The best flattery

In order to imitate the Tour de France, last Saturday, the 16^th, I set out on a 7 day, 1100 kilometer (685 mile) bike ride. If you're good at division, you'll notice that I averaged just under a century (100 miles) a day. The last five days I did over a century every day. I camped every night in my tent, which I carried on the back of my bike. One night in an unused construction site. One night in the forest over a tunnel.

I left from Kurume 久留米市, followed the north coast of the main Japanese island of Honshu 本州, crossed to the southern coast through Gifu 岐阜市 and Nagoya 名古屋市 and then arrived in Shizuoka 静岡市 where I promptly boarded a Shinkansen 新幹線 (bullet train) and went right back to Kurume. Shizuoka is about 40 kilometers from Mt. Fuji 富士山 and 150 kilometers from Tokyo 東京. I could've made Tokyo but I was tired/bored of riding and the last day had been frustrating: congested roads filled with trucks spewing out exhaust – it felt like I had smoked a couple packs of cigarettes.

I only took a dozen pictures, but I'll share them and maps soon. My apologies for not getting my pictures up sooner.

I'll also provide some highlights of my journey over the next couple of days. You don't want to hear about it all – seeing as much/most of it was, “I rode my bike a lot”

I also passed my drivers test and now have a Japanese license. This was my second try, beating the average. It usually takes 2.4 or 3, depending on who you ask. I did the course totemo umai とてもうまい (very skillfully) according to my test administrator. I have theories on why I passed, when no other Americans did that day, which I might share in the upcoming posts. Regardless, after much hustle and bussle and stress, I possess a Japanese drivers license.