Chapter Two Is Offically Over!

Two days before C2C started, Day 1 of my school's annual two-day Culture Festival took place. The festival included a calligraphy exhibit. When I went to that exhibit to check out the art, one piece in particular caught my eye.

It was a piece that was based on the Chinese character meaning "step" or "pace."

Even though my Japanese isn't all that great, I was able to understand the message that went along with the character.

Roughly translated, it reads as follows:

"If you take things one step at a time, you will undoubtedly be able to accomplish something big."

Wow, what a perfect prelude to C2C, eh?

Indeed, when people ask me how the heck Jody and I biked the length of Japan in only 13 days, one thing that I stress to them is that we took things one day at a time. I know that sounds a bit corny, but trust me, it works!

There were three more pieces of art associated with this ride, so it's time to share those, too.

First up, we have this cool poster, if you will, that Jody created before C2C started.

Granted, during the ride we didn't see Fuji and we didn't see any cherry blossoms (since those are only around in the spring).

Nevertheless, the poster is really cool, for at least two reasons:

For one, Jody and I certainly did "Bike Japan."

For two, the poster gives you, for the first time, an accurate look at the complete route that we took.

Awesome work, Jody!

Next up is this cool Xmas ornament.

Some of you might think it's less impressive than Jody's art, but keep in mind that it's one of a kind. Better yet, yours truly made it (at an English camp I worked at in October).

Jody is now the proud owner of this masterpiece, since I sent it to him to commemorate our ride.


Finally, we have this beautiful calligraphy that Minami, a student at my school, made. (She made two, so that both Jody and I could have one.)

The three characters down the middle mean "bicycle" and the two on the side mean, as you may know, "Japan."

How cool is that!?

***************

The only thing left to do now is say "Thank You!"

Thanks to Teun for inspiring me to follow in his bicycle shadow and imagine doing this ride in the first place.

Thanks to Mike for lending us "Mike's Mighty Megalight" once again.

Thanks to Yasuhiro for hooking me up with a bike box for Jody's return flight to L.A.

Thanks to Guy and Kumiko for all their fantastic support.

Thanks to all the Couchsurfers who let us stay with them along the way.

Thanks to Mir for hosting us for a night in Ikuno.

Thanks to the guys at Nakayama Bicycle Pro Shop for fixing my spoke.

Thanks to Mr. "Eastgate" for throwing a post-ride party for us.

Thanks to Minami for the awesome calligraphy commemorating the ride.

Thanks to everyone else we met on the way.

Thanks to everyone who followed this blog in any way, shape, or form.

And, last but not least, thanks to Jody for pulling me to the finish of yet another epic ride.

Stayed tuned for A2A (or D2D?) later in 2012!

I'm Yama and I'm out!

Videos

Unfortunately, the official C2C media man (that would be me) forgot that he wasn't only a photographer, but also a videographer. Thus, there are almost no videos from C2C. The main reason for the lack of videos, however, is that the only videos I could take were with my camera, which means the video quality is not ideal. Nevertheless, I've posted two of my videos below.

This first video (as is the next one) is from the morning of Day 5, as we rode from Akita to Tsuruoka. The video shows one of the calmer moments of the ride, when no cars were passing us. The video also shows you how Jody almost always stuck to the white line on the left side of the road, for safety's sake, whereas I generally rode slightly to Jody's right, so I could see where I was going and so I could protect "The Mule" from traffic, at least in theory.

I took this second video about a minute after I took the first one. This time you can see the kind of traffic we sometimes had to deal with. The truck that passes us is one of hundreds that did so on the ride, but this time the truck actually gave us some room, which wasn't always the case.

Note: I took both of my videos without the use of a helmet cam.

Quotes

I originally had the idea for this post back on September 14, or Day 2.

It's really a shame that by now I have forgotten most of the funnier quotes of C2C. I know I posted a few in at least one early post, but the next time we ride, I've got to do a better job of recording quotes, somehow.

You see, just about every time a great quotable (I'm making that adjective a noun!) happened on this ride, I said something to Jody like, "I've got to remember that one." Inevitably, however, I would forget them by the end of the day.

Perhaps next time I will just have to force myself to pull to the side to write a quote down as soon as I hear or say one worthy of being recorded.

Heck, knowing Jody, he'll just add that job to one of the infinite jobs he's already assigned me, anyway, such as: route maker, hotel reservation clerk, translator, interpreter, photographer, blogger, money lender, ferry ticket buyer, and water boy.

I can just hear him now:

"Pull over, quote man. Better get that one in writing for the blog. And hurry up, yo, because I don't wait for anyone!"

Anyway, here are just a few last classic quotes from C2C.

Enjoy.

*****

This exchange took place at the end of Day 1, after I asked Jody to check to see if he could find a small piece of molded plastic (that protects the prongs of a bicycle fork during transportation) that I had secretly chucked into one of his bags after we had unpacked our bikes (in order to make my ride a few grams lighter!), since I was worried that I had actually left the piece at the airport.

Jeremy "I shouldn't have said anything about this until the end of the ride."
Jody "Trust me. I would have found it tonight when I dumped out my bag."

*****

This exchange took place shortly after we woke up on the morning of Day 2.

Jody: "I had a good night's sleep last night. I'm ready to knock out 200K today."
Jeremy: "Yeah, except we have to ride 250."
Jody: "Huh?"

*****

This one took place in a convenience store, on one of the first days of the ride, as Jody spotted a super-small package of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Welcome to Japan, Jody.

Jody: "What is this, infant size packaging?"

*****

This one took place at our hotel in Tsuruga on the night of Day 8. We were at the front desk, asking about the weather for the following couple of days. I gave Jody some pointers so that even he could ask some questions. Incredibly, Jody came up with his own way of saying "Thank you." when we walked away. You'll only get it if you know Japanese. (Actually, it's so crazy, you might not even get it then!) It basically translates to "Pleased." or "I asked you to do me a favor." Way to go, Jody!

Jody: "Onegaishimashitaaaaaa."

*****

Finally, this one took place on the last day of C2C, when Jody's bike was making all sorts of annoying noises. It's the first time I had ever heard Jody swear.

Jody: "F$%# you!!! ... Not you (Jeremy), my bike."

Rider Profiles

Jody Stange, a.k.a. Home Slice, The King, Ten-Time Ironman, The Mule

Age: 37
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
Weight: 155 lbs (70.5 kg)
Residence: Los Angeles, a.k.a. "SoCal, Baby"
Hometown: New York
Biking Quote: "I bike, therefore I am."




Ride: Motobecane "Le Champion," 10-speed
Components: SRAM Force Full Gruppo
Riding on: Continental Gatorskins, 700x25 (zero flats!)
Cycling Since: 1999
Longest Rides Prior to C2C: X-Country JJ (Pacific Ocean - Gulf of Mexico - Atlantic Ocean, 22 days, February, 2006); B2B (Vancouver to Tijuana, average of 180 km/day, October 19-Nov 2, 2010, with Jeremy)


Jeremy Berg, a.k.a. Yama, White Bread, White Rice, The Linguist

Age: 45 (but 29 at heart!)
Height: 6'1.5" (187 cm)
Weight: 176 lbs (80 kg)
Residence: Gokase, Japan, a.k.a. G-Town
Hometown: San Francisco
Biking Quote: "Pedaling is overrated."





Ride: "Yamasonic" DX4000, steel frame, self-painted, 10-speed
Components: Ultegra 6700 Groupset
Riding On: Continental Gatorskins, 700x23 (zero flats!)
Cycling Since: 2009
Longest Rides Prior to C2C: Tour of Taiwan (800 km in 8 days, including two off-days, with a maximum one-day ride of 185 km, from Taipei to Kaohsiung, December 24-31, 2009); B2B (Vancouver to Tijuana, average of 180 km/day, October 19-Nov 2, 2010, with Jody)

Day 13 Pix: Miyazaki City - Cape Sata, 186 km (Final Part)

It turns out that what lay ahead was a couple more hurdles that, at the time, felt like a nightmare, but were nothing that Jody and I couldn't overcome.

The first hurdle was simply getting to the end of the road by 5:00 p.m. to make sure that whatever gate there was would still be open. We pulled into the parking lot at something like 4:58, aimed straight for the tunnel that I had seen pictures of online, and rode right past the two guys who appeared to be working there so that they had no chance of stopping us.

First hurdle: Overcome

At the end of the short tunnel there was a tiny field, and at the opposite end of the field there was a trailhead that was clearly too narrow and rugged for us to ride on. Although we had yet to reach the "Southernmost Point In Japan" marker, we had ridden as far as we could ride.

Bummer.

Then again, Jody and I had to walk our bikes across the border at the very end of B2B, so I guess the fact that we weren't going to be able to ride to the finish line of C2C shouldn't have come as such a surprise to us.

The problem was, the cold and the wind were quickly picking up steam, rain appeared to be on the horizon, we were still a bit fazed by the 5:00 p.m. closing time, we had no idea how far it was to the end of the trail (based on the map next to the trailhead, we guessed it was about 1 kilometer), it was ever-so-slowly getting dark (which would be bad for picture taking), and, worst of all, the only way to get our dear bikes there was to carry them.

Yes, carry them.

That's when Jody started to lose it. I mean, I was kinda losing it, too but Jody was really losing it. I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was something like this:

"Look, I don't know about you, but this is good enough for me. This is as far as we can ride, so as far as I'm concerned, this is the end of the ride. Let's just take some pictures and get outta here."

I was pretty surprised by what Jody said, to say the least, so I tried to talk some sense into him. Our conversation went as follows:

"C'mon, Jody, I know this sucks, I don't feel like carrying my bike, either, but we have no choice. We can't stop this close to the end. There's some kind of marker that must be at the end of this trail and we have to get there. That's the end. That's where we have to take the pictures."

"Are you sure this isn't the marker?" (Jody pointed in semi-desperation at the sign next to the trailhead.)

"Positive, Jody. I don't remember exactly what the sign looks like, but that's not it. It has to be somewhere down this trail. I guarantee that's not the sign."

"OK, but we don't even know how long this stinkin' trail is. Judging by the map, it might be 1 or 2 kilometers. That means it might take us 10 or 20 minutes to get to the sign, wherever it is. That's ridiculous. I mean, just look at that trail. There's no way I'm carrying my bike on that crazy trail."

"Jody, listen, I know how you feel. I agree with you. This is totally nuts. But we have no choice. If we don't get to that marker, then C2C's not over. We've come this far, we've ridden all these miles, we've dealt with plenty of other obstacles, what's one last obstacle? Let's just pick up our bikes and get them to the finish before it's starts to rain and before it gets too dark to take pictures."

"I don't know, man, this is crazy. I can't believe the marker's at the end of this trail."

"Trust me, Jody, it is. C'mon, let's go!"

"OK... Let's do this."

What a relief! Jody's finally talking sense. Hooray!

I thought freezing cold was the only thing that could take down the King. It turns out the prospect of carrying his bike at the end of a 2600 kilometer journey does, too! Hah!

Second hurdle: Overcome

Off we went, at last, but not before changing out of our cycling shoes and into our walking shoes. It's a good thing we did, too, since the trail turned out to be narrow, windy, steep at times, semi-overgrown, and certainly not made for carrying bikes.

Up and down and left and right we went.

As we schlepped our bikes along the trail, both of us thought:

"Don't they know that we're not the first people ever to ride their bikes here? Why the heck can't they make the marker bike-accessible like the one in Soya? This is ridiculous!"

Up and down and left and right we went.

After only about 150 meters, an elderly lady approached us from farther down the trail and mumbled something about it being past 5 and the park was closing or closed or something and that we really should hurry.

"Sure, lady. Whatever you say."

Instead of being met with corks flying, we kind of felt as if we were being shooed away. Hmm...

Up and down and left and right we went.

"When is this trail ever going to end!?"


Up and down and left and right we went.

And then, at 5:20 p.m., we finally popped out into a clearing.

And there it was, the sign that I had seen pictures of online, the sign that meant we had reached our destination at long last.

"ThatSata! We made it! C2C is in the books! Way to go, buddy!"

Third hurdle: Overcome

All that was left was for us to take a picture of the two of us and our bikes, to record our success, but even that was a tiny problem. See, we were all alone, so there was no one who could take pictures of the two of us in the same shot.

Luckily, however, there was a rock that was positioned just right for us to be able to take pictures of ourselves using the timer function.

Fourth hurdle: Overcome

It took us several attempts to get just the right picture, but by that time both of us were back to relaxed mode, so all the failed snaps were part of the fun. One of the funny takes shows me reaching out to shake Jody's hand with my left hand instead of with my right. Oops.

Besides a nice "team" photo, we each made sure we had at least one good picture of the other and also took a couple pictures of the lighthouse off in the distance.

At 5:28, it was finally time to say goodbye to the cape and make our way back to our two friends who were patiently waiting for us back at the toll booth.

We took a slightly different (partially paved!) route back to the trailhead that took us right through the grounds of the Cape Sata Shrine that we had bypassed on the way out to the sign, so of course we took a few pictures there, too.

When we finally got back to the tunnel entrance, guess who was waiting for us? Yes, the two workers who were there when we arrived, plus the lady who had passed us on the trail. (I believe she must sell tickets at the dilapidated observatory located next to the sign we took pictures of.) Wow!

As soon as we exited the tunnel, the three of them quietly and casually locked the gate behind us (so that's the gate everyone was talking about!) and then made their way to their cars. Amazingly, they didn't complain at all about the fact that it was then 5:45 p.m. I guess they are used to people coming late.


Since the gate isn't all that high, you might be thinking that we still would have gotten our bikes over it had we arrived after 5.

True that.

But get this: I may have been dreaming, but I'm pretty sure the gate wasn't actually locked. What I mean is, all we would have had to do, had we arrived late, was pull the gate out of the way and head right into the tunnel.

Simple as that.

The last thing Jody and I did was hop back on our bikes for one last ride, back to the toll booth, where our ride home was waiting for us.

Final hurdle: Overcome

Day 13 Pix: Miyazaki City - Cape Sata, 186 km (Part 2)

After the left-hand turn, there was water to our right, for the first time in a long time. We were finally on the home stretch of C2C! Even though we saw all those mountains ahead of us, we thought we were going to be riding around them, not up them. Too bad for us, we were wrong.

Initially, however, we didn't have to do any climbing. Here we are, thirty minutes later, at 2:42 p.m., still hugging the coastline. In the far right of the picture, you can see some land jutting out. At that point, we were so close to the end that we were getting incredibly anxious to finally see the finish line. Every time we went around a bend, we wondered when the road would finally end. Somewhere around here, Jody and I made our very last pit stop at a convenience store. When I asked the clerk how far we had to go, I was convinced he'd reply, "It's only about 10K." Instead, he told me it was about one hour by car. "One hour!? By car!? Are you serious!?" "Yes, for sure." Ugh. That meant at least two more hours of riding. All day long, I kept trying to estimate when we would make it to the cape. I was sure we'd be at there by about 3:30 p.m. at the very latest, but my calculations were obviously off. Now it looked more like a 4:30 arrival time.

When the sun decided to poke her nose out from behind the clouds with about an hour of pedaling to go, Jody decided to pull over to put some sunscreen on. Can you detect a bit of frustration on his part? (That's a rarity, indeed!) And no, he's not (mildly) upset because of the sun, but rather because the ride was, as I already mentioned, seemingly taking forever to end. Also, you probably can't tell, but just about here is where the road started to go from flat to hilly to hillier. In a rather unexpected and cruel twist of fate, we were really going to have to earn the last part of the 2600 km ride from Cape Soya to Cape Sata.

Just after we hit the road again, my buddy Guy and his wife Kumiko drove by. (The plan was for them to pick us up at the cape, so that was working out well.) Seeing familiar faces once again put smiles on both of our faces. It was also awesome to have someone taking pictures (and videos) of us riding. The ride wasn't over, but in a sense we now felt we were on our victory lap.

We were more than happy to show off a bit for the cameras. Jody noticeably(!) upped the pace and refused to slow down even when we hit some pretty serious climbs a bit later. I stuck to him like glue, though, since there was no way I was going to be dusted with friends watching. Still, I think Jody underestimated how much climbing we had left.

For some reason, the photojournalist in me failed to do his job at some key points on this ride. Chalk that up to me being overexcited, I suppose. Yeah, so here's a shot of Jody climbing up one of the final climbs to the cape, at 4:39 p.m. What I failed to get, however, was a picture of us arriving at the toll booth entrance to this parkland about five minutes earlier. Believe it or not, we had to pay ¥500 each to enter the park in order to finish our ride, which was yet another bit of salt in the wound, if you will. Oh, and the woman we paid was trying to tell us that we really had to hurry, because there was some kind of gate about 2 km ahead at the end of the road that supposedly closed at 5 p.m. Since the road was primarily uphill, we freaked out a bit, thinking that we might not make it. Wouldn't that be ridiculous? Were we going to have to wait until the morning to finish the ride? Was the headline of the day going to be: So close, yet so far!? "This can't be happening," I thought to myself. "No, no, please no!" Our hearts began to race, as did we on our bikes. Off we went, yet again, totally unsure of what lay ahead.

Day 13 Pix: Miyazaki City - Cape Sata, 186 km (Part 1)

In Miyazaki City, we stayed at yet another Toyoko Inn. This time we had to leave our bicycles in the lobby. I didn't mind at all, however, because the crime rate is so low here. Heck, if I remember correctly, I even left my (not exactly inexpensive) cycling shoes next to my bike overnight. Can you imagine leaving your bicycle or other valuable items in the lobby of a hotel where you are from? Probably not, right? Anyway, Jody got a kick out of a lot of things in Japan, including how they simply leave packages (and luggage) plopped on the floor in hotel lobbies, right next to the main entrance.


















Here's another shot of Jody, at 7:17 a.m., this time in front of the hotel, just before we headed out for our final ride of C2C.

As soon as we left the hotel, we actually went straight to a restaurant for breakfast (for the first time on the trip!), so we didn't hit the road until just before 9 a.m. Whereas we were normally rather anxious to get going, this morning we really took our time. That plan almost backfired big time, as I'll explain shortly. Here you see Jody crossing a bridge that leads from downtown Miyazaki City to the southern part of town. The only (moderately) heavy traffic we had to deal with all day was early in the ride.

The farther south we went, the more beautiful the view got. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture all of the beauty on film. Also, unlike the previous couple of days, the weather wasn't so great, which took part of the excitement out of the ride. I guess by that time, we were simply looking forward to the ride finally being over, anyway, so it was pretty tough to just sit back in the saddle and enjoy ourselves. Whereas on the last day of B2B we had very little ground to cover before reaching our final destination, on C2C we had a full day of riding, which, in all honesty, is probably the only part of the route planning that I (ever so slightly) regret. Note to self: Make the last day of the next ride (A2A?) a short(er) one.

You can see that there really were very few cars out on the roads on this day, despite it being a Sunday. Even though there are mountains in the picture, most of the ride was either along the coast or on otherwise mostly flat roads. I say "most of the ride," because we were in for a big surprise at the end of the day. Well, two surprises, actually.

We were still riding down the coast at 10:36 a.m., and we had a long way to go.

We rode and rode and rode, finally making a pit-stop just after noon at this Family Mart (convenience store) in Kushima. For a while there, I thought Jody was in full Ironman mode, ready to ride all the way to the cape without stopping. Wouldn't that have been something!? By the way, unlike many people who park their cars outside convenience stores, we did not leave our engines running!

A couple of hours later, we finally saw a sign with our ultimate destination on it. Cape Sata, here we come! Unfortunately, the sign misled us into believing that the cape was just around the corner. Little did we know at the time that we still had nearly three hours of riding left...

Day 12 Pix, Continued

After we got off the ferry in Beppu, shortly after 9 a.m., we got to ride along the coast for a while in beautiful sunshine! Our first stop was Oita, about 10 kilometers up the road.














Here's more or less a close-up of the previous picture, this time via a shot of Jody taking a shot of Jody. I think this type of picture accounts for half of all the pictures he took. I can see Jody now, after having checked to see what a great picture he just took, nodding his head up and down, smiling his big smile, and saying to no one in particular, "Oh, yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!"














This picture shows the road leading away from Oita and towards some mountains. We had quite a bit of climbing ahead of us, but the roads were good and the weather was great, so we had a fantastic time.

Here we are, at 11:14 a.m., getting ready to do some climbing!














30 minutes later, Jody and I still had quite a bit of work cut out for us, but again, there were no complaints from either of us. We both love climbing and we were both in great spirits.

After we finally made it up to the pass, we had a nice, long, fast, intense downhill ride. Shortly after we reached the bottom, we were greeted by this bridge. Nice shot, Jody!














Here's a picture, taken by Jody, of a typical view of the Japanese countryside in summer, with the rice, mountains, blue sky, traditional-looking home, and small road.














Here's a look at me in the saddle, riding along a river, on the way towards Nobeoka.

Unfortunately, the two of us took very few pictures the rest of the day, so there's not much more to show you for Day 12. I did take this one, however, at 4:54 p.m., as we were passing through Hyuga, on our way to Miyazaki City. This is the last shot I took that day.

Day 12 Pix: Honai - Miyazaki City, 198 km

On Saturday morning, we got up (really!) early, found the port quickly (it was only about 5 kilometers from where we were staying), purchased our tickets on the spot (when I called before we started C2C, they said there was no need to make reservations), and boarded the ferry. Here's a picture of Jody riding into the mouth of the monster herself, at 6:05 a.m., 15 minutes before departure.

Customer service in Japan tends to be fantastic, so it was no surprise that there was someone waiting to secure our bikes for the ride.














Here's a shot looking back at the sun rising over the port of Yawatahama. Shikoku slayed. Kyushu, here we come!

By this point of the ride, my gloves were toast. I guess you could say they were the only member of the party to not survive the hurricane. For some reason, even though I hadn't worn them in days, I continued to bring the gloves along, but I finally chucked them immediately after taking this picture.


















Jody took this picture of me eating "breakfast," which came compliments of our gracious host in Honai, Chelsea. Even though she was out of town, she let us stay at her place, believe it or not, and, what's more, left an entire box of cookies for us and told us that we could take the whole thing if we wanted. Normally, I doubt we would have done that, but, well, considering that we were two hungry bike riders on a mission, there was little doubt what the fate of those cookies would be. Right? We had a few each as a pre-dinner snack last night, a few more each for dessert, and the rest aboard the ferry. Thanks, Chelsea!













While aboard the ferry, we were kind of like little kids in a candy shop, except that we expressed our happiness in the form of taking one picture after another. I guess that's because we spent so much of C2C on our bikes, whereas on the ferry we were free to walk around and enjoy ourselves, just as we did on the other ferry (from Hokkaido to Honshu). It's only 6:30 a.m. so it's still a bit cold on deck, but the view is wonderful.


















As I said, we took tons of pictures on board the ferry. For example, Jody took this picture of me taking a picture...


















... I took this picture of Jody striking his all-too-familiar pensive pose...














... Jody took this picture of one of the more interesting things on the ship (I hate to tell you Jody, but you just barely cut off the "U.")...














... and I took this shot of one of the ship's lifebuoys that includes the vessel's name, Ehime, which is also the name of the prefecture we just left.

Here we are, at 8:58 a.m., just minutes before docking in Beppu. I "interrupted" this picture that Jody was taking in such comical style that we took many more pictures like this one over the course of the final two days of C2C.

Day 11 Pix, Continued

(Apologies to everyone for the long delay in posting anew!)

This is a really cool shot that Jody took that I forgot to include in my last post. Keep in mind that Jody was riding his bike when he took this picture (a few seconds before he snapped the last picture of the previous post).


















I also meant to post this picture of Jody striking his Tour de France stage-winning pose. Once again, you can tell how much fun we were having that day!

I'm not sure what this sign is advertising, but you can probably figure out why I took a picture of it. "JJ" says it all!

Here's a look the road as we approached Matsuyama. We were actually riding in a bike lane, which was a rarity on C2C. The other C2C rarity this photo shows is Jody taking a sip of water.

I have some friends in Kochi, but, as close as we were to them, I knew I wasn't going to see them. Nevertheless, I took this photo to show that I was with them in spirit at that moment. Luckily, Matsuyama was the only congested area that we rode through on the island of Shikoku.

As soon as we got past the city, we were back to quieter roads, which was nice. As you can see, there are hills in the background. Having never been to Shikoku, I didn't realize how mountainous it was.













We later found out that the coastal road we were on was called "Sunset Road." Now you know why, too. You may recall we got a relatively late start that morning, which we weren't all that happy about, but that turned out to be quite a blessing, for two reasons: 1) We ran into our buddy Yuki again; and 2) we got to see this beautiful sunset!














 Right about when we decided it was time to pull over to switch to night gear (i.e., clear shades and lights) ...














 ... we came across this beach. I like this picture, because it is one of the few shots we took of the two of us together, off of our bikes. I think we look both a bit tired (even though we still had a couple of hours of riding left that day) and ecstatic, because of the great weather, the warm night-time air, the relatively light traffic, and the fact that we were so, so close to Kyushu, our final island.

Our bikes took some time off, too, to enjoy the sunset!

This picture wouldn't normally merit posting, but for personal reasons I decided to include it in the blog. For one, it's maybe the only picture from C2C of me resting next to my bike, so I like it. For two, Jody cut off my right foot, which (in my opinion) ruins the picture but makes me laugh, since Jody and I often "argued" over who took the better pictures (and discussed whether or not it matters if you cut someone's feet off).


















Since we rode in the dark the rest of the way to our host's place in Honai (just short of Yawatahama, where we had to catch the ferry the next morning), we didn't take any more snaps until dinnertime. For some reason, I took far fewer food pictures on C2C than I did on B2B, but at least I did capture a few meals on film, such as this one, my double burger. We actually planned to eat somewhere else, but the first restaurant we went to was closed, so we ended up at one of my usual places, a Denny's-like joint called Joyfull. (By the way, Jody gave me the semi-ridiculous hat that I'm wearing. He paid all of 99 cents for it on an auction site that shall remain unnamed...)

Finally, here's Jody with his dinner. Whereas I usually ordered something western, Jody almost always went for something quite Japanese.