2019-09-13 to 209-09-16 Sapporo After all that cycling in the most rural areas our reward was some time off the bike going record shopping in Sapporo. The city is about 1.9 million people, so the biggest of Hokkaido by distance. Asahikawa, the second biggest one is only 350.000 people. I quite like the town, which is layed out as grid,
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2019-09-12 Start: 11:15 / Arrival: 16:30 Distance: 52km / Gained height 300 hm Got breakfast at the mall again and then left for a transfer to Sapporo. Transfer was okay, but with heavy headwinds…. Also for the first time passed so much broken glass, very uncommon for Japan. Strange, but no flats. The magical moment came when approaching Sapporo. Left
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2019-09-11 Start: 8:45 / Arrival: 17:00 Distance: 81km / Gained height 760 hm Forecast again rain. Early start due to it. This was a quitr dull ride and just a transfer, after the rain started. Came across some waterfall and some big lake. But went quickly through as rain was constant and heavy. Got some oden on the way, warming up
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2019-09-10 Start: 13:00 / Arrival: 21:15 Distance: 73km / Gained height 750 hm Late and slow start, as I needed some more sleep. Got a tasty breakfast from the Aeon deli section, accompanied by some sweet tomato a woman gave us from her garden. Headed through beautiful rice fields, already becoming yellow, with a fantastic mountain landscape in the background. As we
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2019-09-09 Well earned rest day in Asahikawa. Tobi needed some sleep, but I got up earlier and walked through town. One record shop I wanted to go to was closed, but found another hidden obscure one, which was yet also closed. Walked to the main station and found a huge Aeon mall. Got some breakfast from the foodcourt and checked the
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2019-09-08 Start: 08:45 / Arrival: 19:30 Distance: 142km / Gained height 1150 hm Earliest start until now. But needed, as this was quite a challenge climbing up to 850m, over quite some distance. Legs felt a little bit tired in the beginning, but this was my sort of climb. 60km just going up. Very rural areas, no exit point for getting
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2019-09-07 Start: 10:15 / Arrival: 19:30 Distance: 110km / Gained height 800 hm Allthough we had quite a lot of kilometres in front of us, started a little bit hungover. Said goodbye to Mama – with the laundry being free for us because we’re German. Positive racism, but oh so kind. We’re very grateful for that and know how to appreciate it.
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2019-09-06 Start: 12:00 / Arrival: 20:00 Distance: 32km / Gained height 250 hm Very late start as there was no hurry on this rest day. Had a cigarette on the terrace of the farm, spoke to Mama about the food she is preparing and then went of for downtown. Got breakfast from the mall, including delicious umeboshi. Had it at the river in
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2019-09-05 Start: 9:15 / Arrival: 18:15 Distance: 56km / Gained height 280 hm After the past days being so incredible, this was a slighted boring day with a short transfer to Abashiri. After passing some bloomed out fields and several lakes we finally made it to Abashiri, a dying town far in the most eastern parts of Japan. Got to the
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2019-09-04 Start: 10:15 / Arrival: 22:30 (after the izakaya) Distance: 105km / Gained height 580 hm We stayed to night at the rural guesthouse in Kiyosato to make a daytrip to Shiretoko. Actually we planned this as a roundtrip, but decided to shorten it as we already lost some time due to the rainy days. So headed of through rural streets
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