Six tips on long-distance cycling in Japan, learned the hard way: 1,200km from Tokyo to Sapporo
Typhoons, truck drivers and, most of all, tiredness all threatened to derail the efforts of three adventurers on their seven-day bike across Japan, but they lived to tell the tale. Here is their advice for others considering similar journeys
I can see it, no more than three metres away: a furry, rusty brown face with a white chin and throat, topped with oval eyes. A Japanese red fox.
Am I imagining it, or did it wink at me, before vanishing into the underbrush?
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Kitsune, as the animal is called in Japan, is a wise, powerful and mischievous presence in local lore. The most common tale says vixens can shift their shape into maidens to marry humans, and bear them children. Right about now, exhaustion is making me particularly vulnerable to the wiles of vixens and cute furry animals.
For the past six days and eight hours, I have spent almost every waking hour crouched on a bicycle: leaning forward, arms extended in front, with my body’s weight spread between my forearms and my seat while my legs pedal away.
Known as an aero position, this is the best way to cut resistance and punch a hole through the air. I steer with my elbows, watching for potholes ahead, using my periphery vision to scan for oncoming traffic.
I should ride behind another cyclist, hiding in their slipstream to conserve energy – a practice called drafting that is banned in races, but vital for an endeavour like this. But it has been a really long ride, and the three of us on this trip are spread out hundreds of metres apart, too far to form a paceline.
