Today I thought “It’s nice outside, let’s ride my bike up to Aso-san!” Aso-san being the nearby active volcano that seems pretty neat and I have been told is quite the interesting visit.
What a bad idea.
Besides being a 65 mile round trip, the likes of which I haven’t come close to doing this season, I haven’t ridden in three weeks nor recovered from jet-lag. What’s more, the sun is out in full blast, which is a cooker on the blacktop.
About 15 miles in I feel fairly sure I’m going to die, as I notice I am slowing and can’t figure out why. 20 miles in I am dying and stop for a coke. 22 miles in I stop for a mikan and meet an old fruit man. 1 more mile up and I’m toast. Why am I only going 7 mph on such a small hill?
So I turn around intending to stop at an udon place I saw on the way up. Low and behold, I am flying down the mountain at 30 mph without doing much work. I guess it was steeper than I thought. I grind on the brakes to stop at the udon place and eat. Good stuff, interesting noodles the likes of which I’ve not seen before. Maybe I will eat there again when I return.
I stop another 100 meters down the road to pay my respects to the fruit man and then continue to fly down the hill. For the next 15 miles I’m going quite fast (25mph+) without doing any work. I think I may get home without dying.
Not quite. Once I cross over the city limits it gets flat again and I feel myself struggling to hold a straight line and not get plowed by city traffic. Finally when I’m back to the station I stop as Misdo for some round chocolate doughnuts (read: sugar bombs) and head home.
After struggling up the hill home I pack away the doughnuts and half a liter of pineapple juice and pass out under my copy of “Kafka on the Shore.”
Another nice day in Kumamoto.
PS: Sunburn city.
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