![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/eccb79a66f8f42669e3f731752958da5.jpg?resize=840%2C560\")
<\/p>\n\u00a0This past\u00a0 Monday was Columbus day in the United States, but I’m not in the\u00a0States.\u00a0 Lucky for me Monday was also the Japanese Holiday of\u00a0 “Taiiku no hi” which\u00a0is “Health-Sports Day”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What better way to celebrate that than a bike ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fall is happening here.\u00a0\u00a0 The summer heat is gone and the cooler temps of fall have taken over. There are no huge splash of colors just yet but you can tell that mother nature is dusting off her\u00a0brushes and shaking the paint cans.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/9e2ea68d3bfa4967c06a556d69bd0e4a.jpg?resize=599%2C899\")
<\/p>\n
The closest mountain to town is Yumihari.\u00a0 I have been on most of the flanks of this mountain and have found some stuff to ride in all those areas.\u00a0\u00a0 The place suffers from little use and\u00a0even less maintenance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This place\u00a0would be incredibly awesome\u00a0if there were enough riders to keep this place debrushed.\u00a0\u00a0I was focusing on the southern area\u00a0today and was quite pleased with\u00a0what I found and that it is seeing\u00a0some use.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One such trails was an awesome benchcut along a ruggedly steep hill side.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/434e132dd8c038517147044e9a059821.jpg?resize=599%2C899\")
<\/p>\n
I eventually found my way over to what I was looking for.\u00a0 There is\u00a0a large statue that you can see from town perched up along the ridgeline that I had been eyeing from work for a couple of weeks now.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This thing is huge.\u00a0 At least 20 feet high and it sets top of 20 foot raised base.\u00a0\u00a0This was a great spot for some snacks so I enjoyed them while\u00a0taking\u00a0in some of the views.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/c2d44acb414d5d1b244c03001bffd155.jpg?resize=599%2C899\")
<\/p>\n
There was an old couple there tending to the grounds.\u00a0 Eventually the husband and I struck up a conversation which was a mixture of my bad Japanese, his bad English and a healthy dose of International Charades.\u00a0\u00a0 From the jest of the conversation, the\u00a0man was 70 years old and his father made the sculpture.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He was\u00a0very proud of his father’s work.\u00a0 He was also proud of the fact his wife was\u00a0much\u00a0younger than him (only in her 50s).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The wife snickered at this and gave him a gentle slap on the arm.\u00a0 While I did not catch what see said, the facial expressions translated\u00a0to something along the lines of “You Dirty Old Fool”.\u00a0\u00a0While he looked\u00a0old, he was\u00a0mighty healthy and was doing some significant work like\u00a0cutting grass, trimming back branches, etc…\u00a0\u00a0 I hope to be that spry when I am his age.\u00a0 You can tell they loved and cared for this place.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After a bit more broken chit-chat over a\u00a0can of coffee he gave me, I was on my way.\u00a0 After such a nice little life enriching experience I could have called it a day right then and have been quite happy.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/88c5b750d27b1653a408501cfd20aa85.jpg?resize=599%2C899\")
<\/p>\n
Lucky for the me the old man had “Charaded” me some\u00a0more information on trails, so settting off from the shrine, I did some more snooping around.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/e03bc8da544841d72ee44e42b312c618.jpg?resize=599%2C899\")
<\/p>\n
What the old man had pointed to\u00a0was a really cool bit of trail where you descend down along a\u00a0mostly steep ridgeline through a forest of mixed bamboo and hardwoods.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a pretty fun descent with some scary bits thrown in when things got rocky and really steep.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/2a4bcd37a281bfec3a7ffdf1ee867189.jpg?resize=599%2C899\")
<\/p>\n
After this I climbed back up the mountain and hit some one the loops I have done several times which put\u00a0me back onto the side of the mountain I wanted to be on.\u00a0\u00a0 After another rather technical descent I popped out into another neighborhood.\u00a0\u00a0 From here\u00a0I zipped\u00a0along a series of\u00a0narrow twisting sidewalks that descended the rest of the way down the mountain back into town.\u00a0\u00a0I love when the navigation calls for anyway that is downhill to get “home”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I might get another ride or two in before I leave Japan but if not this would be a downright cool\u00a0closer ride.<\/p>\n