Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Bike through Japan

I'd like to know who would be interested in doing an all-Japan (Kyushu to Hokkaido) ride in either the spring or fall of 2009.

There are a number of riders in Japan lurking here on the forums and there may be some from overseas who'd be interested in joining as well. I think it would be great to put together just such a brevet and we could even include partial-trip riders. Depending on the route, we could make it anywhere from 800 to 1500 miles. And I'm open to hearing any interest in a "short" ride or a more protracted ride (over a period of a month, for example). I imagine that 2009 would be the start year.

Any takers or people who could give suggestions on the best way of going about this?

Japan has a Randonneuring club: http://www.brevet.jp/

Get in touch with them, and see about riding one of their events. If there isn't a brevet in your area, maybe you could talk to them about organizing one.

And just an additional note ... brevets come in lengths of 200 km, 300 km, 400 km, 600 km, 1000 km, and 1200 km. I believe Japan runs a Super Randonneur series (200 km, 300 km, 400 km, and 600 km) but I don't think they have any of the longer distances yet, however rumors float around from time to time that they are working on it.

One year, I would like to go there and ride one of their events ... but that probably won't happen for a year or two yet at least.

So ... here's a question for you ... do you speak Japanese? If so, then maybe you could check that site and see what the status on a 1200K randonnee is. Is the BMS 1300 going to be their long randonnee? Or maybe they've done it already (I see it has a 2007 date on it) ... is there anything there about another one? If so when?

i would be fascinated by a hokkaidoo tour

There is a Tour de Hokkaido in August or September. There is also a Tour de Okinawa in November!

a good contact is this japanese randonneur who recently became a rusa member

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fleftbank.cocolog-nifty.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F01%2Fsfr200km_9f61.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Japan has a Randonneuring club: http://www.brevet.jp/

Get in touch with them, and see about riding one of their events. If there isn't a brevet in your area, maybe you could talk to them about organizing one.

And just an additional note ... brevets come in lengths of 200 km, 300 km, 400 km, 600 km, 1000 km, and 1200 km. I believe Japan runs a Super Randonneur series (200 km, 300 km, 400 km, and 600 km) but I don't think they have any of the longer distances yet, however rumors float around from time to time that they are working on it.

One year, I would like to go there and ride one of their events ... but that probably won't happen for a year or two yet at least.

So ... here's a question for you ... do you speak Japanese? If so, then maybe you could check that site and see what the status on a 1200K randonnee is. Is the BMS 1300 going to be their long randonnee? Or maybe they've done it already (I see it has a 2007 date on it) ... is there anything there about another one? If so when?

Thank you for the link. I should have done my own search but sometimes it's easier to let others handle the dirty work for you. ;)


Yes, I do speak, read, and write Japanese so let me help you out here. They have a ton of pages down, but from what is up I've gathered that their Biwako Super Race is the longest of the year, coming in at 1300km. It started at Lake Biwa in Ootsu then middled-out in Matsue and ended up in Shimonoseki all within the 100-hour limit.

The group apparently has rides in Osaka, Nara and Kyoto as well but they are seasonal and incorporate some sort of local culture into the trip.

No information is up as of yet for the 2008 year not even in the forums though some members and would-be members are exchanging introductions. But this is not at all unusual as many club sites are webmastered by members who like to "recuperate" for a number of months before updating their site.