The 4am alarm went off, but I’d stayed up watching the MotoGP Sprint race the night before and decided to grab another three and a half hours shut eye. Finally got on the road just before 8am, almost 4 hours behind schedule but feeling well rested and ready to roll!

Stepping out the door, the heat and humidity clung on straight away. The only cure for that is airflow so fired up the MighTy10 and hit the road.

A bit down the road and it was already 30°+!

The highlands between Hadano and Gotemba on the Tomei showed 26 to 27 comfy degrees and the miles were clicking by. Especially once on the Shin Tomei.

Breakfast at Shizuoka SA. The bakery there is fair and the aircon a last respite before the climb into hopefully cooler mountains. This would be all I ate on the road for the day. Hydration was the important thing.

The temps fell nicely with altitude as the rubber heated up on the relentless twisties served up by the 189 hillclimb to Ikawa.

First accessible waterfall and the hands got a cooling and MighTy and I just chilled there for a bit.

Temps over 500m were 25°-27° and with the forests corridoring the sun out, it was just about right. Above 1000m, it was 24°-25°.

Checkered flag road. Everyone’s a winner on this road!

11 years ago to the day we played on this secluded strip of scenic twisties, up n down, rounding rubber. Gone but not forgotten… Miss you mate…

This section had been closed for a fair while due to some significant landslides. They found the silver lining and ran a rollercoaster of a road up, down and around it. Brilliant!

On a clear day, Fuji can be seen peaking over the top of those far off ranges. Not today though. Still a great view and a great place for a rehydration pitstop.

Took a walk up a lonely path to this towering behemoth. Like some relic surviving an apocolypse.

Oi River, as emerald as always.

Butt to Butt to Twistybutt! 😆

Lonely Okuoikojo station.

That 388 from Ikawa down to the 362 is such a mixed bag. Great fun.

On the 362 headed generally west and last year’s road closure is still in effect, so took the same detour out of Kawanehon. Coming out of the forest to this never gets old.

Cool, vast valley views, cicadas in full song and tea fields everywhere.

Further along the 362 and signs of landslides into the river were here and there. This is where the road closure I was most interested in checking out on this scouting run was, too.

It was closed, not just a ‘locals only’ thing.

Leading up to it, banking around a blind left hander, I almost plowed through a little wooden A-frame sign with a miniscule note tacked to it in the middle of my side of the road. Of course I ignored it. 😆

It was the detour sign and 5 minutes later, after hitting the roadblock, I was back there peering at the note. Then prodding the recommended route into the navi.

How’d that happen? Twistybutt scouting throws up all sorts of challenges and sometimes shockers…

The detour road started out as a cracker of a road. Fresh blacktop and a good rhythm. About 2/3 of the way along, the quicker route turned off to a less well kept road but it wasn’t that bad until this.

How’d you manage that you say.

I’ve avoided careening into one of Japan’s much feared roadside culverts for over two decades and it finally happened…at about a swift jogging pace it just plopped in there, scraped along for a bit before stopping and then I just casually dismounted and stepped back a bit to appraise the anti-climax. 😆 The video above explains the lead up better.

Fortunately it wasn’t one of those true trenches you see here or there and it had a fair amount of soft non-pokey stuff accumulated in it. Was also glad no good Samaritans came by that I’d have had to explain it to or be uncomfortably assisted by.

A quick  peruse of the culvert had me thinking that unleashing a good portion of MighTy’s 150 odd horses ought to free it. That just resulted in much revving and ungodly splattering of the pristine nature behind and the rear of the bike. But it was moving forward, be it with unpleasant scraping sounds.

The front tyre was just plowing into the soft stuff though. So, more perusing, this time of the surroundings, and some Goldilocks just right sized logs were spied across the road. On closer inspection, they were decomposing and all sorts of creepy crawlies were jumping ship from their now airborne home, even a large centipede fell out of one, but they made just the ramp MighTy’s horses could gallop out on.

Squatting back aboard as down in the culvert the seat was only cruiser height, thumbed the starter, gave MighTy a pat on the tank and made a prayer to the Road Gods. With a little rocking back n forth, the front popped out as easy as it had dropped in there. With a bit more scraping and some roaring horsepower accompanied by what I expect was quite an impressive rooster tail of culvert crap out the back, MighTy caught grip and clambered back onto the tarmac again.

The damage was superficial, the mud on the tyres substantial and there was still plenty of road ahead to lose it on. So, another quick swig of rehydration and off we sauntered half proud of the self extraction,  half counting the lucky stars it wasn’t worse and completely not looking forward to the next road.

So, follow the left lion or the right lion? If you know these jokers then you know the 389.

The tyre poker. The ride ender. The worst ride of your LIFE in a storm. A scenic canyon carved but not for carving. It starts out nice then turns equal parts beautiful canyon and puncture mine field before the rewarding hillclimb to Yamazumi Touge. Appropriate name when riding a Yamaha. 😉

And at the top, a monument to the forest dwelling bringer of chaos and destruction that sidelined Ol’ MighTy before last year’s Mountain Day Twistybutt, on a scouting mission just like this.

Probably better the big fella was looking the other way after that rapid ascent. Did manage to collect a token offering for it on the bars though.

Yes, that was a kiss of the hoof. After last year’s deer-strike, respects must be paid.

A lot going on here on this little corner in the middle of nowhere, opposite the enormous ungulate.

It is interesting, as is the view down the valley over by the huge hoofed effigy.

And down that valley snakes the 389 and some nice riding. It also packs an extremely tight canyon of punctures but some say it’s worth it, just for this pic.

Some way down, a sizeable snake seemed to be resting or possibly dying in the road, so I aimed to slide by its tail end and just as I went by, it reared and launched at me. First time it’s happened to me, but seen it happen to others. Fortunately, MighTy was a galloping and I hope it didn’t break a fang on the encrusted rear Bridgestone.

Surviving the 389, and still weighing whether to include it again in the route, it was time for the 152 and to fill the tank. The reserve had started flashing up on Yamazumi Touge. Zumi-zumi means drinky-drinky in MighTy’s tongue. And twisty hillclimbs and fun roads induce much zumi-zumi.

Anyway, it was around four and being around 260km from home meant I had a decision to make. Head home or head north and away from home for the always music-blaring gas stand by the river at Uemura.

On the going home’s side was already having had an eventful day and being 12km into reserve. On the going north side was more of the always ride worthy 152, cooler temps up there and the moral of the story from the last Mountain Day scout: Don’t go home early. Ride all day and some night!

But Uemura was a tad over 40km away. 52km on reserve on the expressway, no problem. Up a twisty incline? Could I control myself to minimise MighTy’s zumi-zumi tendencies?

Going north it was. If I ran outa fuel, I could always roll back down, right.

The 152 now has a lot of winding new sections that bypass the tight, technical bits which, in the past, too often fell victim to the elements—hence the need for the bypasses. And I’ve gotta say, I like those winding detours, especially with the occasional tight section still in the mix. It’s no longer a snailfest, and MighTy could sip along on cruise control in 4th, 5th, or even 6th through many stretches.

Needless to say, with 52 and a bit kilometres showing on the reserve counter, we almost roared into Uemura with a lot of mud having been freed rounding rubber up the 152.

After fueling up, downing some rehydration and leaving the bike at the gas stand, some leg stretching and nature therapy was in order.

Cooled and reinvigorated under the fading light, it was time to set off on the 300-odd kilometre trek home. Sure, two-thirds of that would be a butt-numbing, cruise-controlled slog on the expressway—but the remaining third, with the last of the sun and into dusk, would be all 152.

Thoroughly enjoyed that and rounded a lot more rubber with MighTy free to zumi-zumi.

Swinging onto the Shin-Tomei, garmin ETA for home showed 8:30pm and slotting into a pack enjoying a little liberty with the 120km/h speed recommendations, it was looking very doable.

Following a long stop at Ashigara to feed MighTy, clean the screen and walk the rider, we arrived home in the dark and dry. As the moral of the last Mountain Day Twistybutt scouting said it would be.