SWIFT CAMPOUT 2023 "Young Power!" Boso Peninsula Team Report

Hey guys, it’s Clint from Blue Lug Yoyogipark.

This is my Swift Campout 2023 report.
Last year, we had got into two teams and went on their separate trips. This year, we made seven different teams and made them go where ever they want and do what ever they want, as long as it incorporated bicycles and camping.

Our team was the “Super Young Team”. (self-proclaimed)

First, Imma show you the members of the team.

Now, you may be thinking “Are these guys okay…?”, I know. I am questioning the same thing as I am typing this blog, but don’t you worry. We’re young, we’ll be just fine.

The guy on the left is Takuma, who is one of the newer staffs. He is 23 years old, the youngest in the team. Looks kinda mean, but he’s actually really nice and mature. Takuma is the key person to this trip, but I’ll get into that later.

The guy you see on the right is Kaisei, who came to Tokyo from Kagoshima by bike. 25 years old, has a loud voice, makes people laugh and always makes weird faces when a camera is pointed.

And myself Clint.

The picture you just saw was taken at the hardware store when we shopped for some firewood. Let’s rewind the time to the morning

– 6:00 a.m.

We met up at the Hatagaya store. The weather is great and feeling good.

Takuma the young gun drove his own car. (respect for having his own car at a young age.)

Takuma is going to take us to Boso Peninsula from Hatagaya. Thanks for the ride Takuma.

I find it interesting how people load their bikes on to their cars in all kinds of ways.

Takuma went with the rear rack method, but I don’t know anything about cars, so I’ll have him show his methods in his own blog post someday.

We were unable to load the bikes to the rear rack of the car with all these racks and bags, so we had to take them off.

Alrighty! We successfully loaded our bikes to the car, so it’s time to hit the road. From Hatagaya to the first destination, Tateyama Station is about a one and half hour drive. It takes forever to get there by train, so driving is highly recommended.

We passed Umihotaru and headed south. Stopped by the FamilyMart above the ocean for some breakfast.

After the convenient store breakfast, we arrived at the hardware store near Tateyama station to get some pegs and firewood. That’s right, we are back to the start of this blog.

Are those new shades Kaisei?

👨‍🦲 : ” just bought it for 900 yennn”

He got rid of those Hollywood celebrity shades and got a pair of speed shades. Not sure if it made any difference, but he looked pretty stoked so that was pretty cool. We haven’t even touched are bike yet…crap.

– 10:30 a.m.

We finally got to Tateyama station, our first stop. We found a spot that we wouldn’t get in people’s way and assembled our bikes.

– 11:00 a.m. The bike ride finally begins.

This place is amazing.

After seeing some epic scenery and taking a popsicle break, we headed down to the camp ground.

We found a lighthouse on the way, so decided to check it out.

The view is great and we were able to take some goofy pictures of Kaisei. Boso Peninsula is awesome.

We decided to stop at a seafood restaurant for lunch before the camp. We ate a lot and regained energy for the adventure ahead. Takuma ordered the most expensive dish on the menu. A huge lobster and turban shells? Jeez man!

Ah, yes. pouring broth to the last part of the meal. You’re almost enjoying yourself too much Takuma.

Okay! Let’s get a move on.

– 2:00 p.m.

Tateyama Desert, the second destination before the camp.

Apparently, this desert was made naturally by the sand of the near by beach being blown in the wind.

It’s funny how the kind of view you can’t get in Tokyo is just a few kilometers away from Tokyo. This kind of view makes me want to spend a few weeks in the nature…

Now that we’re in a good location, let’s do a bike check!

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Let’s start it off with the new guy, Takuma with his Surly Cross x Check.

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I love that his Cross Check is filled with character. Great vibes. It’s apparently his very first geared bike.

His packing style was the poteur rack + saddle bag style.

He’s got his tent and his sleeping bag strapped to the front rack. You can also see the bbq grill peaking out from the bottom of the front rack. The saddle bag of his choice is the Zeitgeist with the big ol’ safety triangle.

I really love his build. Great job Takuma!

–Equipments–

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Next up, Kaisei. He’s also one of the staffs that loves to ride Surly.

He went with the front pannier + saddle bag combo. The saddle bag he chose is the Catalyst bag, a similar bag to the Zeitgeist, but a bit smaller. He always packs a small amount of gear, so the bag suites his style.

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It looks like he uses the bag for his Affinity Metropolitan, which is his commuter.

He takes out his flashy orange panniers when going on a trip. There are a lot of pannier compatible racks and he chose the Nice Racks from Surly Bikes. I like the way he uses the top rack nicely.

–Equipments–

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V.O polyvalent。And that is me, Clint. I built a fresh bike for the trip. The Polyvalent from none other than Velo Orange.

I went with the same set up as Kaisei. The front pannier and saddle bag set up. The roll-top pannier makes it possible to pack more stuff and the Zeitgeist can also pack a lot of things.

I bought the Carradice Bagman, so that the saddle bag doesn’t become all droopy. I chose the Pass And Stow front rack, which made it possible to carry loads of beers contained on the pannier and the firewood piled up on the front basket.

Despite the extremely heavy load, I still felt safe to ride.

–Equipment–

Back to our regularly scheduled program…

This is the camp ground we will be staying. The Asobo Camp Ground.

We arrived around 5:00 p.m.

We set up our tents and started cooking dinner.

Now it’s starting to look like a campout!

It might look like everything went well in the picture, but it actually took about an hour to start the fire. By the time we started cooking, it was pitch black.

After the struggle, we ended up with a big plate of yakisoba and yakitori! Cheers!

Look at this guy, he’s a yakitori master!

“A yakitori professional doesn’t smile.” says Kaisei with a strong eye contact.

…Okay, cool.

We burnt a few yakitoris and the easy yakisoba tasted amazing this night.

After dinner, we surrounded the camp fire and chatted.

We talked A LOT about bikes. I could tell the two had a lot of passion for bikes, which was really nice. This is what camping is about. Great times.

We stayed up until the fire went out. I think it was around 1:00 a.m.

Just like that, it was the next day. Time flies when we’re having fun.

We made ham & cheese muffins for breakfast and left the camp ground around 10:00.

Our plan for day two is to go back to Tateyama station. We could have simply went back the way we came, but Takuma found another way around, so we decided to take that route

Boso Peninsula was filled with forrest trails and steep hills. It was pretty fun, but gnarly to ride.