Some invitations are hard to refuse.
So when our triathlon mentor, coach and all-around bicycle professional Shoji Nakano asked if I wanted to join the team for the annual Oshogatsu ride up to the lighthouse at Cape Choshi at the easternmost tip of Japan to see the first sunrise of 2007, I knew the answer would be - yes, what kind of saddle salve do you recommend for the butt-blisters etc.
145 kilometers each way. Up before dawn for roll-call in Ogikubo around 4:30am. A short wait at Boeicho for one member of the party who can't find us. A fantastic ride across Tokyo on empty streets, past the Sumida and the Arakawa into Chiba and from there on almost non-stop to Choshi, just a nice breakfast stop along the way.
We hit the lighthouse around noon and settle in for a nice slow seafood lunch. From there just 10km to the beachside minshuku where Nakano-san and his Leopard team have come the past 20 odd years. We caught the last rays of the sunset and were up at 6:46 for the hinode next morning. A perfect red fireball rose over the sea this year unencumbered by clouds. We left around nine and reached Nakano Sakaue as the sunlight faded to dusk and were riding in the dark, one foot nearly lame, as we got back to Ogikubo.
Great fun. Of course. Just lucky those tires didn't pop en-route. 15 riders, we only had one puncture the whole 290km. It is amazing to realize that Narita Airport is only halfway there. Some pics of the occasion follow.
Your wry observer of Japanese holiday customs, P. Ta. San.
