< Outside of Metropolitan – The Real Japan >

Japan is famous for her cities and infrastructure, anime and manga. To me, Japan’s beauty lies in her beautiful scenery and wonderfully maintained road, because I am a rider.

 

Last Sunday I went to a famous seaside located in the Shimane prefecture. (prefecture is similar to the idea of a state)

The beach is nicely hidden and tucked away from the city, accessible only from the back roads. The name of the beach is Kotogahara.

 

However, the place was not flooded with tourists nor local beach-goers. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, but there were really only very few tourists.

There was no picnic, BBQ, sun-bathing or beach volley-ball at the beach. Just people sitting there enjoying the breeze or couples strolling the beach.

I couldn't even hear anyone speaking, actually. All in all, it was a peaceful and blissful time.

 

However, as much as I would like to keep the beach all to myself, I must admit that is a very selfish idea. In fact, I believe I have witnessed the problem that is haunting the whole of Japan. There are just not enough people on this land, on the big scale of things.

For one, people are so concentrated in the cities, resulting in rural areas losing their populations to the cities. Other than that, a low birth rate also be contributing to this declining of population.

 

I had to ride through a stretch of tiny road with houses lining up on both sides of the road. 

I have to say that it was a sorry sight to behold. The houses are old, most of them seemed to be have not been occupied for a long time.

Yet, you still see how this place was once vibrant with wealth and life. Along the two sides of the road, there was a Porsche, an antique Volvo and another high end vehicle sitting quietly in their own garage. Yet, I am sitting in the waiting room of this now-vacant little museum, looking out at the empty street, sipping the bottle of water and listening to the noises coming from a TV set from a faraway house.

I am no politician nor scholar, i don't know how to solve this problem. In fact, I don't even know if this is a problem. But one thing for sure, I will be back.

Patching a punctured tire for the first time

OH! PUNCTURE!

One of the incidents that all riders could not evade - a punctured tire. Well, I got one the last weekend but I was too lazy to patch it up on that day, thinking I have time to do it this weekend. But alas! I need to take Lara with me tomorrow, so I am left with no choice but to do it right now, right there under the dim street light. Definitely a bad setup for a novice like me who is doing it first time.

So this is all I got. A puncture repair kit.

First I used a Philips head to remove the long long nail.

Then, I opened up the panel to reveal the battery. This is the one step that took me the longest time, because I didnt know I need to remove 6 screws, instead of 4. Well shame on me.

Then, connect the air pump to the tire on one side and to the battery on the other side.

Run the pump for like 4 minutes, and everything is fine! The whole process took me around an hour, but the 5 minutes ride after that was heaven....

I am glad that now I have done it, I have one more skill under my belt.

Cheers!

My Second Camp Ride And What Did I Learn

It was only my second camp out, nothing to brag about really. However I feel like documenting it just so that I can find my bearing in the future when I need some reference.

This time, I went back to the same camp site with the same equipment.

I didn't even have a knife with me, or even a multitool. All I had is what you see in the photo. A table, a gas burner, a cooker and a paper cup (the paper cup itself was actually a cup of soup. I emptied it into my stomach and used it as tea cup).

In a way this is a de-evolution in terms of complexity. Last time I had sausage and I had to boil them. This time I had nothing that I need to cook. All is MRE food.

Just pour hot or even room temperature water and wait for a while and they are good to go. There wasn't even any scene that necessitates the use of detergent. Clean water goes in and comes out of the cooker into the food package, food is eaten and the package is dumped.

It could be considered as dull, yes, yet at the same time it could be considered as liberating. To me at least.

Here's what I learned this time:
1. Depending on the purpose of the camp, bringing the least stuff I could is very relaxing.
Truth be told, I envy very much the campers nearby because they have got a fire going on and the food is sizzling, juicy and smells good. I don't have that. But what I do have is a peace of mind, knowing that I can spend my time doing what I came out to do - nothing. I could just sit there and wait for the food to cook without messing around. I just ate them, discard them, then sit there and enjoy my cup of tea while looking up at the sky, appreciating God's work.

2. At some point of time I have to accept the fact that camp site is not my house, bugs are around me and I have to take the risk to live with them and try to spot them before any damage is done.
I was borne and raised in a city, never was outdoor activity my choice of pastime. Doing this camping now is actually an active training to prepare myself for the long term goal of Long Way Round.

3. Sourcing for water is my next topic.
I have been bringing at least 4 litres of water for both camping. This is not a viable option in the long run. I either have to accept the tap water at the camp site, or accept the fact that the water after boiled should be OK, or go get myself a water purifier.

4. Learn of multiple use of the same thing.
A friend advised me of this and it was very helpful. This time I used my down jacket as pillow, my shower towel as wiping towel, my soup cup as tea cup, my tent top as the clothes line to sun dry my sleeping bag. I am sure this is nothing in the eyes of a veteran, but I am glad that I learned them anyway.

5. Learn to be with myself.
This sounds a little Zen but this is the best way I could say it. I learned to make peace with myself having nothing to do.

Next time, I want to try to do more cooking. Still no bon fire or bbq, but at least cutting something up and slow cook them while sipping a drink or something. Yeah, something like that. :-)

Let me share some photos of the camp site with you.

Cheers!

CK

Report of My First Ever Camping Ride

Good day! Finally I have had my first camping! A small step towards a bigger goal, haha.

The campsite is located in a reserved forest high up in the mountain. The campsite is called Hoshinoko Mountain Forest Reserve, Hiroshima. The camp ground is well taken care of and there are hot shower booths, toilet and running water. The total expense came down to about 20 dollars, 15 for a using the campsite for a night, 3 dollars for entrance fee and 2 dollars for a shower.

I didn’t make a campfire or bring any equipment to have a BBQ. All I had was just a gas burner and a cooker.

And plus I am not really comfortable with camp fire, all by myself. ( I have had some bad experience with fire in the past)

And so this is my dinner. A lot of sausages with ramen! (don’t tell anyone I had another big bag of chips before going to bed!)

I learned something already. 

#1, if possible get the foodstuff before reaching the camp ground. I did the opposite way just like what I read on most Japanese blogs, but guess what, it took me more than an hours to go get food. I guess this needs to be done flexibly. 

#2, i need a decent cushion to put below my sleeping bag, if not an air mattress. I did put down a yoga mat underneath the sleeping bag but oh boy, it hurts. Now my whole body aches. 

#3, A cooker is good. Two cookers would be better, and if I have a small and another BIG cooker that would be awesome! I need to have more cookers.

#4, Sourcing for water is a bit troublesome. Yes I can buy them but it would make no sense to carry around so much weight. Do you think it is better to use a water purifier? Or is it enough just to boil the tap water for consumption?

#5, Learn about the weather for god sake…. It was cold and all i had was a leather jacket with no insulation. I was stupid, yeah.

#6, If camping solo (like what I did this time), it is definitely a good idea to bring a mind fully occupied with something, or bring a lot of reading materials. The sun went down at about 7pm and I had the whole night to myself. No TV no Internet, just plain old reading.

#7, Bring an eye mask! The street light was right above my tent and I couldn’t really sleep due to that. I should have an eye mask next time.

#8, Bring some thrash bags….

All in all it was a great experience! I can’t wait to do it again actually! maybe next week? or the week after next? I really want to go back to the same camp site. I could go to the other camp site but I guess to familiarise myself with camping, I can use the same place again.

You have any advice for a newbie like me? :-)

Cheers!

CK

First Time Going On A Camping Ride!!

To camp during a ride has always been one of the things on my bucket list.

I admit there is some romantic value in it that blinds me from seeing the real side of camping, which I imagine it could be hard, harsh, dirty and uncomfortable. However, still, i would like to go camping, on my motorcycle, for one practical reason --- I am going on the Long Way Round ride! I will end up camping somewhere so might as well start piling up experience as early as I could.

So here I am, bought some gears that I think is essential for a newbie to learn how to get into camping.

A ground sheet that measures 190cm x 190cm.

A silver mat to put under the sleeping bag to smooth out the ground.

Well, a folding chair.

Sleeping bag meant for 12 degree celsius and above.

An aluminium folding table. I think this is a bit too low to use with the chair. 

A gas burner.

And a one touch tent!

Seriously I have no idea what I am doing or to be doing. This is my first trial and error is all I can say.

Can someone please give me some advice?? thank you!

Cheers.

Part 2: An Honest Review Of My 2015 Factory Lowered F700GS (aka Lara)

After traveling together with Lara for a total of 4000km, i believe another review of her is due. All riding except some 300km out of this 4000km is done with full panniers.

<Issues>
1. NOISE. I have discovered some whining noise coming from below the seat. Once heard I can't unheard it anymore. There are three noise patterns.
Pattern 1, when i sit dead centre on my seat, i can hear some whining sound like those from a running electric motor, coming from somewhere below and behind me. If I were to move my head so much to the front or rear, the noise will disappear. My dealer says they can't hear it as i claimed.

Pattern 2, there are again whining noise coming straight from the engine when i open throttle. I found this out by pure chance. I got soaked in the rain and was trying to dry my pants riding, so i opened my thighs to let more air coming in. When i open my thighs I hear the noise, and when I close my thighs the noise disappear. I believe I didn't realise about this in the past because my thighs were always firmly clamping the fuel tank therefore blocking the noise from reaching my ears.
Pattern 3, there is this rattling coming from around the engine head block. It's hard to describe how it sounds like, if you try to imagine rocking a few big needles in a bottle, that clanking noise is what it sounds like. I have no idea what it is.

2. LOW DOWN TORQUE. I know it isn't fair to compare to my last bike (sportster 883), and to be fair I have gotten used to Lara's low end torque and have since not stalled at the standstill. However I really believe for my future venture into the dirt road or gravel road riding, i would be better off to install a smaller front sprocket (to enlarge the torque by sacrificing top speed).
I was on a gravel surface the other day and I released the clutch just as always. However, Lara threatened to stall. In retrospect I believe it was because the tires have more ground contact on gravel compared to tarmac, hence the drop in comparative torque. I could have just registered this phenomenon in my head and tell myself to be careful next time, nevertheless, I think having a permanent solution is better than adapting to it on every changing situation. (i am a lazy rider)

3. GRIP HEATER. There are two stages of heating power on the heater grips. I turned it on to stage 1 (the weaker output) on a day with ambient temperature of 25 celsius degrees. My right palm and fingers could feel the heat quite OK, but not so with the left palm and fingers. I don't know if it is because i had to open up my palm to pull the clutch from time to time causing the air to come into my palm and cool my palm. Does anyone have the same feeling?





4. HEAD LAMP. Nope. Definitely not bright enough. Does anyone know how to make it brighter? for example is it better to change the bulb to LED type?

5. HANDLING. I have full panniers setup. I don't think the handling was anywhere near bad in this setup. However, when I remove the two side panniers on my way to Mount Fuji, I could tell the handling is definitely much lighter and the cornering was much more natural to the feeling. Does anyone feel the same way?

6. ENGINE. After the full throttle in Suzuka Circuit, I discovered that the engine definitely runs smoother now. There are some town legends saying that the BMW engines need to be revved hard to perform the way it is supposed to be, is there any wisdom or truth in this may i ask?























All and all I like Lara more and more. I hope you guys and enjoying your ride as well!

Cheers.