SBK Japan

Day 5

Woke up feeling pretty good. The Riderhouse come Minchiku was a bustle of activity. People were shuffling around everywhere and the sun was shinning in the window. Woohoo! The weather gods had listened. Riding time.
Went downstairs and the Matron of the house was ordering everyone around and complaining that there were too many bikes everywhere(I had to wonder on that one-It is a riderhouse, right?) and some had parked in a neighbours carpark. Us, the night before. We'd just pulled into the only open spaces behind everyone else's bikes. So rolled the bike out front and started to load up. That's when things went a little pear shaped. Free-wheeling the bike around front, I'd forgotten to put it back in gear. When strappin the gear down, off it started to roll. 1st lifting up a little over the centre stand and by the time I got along side it was into the leap before the fall. I caught it but the pack on the back toppled and swung like a pendulum over the rear and the bike was falling again. I dug in and started to lift but the gammy knee buckled and I stepped out. Crash-bang! the beast was down! Inevitably, everyone came running to see what the commotion was. Within 5 seconds the bike was upright and hands were pulling me up too. Good mob, them riders. Right then the matron came around commanding me to move my bike over to the curb-side. Bad timing!
So, damage report. Scratched up mirror and bar end. The mirrors bar-end insert was bent, so out came the tool kit and with a bit more banging, some grunting and twisting it was almost as good as new. 1/2hr later we were loaded up and headed North. Went back through the swamp in the morning light but by then it had got cloudy again. Heavy ominous cloudy

We were heading north, Cameron for Akanko and some strange underwater mormo ball thingies, me for Mashuuko-Kasshurako and rt52 that links them(cool road). Mashuuko was fogged in as it is supposed to be 95% of the time. Was looking forward to seeing the caldera lake with it's mushroom like island in the middle. Did get to see a clear Kussharoko though. Beautiful lake and the cleanest water I'd seen in a long time. Cool local watercraft too.

Then it was time to hit he road again and try to hook up with Cameron for lunch.
Found him outside the local combini drooling over a young lass in chaps on a Harley with particularly tight pants. Couldn't blame him really. I ate he drooled, then we hit the road again going west. Around here the radar detector starting going nuts every time we came near a town. I emergency braked a few times and we had no trouble. the alarm was for police radio frequency in use. We eventually spotted a pado car lurking in some bushes off the side of a long stretch heading outa town. Spotter in town and pursuit out a town? Maybe? We were on our best behaviour and cruising with traffic in the alarm zone and didn't attract any attention. Wasn’t the last time to see this set up.
Well, cruised towards to the centre of Hokkaido and hills started to appear on the horizon and we were both looking forward to some twisties.

The route I’d planned out the night before took us off the beaten path and cutting west across the northeast to southwest major arteries in the zone. The back roads were interesting and deserted and more than a few times the mapple had it wrong with unmarked roads and straights where we were carving twisties. Not that we were complaining about it. But we were back in the sodden rain again and some of those back roads were caked in farmer-truck dust that was coalescing into an unnervingly slick mud. Easy on the throttle through there. But more alarming was the smell that had me thinking the mud was the kind extruded by locals not of the 2 legged kind. All was confirmed when first the piggery wafted by and then we came up on a rather vocal pack of bovines eyeing and mooing us from the back of a truck, on their way to somewhere less idyllic than the green rolling heifer heaven around us most probably.
Continuing on, we broke out of the farmlands and back on to civilized twisties heading north. There was some big bear infested bridge in the middle of the woods Cameron wanted to check out and I was headed for Daisetsuzan in the north before swinging west and then south down into Biei and a rendezvous with Micron and his posse. So after a river's worth of rain, a tow, a tip, several lagers and around 500km, Cameron and I parted ways. See you on the road sometime Champ :thumbright:
The road upto Daisetsuzan was a ripper. And the scenery running through the gorges at the top of the pass were breathtaking. But it was cold enough to consider the heated gear as the temps dropped to 14deg. I was enjoying myself too much to stop or even take snaps so soldiered on in the hope of warming winds on the decent. Fittingly, the road down was a feast of wide open sweeper heaven that kept the heart pumping all the way to the chilling fingers. Definitely one of the roads to to do while up there.
Hitting civilization again, took a look at the Mapple and found a byway that lead down around Biei through the bread basket of corn, rice and flower fields, again with no traffic. It was warmer, brighter and greener than anything the past few days had offered even in the failing sunlight. An encouraging welcome to Biei. The roads were elevated, long and straight giving a great sense of expanse . Quite the contrast to the canyon carving earlier
Finally rolled into the 7/11, where I'd agreed to meet Micron, about an hour late and was discouraged not to find him there but relieved to get his email saying he was running late too. His 6 wheeled posse rolled in about 1/2hr after me and we had a good yarn and, with Yuichi and Keiko on the phone, decided to head for one of the nearer rider houses of the many in Biei.
Got there, unloaded the gear and headed for a splash in the local Sento and a feed. Picked up supplies and got lost on the way back. But we finally made it back.
The riderhouse was cheap 800yennies and seemed to be a big barn in the night light. We drank, spun tales, caught bugs and finally drifted off to slumber. Snug in my sleeping bag I had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right. Maybe it was the fruit-shed familiarity of back home, maybe the fly blown toilet or maybe the haphazard sleeping arrangements. Too tired to fester on it, I slipped into energy reconstitution mode. Until tomorrow.