Inabe to Minakuchi (outside Kyoto) 80k

I knew I would be in for some drama today. The clip in part of my shoe broke. and my back rack was also broke. I put as much stuff as I could into my backpack and carried the back rack down the street looking for a convenience store at 6am. In Japan there seems to be a convenience store or two every few kilometers. I needed some super-glue to try and glue the plastic clip back together. I was in luck. Found the store and the super glue. And I fixed my shoe with the spare cleat I had packed.

Today I was riding into the Kyoto area which means I would have to climb up and over Suzuka mountain pass. About a third of the way up route 421 a guy on a motorcycle stopped and told me the road was closed ahead due to a rock slide......bummer. On the way back down I saw another foreign guy climbing up. I stopped and told him about the closed road and he and I searched my map looking for another road. His name was Arron ,he was from New Zealand. We found another pass about 10k away. Route 306. The map showed that it was very steep. On the way I hit a big bump and my super glued rack broke again. My stuff came flying off my bike. I was about to just ditch all my camping gear when Arron volunteered to strap it all to his rack and carry it up and over the entire mountain pass for me. That was a real favor to do for someone you just met 30 minutes ago. He strapped my gear to his back rack and carried all my gear and his gear over the entire mountain. The climb was 8k with long 10% sections. I owe him. Once again a fellow bike rider comes to the rescue.

Towards the end of todays ride we traveled on a road that was brand new and had no cars on it. A road in Japan with no cars on it is a very strange sight. So I took a picture in the middle of the street.