We came here for the beer

After a fairly productive 5 days of riding, we've reached the town of Otaru:


View Larger Map

which we selected as a destination based on hearing that it has a fairly good microbrewery. Also because we really haven't been to a city since our arrival.

Some highlights from along the way:





-A beautiful (good weather!) ride around Lake Mashu (pictured), Mt. Ioh and Lake Kusharo. This was a un-laden ride we did on a rest day in Teshikaga, a 60km loop which also featured an outdoor onsen which was FAR too hot to actually sit in.



-A day of actual nice riding weather. Although I'm fairly sure it had headwinds. The wind blows from whatever direction you're travelling in, in Hokkaido. This is a fact. We've traveled every compass direction now and with the exception of the one morning I alluded to earlier, it is the truth. It will even change during the day as you do.




-A morning ride along the shore of Lake Shikotsu. This was of course followed by two grueling ascents as well as a flirtation with Sapporo traffic. Rather than tackle it head on, I opted to force Matt up a third climb in order to avoid it.

I believe the highest pass thus far we've done is Nissho pass, which was 1022m above sea level. Not bad! (A google search for Nissho pass, at least from google.co.jp, finds a youtube video with the caption "Nissho pass is terrible road...") It would have been fine, really, if not for the literally howling headwind we faced both going up and down the mountain. This was the sort of headwind that's usually only exaggerated about when boasting of passes climbed long ago...let it be said, we have now done a climb in a 50km/h headwind.

So, we're here in Otaru planning to take a day or so off, before heading south for the final push to Hakodate. We're a few days ahead of "schedule" by which I mean my arbitrary plan of spending precisely 1 month in Hokkaido. Thus, rest days will be frequent and mileages short. Until next time,


-z