Okinawa Day 5: The Wet Dry Run

So, being the professional desk jockey that I am, I am what one might call "not in shape." Certainly not in bicycle touring shape.  Be that as it may, I've never let being out of shape stop me from a good time.  But climbing that Shuri hill (by accident) on Wednesday put the fear of sloth into me.  I started to think that maybe doing 250 miles in 5 days was a bad idea.

But, I got a little faith in my legs back on Thursday by tooling around Naha and Shuri, so today (Friday), I thought I would put my legs to the test and do a 40 miler with more panniers on the bike.  Not a full load, but about 2/3 full.  So, I started in Nishihara to Yonabaru to Haebaru to Itoman to Gushikami to Tamagusuku to Chinen, to Sashiki to Yonabaru and back to Nishihara. It took me exactly 5 hours to complete, and I partook of 3 necessary kyukeis, and 2 unecessary kyukeis (one of which as lunch, the other at a righteous and shaded viewpoint of the ocean).  Lots of hills, so stop snickering about 40 miles being a test.  It was fairly tough.

Along the way, I got torched again by the sun.  I applied copious amounts of sun screen this time, but the 5 gallons of sweat coming out of every pore washed that away in no time.  I drank about 6 or 7 bottles of water or sports drink.  The soda machines are everywhere (and, for those who haven't been to Japan, "everywhere" is not an exaggeration), and they all sell a Japanese version of Gatorade known as Aquarius.  So, each of my three water bottles were refilled a time or two.  And moments later, most of that liquid intake dripped itself out of my pores onto the streets of southern Okinawa.

You think I kid.  I josh you not. The temps were mere mid-80s, but with the humidity, it had a heat index of 104 at the time I checked.  I saw many familiar sites as I went.  The apartment I lived in for several months, the new Itoman church building, the old Itoman church building, the Shimai apartment, some of the old routes to cross the island from the west side to the east side, and yes, some of those hills too.  How on earth I climbed those so often and so quickly on a mountain bike is beyond me.

I chatted with a few people along the way.  An Oba (old lady), a dude selling some wares at a tourist site I checked out, and, of course, the lady in the Katsu shop that I stopped in again at to have lunch (katsu curry).  And, got back just in time to get with the kids and wife to head down to the beach in Nishihara.  Ahhhhhh.....

My rides next week average 50 miles a day, Monday through Friday.  The way I figure, each day will only include a partial day of cycling, the rest of which will have to struggle through by swilling acquarius, swimming in tropical waters, and looking for the nearest oba store that sells Japan's righteous bread.

It'll be rough.