Which country is the best for cycling?

Full cycling route on Strava – https://www.strava.com/activities/645…
Thuong’s Strava – https://www.strava.com/activities/645…
Gopro 4k cycling video

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Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan and is one of the best cycling routes in Japan. They have protected shared pedestrian / cycling roads around most of the entire lake.

In today’s ride, we are starting in Maibara and riding South East towards Oohashi (the big bridge) near Kyoto.

Full cycling route on Strava – https://www.strava.com/activities/6172851405

Gopro 4k cycling video

The post Cycling Lake Biwa – Bike Touring on Folding Bikes appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

This is the full 4 hour bike ride tour video filmed in 4k for your viewing pleasure.

This video is part of a West Japan Cycling Trip series we did in September 2020.

See our full playlist here.

Today’s ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/4057663844

Gopro 4k cycling video

The post Shimanami Kaido Cycling Route, Best Bike Ride in Japan appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

This video is part of a West Japan Cycling Trip series we did in September 2020.

See our full playlist here.

Thanks to Nana-chan for showing us around Osaka!

Japanese channel – English channel

Today’s ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/4095276988

Gopro 4k cycling video

The post Best Cycling in Osaka 【4K】 Japan Cycling Tour appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

We’re in the last day of our Kansai road bike bikepacking trip and we’re taking the shinkansen high speed bullet train back to Nagoya. In order to bring your bike on a train in Japan 99% of the time you will need a rinko bag (輪行袋).

They are usually about 3,000~5,000 yen and come in various sizes/colors.

TIOGA Rinko Bag (the one that I own) (タイオガ)

DOPPLEGANGER 輪行バッグ

Both of these are large enough to carry a road bike, but you need to take off your front wheel.

Some extra tips
– take off your pedals (though not necessary)
– strap your front wheel to the frame to prevent movement
– if you’re on the shinkansen, there’s plenty of space at the back of each train car.
– For regular trains, aim for the front or back of the train. Peak hour times on crowded lines are not allowed, so be careful to avoid this situation.

Any other questions about bringing bikes on trains in Japan, leave them in the comments.

Kansai Japan Bikepacking Trip Playlist

The post How to Bring Bicycles on Trains in Japan | Rinko Bag (輪行) Tutorial appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

This event was the 10th annual BikeNavi Grand Prix 2018 (aka Tour de Moricoro), which is held at the Moricoro Park cycling course, which is a 5km circuit closed off to cars and walkers, making it a great place to ride (and race) road bikes!

Here’s some more information about the event for those interested.
http://www.bikenavi.net/08Moricoro2018/02.html

They hold road races on this course every few months, though they are sometimes done through different race promoters.

Here’s a video of a full lap of the course at race speed in the top group.

Also, a big thanks again to Zac from BMC Japan for lending me this great bike (SLR 01) to use for the event since my main road bike was still in the shop.

Today’s ride on STRAVA
https://www.strava.com/activities/1983359293

The awards ceremony after the race was also a lot of fun, and we got to have our cheerleader podium girl debut.

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Part 1 – BBQ at Momotaro Park / Kiso River

My co-workers had arranged a BBQ at the campground park along the river, which happened to be right next to Momotaro Shrine. Rather than take the train over there or drive like everyone else, I decided to go by road bike. It was such a beautiful day that I could not resist.

Here’s the welcome sign to Momotaro Shrine / Park

Time for some BBQ / Salad

It was nice and cool in the Kiso river, so I decided to go for a little swim..

I also brought my drone to get some awesome shots of the landscape..

Part 2 – Momotaro Shrine 桃太郎神社

Now time for the main attraction.. this is what I was looking forward to the most. This is a little gem of a tourist spot, with lots of interesting Momotaro statues.. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking..

They had a nice bike rack for people who visit by bicycle.

Upon entering, we were greeted by this monkey statue, wearing the symbol of the peach.. In case you didn’t know, Momotaro was born out of a giant peach..

The next thing you see is this giant naked Momotaro statue, which we weren’t the only ones who seemed to enjoy viewing.. and… touching…

As you climb up the stairs there’s a bunch of other great statues, and the main shrine itself, which has a peach gate..

There’s also this guy… who… you can ride???

Overall, we had a blast walking around and checking out the different statues / sights. Definitely worth checking out if you have some time and are in the area. Time to head back home!

The post Cycling Japan: Momotaro Shrine & Kiso River Swim 桃太郎神社 appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

今日のビデオでは愛知池のサイクリングロードへ行ってきます！

It’s rainy season in Japan, which means rain & clouds almost every day. I’ve also been sick with a cold for the last few days, but there was a break in the rain and some daylight remaining after work, so I decided to maximize this time and go out for a quick spin around one of the cycling paths nearby us at Aichi Ike (愛知池).

The course is only a few km ride from our home in Japan, and it is blocked off from the main road, so it is nice and protected from motorized vehicles.

The course follows around Aichi Ike (Aichi pond), and there are a bunch of scenic views along the way.

It is only a few km long, and you also need to be careful with your speed. Fast riding is not allowed on the course, so you should not use it for hard training. Only for casual / recovery rides. It’s also a nice place to come for a cycling date 😉

There’s also a nice roadside cafe along the cycling path, so you can stop for a quick snack.

One of the downsides of the course is that there are 3 barriers that you need to navigate around. In the past, they were not rideable, but currently all three are rideable.

This path is very close to Aichi Bokujo (愛知牧場) or Aichi Farm, which has some pretty great ice cream. Hopefully we’ll come back on a sunny weekend for another ride and get some ice cream then. Unfortunately today we had little time and the rain started to come down, so we were only able to get one lap in.

愛知池 サイクリング Aichi Ike Cycling Video

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Time to get started with today’s ride!

Today is the first big cycling ride with the new TWC Cycling Kit. Looking pretty good if I do say so myself 😉

恵那市 (Ena) is located NE of where I live in 岐阜県 (Gifu prefecture), which is famous for mountains. That means today is gonna be full of climbing..

I love cycling in this direction, as there are a lot of beautiful sights along the way.

This looks like a nice place for a break.

八王子神社 狛犬 (hachiouji jinja koma inu)

This is the front of Hachiouji Shrine with the guardian Shinto dogs known as koma inu.

Here’s hoping they also protect me on my ride today 🙂

Drone Time

As if climbing through the mountains wasn’t already hard enough, I was also carrying a backpack full of camera equipment, and.. my drone!

Completely worth it to be able to get some beautiful shots of this area in 瑞浪市 mizunami city.

小里城大橋

Even more worth it to get this awesome view of 小里城大橋 (orijou oohashi)

This road is crazy high off of the ground and just looks plain awesome! It’s even more fun to ride down, which I did later in the day 🙂

For now though, it’s up up up!

Finally, I arrived at my main destination, 道の駅 おばあちゃん市 山岡 (michi no eki obaachanshi, yamaoka)!

I was pretty hungry, so this was a perfect chance to fuel up on some good food. One of my favorite foods on long rides is 五平餅 (gohei mochi), which is a grilled rice stick covered in salty miso.

200 yen for pure deliciousness.

I also spoiled myself with some ice cream (350 yen).

The End

That’s it for today’s ride. I was pretty cooked by the end, and stopped for some coca cola on my way back for some extra energy.

Today’s ride on Strava

Be sure to watch the full video for all of the awesome views at 恵那市 and 道の駅 おばあちゃん市 in 岐阜県

The post 道の駅 おばあちゃん市 山岡 Cycling to Michi No Eki in Ena Japan appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

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Joukouji 定光寺 is in Seto, Japan 瀬戸, which is just north of where I live. Even so, it still took me almost a good hour to get to this area.

I first arrived at Joukouji Park 定光寺公園, and took in the sights there.

Seriously, these fall leaves are beautiful. Cycling around Japan this time of year is by far the best in my opinion.

The temple is at the top of a mountain near this park, so there was one last little climb to get there before I could relax. I rewarded myself with one of my favorite Japanese snacks, gohei mochi 五平餅, which is a miso covered grilled rice stick (if that makes sense at all).

I then made my way to the temple, where I was photobombed by a monk while talking to the camera haha.

All in all, it was a beautiful day of autumn cycling in Japan, and the video turned out great. Make sure to check out the vlog for today to see even more beautiful sights around Joukouji Temple 定光寺.

定光寺 Joukouji Cycling VLOG

The post Joukouji Temple Autumn Cycling 定光寺 紅葉 サイクリング appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

You can see a lot of these scenic locations throughout today’s vlog.

About a month before this ride, Thuong (we were not dating yet) decided that she wanted to challenge herself by riding around lake Biwa. Although she had never ridden a road bike before in her life (or any bike other than a standard cheap bike for that matter), she started training for this goal. Her first ride was about 45km, her second ride was 80km, her third ride was 100km, and today was her 4th ride at 150km.

According to her, each ride was easier than the last since she was able to adapt to the bike and become more comfortable. Even crazier, she was riding in regular shoes with flat pedals and never stood up once during the whole ride.

Anyway, huge props to her for accomplishing her goal!

You can check out today’s ride here on strava
https://www.strava.com/activities/1083920909

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