After about seven miles into our ride I “had a mechanical” – the gears kept slipping. Ross attempted roadside repair but alas could not fix my bike. In the meantime, he called Giocomo to bring the bike van and swap out my bike with a spare. Well… remember my post from the other day about…

Quiet morning ride weaving through sleepy fishing villages, forests and pastoral landscapes.  This chill ride featured travel through several tunnels and a stop at the Noto Tsukumo Bay museum and squid 🦑 sculpture. The area has tons of squid fishing boats equipped with a multitude of bright light bulbs to attract the squids while fishing…

Settled into our routine and the group has really bonded. Our guides take turns every other day guiding us or driving the van that carries the bikes. In Japan, one has to have a special license to drive passengers plus the maximum size van cannot house both bikes and passengers so one of the guides…

Prior to going to dinner we went to the Omokura-jinja Shrine where we received a blessing for safe riding from the shinshoku (priest). Following the blessing we were treated to a traditional drum-beating ceremony. The Wajima coastal village was under threat from a samurai warlord seeking riches. Having no weapons, they donned terrifying masks 👹👺…

Today’s ride had several steep and challenging climbs compounded by über strong winds (sustained 25 mph with lots and lots of 45 mph gusts)! I must admit a couple of times I questioned whether I could do it and had to fight hard not to be blown over by some of the wind gusts. Seriously.…

And so it begins. Met up at the Tokyo Ritz Carlton with Giocomo one of our guides and Judy and Tony, the Fremont, California couple on the tour. All-in there will be five of us riding: Giocomo, Judy, Tony, Ross (the other guide) and me. Flew from Haneda Tokyo airport to Noto airport where Ross…