I hadn’t had a decent adventure in while and neither had I ventured far north. So north I went with all the touring gear and a couple of ferry tickets to get over to Hokkaido and back. The FZ1 had new rubber, oil and coolant change, a couple of extra gadgets and I even went to work on the chain.

A little long winded so be warned

Not even half way through the touring of last year’s Goldenweek/Ironbutt adventure the plan for this year was in the concept stage. Somehow we had to plan a way of doing 2000+km in 24hrs.

What a ride! Tokyo to South Kyushu via Nigatta encompassing 1700+kms, 7 expressways, 2 bypasses and ending with a Skyline run to remember. Leaving the big city and firstly heading into the mountains, then over to the Japan sea, followed the coast west before swinging south for Kansai, through to the Chugoku and the west of Honshu before skipping over into Kyushu and running south again for Kagoshima and ending finally in Ibusuki. Sounds easy enough. Now do it in 24 hours with Goldenweek traffic.

What a ride! Tokyo to South Kyushu via Nigatta encompassing 1700+kms, 7 expressways, 2 bypasses and ending with a Skyline run to remember. Leaving the big city and firstly heading into the mountains, then over to the Japan sea, followed the coast west before swinging south for Kansai, through to the Chugoku and the west of Honshu before skipping over into Kyushu and running south again for Kagoshima and ending finally in Ibusuki. Sounds easy enough. Now do it in 24 hours with Goldenweek traffic.