10/10 & 11/10
Bonus Stage!! So as mentioned before I was supposed to take the Shinkansen to Fukuoka, but because I didn't want to go through the hassle of bringing a bike on the train I thought I might as well bike the last bit home. Then I was supposed to sleep somewhere close to Kumamoto city, but as I didn't really fancy waking up to bike yet another day I decided to "work overnight" so to speak. This is how it all began:
Taking the 12 hours package at the manga cafe was a good idea, I was well rested and had had the time to play around with the computer and so on, usually it was one or the other, haha. I set out at 8 o'clock not knowing anything other than what cities I had to go through in order to go to Kumamoto.
The weather was lovely and my shoes were dry in no time while I biked so I had that going for me. I still had the feeling of yesterday's trip in my legs and arms, but knowing that it would soon be over I hurried along the coastline with the rising sun over Sakurajima, it was a beautiful day indeed.
I got to Aira, the city before the mountains I had to go through. I was feeling good despite everything and even though I got kind of lost, (taking the wrong roads, but still ending up finding the way in the end), I was happy not to have taken the Shinkansen home.
And the mountains were as awe-inspiring as always. But somehow my feeling towards them had changed. Yes it was tough to go over them, but while looking down on the asphalt or looking on the endless road ahead of me, I found the strength to continue. Indeed it was the feeling of the last day. The bonus stage. My victory road.
I had two mountain ranges to cross and after the first one I needed a short break at a restaurant. I have wondered what people think when they see me in the setting of a restaurant wearing my bike clothes. People always look, but no one ever asks about why I'm there inside the restaurant. In front of the super market they don't seem to have a problem with asking though. I wonder what is so different.
I made terrible time through the next mountain range, but it was all according to plan. That's what I was telling myself, there was no plan. I didn't really know how to finish of my trip, but I thought if I just kept going forward I would reach not only the finish line, but also an idea of what I was to do.
(Deep stuff, right?)
The sun was setting and I still had some 50 km. to Kumamoto. I was still able to continue and I didn't want to go all the way to Kumamoto city since it would be a detour. Or rather if I went to Kumamoto city it would be a detour if I wanted to avoid the mountains. And I really wanted to avoid them this time around. Biking through them in the middle of the night wasn't a part of my plan.
So I went around the mountains along the coastline. There were some smaller cities and some street light along the roads so it wasn't completely dark. But with more than 100 km. to Fukuoka and going from city to city was beginning to get a bit old. I was going to fall asleep if this continued.
I could sleep while biking that I'm sure. If something happened like I crashed or something I would fall asleep right away, haha. But I stopped at several stores and bought something to eat in order to get new energy. The rice balls and micro wave food wasn't cutting it anymore so the last stop I made I bought breakfast instead. The biggest yogurt and granola I could find and a bag of bread. I ate the whole thing after that I wasn't sleepy anymore. My guess is that I consumed more than 1500 calories, whatever the case it worked though.
I biked. To quote Fight Club. I biked and my muscles burned and my veins were pumping battery acid. Then I biked some more. The choice of just finding a place out of the way, pull out my sleeping bag and then get some hours of sleep before the sun got up was tempting. That choice got more and more real. But there was no tomorrow anymore. The last sprint indeed. I was standing on my bike more than I usually would because my legs and bottom were hurting.
It must have looked crazy as I ran through the city with only one thing on my mind: finally finishing what I started more than 48 days ago, the biggest journey I had ever been on. I reached my goal. Ayana was up and answered the door, I took a shower and went to sleep for 7 hours. I'm feeling fine right now, my head is a bit empty, like I have all these thoughts, but they are just lingering in the back of my mind, making way for the one thought I can't help but think: I did it, I don't have to bike anymore.
I'm going to miss it though. The life of being a traveler, not knowing what will happen around the next corner, not knowing tomorrow. It's more real than anything else I have tried so far. I don't have to be someone, I can be anyone. And I was. I'm ready to start a new life though. Together with Ayana! This will be my next journey. Maybe one day I'll write a blog about that!
Finally I want to say thank you to all the people who helped me here in Japan, to the people who cheered on me, who read my blog or Facebook posts. To the people who believed that I could make it and to the people who thought it was impossible. I want to say thanks to my family for letting me go without making it too difficult, I know it must have been hard for you and you must have worried a lot, but you understood that I had to do it. I want to say thank you to Ayana for waiting for me. She puts up with a lot of my silly ideas and I know that. My trip would have been very different. I'm not sure I would have pushed myself like I did if she wasn't waiting for me. She has been the best motivation for me!
My trip ended at 4350 km. That's 500 km more than I anticipated. I guess sightseeing and detours make up most of those 500 km, but I did change some parts. But usually that meant adding kilometer more than cutting them off. And I could have done it faster, but meeting friends, sightseeing and of course staying with Ayana for some time was more important than finishing as fast as possible. I reckon I could do it in 35 days, and I'm not sure it would be more tough without the breaks actually. I just needed to plan the route and stops better.
I wonder if I found myself during this travel. It's still to early to say. And maybe it's okay if I didn't, haha. Thanks for reading this far!
People with questions are welcome to email me (schultzanders@live.dk).
Distance: 309km.
Time: 16.25 hours
Condition: Ready for the next adventure!
Quote: Nothing is impossible with the right frame of mind
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