It’s been a week since the Swift Campout and I’m already missing my friends.

Huge thanks to the Humhumhug family for planning out the epic adventure for 2024.

And special thanks to Masa the photographer and the Kyoto locals who showed up to join our adventure.

You guys are the reason why I was able to enjoy this trip in the heavy rain.

“SWIFT CAMPOUT”

Swift Campout is a global call to go bike-camping over solstice weekend.

This was the 10th year anniversary of the event.

Looks like most of the areas in Japan had to ride in the rain, but was surprised by how many people actually went out to campout on this day.

Check→swiftcampout2024←

We decided to go out to Kyoto for this year’s event, so we asked Humhumhug, a very cool bike shop in Kyoto to join us.

The two days I spent in Kyoto was too fun and I don’t have the confidence to write about everything that happened, but I figured I’d write about some of stuff that happened while my memory is still fresh.

I do want to say that Masa’s photo’s will be popping up on our socials soon, so stay tuned for that as well.

June 21st, noon. Rainy day.

I packed everything right at the last minute, wore my rain poncho and started pedaling towards the train to catch the 3 o’clock bullet train.

You can’t see because of the poncho, but I also have the Shtak Messenger bag on my back.

I’ve avoided riding in the rain since it can be a bit stressful, especially now that I’m older.

But I said eff it and headed towards Tokyo station, I went passed Yotsuya and made a right on Hanzomon.

I rode along the moat and realized that I was at the Sakuradamon Gate, which gave me a sense of nostalgia.

This view I saw after going through Sakuradamon gate is a view that any person who was messengering in the early 2000s is familiar with. I remembered riding in the rain with my messenger bag on my back like this back in the day.

I never thought the scenery in Tokyo was pretty, but that was not the case this time.

I was already getting super emotional before the adventure had started.

I had some spare time to kill before the bullet train, so I took a picture of my bike with the nostalgic background.

Listen up Kaneyan 13 years ago, you wouldn’t believe it but you will be riding the same place with a messenger bag, for a completely different job and a completely different purpose.

I let Llama the new staff who’s always working hard, sleep in my chest.

After two hours of train ride, I’m finally here at Humhumgug!

I want everybody reading this to go visit them.

50% of the stuff in the shop is the owner’s personal collections.

There were a lot of toys and mangas. I couldn’t stop looking for more fun random stuff in the shop.

The Swift neon sign was sick and all the bars thats hanging on the sealing was awesome.

I really like the door full of stickers and enjoyed looking at all the old parts that has accumulated over the years.

The nice Scapebot on the wall was super cool to see. I can’t wait for the build to be completed.

We headed to a coffee shop called Imaya for a quick coffee break.

The sweet cappuchino relieved the rinko fatigue.

We messed around a little bit and went to Gyoza No Osho (a Chinese restaurant) for dinner and charged up for the next day.

Then went to a local sento (hot spring) to wash off the sweat and went to bed.

The next day

June 22nd 7:30 a.m

We met up with our team mates at Humhumhug.

The two ladys both rode an All-City. Loved all the details of their bikes.

Goda’s Super Professional had the Catalyst + saddle bag combo.

IMK’s Gorilla Monsoon had the double Fab’s Chest set up, which was super rad. Remember when Ron’s bags were made by Swift back in the day?

This Lightning Bolt belongs to the owner of Humhumhug. Great vibes. Check out his worn out Zeitgeist pack.

Here’s Jaja’s rig. Two bolts!

Jr ranger pannier + Paloma + Ollie Pack set up.

Here’s Taka’s rig. Taka is 19 years old, the youngest rider in the group. He had a single speed Black Mountain Cycles Mod. Zero with a navy Fab’s chest.

I wanted to show our younger staffs how he killed it on the climb with no gears. Y’all gotta step your games up!

Oosigi-kun, the mechanic staff stayed at the shop to service the local’s bikes. He wore his helmet and performed a little dance for us before we left the shop.

We chit chatted for while then started the trip.

It felt so nice riding around Kyoto. Riding places you never been is always fun, but I loved how the scenery was so “Japanese” throughout the ride.

In to the mountains we go.

Kyoto locals have tough legs. Everybody was super chill riding with all the gear. I was pouring sweat and trying so hard to keep up.

You can reach nature within just a few kilometers from city in Kyoto.

Watching the Kyoto local’s way of enjoying cycling was quite nice.

Almost there…

Now for the descente.

I forgot to write about our destination. Our destination was the Biwa Lake in the Shiga Prefecture.

After the descente, we started to see a lot of rice fields and tall mountain, but no sign of the lake.

Could that be…?

And here we are.

I’ll write about the rest of the trip next week. These trip reports tend to get long…

I’ll start the next blog from this bomb pizza spot we went to.

And about the tents everyone brought to the trip. Did Llama have a good sleep with his set up?

To be continued…