Last Saturday I completed something that I’ve wanted to do for a really long time. I followed the 219 up the mountains to the Kumamoto/Miyazaki border. Since it’s basically all uphill on the way out of town, it was QUITE a challenge.
Ian had a guy’s night with Brian and David on Friday night and stayed the night in Hitoyoshi with David, meaning that I had the morning and early afternoon of Saturday to do whatever the heck I wanted. I took the morning to lounge around the house, get caught up on TV, wash and hang out two loads of clothes, and pack up my gear. …….and by gear I mean a water bottle with an apple and sweet potato as snacks.
I left the house around 1PM. It was a glorious, GLORIOUS day to be outside. The sun shone brightly overhead, and I quickly peeled out of my jacket because it was HOT. The entire trip to Miyazaki was straight up. I pedaled as far as I could before breaking for water. I would rest for a minute before hopping back on the bike and pedaling until I thought my leg muscles would explode, hop off, walk, and then repeating. The scenery was absolutely incredible. Not too far outside of town, the 219 goes into a thickly forested area and no longer has clusters of houses beside it. The road is also rather remote, so there’s not a lot of traffic, which is great for a pedestrian like me!
On one of my breaks, I was taking a picture on a bridge whenever a log truck rolled across the bridge. I could feel the entire bridge swaying under the weight. It was such a crazy and terrifying experience! I pedaled and walked, pedaled and walked, pedaled and walked, occasionally checking Google maps to see just how much farther the border was…….until I FINALLY reached the border! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! From the tippy top of the mountain, I could look down and see sleepy little Yunomae below. In the picture below, those tiny white dots just below the power lines are part of Yunomae. It was a beautiful view!
Crossing the border proved to be an unforeseen challenge. Between the two prefectures is a 2 kilometer long tunnel. I didn’t think that it would be any big deal to go through it, but I soon learned differently. I didn’t want to ride on the road inside the tunnel for fear of causing an accident or some log truck smashing into me, so I walked my bike along the narrow sidewalk. I soon realized that tunnels are creepy. I don’t know what kind of lights are in there, but my sense of color was diminished. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. My red jacket looked gray, and everything had a dull gray-tan hue. Plus, there were reflectors sticking up on the sidewalk, and my right bike pedal scraped against every. single. one. along the narrow sidewalk. The biggest complaint I have about the tunnel, though, was that car traffic was SO MUCH LOUDER in the there. I could hear cars coming up behind me for a while, and when log trucks rolled around me, it was TERRIFYING. The loud noises were bad, but it wasn’t any better when I was alone in the tunnel. Without the car noises, the tunnel was eerily silent. I pulled my bike onto the road and rode for a bit, but as soon as I heard any sounds of traffic (no matter how far away it was) I pulled my bike back onto the sidewalk.
You know that expression “light at the end of the tunnel”? I get it now. Nothing was better than seeing daylight again and to be out of the creepy tunnel of death!! Once I got to Miyazaki, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I wanted to stop and eat my snacks, but the area right outside of the tunnel wasn’t very pretty. I decided to coast down the mountain a bit and find a nice place with a good view. However, I didn’t see anything interesting, and I didn’t want to get too far DOWN the mountain because that would mean I just had to pedal back UP it. Instead I pulled over to the side of the road in the shade of a mountain and ate my snacks, silently enjoying the fact that I had ridden all the way to Miyazaki! I wanted to go a bit farther because I knew there was a nice lake area just down the road, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get there and then get back.
I shouldn’t have been worried about the trip back, though. Once I got onto the Kumamoto side of the tunnel, I started my stopwatch to see how long it would take to coast back into town. It took me an hour and a half to pedal up the mountain and then just under eleven minutes to coast downhill. That coast was some of the most exhilarating biking I’ve ever had. I’m not sure how fast I was going, but it was soooooooo muuuuuuuuch fuuuuuuun!!!!
Once I got back to the house, Ian had arrived home. I was exhausted from my ride, but together we gave the house a good cleaning and then spent the rest of the night cuddled up watching movies. My favorite movie of the night was a documentary called Hungry for Change and was about the food industry in America, how everything is processed, and how sugar is basically the anti-Christ for your body, etc. I know it was bad, but after watching that documentary, I asked Ian, “You want to go to the store for some ice cream?” Ha! Ha! After all…I had ridden up mountains that day, so I could treat myself, right? Right…..?
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