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FROZEN FINGERS

After being indecisive for the past few days about what to do after I finish my ride, I decided to finally exchange my rail pass. I figured May 6 was a good time, the final day of Golden Week holiday. That gives me time to head to the cape and then head back to Asahikawa. The plan is to head up the east coast to the cape and then head down the west coast. From Asahikawa, I will take a train down to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the connection from Aomori south was full…damn you Golden Week. I need to stop being so indecisive about stuff…should’ve exchanged it earlier! It looks like I will lose a day heading back down no matter what.

On the way back to the guest house I ate at Matsuya since it was already lunch time. I was really lagging behind schedule. I also called and found a place I will be staying for the night in Bifuka. Since I left much later than usual, I knew that I would probably be riding in the dark…I wasn’t too happy about that. It gets cold here at night really quick. Once again there were headwinds going north and it was overcast with dark clouds towards the mountain. Looking ahead of the road, I can see that the road would eventually run into the mountains over a pass to the other side. As I went up and over the pass, I could feel light snow coming down and it was freezing. I am pretty sure it was below freezing along there. My fingers were frozen stiff and I started to get the prickly sensation you get when your fingers start to get cold. Luckily, the road headed back down after the pass and it started to get warmer.

The road after the pass was relatively flat but the wind kept blowing. It started sprinkling a bit so I stopped at a roadside rest area to eat a purple yam croquette curry with a warm coffee. I was trying to ride fast at this point because I wanted to get to Bifuka before it got too dark, but it was impossible. I found a little shortcut through Nayoro, a river side cycling road and then a small street that ran through some farm fields. The river was flowing fast from all of the runoff. I rode into the night and after passing Nayoro, there was a minor pass over a mountain where I saw no cars for a long time. It can be a bit scary knowing that you’re all alone out in the cold in the middle of nowhere, but I didn’t try to think too much about it. The good thing about night time was that the wind stopped howling so I could ride fast to keep my blood flowing. By the time I finally arrived in Bifuka, my fingers were frozen stiff and I could barely make a strong fist. I grabbed some food at the nearby convenience store for dinner and headed to the ryokan I was staying for the night. I checked into the ryokan, and I could barely write with a pen because my fingers had become so cold. I ate my conbini dinner and took a nice hot bath to warm up my body. Two more days before I reach my goal…

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