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<\/p>\nOkay I have been back from Japan for nearly a month now and I am just starting to get caught up of some of my goings on while in land of the rising sun.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On one of my weekends there I set off to do a ride that I would involve a bit of this and a bit of that as far as riding goes.\u00a0 I know quite a few trails over here and while I wanted to get in some dirt time\u00a0I was also interested in taking in some of the sights and sounds of Japan life as well.\u00a0\u00a0 So I set off on\u00a0my ride with a bit of eye for looking for new things along an old route.<\/p>\n
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I started out in Yokosuka\u00a0 on the eastern shore of the Muira peninsula (about an\u00a0hour and change\u00a0south of\u00a0\u00a0 Tokyo) and pedaled the streets over to the city\u00a0of Zushi.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The route itself is always interesting with lots of\u00a0 Mom and Pop stores, stairways to temples and narrow streets and sidewalks.\u00a0\u00a0 There is this school that I pass by along this\u00a0route and while I Have seen kids at play on it a few times in the past for the most part it was empty during my passings.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Today was quite different.\u00a0 There was some kind of the school function that involved both the parents, kids and facility.\u00a0\u00a0 There were lots of chants, shouts, cheering and laughing on the playground.\u00a0\u00a0 I was already well down the street before I decided I needed to check this out with more than a pedal by so I hit the brakes and went back.<\/p>\n
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There was a hilarious race being held that had me laugh my arse off.\u00a0\u00a0 It looks like four groups of parents and children were split up into four teams. They were in lines at one end of the field and some guy\/official was sitting in chair at the other end of the field.\u00a0 At the man’s feet were two burlap sack filled with something.\u00a0 One sack was small and the other was large.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Once the whistle went off, the person at the front of each line ran across the field to their corresponding guy in the chair at the far end.\u00a0 As they approached the guy that had to play the guy in a single hand of “rock paper scissors”.\u00a0\u00a0 If the runner won, they got the small sack, if they lost they got the big sack.\u00a0\u00a0 Either way you the runners had to take their sack back across the field as fast as they could\u00a0and hand it off to the next person in the line.\u00a0\u00a0 For the subsequent runners, winning the rock-paper-scissors bout meant you got to keep or get the small sack.\u00a0 The entire race we exceptionally funny to watch.<\/p>\n
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After getting in my fill of giggles I soon veered off the narrow streets and onto trails on and around Mount Sengen.\u00a0\u00a0 Most of the locals refer to this area as “Duck Pond” as the most common route has you starting at a small pond.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It has rained quite a bit over the past week and the trails had a lot more moisture than I had expected.<\/p>\n
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The soil here is clay based and while it does not cake up on your tires at all , it is some exceptionally tricky stuff to ride on where power and balance but be carefully finessed to keep yourself from becoming an amateur geologist taking unplanned soil samples.<\/p>\n
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Now sprinkle in some leaves and wet roots over this clay and you have some exceptionally interesting bit of trail to content with.\u00a0\u00a0 You can find more information about this kind of stuff on Slickopedia.<\/p>\n
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One of my favorite little curves along the route, the ferns in this area almost popping.\u00a0\u00a0Like many of the hiking trails in\u00a0this area they have a long history of use to connect between the numerous temples throughout the peninsula.\u00a0 This particular trail dates back to around the mid 1300s.\u00a0\u00a0 After dropping this trail off of west of Mount Sengen, I did a bit of residential street riding before hitting up another series of trails.\u00a0\u00a0 Shortly after this I found myself at several trail junctions enjoying the scenery while I sorted through the scribbled on\u00a0maps and\u00a0disjointed\u00a0GPS files\u00a0floating around in my brain.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Eventually I channeled\u00a0“The Schwartz<\/a>”\u00a0 and figured out my way (The other ways, are now officially on my to-do list).<\/p>\n The series of trails I was on at this point where leading me to Kamakura on the western side of peninsula on Segami Bay.\u00a0 These trails were created sometime between\u00a01185 – 1333AD.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is really kind of cool\u00a0knowing that you are riding a trail nearly\u00a0four times as old as\u00a0my home country.<\/p>\n The drop into Kamakura proper is not a gentle one,\u00a0\u00a0 there is some seriously steep and slippery steps to contend with as most of your elevation is cashed out rather quickly.<\/p>\n The final bit of the trail before hitting tiny concrete pathways and alleyways that led down into the streets of Kamakura.<\/p>\n With its numerous temples and cultural shops and restaurants one could spend weeks enjoying Kamakura before they would feel as if they have done more than scratched the surface.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For me it was a quick stroll along the streets.<\/p>\n The “scramble” crosswalk.\u00a0\u00a0 All traffic briefly stops and pedestrian pandemonium ensues.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very cool to watch.<\/p>\n This was what\u00a0 I was really looking for on this day, some of the tasty street vendor offerings.\u00a0\u00a0 This stuff is some form of grilled chicken skin\/bits will tasty sauce and shredded veggies.<\/p>\n So what if is bad for me, but yeah there were a bunch of skinny Japanese folks eating this stuff so how bad can it be.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After\u00a0 mowing this thing down and a bit of Japanese fashion watching I made my way back over to Zushi along the streets.\u00a0\u00a0 I had big plans to hit of up the trails of Fugato-yama <\/a>on my way back but by the time I reach the turnoff street my legs were wanking so I continued along the streets back to Yokosuka.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Turns out I did just a few yards under 27 miles so I did not feel bad about bailing on the last riding area.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another good day to be on a bike and a great day to be out stroll around in Japan.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/imagescaler\/f208b8aef126618feae12039ab58d6f0.jpg?resize=840%2C560\")
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