Hokkaido Touring Day 10: Shiretoko Pass Downhill !

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Today I woke up at 4:00 AM in order to climb while not raining and had coffee, bread + peanuts butter, and a banana for breakfast. I left at 6:30 AM with my spirits up after being threatened so much yesterday.
The beginning of the climb was a little tough, but I climbed slowly with low gear. I cycled with calling out to the deer, healing by Kumakoshi waterfall, and looking down at Rausu and Kunashiri Island under the clouds. The feeling is so good !

I was ready to see when the push would come, but not needed. During this climb, I also incorporated some restful dancing ride. I use two heavier gear and slowly put my weight on the pedals while stretching my legs. This allows me to stretch the muscles I have been using during the sitting session, so I could climb without getting too tired. Of course, I'm not going to get any faster, but I'm not competing for speed, so I'm going to be more aggressive using the dancing ride from now on.

I've met some good taking photo opportunities along the way. But It was a little disappointing that I didn't saw Lake Rausu and passed it because I didn't notice the entrance of Lake Rausu bus stop where was a few kilometers from the Lake Rausu. If I had gone there, however, I would have arrived much later, so it's okay.

While I was taking pictures at the Shiretoko Pass, a cyclist came up on Bridgestone Anchor road bike. He was dressed so lightly that I thought he was a local, but amazingly he told me he came from Tokyo. He said he had only brought a small amount of clothes with him since he had only three nights holidays.

The downhill from the Shiretoko Pass felt really good. It took me two hours to do the 15km ascent, but the descent took only 30 minutes for 25km. As I was descending, I saw some cyclists coming up the mountain, so I cheered them on.

The town of Utoro I arrived from the downhill has the World Heritage Site of Shiretoko in front of it, and foreign tourists can be seen here and there. At the roadside station, I entered a museum of Shiretoko. I thought I would have something to eat as I was getting hungry, but no restaurants were opened yet maybe it was still too early morning. I think here does not yet become a complete tourist destination.

I left Utoro early, stopping at the Oshinkoshin Waterfall, a part of the Shiretoko World Natural Heritage Site, in Shari. By the way, I heard that Kumano-yu I visited yesterday is also part of the world heritage site. On the way to Shari town, I saw many Ezo deer in a fence at a place called Shiretoko Ezo Deer Farm.

It started raining as soon as I arrived in Shari Town around noon. I ate Ezo Deer Genghis Khan at Shiretoko Kitchen Kumako for lunch and to take shelter from the rain. The meat came from the deer farm I saw earlier. By the way I saw Ezo deer on the road three times today. There really seems to be a lot of them.

I arrived at the planned campsite in Koshimizu town at around 2:00, but I was not yet tired. As it was still time to go, so I headed to the Yobuninoura campsite at Lake Abashiri, a little further down the road that I had heard about before. I took a wrong turn on the way and went about 2.5km too far and lost 5km. I was complainting to myself on the bike. When I arrived Abashiri City, I went to a supermarket in order to pick up some food. And then I stopped at a one-coin shop and bought a freezer pack and a hair elastic as a smart phone stopper.

Finally I arrived at the campsite around 5:30 PM. While looking for a place to pitch my tent in the rain, I heard that a trash shack with a roof was available, so I set up my tent there. The young man who told me about is from Hokkaido and seems to come here often. Afterwards he brought me some hot mini cup noodles. I'm thankful that people everywhere are so kind to bicycle tourists.

The rain continued to fall and I didn't want to get wet again, so I didn't go to the bath today, but instead wiped it off with a towel and changed clothes. My head became little itchy.
I ate spaghetti with scallops and cod roe, miso soup, and pumpkin salad for dinner. I woke up early today, so I'll go to bed at nine o'clock. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, but it's less than 50 km to the campground I'm going to stay at tomorrow, so I'll do my laundry and charge my MacBook before heading out of Abashiri City.

Today I crossed a 738 m pass and I'm not tired for riding nearly 120 km distance. I've already done nearly 1000 km of this touring and my body seems to be completely built up. I feel like I can run all the way in as long as the fuel(food) is replenished.

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From Rausu to Abashiri 116 km