Hey!

It’s Tommy from BL Yoyogi Park store.

I still remember out last year’s SWIFT CAMPOUT as Izu Oshima Island as if it was yesterday, but we did something BIG yet again this year!!

This year we chose our field to be at early summer Hokkaido!

Introducing our members: Sub-chan managing out YT channel, Issue and Santa who are Kamiuma store mechanics, Kari-Kari our rookie Yoyogi Park store mechanic, and me.

We took the first flight of the day(6:40 am departure) from Haneda Airport, and planned to Rinko (Japanese style bike packing using public transport) for this flight.

Each member’s SWIFT CAMPOUT story started before the flight.

(4:45 am)

Met up with Sub-chan.

We together drove to the airport. I usually mount the bike on the roof of the car, but this time, we already prepared them in Rinko bags and stowed in the back.

To make sure we won’t make trouble by bring the car alongside the terminal for too long, we quickly dropped off our belongings, and swiftly moved the car to the airport car park.

It’s better to book a parking space in advance, it’s incredibly packed on the weekends.

It was 5000yen/3 days parking, so I’d say it was a fair price. (Price do change with different seasons, so make sure to check the airport website.)

If your trip involves a plane, we always have to be careful with time scheduling. I’d recommend our way to the airport for sure.

Seems like the other 3 rode their bikes to the airport. That also sounds fun. I heard it wasn’t an easy ride though haha!

(6:10 am)

Dropping off our bikes.

Be aware that even the earliest flight can be so busy in the weekends.

We thought we had enough time when planning, but in reality, not at all… (that, was close lol)

Kari-Kari has a clear “is everything gonna be alright?” expression on his face, and I can feel Sub-chan is feeling quite nervous.

Don’t know why, but I’m a guy who grows confidence from nowhere for no reason in such situations, and that why I can take photos like those before departure haha

Compared to my first airplane Rinko to Kagoshima which I brought a singlespeed, I’ll be honest, this one was a lot lot harder!

I remember how I wrote in my last Rinko post, that is was easy than I expected. But now that I brought a touring bike, it’s a whole different story.

It’s heavier, and you got camping gears, so you just need to prepare yourself for what you are up to.

That said, it so much fun, and it’ll be a great learning experience for your upcoming journeys so I recommend you to try once!

Will give you every advice!!

This depends on which flight company you chose, but this time out maximum weight allowance was up to 20kg, so better not to go over that!

One tip is to make sure you sort out what to bring as carry-on luggage, and what as check-in.

Passed the weight check!!✌ (was lighter than expected!!!)

We were so damn nervous up until this phase, phew.

(6:35 am)

Let’s hop on the plane!

Now Sub-chan looks relieved.

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(8:30 am)

We’ve arrived!

Got our bikes no problem.

I’ve heard there aren’t gonna so many chaos of bikes getting lost in Japan, so that’s one thing less to worry about.

Everyone’s bags are sick.

My check-in SWIFT pannier came out. Kawaiiiiii.

Now it’s time to build up each of our bike!

Rinko with a rack is a bit of a pain.

And since I chose hydraulic disc brakes, I had be patient and many different aspects, but in the end, had no trouble.

Because I took a lot of care when putting the bike into the Rinko bag, maybe I’ll make a video about it at some point…

So coooool

By the way, it was 30℃ in Hokkaido that day, but without the humidity, it was a dry, comforting warmth. 

And for this trip, we were delighted to have a tour guide with us!

Let me introduce Brad, who runs FREEWHEELING. He’s from Seattle, the same place where SWIFT INDUSTRIES were born. My huge surprise was, he’s been living in Japan for 30 years! He’s been in Japan more than myself!!

Seems like his Tokyo bike tours have been really popular for its uniqueness!

Brad, who have been really close with our Hatagaya members, moved to Furano, Hokkaido 2 years ago.

Bikes, skateboard, snowboard, ski, and camping… Brad is super active throughout the whole year!

And his beloved bike is a SURLY Long Haul Trucker, built by Kaneyan.

Sometimes I’ll ride 200km in a day!, he says, this what SURLY means, how it’s build and how he uses, super cool!

He introduced us to a very enjoyable 50k+ route, including a gravel road section.

Okay, time to head out!

Right after leaving the airport, we all got stunned by the Hokkaido landscape.

This view, look at it!

BASICALLY, IT’S A WINDOWS XP.

With the photos, I guess I can only explain it just a half of it….

Super cooooool, or hell yeahhh, those were the only words came up to mind.

It’s better showing you all photos than me explaining.

The sky is wide above us!

Looks fun! (Santa dropped his iPhone this very moment)

Well he found it miraculously…

But it’s shattered lol

Oh gosh

ahhhh…

It’s like a place in a Ghibli film…

Buying food for dinner at a supermarket on the way, and we keep going.

Brad keeps pushing us saying “a delicious hamburger is waiting for you!!”

Let’s keep going!!

Yessss! The long awaited luxurious gravel section!

There’s gonna be bears!!

He says as he starts blasting Nujabes as bear bells, he’s rad and super hilarious!

It was hard following them, but because the SUPERTRAMP being absolutely superb with a well balanced packing, I was able to ride without stopping even once!

I cannot remember how far we’ve ridden on gravel, but we knew the hamburger is waiting us just around the corner.

So we pitted in at a Hamburger shop “BETWEEN THE BREAD”, at Shirogane Biruke in Biei rest stop.

All the fatigue was blown away with this lovely treat.

It’s was damn delicious.

After a small rest, we head to “the blue pond”, a popular tourist destination just nearby.

What a beautiful blue!

It is that lake which was also used as a wall paper on a Mac book. (Didn’t know that was Japan)

There are natural Onsen nearby, and this lake looks blue because of the minerals from there. Nature is truely incredible!

It seems like the blue changes color depending on the season or the time of the day, I definitely need to visit again.

After a photo, in 10 minutes we reached to our campsite! (I thought I’d never make it!)

 

Today we camped at “National Shirogane Campsite”

It’s a campsite owned by the national government, and we can only use a short term during the year in between June and September.

With Mt. Tokachi behind us, and Biei river alongside, the campsite was surrounded by full of nature. Biei river was also blue like the pond.

Hello Foxy!! Thank you for being iconic on our SWIFT bags every day🙇‍♂️

900m on altitude I guess? The temperature’s cool and spot on!

I didn’t know we’ve climbed that much!

Yes, the climb was super tuff, but I’m glad I did it, without it, wouldn’t have met a foxy…

After a bit of rest, we started setting up camp.

Whilst people are setting up, let’s quickly go through bike checks for each members!

Sub-chan, the mastermind for this trip. There are gonna be videos coming up, so stay tuned! (We’ve been using a lot of his photos/videos on our blogs and other contents, so thank you to him!)

He brought his La Cabra by Black Mountain Cycles, which he has recently bumped up the wheel size from 27.5  to 29.

Using the large size Fabio by Ultraromance on the front, Swift Zeitgeist on the rear.

His bike was heavy with all of his filming gears, but his riding looked smooth!

Next, let’s check Issue’s.

Joined us with his Crust Dreamer as his shakedown bike. A great choice for him as a hand-built bike lover. That rustic green paint job is so attractive.

Swift Ozette randonneur classic style bag (formerly known as the peregrine), Zeitgeist on the rear. Well used bags, so awesome.

Santa.

His most recent built Crust Lightningbolt Canti. The custom paint shines so bright on my eyes.

Attaching a front rack from Pass and Stow, with a Swift Catalyst on. Zeitgeist on the back.

Was the only member on a bike with cantilever brakes, But riding with us, I guess he had no problems? Looking forward for his review on this!!

Kari-Kari came with his Crust Evasion lite.

It was his first time for camp touring and airplane Rinko, but I’m glad he had such a blast!

Like Sub-chan, mounted Ultraromance’s Fabio, but a smaller version. Custom FW framebag, and a seat bag from Outershell.

Has a sporty taste compared with the others, simple packing style well matching the Evasion lite, great set up!

And me. Wilde Supertramp, as I have been saying countless times about it, it’s a BEAST.

Will write a review about it very soon.

Swift Jr. Ranger panniers on a Pass and Stow rack, followed with a special made FW frame bag for the Supertramp, made it simple.

 

 

Love everyone’s different packing style!

All made nice bikes!

With each of their different characteristics shown as well.

(Look out for more Photos about them on Pt.2!)

We headed to an Onsen once our camps were prepared.

Onsen with all of those mountain views, so dreamy…

Night fell, and it’s time to cook.

Made Yakisoba (Japanese fried noodles) the go-to camp food as always haha

This dish won’t make that much extra garbage, which is perfect in camping!

And no one gets wrong with the flavor.

 

Kari-Kari who used be a chef was cooking pasta.

Thanks to Brad-san bringing us many different stuff on a car, we were able to have a great night.

Everyone’s knackered after our first day with full of events.

Went to bed early to prepare for the day ahead.

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It’s already such a long blog, so I’ll release Pt.2 very soon!

See you again there!