{"id":2586,"date":"2015-06-14T21:12:05","date_gmt":"2015-06-14T12:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-06-14\/2586"},"modified":"2015-06-14T21:12:05","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T12:12:05","slug":"bicycle-ride-around-japans-largest-lake-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-06-14\/2586","title":{"rendered":"Bicycle Ride Around Japan’s Largest Lake, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nWednesday's Outing<\/span>\n230km (143 miles) by bicycle\n<\/div>\n\n

I had a nice<\/span>\nbicycle outing<\/a> on Wednesday with friends, riding around Lake Biwa<\/a> (the largest\nlake in Japan). I ended<\/span> up covering about 230km (143 miles).<\/p>\n\n

Despite being almost twice as long as my previously-longest\nride<\/a>, it was much easier for two reasons: it was mostly flat (just\n1,600m \/ 5,250' of vertical climb over the 230km, compared to, for example,\n2,500m \/ 8,300' over 99km<\/a>), and I was<\/span> much better at\nkeeping myself filled with calories. I'm starting<\/span> to discover that it's\neasier to ride the bicycle when you have energy.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGathering<\/span>\nin front of Sanjo Starbucks, Kyoto Japan\nGorm Kipperberg<\/a>,\nKumiko Naka<\/a>,\nand Joshua Levine<\/a>\n5:38 AM (+12 min) - 1.3 km (0.8 miles)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

To explain the last line of the caption, the photo was taken at 5:38am,\n12 minutes (and 1.3km) after I left<\/span> my house.\nMost photos are denoted this way to help give a\nsense<\/span> of travel. The elapsed<\/span> time\n(“<\/span>+12 min”<\/span> in\nthe example above) is just how long since I left<\/span>\nthe house, so it includes both travel time and pauses (traffic, chatting, snacks, sightseeing, etc.)<\/p>\n\n

I'm not one to get up that early, much less be out and about already\nthat early, but we knew we had a long<\/span> day ahead of us, so the meeting time\nwas set for 5:30am. As ridiculously<\/span> early as that is, the sun is up even\nearlier... it rose at 4:42 that day. The sun rises<\/span> early in the Land of the\nRising Sun. (I didn't<\/span> realize until checking the data while writing this\npost, but the sunrise at 4:42 that day is the earliest of the year.)<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, before we could go around<\/i> the lake, we had to get\nto<\/i> the lake, so we got going and headed over the small mountains in\nbetween. This involved two little climbs totaling 200m (650') of elevation\ngain. We arrived<\/span> at the lake in great spirits\nready to go.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nArriving at Lake Biwa<\/span>\n6:22 AM (+55 min) - 13 km (8.1 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 14 kph (8 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The cyclist at the left in the photo above is not part of our group. He looks<\/span> to be setting up his bike for a picture,<\/span> likely before he starts his\nown trip around the lake.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 44mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPhoto on the Go<\/span>\n6:23 AM (+56 min) - 13 km (8.2 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 25 kph (15 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMy Attempt at a “<\/span>Selfie”<\/span><\/span>\n6:23 AM (+57 min) - 14 km (8.4 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 18 kph (11 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>12800 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDawn at the Lake<\/span>\n6:26 AM (+59 min) - 15 km (9.1 miles)\n(it wasn't really dawn, the sun having been up for almost two hours, but it still felt that way to me.)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We soon stopped at a picturesque spot to take some photos before starting the\ncircumnavigation loop in earnest...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 56mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMemorial Photo<\/span>\n6:31 AM (+1h 4m) - 16 km (9.9 miles)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>10000 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMisty Morning<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 67mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nShooting the Breeze<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

This was the first attempt at a trip<\/span> around Lake Biwa for all of us but\nJoshua, who has done it many times, and his laid-back demenor rubbed off, and we all felt at ease.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 32mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBottom of the Lake<\/span>\n6:35 AM (+1h 8m) - 16 km (10.0 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 19 kph (12 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

The huge lake narrows in the south to eventually become a river.<\/span> The bridge<\/span> seen in the background of the photo above cuts across the bottom of\nthe lake\/river, so our route takes us over it to the eastern side of the lake.<\/p>\n\n

The view from the bridge was pretty...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 65mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nView from the Bridge<\/span>\n6:39 AM (+1h 13m) - 18 km (10.9 miles)\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a>  ·  2880×<\/span>1800<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWaiting At The Trail Start<\/span>\n6:41 AM (+1h 14m) - 18 km (11.4 miles)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Immediately at the end of the bridge one can get onto a walking<\/span>\/cycling\ntrail that runs up much of the eastern side of the lake. I had stopped<\/span> for\na minute<\/span> to take photos, so they waited for me there. Then it was time to\nbeing the ride in earnest...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n6:43 AM (+1h 16m) - 19 km (11.7 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 23 kph (14 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 32mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMany Facets of the Shore Area<\/span>\n7:06 AM (+1h 39m) - 29 km (18.2 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 24 kph (15 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/7.1, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBiwako Rainbow Bridge<\/span>\n7:17 AM (+1h 50m) - 35 km (21.5 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 26 kph (16 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Before the lake really opens up, there's one area where it narrows to\nless than a mile<\/span> across, and so\nthere's a big<\/span> bridge over it at that point.\nJoshua wouldn't have time to do the whole trip around, so we stopped at the\nbridge for snacks before he left us with parting advice on the upcoming\nroute, then took the bridge heading back toward Kyoto.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 33mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPause that Refreshes<\/span>\nsnacks and stretches\n7:23 AM (+1h 57m) - 35 km (21.8 miles)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMy Caffe\u0300 Latte<\/span>\nit's mellow and rich\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

After the break, the three of us (Gorm, Kumiko, and I) continued the trip around. We still<\/span> had\nalmost 200km (125mi) to go.<\/p>\n\n

At one point we came across a truck with a jet<\/span> engine mounted on it,\nshooting its massive exhaust into the trees...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 75mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRecycled Jet Engine?<\/span>\n8:00 AM (+2h 33m) - 43 km (26.6 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 25 kph (16 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

It was spraying some kind of insecticide, I suppose.<\/span>\nThey had us wait while they turned it off so that we could pass.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRice Paddies<\/span>\n8:02 AM (+2h 35m) - 44 km (27.2 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 27 kph (17 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

At one point we came near a twisty access road for a\ntemple<\/span> high up on a mountain<\/span> (Choumeiji\nTemple \/ \u9577\u547d\u5bfa).<\/span> Gorm and Kumiko kindly waited\nwhile I popped<\/span> up the 150m of vertical climb up a\n12<\/span>% grade. I couldn't<\/span> access the temple grounds\nproper with the bicycle, so I didn't<\/span> have any\nnice view from up there, but a third<\/span> of the way\nback down the access road, a nice<\/span> view opened up:<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 72mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nNice View from 100m Above (a little<\/span> snippet of)<\/small> the Lake<\/span>\n8:34 AM (+3h 7m) - 53 km (33.1 miles)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 40mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nContinuing<\/span>\n8:45 AM (+3h 19m) - 57 km (35.4 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 26 kph (16 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGorm Always has a Smile<\/span><\/span>\n8:48 AM (+3h 21m) - 58 km (36.0 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 21 kph (13 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

I don't know how common a name “<\/span>Gorm”<\/span> is in Norway, where Gorm is from, but had I heard<\/span> it prior to meeting him I\nwould<\/span> have thought it was the name of a\nmedieval<\/span> overlord who ate children for breakfast. But with his<\/span> incessant smile from the first moment I met<\/span> him<\/a>, he's forever made the name “<\/span>Gorm”<\/span> synonymous\nwith “<\/span>robust friend of cheery attitude”<\/span>. (Wikipedia lists various meanings for the\nword<\/a>, including a king<\/span> from the 900s.)<\/p>\n\n

For the record, I have no evidence that Gorm eats children for any meal\nwhatsoever, though as a professor<\/span> of economics with a PhD<\/span> from UC Davis, he\nmay well be similar to a medieval<\/span> overlord; you'd have to ask his\nstudents.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 28mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n8:51 AM (+3h 24m) - 59 km (36.6 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 21 kph (13 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPassing Over an Inlet River<\/span>\nclick through for a wide panorama\n9:05 AM (+3h 39m) - 65 km (40.3 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 23 kph (14 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nInteresting Sky<\/span>\nI like the shadow of the contrail on the apparently-slightly-lower layer of clouds\n9:06 AM (+3h 39m) - 65 km (40.4 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 24 kph (15 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 26mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMore Rice Paddies<\/span>\na common sight along much of the east side of the lake\n9:09 AM (+3h 42m) - 67 km (41.5 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 30 kph (19 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 46mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGulf<\/span>\nthe lake is about 16km (10mi) wide here\n9:52 AM (+4h 25m) - 78 km (48.5 miles)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRight Along the Lake<\/span>\n9:53 AM (+4h 26m) - 78 km (48.7 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 27 kph (17 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nPanasonic LX100 at an effective 40mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSomewhat of a Tropical<\/span> Feel<\/span>\n10:51 AM (+5h 25m) - 103 km (64.2 miles)\ntaken while cycling at 23 kph (14 mph)\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

We still hadn't gone even half way yet, and what we'd done so far was\nmostly flat, though with many small undulations up and down along the way.\nSome major climbs awaited before we turned the metaphorical corner and\nstarted heading home.<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a nice bicycle outing on Wednesday with friends, riding around Lake Biwa (the largest lake in Japan). I ended up covering about 230km (143 miles).<\/p>

Despite being almost twice as long as my previously-longest ride, it was much easier for two reasons: it was mostly flat (just 1,600m \/ 5,250' of vertical climb over the 230km, compared to, for example, 2,500m \/ 8,300' over 99km), and I was much better at keeping myself filled with calories. I'm starting to discover that it's easier to ride the bicycle when you have energy.<\/p>

To explain the last line of the [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,8,1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}