The Noto Hanto (Peninsula)

Quinn and I decided to do a cycling trip around the Noto Peninsula. This peninsula is about a 4 hour drive NW of where we live. It is known for its lack of development and feeling of being transported back in time. We were not disappointed.

I spent my time in the last month taking an online course, learning Italian via Rosetta Stone and riding my bike to prepare for this trip. Quinn spent his time researching maps, programming the GPS, buying equipment and doing outfitting of the bikes. The trip plan was for 220 miles in 6 days with about 2 days of hills (I was assured that it would not be much climbing). We marked campgrounds on the GPS and loaded all of our camping gear into our bike bags and were ready to go. Here is a picture of our bikes with the gear on.

We parked in a train station parking garage to start the trip. This would be the last big town we would see for the next week.

On day one we cut across the peninsula and went through the interior. It was EXTREMELY steep and we went up many switchbacks. It was one of the most physically challenging rides I have ever completed. Day one stats were as follows:

Total distance: 47.9 miles
Riding time: 4 hours 42 min
Moving average 10.2
Overall Average 7.7 (we stopped for a lot of breaks)
Max speed 32.6 MPH (on a down hill)
Max elevation 752
Total feet climbed 2837 (lots of up and down)

The views were incredible and included evergreens, ocean, and terraced rice paddys. Absolutely incredible.

We attempted to camp but it was so hot that we gave up around 7:30 and packed all the gear onto the bikes (in the dark) and rode to the nearest hotel. There was only one in town and we were lucky that it was near the campsite because we were absolutely exhausted from the heat.

Day 2: Riding along the rugged coast line

We went through some amazing little towns but it was hard to capture on camera. They were filled with old style wooden houses. It looked like a mock up that you see in a museum about the Edo period. My bike was a time machine. This night, we "couch surfed." Couch surfing is a social networking website where you connect with people who live in the area that you are traveling through and they let you stay on their couch. We met a really cool guy who was teaching English in Japan and he let us stay in his apartment in Wajima. He is an American guy from Austin, TX and we got to meet the other people in the area who are English teachers. Most were Americans and one was South African. Pretty neat experience. We went swimming and had some snacks at a little shack on the beach. Then we ate at a really cool restaurant and watched the sunset over the ocean. We were so amazed that we had been flying all over SE Asia for the kind of views and scenery that are right in our backyard!

Coastline shots from Day 2.

Day 2 Stats

Total distance: 33.2 miles (not including riding around town)
Riding time: 2 hours 47 min
Moving average 11.9
Overall Average 10.2
Max speed 36.8 MPH (for Quinn on a down hill...I was not quite as daring)
Max elevation 540
Total feet climbed 1400

Day 3 was from Wajima to Noto Town. This was a ride full of tiny villages, beautiful scenery and more terraced rice fields.

We started this day by sending all of our camping gear back to the base via a delivery service they have in Japan called Kuro Necko (Black Cat). We sent about 15 pounds of stuff in a HUGE box for only 13 dollars. It was the best money I ever spent. No use in lugging that stuff around on bikes when it was WAY too hot to camp. Here are the sights for day three.

The Noto Peninsula is known for having a special kind of portable shrine that they carry during festivals. It is extremely tall and lights up like a lantern at night. It seemed like every town was getting ready for a festival. People on this trip were so friendly and helpful. A man waited for us to take our picture and then offered to take one of us together. Here we are in front of the mikoshi.

Really cool swimming area

Awesome rock that has a story behind it but so far I don't know what the story is.

We rode further than expected on this day because there was absolutely no place to stay. Finally we rolled into Noto Town and there was a large building that looked like it could be a city office. Quinn walked inside and managed to mime that we needed a Ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn). A man walked us to the ONLY Ryokan in town and the woman innkeeper looked at us like we had just arrived from the moon and told the man taking us there that she didn't speak English and he basically looked at her like, well they are your responsibility now. She was SOOO sweet and accommodating. She sat with us through our entire dinner and showed us how to eat EVERYTHING. She actually cut up my fish for me. It was such a unique experience. Then we told her how we just wanted a small breakfast in the morning because we would be riding early. She understood what we were saying through gestures and ridiculously small amounts of Japanese. However, she tricked us into eating a HUGE breakfast by continuing to bring out food on small plates and encourage us to eat more so we would be strong. Apparently she was very worried for us because we must have looked terrible when we arrived the night before. This woman was the best!

Day 3 stats

Total distance: 47.2 miles (not including riding around town)
Riding time: 4 hours 22 min
Moving average 10.8
Overall Average 7.5
Max speed 31.9 MPH (for Quinn ....I was still scared to go that fast)
Max elevation 611
Total feet climbed 2351

Day 4 Noto Town to Nanao

Another day of riding along the coast and sometime in the interior of the peninsula. We stayed in a town known for its onsen but we could not even think of getting in a bath of hot water since we were so hot. The day was overcast some but the temperatures were still in the low 90s. It was a scorcher. Here are some pics...the road sign indicates that there might be some downsides to living so close to the ocean!!!

Total distance: 36.5 miles (not including riding around town)
Riding time: 3 hours
Moving average 12.1
Overall Average 10.1
Max speed 27.6 MPH
Max elevation 448
Total feet climbed 1459

Day 5:

Road from Nanao to Takaoka (our starting point and where the car was located). We started at 6 am and were at the car around 9:30. There was way more climbing than I would have cared for on the last day, but there were also some nice long downhills. Mind you, I did not really train for "hills." We had a nice ride but not so many pictures today. Guess we were spoiled by this point. Here are the stats.

Total distance: 36.02 miles
Riding time: 2 hours 53 minutes
Moving average 12.4
Overall Average 11
Max speed 34.1 MPH
Max elevation 919
Total feet climbed 1652

Overall our total distance was about 217 miles including all of our around town riding and a total riding time of 19 hours. It was a wonderful trip with awesome views and varied scenery. Highly recommended.