November 24, 2025
Day 83 — Kuju to Aso
Well it was a chilly night and a chilly morning. We were both buried underneath heavy duvets in our train bunks, wearing several layers of bedclothes. It was tough to get up.
Breakfast was a concoction of what remained in the food bag and what could be sourced at the farmers market yesterday afternoon. There was hot water for coffee on tap at least.
Today’s project was to get into Aso town, where we had a room booked at the hostel. From there we would figure out what to do about Marilee’s gear cable. The ride involved a big climb in the morning to Makinoto Pass then a long descent into town. The challenge of course being whether the jerry rigged fix keeping Marilee’s snapped gear cable in a usable gear would hold, and whether the ride was doable in the two gears (low on the small ring and less low on the big) she had available.
We waited a while until the sun was on the road to avoid hitting any frost patches, bid adieu to our hostess who was eager to photograph us and her husband’s handiwork for her social media, and set off.
The first bit before the climb to the pass was flat, and Marilee would get up to maybe 15 km/h in her top gear, then spin out and coast. Not terrible in terms of speed, and it seemed the gear cable fix would hold. It seemed like we would be able to make the 50km to Aso in reasonable time.
It was cold but the sun was starting to warm things up a bit. The scenery was a bit like the BC interior, or eastern Washington/Oregon. Dry grasslands, sweeping vistas with looming mountains as a backdrop. Except the mountains were conical. It was crisp and cold but spectacular riding, and much different than anything else we’d seen in Japan.
After a few km lead up, the road eventually curved upwards toward the pass. Opting to keep Marilee’s bike on the biggest cog at the back was the right call, as it was a long push up to the pass.
From the pass it was a long descent to a plateau above the gigantic ancient caldera Aso town sat in.
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We chugged along at a stately pace through the grasslands along the rim of the crater. The gear cable was holding just fine, and we were maintaining that 15 kmh that would see us to the hostel in a couple of hours.
We eventually happened upon a busy lookout spot above the crater, where we watched parasailers take off and land. It looked like you could book a tour with one of them as a passenger. Interesting, but we’ll pass.
From there it was a screaming descent down into the crater and its wide plain. Just a long switchbacky swervy descent. Superfun.
Check in at the hostel wasn’t until 4, so we had some time to cool our heels and chit chat to others waiting to register. A Frenchman who had some recommendations for islands further south, and a Belgian on holiday. The hostel was quite new and quite nice, with a nice open kitchen and eating area, which meant we could cook for ourselves which is always a treat.
There was really no bike repair option in Aso town. The largish city of Kumamoto was only 50 km away, and had several legit bike shops (Trek, Giant, Specialized). We had been thinking that the train was an option from Aso to Kumamoto. That would mean partial disassembly of the bikes, futzing around with Rinko bags which did not work so well when we did this in Sapporo, and getting all our junk into duffels and onto a small local train. Given that the gear fix worked so well, and the trip into Kumamoto was a modest distance and mostly downhill, we decided we would do another day of two gear riding and stay in Kumamoto to sort things out.
We had a soak in the nearby onsen, then found sausages and potatoes in the nearby Michi no Eki, and got some vino out of the Family Mart. Meat and potatoes for dinner really hit the spot!
Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 4,219 km (2,620 miles)
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