Japan 1

This month, October 5, I went to Shikoku, Japan for a bike tour. We biked all around Shikoku and it was a really fun experience. Japan is such a beautiful place, and the climate was nice and cool, perfect for biking. While I was there, I had gotten to experience all the different forms of riding, from biking in cites to the wide open back country to the express highways. Japan is a very bike friendly country and many people respect bikers. But some of the roads are kind of scary. Like in some of the mountainous areas, I believe the Japanese try to preserve the natural environment and create only a one lane road through the mountains. Occasionally there is a little edge for cars to go into just in case there is another on coming car, but other than that, that is all. There is only a mere guard rail that rises above the ground at half a meter high to protect you from a certain death off a cliff face. The time that becomes really scary is when a huge semi truck comes by and leaves you about three feet of room, which you and your bike with paniers take up about two feet of that three. So basically you have six inches on either side of you from hitting a truck or falling to your doom. But it is all worth it when you get to where you are going, because every where you go there is atleast one perfect view of japans beautiful scenery.