My First Real Climb - Amou Pass

Before I had even left Shirakawago this morning, my inner tube blew! Upon closer examination, I realised that my tire had a sidewall tear. Apparently, the Kenda Small Block Eight tires that I was using were very light, but that meant that the sidewalls were thinner and more likely to wear out quickly. Took me about 30mins to replace both the tire (good thing I brought a spare) and the inner tube before I could get going.

Leaving town, the climbing began almost immediately. This time, the climbing was not gradual Hirugano Highlands kind of ascent but more like Tibet-Nepal kind of climbing with roads that wound endlessly up the side of the mountain. My objective of the day was to clear Amou Pass (1289m above sea level).

It took me a total of 2 hours to cover the 13km up the mountain to the top of the pass. Along the way, it started to drizzle slightly which just made the ride more unpleasant!

View of the surrounding valley from Amou Pass

At the top of the pass, I stopped to snack on the onigiri`s that the kindly lady owner of Furusato Minshuku had made for me. After that, donning my helmet, jacket and gloves (which I had taken off during the climb), I prepared for the descent to the town of Kawai.

Onigiri`s from the owner of Furusato Minshuku

From the peak of Amou Pass, it was a 20km downhill ride all the way to the town of Kawai. Certain portions were rather steep with quite a few hairpin turns so I tried to maintain my speed at a safe 20-30km/h.

Climbing up worked my legs, but going down wasn`t all coasting either! By the time I reached the bottom of the pass, my fingers were a bit numb from constantly gripping the brake levers for more than an hour!

The downhill ride from the top of Amou Pass

From Kawai Town to Takayam City, it was a mostly flat road. The rain which had stopped when I cleared the pass, began again as I entered Takayama City. I quickly checked into Murasaki Ryokan and then hibernated the rest of the evening away.

Today was just a preview of what is to come as I enter the Japan Alps National Park from the city of Takayama. From here, its uphill all the way to Norikura Highlands - the highest point in Japan that is accessible by public road.