficult . Legs are very sore . We are about 36 miles outside Sapporo . Now to bed .

Day 9; Rest day

This may be the last post for a couple of days. Day 10-12 are in a very remote part of Hokkaido and we may not get much of a chance to get online. We will be shipping some of our stuff back to Yokota today. Things we did not use and probably won't over the next 5 days. Here are some photos of oour ferry ride yesterday and other things that mey be of interest. Also here is the map for day 8;

Dinner at the Crab House!

Cracked crab legs and rice. Bounty of the sea.

Day 8; Northern most point on Honshu

Kyle and I have reached the northern most point of Honshu, the big Island of Japan. Short recovery ride today of 30 miles. Over 600 miles total so far.
We are currently waiting for a ferry to take us across the straight to Japan's northern island of Hokiado.
Tomorrow is our first and only rest day. We will spend it sight seeing around the town of Hakadote.
The journey has been challenging. Days 2 and 3 especially. Training on the flat prarie in dry Wyoming has not completely prepared me for riding back in Japan where hills, humidity and heat are the rule.
Some quick facts that may interest the reader ; our bikes + gear weigh in at about 75 lbs. Our average distance covered per day has been 88 miles. Fastest day's speed averaged in at 16.1 mph,  slowest was 13.3. On day 2 we rode up to Harunako in Gunma prefecture. There were stretches of that 15 mile climb that were over a 22% grade. You can't stop while on that steep a grade, if you do your screwed cause you can't get enough leverage to get the bike rolling again. That road is a challenge to ride on a 16 lb road bike let alone a touring bike pulling 60lbs of gear. So,  we're kind of a big deal.  ;-)

More pics

Day 7; Descent into Mutsu-shi

Kyle and I got a bit of a late start this morning. Left the hotel at 10:00 AM! 81 miles down hill most of the way. Just for the record, in the last 7 days we have ridden over 45 hours and 589 miles! Today started with an off the chain breakfast at our hotel. Full on buffet. We grabbed a bunch and got to it. The ride started north along a river with some of the most spectacular waterfalls I have ever seen. For about 10 miles it was one waterfall after another. Otherwise the ride was ghost town after industrial park. In the rain for most of the day. Still better than the heat. And we found a Sushi place for lunch!

Ride ended at the town of Mutsu-Shi. Still raining we stopped at a McDonald's and grabbed diner. The rain prompted a change in plans as well. Getting a late start means arriving late. Since it was nearly 7:00pm we decided to find a cheap hotel. With our pal Danny Robinson back in Tokyo we did. He called and set it up for us. Thanks Danny we owe you a beer! The average speed for today was 16.1mph. Here is the map:

More friends on the road

Two very nice Japanese girls we met at McDonald's in Niigata on day 4. They saw us earlier on the road by the giant statue of a monk. Yurie and her friend. Thank you for being interested in our trip and for the McDonald's coupons!

Day 6; and then there were two.....

Day 6 started on a sad note, due to a problem with the part of his body that interfaces with his saddle, Leland had to take a break. He will be meeting back up with us in a couple of days after he has a chance to heal. Other than that today was spectacular. Kyle and I pretty much hammered the whole day. Only a couple of stops. It rained on us for most of the day off and on. Better than the heat of the preceeding days by far. The ride finished off with a long climb and then descent down to Tawada Ko (lake). This is a hotel night so sleeping inside an actual bed (futon). Here is the ride:

Day 5

Very Hot! Not quite as hot as day 4 but hot. Riding through rice paddies does not afford one much chance for shade. We rode through rice paddies almost all day on day 4 and on day 5. 100 degrees and 93% humidity. I got a little over heated at one point and had to stop at a 7-11 to load up on iced drinks. Shoved down the back of the bibs in the middle of your back does wonders to cool you off, and I don't think I have ever drank so much water. A suffer fest it was. To cool of on day five we stopped at the beach for a swim. It was great! We swam for about half an hour, got cooled off and hit the road again. We ended the day at great onsen and camped on the side of a bike path. Some of the locals stopped by in the morning to wake us up. Here is the ride: