None of them were in Japan through the colder months, smart. John was completely new to riding in Japan. But, Oyly is an old hand to touring in Japan and Michael put in a very respectable 5000+km of rubber rounding, two sets in fact, last Goldenweek and is a good riding mate of John’s so he was in good hands.

They set out on April 28 under fine spring skies to enjoy some twisty tarmac goodness of the Izu peninsula.

The steeds above Ashinoko with a cloud-capped Mt. Fuji in the background.

They did get a bit rained on though. And when the going gets tough…

The tough sniff flowers!

And embrace the challenge…

Michael took a novel approach to escaping the rain ☔

Two and a half days in Izu and they seemed to have had a ball riding the Izu Skyline, Margaret line, Nishi Izu Skyline and a bunch of other rubber rounders leading them to a wet ride up into Yamanashi and the doorstep of Apexmoto on the 30th for some stickier rubber.

John’s steed shedding its old hoops.

With fresh rubber on the road and riders dialed in to the twisties and all weather riding, they were ready for some Twistybutt route scouting. And May 1st was set to be a fine one.

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For this year’s Goldenweek, an MT10SP and I had come to an agreement thanks to the friendly folk at Marutomi Autos.

But I had commitments for the first few days so the King of MT took a little preride rest. Hard not to ride it though with that sweet thrumming crossplane sound it has…

More to come, stay tuned…