October 11, 2007
Day 3: Ashikaga to Nikko: A humbling ride over Hosoo Pass
From Ashikaga we continued north and upriver to the industrial town of Kiryu, and then bent east to Ashio and into the foothills of the alps. The ride from Ashio to Nikko was a challenge, taking us over Hosoo Pass on a very steep, all but abandoned old road that's been made obsolete by a modern highway and mile-long, uncycleable tunnel. The road is quite amazing, with about 30 steep, tight hairpin turns. The climb over Hosoo was probably the steepest climb of the trip, and rather humbling - we had our hands full cycling it, but during the Edo period it was used by bearers running up and over it carrying loads of copper from the Asio copper mine to build the monuments of Nikko on the other side.
The ride to Nikko was also marked by a unique experience, and one I'll always wish I could have photographed as documentation. At one point, we were walking our bikes through the brush on a side-path around a narrow, dark tunnel; and I encountered a quite large greenish snake (perhaps 2-3 feet long) about 6 feet ahead of me on the path. Startled, and not knowing whether Japanese snakes are poisonous, I stopped abruptly; and was completely shocked when it leaped at me (do snakes leap?), became airborn somehow, and got ensnared in the spokes of my front wheel. I'll never forget the look of it staring back at me from between my spokes, as it was wrapped up by the momentum of the still-moving bike. He slithered quickly off and over a cliff, surely as stunned as I was. I'm sure he rushed back to tell all of his snake friends about his amazing experience.
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From the summit, we dropped 2000 feet to Nikko, where we settled in for a two night stay to allow time for a good visit of this famous historical town.
Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 147 miles (237 km)
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