Beppu

  • Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 5: Beppu to Uchiko

    Glorious sunshine greeted tour participants as they woke in Beppu, coincidentally on the morning the Wallabies, Australia’s national rugby team, would be playing a World Cup match in the same city. After a quick breakfast the entire tour assembled and hurtled off down the hill toward the beachfront. A ferry ride from Kyushu to Shikoku awaited, and the team rode onto the huge ship, tied up the bikes and moved upstairs for the long ride. Repairs and adjustments were made to bikes on the boat trip, but upon alighting, cyclists immediately rode off up the river until reaching a mountain standing in the way of the path to the destination…

  • Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 4: Kurokawa to Beppu

    Glorious weather greeted the tour today, paving the way for some amazing riding. The group set out from the gloriously quaint hot spring resort town of Kurokawa. Slowly but surely, the riders wound their way through forested areas, driving ever upward until reaching the Kuju ski ground, the highest point of the entire tour at 1,140 meters above sea level. Despite reaching the tour’s literal high point, it wasn’t all downhill from there. Travels along undulating roads followed over the next 30 or so kilometers along beautiful thoroughfares such as the Yamanami Kaido. The group inched ever downward, though, until reaching the hot spring town of Yufuin. Following a delicious…