The first part of the ride was through city traffic which required a lot of concentration, so it wasn't too much fun. After 30 minutes or so of this, I got to a large river bed. The river looked like a major river, but I don't know the name alas. I flew down the road leading down the river bank and crossed on a bridge which had a lot a lot of traffic, but also had a separate lane for bikes. It was long way down, so on the other side it was a long way up. I made it slowly in my lowest gear but had to shed some clothing at the top.

It was a very cool day, but the uphill slog made me quite warm. At the top there was another fast downhill followed by another uphill slog. I was crossing a couple of ridges at the base of the mountains. I continued along route 54 up a beautiful narrow valley. The valley got narrower as I went up and followed a clear river flowing rapidly. There were quite a few fisherman lined up along the river, so there must have been fish (trout?). The road became quite narrow and winding as I passed through a few small villages, continuing to climb slowly.

About halfway up the valley, I encountered my first tunnel. I had never been through a tunnel on a bike before, and it was rather spooky. The lighting made it hard to see the road and every car that came through sounded like a freight train. The tunnel was a bit nerve racking, but at least I got to go through the ridge rather than over the ridge ...

At the top of the valley, I was very glad to be on a bike as the bridge across the river was out. It looked like they were constructing a new one. The only bridge across was for pedestrians and bikes only, the cars were out of luck. Across the small bridge, route 54 ended and I turned left onto a faily major highway. The road climbed steeply and I was once again in my lowest gear. After 15 or 20 minutes of climbing, I came to an intersection which seemed like the one I wanted to get to the lake. I was at the very edge of my map by now and the route was not entirely clear. Anyway, I turned right and headed up an even steeper grade. This was the most climbing I have ever done on a bike and, although I was in my lowest gear, I am pleased to report that I made it without getting off and pushing. This road was bigger than the last and I had to pass through about 5 or 6 tunnels, my nerves getting thinner each time.

Just before the first tunnel I passed a sign with a picture of what looked like a gorilla on it. That's odd, I thought, mystified. After I passed through the second or third tunnel, I heard some odd rustling off to the left on the steep hillside net to the road. I look up and there I saw a troop(?) of ... of ... well of monkeys. Or maybe apes, or gibbons, or baboons. They looked most like small baboons. It is hard to describe my shock at seeing this! I knew there were some type of primates up in Hokkaido, but I had no clue that there were primates this far south and this close to Tokyo. I stopped by the side of the road for about 10 minutes watching them. I have never before seen primates like this wild, outside of a zoo (well except for the occasion wild human). I am going to have to ask around to find out what these creatures are. Are they common, or was I very lucky to see them? Once again I was very happy to be on a bike. I'm sure the people in the cars zipping by could not have seen them at all.

Continuing on, I came through another tunnel and saw a very large dam off to the right. It looked like it was still under construction, but it was hard to tell. I must be close to the lake now. Obviously the lake was really a resevoir as I had feared. One more tunnel and there was the lake about 500 feet below the road. It was obvious at this point that access to the lake was out of the question. The view was nice though. Anyway, after the fifth or sixth tunnel, my nerves were shot and I turned at the next intersection with yet another tunnel ahead of me. The tunnels have wide lanes so I'm sure there was no real danger, but the freight train sounds the cars made were too much for me. And I knew that I would have to go through all the tunnels again on the way back. I headed further up into the mountains on this new road (I've forgotten the route number) until I came to a rest stop (for cars) with some picnic tables. By this time I was at the head of the lake.

I stopped for a picnic lunch about 2:00. The view of the lake was pretty good but there were so many motorcycles that it was quite noisy. I ate my lunch quickly as it was cold and windy and I was getting chilled since I wasn't exercising anymore. I left the rest stop at 2:30 and headed back the way I had come. Now I was going downhill considerably faster than I had gone uphill! I had to keep my jacket on as I was not working so hard and the wind was strong. I went back through the tunnels, but going downhill was much better as I was going so much faster. I stopped again where I had seen the monkeys/baboons/gibbons/apes/whatever, but they were gone and I saw no more along the way. As I cruised downhill, it seemed that the road was much shorter than it was on the way uphill :-). Back down the narrow valley and through the last tunnel.

I came upon a bridge which looked familiar and I was a bit confused about the route. It took the bridge but quickly realized this was not the right way. I made a U turn but took it a bit too fast and almost fell over. I caught myself just in the nick of time. I must be getting cocky and will have to be more careful. I continued on the main route and found a few things I recognized and was comfortable with the route again.

By this time I was getting tired and I knew I still had those ridges to cross. I built it up in my mind a bit, but by the time I got there it wasn't as high as I had remembered. I went up slowly in my lowest gear and made it without too much huffing and puffing. Up the last hill at the far side of the river and I was back in city traffic.

Being tired, this was not much fun so I was hoping to get through it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn and ended up further east than I wanted to be. I wasn't worried since I knew I was going in the right direction and would eventually come upon route 16 and would then be able to find my way. My wrong turn added another mile or two, but not too bad. I got back to the apartment at 4:15 and had a nice hot shower. The whole trip took about 4 hours 15 minutes, 3:15 riding. I estimate that it was about 60-65 km round trip, but it may have been less as there was a lot of slow climbing. This was my best ride yet in the area.