After 14 years of the original spring Coast to Coast Twistybutt, we now have a proven fall/autumn Coast to Coast Twistybutt, too. It’s still from the Pacific to the Sea of Japan, but in the Chubu region. We held our first one this past Sunday and here’s how it went down.

Eight riders met by the mouth of the Tenryu River in Shizuoka on the Pacific coast with typhoon whipped swell crashing and tubing in the distance. The typhoon had scared off more than a few of the 22 registered entrants with threats of rain all week. But those that did rock up at the start were keen and the atmosphere was great, despite the overcast weather and dark brooding clouds blanketing the mountains to the north, where we were headed.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing prior to the start either. One rider exited his hotel in the dawn darkness to find his steed riding low in rear, the result of not one but two holes in his rear tyre. Thankfully, road warrior Neil and ready-to-go Rob got it sorted.

With bikers talking bike stuff, beautiful scenery, the waves and captivated surfers standing watching them in the distance while fish jumped right by us in the river, the delay phased no one and we eventually set off north 40 minutes after the planned sunrise start. Good news was that it was a comfortable 20°c and wasn’t raining.

Thin low foggy drizzle made for beautiful vistas and slippery twisties early on.

And the fog through the higher forests was fantastic.

The local mushrooms were growing huge on the humidity!

And then the clouds started breaking up and the sun came out. As did these early morning revelers.

They bleated back when I yelled good morning to them. 😄

That’s a fair few horses, but the MighTy10 has many many more. Nice wall. Great colour.

Our first decent climb saw 1300m and it was chillier and almost dry. The temperature gauge showed 15°c. The leaves on wet roads made for some intense focus here n there which built an appetite.

First stop, Izumiya Cafe for breakfast.

Great brekky and atmosphere. Will definitely be back and highly recommend it. Tell them Touge Express sent you. 😉

The oddities. A ’70-73 Trans Am Firebird encased in glass. It’s been sitting there in the sun for at least a decade and a half that I know of and its paint is beat. Interestingly, it’s part of a similarly beat Trans Am Kitchen House.

After feeding the rider’s furnace, 11km up the road, we fuelled the steeds. Now 200km in from the start.

Back on track, we headed for Ontake and it’s epic twisty hillclimb through what are white snowy ski slopes in the winter.

But through the summer and just now, it’s home to twisties. Some very bumpy and a bit crusty, but fun and the views are forever.

On my way up, Neil passed on his way down. Having not seen him at the breakfast stop, I figured he must have ridden straight through, something he’s more than used to, skipping the leisurely brekky the rest of us had.

Wondering how far ahead he was, I checked the time and remembered the nearest hairpin to calculate how far ahead he was when I came back down. Genius-level math. 😂

The road up was fun enough to get things particularly blue-gold. 😉

The Skyline peaked out at 2200+ metres at the lookout and memorial. Grip heaters were on up there.

Ontake in the background.

The leaves are full of colour at the right altitude and Ontake had a fat band of colour.

Soon after this, that hairpin I’d memorised came up and after turning some cranial cogs, Neil was around 40 minutes ahead. After that great healthy breaky, the belly-furnace would be burning for quite some time so MighTy10 and I could ride straight through until we caught Neil resting…if he rests. We all know he likes photos so I skipped those for a while in the hope he didn’t.

Back on the downhill twisting down Ontake a few corners later, the others started passing on their way up and then, near the base of the hillclimb, I met Rob and Paby who’d decided on a tactical compromise by not going to the top and instead having a pitstop. Tea n scones stop was it lads. 😄

Next scheduled fuel stop was 385km in, west of Takayama. MighTy10 drank down less than expected and we got right back on Neil’s trail.

Locals… I’ve heard of headless chickens but chicken-less heads? That scythe wielding paper-mâché farmeret had been busy.

MighTy10 making friends. And more heads on pikes… Maybe stopping there wasn’t the wisest choice…

What’s old is new again, grass-skiing!

The rice fields are gold and loaded at the moment. Beautiful.

Jutting out like teeth from the upturned jaw of some long gone massive metal beast.

Just a different and decidedly bike/rider friendlier guardrail. Looks interesting too. I have a feeling they may be snowplow-friendlier than regular guardrails and cables, too.

Coming up on 500 kilometres and on the climb to the King Kong-like gated entry to Arimine, an angry black n orange SDR was spotted at a little corner cafe overlooking the valley below and who should be there speaking with a local serrow?

Neil and I had cake n coffee with a view and a crap load of non-stinking stink bugs. Thankfully.

Turns out the youngish guy serving us there is a local and one of the 8 local hunters, thus the mascot of the cafe. Cool mascot I thought and befitting the young hunter too.

Getting on four twenty with sunset at 5:15 and 80+ kilometres to go, we mounted up and twisted off towards Arimine.

The older gent at the toll gate took our 500 yennies a piece, asked us to be careful and smiled. He’d heard us coming.

The lake was fogged over, or was it low cloud kicking up over that mammoth dam wall. In any case, the great view eluded us this time.

But the monkeys didn’t. Actually, saw a lot of monkeys throughout the day. The ones up here looked chubby and had very thick coats already. Seeing them, I remembered the bear hunter saying that the cafe would close at the end of October as winter set in and they typically had over head height snow. Those monkeys were prepping.

Great roads snaking down from Arimine.

Next and final stop, Akushiro Cliffs and those magnificent cascading waterfalls.

But it wasn’t to be. Those low clouds or fog had set in and although we rode as far as we could and then a little more, they were veiled for the night.

Next time.

5:28, 13 minutes after sunset, after a spirited run chasing the sun, we pulled up at the preset goal on the Japan Sea beach in Toyama. Rob and Paby were there. We’d done it!

Just 100m shy of 600km, what’s the odds. So close yet so far.

It had been an epic ride though. Nothing skipped, no roads blocked and MighTy10 didn’t miss a beat. The tyres were beat but that’s what Twistybutts do!

Heikki, Vijay and Breno soon chimed in saying that they were still an hour away and had found rain. We would later hear that they’d found a bear, too. Meanwhile, Neil and I found that the hotel had a nomihoudai session in the restaurant until 8pm. After that, we sauntered off in search gastronomical adventure. A few hundred metres later, we found it.

Rob and Paby went to stay at a posh place up the coast and soon the three amigos arrived at the restaurant safely. The five of us ate at the local Chinese restaurant, swapping road tales and adventures from the day.

Tired but satisfied, twas a good day and deep sleep. Twistybutt style.

We’ve got a great route, a beautiful time of the year and decent places to stay near the start and finish so the concept was good and the ride has proven it worthy of being the official Autumn Coast to Coast Twistybutt. I hope more of you Twistybutts and Twisty-hunters join us by the coast next year.