Hello.

At the end of 2024, I did a big ride with my friend. We rode from Tokyo to Osaka.

This is my ridding buddy Kenta, who I rode to Nagoya with last October.

Kenta recently sat down with us and chatted for a YouTube video, which you can see below.

The reason why we decided to ride to Osaka is that, we were originally planning to do the Festive 500 event, hosted by Rapha. It was a 500km ride from December 24th to 31st.

We unfortunately were not able to get 8 days off from work, so we decided to challenge ourselves to ride 500km on our 2 days off, and Osaka happened to be about 500km away from Tokyo.

I wasn’t sure if we were able to pull off 500km in two days, but I was also very excited for challenge. I was super hyped throughout the whole December. I was imagining myself riding all the time.

Try something completely new can be risky at times, but I’d like to keep challenging myself.

The ride to Nagoya was 370km btw

My bike is the Mash All-Road with Wound Fork.

This is what I had on me during the ride.

Snacks, tools, wallet, and two Voile Nano Straps in the Fairweather Prototype frame bag.

The frame bag should be released soon.

 

Inside Line Equipment saddle bag. I borrowed Digi’s when I rode to Nagoya. I liked it so much I ended up buying my own.

The Adventure Seat Bag is compact but not too small, and it looks clean on road bikes. I put the Fairweather Bike Carry Bag and a spare tire tube. I put everything I won’t be needing during my ride in here.

Here’s my outfit of the ride. Team Dream Kit that I always wear and the 7 Mesh jacket I borrowed from Daichi.

I also wore a Patagonia puffer jacket over this, but I do not recommend wearing a puffer on a long ride. Made me want to buy a kit for winter. That being said, the night time was extremely cold to ride, so I guess it all worked out.

Giro Privateer shoes.

I wanted to be slightly comfier in the bullet train I would be taking on the way back to Tokyo, so I switched to SPD shoes from SPD-SL shoes. I was worried since SPDs have smaller cleats than SLs, but it was fine. We weren’t riding that fast anyways.

I wasn’t slipping everywhere when I was off the bike, so I think I made the right decision.

Oh, I can’t forget about Team Dream Socks.

I love their kit designs. Can’t wait to see their new stuff!

Kits are weird at first. I was one of those people who thought it’s wack to wear kits, but you’ll be hooked once you try it. I recommend starting off with wearing bibs under your normal clothes first.

-Travel Journal-

7:00AM ＠Futakotamagawa Station

I met up with Kenta and his friend who works for Rapha at Futakotamagawa Station. Kenta’s buddy from Rapha brought us some snacks for our journey. I wish I can do something smooth like that.

11:52AM @Gotemba City

We decided to take the route where we ride through Gotemba to Shizuoka, instead of climbing the Hakone mountain pass.

You could always spot these interesting local supermarkets. I spotted this cool one called “Food Culture Paradise Aoki Quality & Tasty Foods”. I really like their design of the sign.

 

12:17PM @Susono City

After riding for a couple more hours, I was greeted by a beautiful scenery in Susono. The straight road of Route 469 was surrounded by Japanese silver grass was amazing. It felt so good to ride through.

1:19PM @Mt. Fuji Children’s World

Japanese locals had grown up listening to the theme song of this amusement park in TV commercials. Never thought I’d be passing by this place by bike.

 

3:31PM @Shimizu Station

We hopped on the train from this station on our way back from our last trip. We decided to pass through here again.

5:05PM @Fujieda City

Quick stop at the pharmacy to grab some snacks. Saw a lovely sunset when I turned around.

5:17AM @Narumi-cho, Nagoya City

12 hours after the last picture. Cafes in Nagoya are famous for opening super early, but I was surprised to see how early they open up. 5 a.m. in the morning is pretty insane

6:22AM @Nishikuracho, Nagoya City

The sunrise made me a bit emotional, after riding 12 hours without the sun. We had been riding for 24 hours at this point. We were starting to get tired.

12:10PM @Kameyama City, Shiga

Kameyama in Mie prefecture. Google map led us to this ghost town.

12:38PM @Kameyama City, Shiga

We stumbled across a village, a mountain pass and a place what seemed like it was an industrial area back then. It was completely empty. Riding a bike can make you encounter some interesting structures and strange places. You can get a completely different experience from traveling with a car.

6:40PM @Shin-Osaka Station

We finally made it to Shin-Osaka Station, 36 hours after I left my house. The last 200km was brutal.

My phone died right as we arrived, so I posted a random picture of Shin-Osaka Station I found on Google images. I’m glad we both made it to Osaka safely.

We were on the saddle more than we were walking. There were a few times I wanted to give up, but I was able to it because of my friends giving us encouragements through the DM.

Thank you Kenta, friends who texted me and Mash All-Road for a the excellent performance!

I would love to do more rides like this in 2025.