your streets belong to us...

PT. 1  Konichiwa! 

I finally arrive in Kyoto after apx 20hrs travel, not sure what to expect. The crew was steadily growing in numbers since the first connection in Tokyo.  As I wiped the bike grease from my hands to my jeans, my eyes took in the scene: almost midnight at the Kyoto train station.  Parts, boxes and bags were strewn across the sidewalk as messengers from SF, NY, Tokyo and Berlin reassembled their bikes.  It was still a 20min ride to the warehouse home to Kyoto Loco and for the weekend, apx 80 or so messengers from all over the world. “Never sleep! Never sleep!”  This is just the beginning.
Kyoto Loco lives up to its name. Despite the main race getting canceled due to overwhelming turn-out and uncooperative law enforcement (one of the racers was arrested during qualifiers), there was still plenty going on.  Mini-bike races, goldsprints, amazing bowls of noodles, basement reggae clubs, plum wine, sake, LSD, missing friends, found friends, jail breaks, karaoke and bike polo… Shocking that on Monday at 8am everyone was awake and packed for the group ride to Tokyo. Proof we take this bike riding stuff seriously. 

Kyoto->Tokyo in 5 days.
Day 1. Lots of highway.  I’ve decided Route 1 is universally car dealerships and gas stations :P 
Day 2. See above.  add rain. 
Day 3. I woke up and realized we were actually camping on the beach. It’s not raining. No route 1 today. and I got some coffee and eggs for breakfast.  Hell Yeah. I make a last min decision to ride with Team Australia (Brian, Lane, Smokin’ Joe and Canadian Rick). They told me they had a secret plan. 30km down the coast we make a sharp right off the main road, we grab some ice cream and hop onto a ferryboat.  We spend the next hour sitting on a boat in the sun with our feet up.  This secret plan is awesome. 
Then the boat docks. We look up.  Holy sh*t. Mountains.  We don’t even get a chance to warm up.  Straight off the ferry we are climbing. It doesn’t stop for another 45 minutes.  Lane and Brian are on track bikes and Joe, Rick and I have gears and brakes. Still it was loooooong and painful for all of us.  We each took the mountain at our own pace. Brian sprinted ahead, Lane and Rick lagged toward the back and I was somewhere in the middle on my own with my headphones. Music don’t fail me now. Just when I thought we couldn’t climb any higher, that I was bound to get altitude sickness, that maybe it was time to start hitchhiking— the road leveled out into a short tunnel with blinding light on the other side.  I pedaled towards the light, hoping my salvation-or a snickers bar- awaited on the other side. Blinking to adjust my eyes to the light, I focus on Brian’s bike. Then Joe’s shoes. Then Brian’s…pants? I stop. There’s only a long descent ahead of me and a guardrail and a cliff on either side of me. I peer over the rail to the left.  my view:

*just* what I needed! Ice cold creek. ow, legs, ow.

and finally, downhill!…to be continued…