The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Shikoku Pilgrimage

October 17th to October 31st

Ride Coordinator: Albert Balingit
Report by: Roger Hoyer

Report by Roger Hoyer and Tony Moy

Twenty BAC’ers enjoyed the Shikoku Pilgrimage coordinated by Albert Balingit and his wife Jackie Duerr, who employed the services of Cycling Japan. Most participants used rental bikes—hybrid, road, and even e-bikes—furnished by them. Cycling Japan also provided GPS units preloaded with the routes in addition to map/cue sheets and marking turns on the roads with chalk arrows.

Unlike many BAC tours, we were treated to snacks, coffee and tea once or twice a day and given a location for lunch. Cycling Japan provided SAG service for the trip allowing some of our group to ride in the van as much as they wished. Cycling Japan had two vans and one person on a bicycle to ride ahead of the group to draw the arrows. One of the vans stayed in the back to make sure people were not lost and pick up those who wanted to ride in the van.

Our tour was really magical with the many temples and shrines to visit. Shikoku is known for pilgrims who walk to each of the 88 Buddhist temples frequently taking 60 days for the trip. Although our cycling trip only provided a chance to visit a limited number of the temples, we were enchanted by those that we did.

Our ride was often along the coast with the opportunity to watch the beautiful surf but we frequently climbed into the hills and traversed beautiful, isolated roads. The trip was rated 2B and we found using our GPS that it was accurately stated, as we had an average of 48 miles per day with an average of 1,900 feet of climbing. The Japanese are masters in building tunnels and we rode through many.

The October weather was pleasantly comfortable with the exception of two days of solid rain. The other days were clear with temps up to the low 70’s. Our group started with 20 riders but we lost three riders because of two serious injuries; one had a fractured hip and the other a fractured wrist. This reminded all of us that cycling can be a dangerous activity.

Not only did we cycle on Shikoku, we crossed onto six other islands before reaching our final destination of Onomichi. We were treated to beautiful bridges crossings and some ferries between these islands. Each of the long suspension bridges had wide cycling paths making the ride between islands quite easy.

Lodging was mostly Japanese style: tatami mat rooms with futons. Our food was simply amazing with a feast at each dinner, and of course it always included lots of fish and rice.  Traditional BAC happy hours were provided most nights with unlimited beer and sake along with an assortment of Japanese snacks.

We found the Japanese people to be extremely friendly and helpful.  But what made this trip so wonderful was how well our three guides—Ken, Saori & Dai—worked together to make this a successful trip.  It was really a team effort on their part and we all were very appreciative of their support and guidance.

If you are interested in more detailed information on this trip, see the blog by Bruce, Axel and Sylvie at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/shikoku2016