This happened at the end of last month, but
I did a brevet ride around the Noto Peninsula.
↑From my Polar log.
The distance was just over 400km.
The ① and ② markers on the route
are accidental lap button presses.
I wish cycle computers and heart rate monitors
that record GPS logs had features like:
being able to delete mistaken laps after the fact, or
conversely, being able to specify two points on a route—say,
the start and finish of a mountain pass—and display
that segment's lap data.
The latter is technically possible in some cases,
where you can click two points on the route
and see time, distance, and average/max data for that section,
but you can't permanently save it
as "lap number X" or anything like that.
The Noto Peninsula is still in recovery from the 2024 earthquake,
and there are some large cracks in the road,
but a lap around the whole peninsula is doable.
I'm grateful to the brevet organizer who confirmed this
and set up the route accordingly.
This time, I didn't push myself too hard—
I went in a sightseeing mood
and made various detours along the way.
For lunch, around the 130km mark,
I stopped at a restaurant called
Koushuu Agri Zenza (鵠州あぐり膳座).
The original Zenza shop in front of Nanao Station in Nanao City was damaged,
so this became a temporary location
in the Kouno district of Wajima City,
though I hear the original storefront has since reopened.
The bike in the photo belongs to
my riding buddy who always does brevets with me.
We didn't stumble upon this place by chance—
my friend had researched it beforehand.
↑Noto Fugu Don
It's like a parent-and-child rice bowl,
except the chicken is swapped for fried fugu.
↑Sashimi Set (the sashimi plate)
The sashimi on the left is Japanese amberjack.
I'd thought it was yellowtail,
but I asked the staff.
↑Kawahagi Don with Ara Soup
The small dish in the middle is liver soy sauce,
which you place on the kawahagi (filefish) meat to eat—
absolutely exquisite.
Between the filefish and rice
is a layer of egg white meringue
(meringue being whipped egg whites, so that's redundant),
which the staff explained represents Noto's snow.
They also told me what the decoratively cut carrot represents.
The three of us shared all these dishes.
Total: 3,500 yen. Insanely cheap.
Though the timeline jumps around,
at around the 40km mark,
I rode part of Chiriham Nagisa Drive Way,
Japan's only sandy beach drivable by cars and motorcycles.
You can see an "SSTR" banner in the photo—
that's a motorcycle rally event that had
Chiriham as its finish line that day,
which is why we saw a lot of motorcycles
all over the Noto Peninsula that day.
My friend riding on the sand.
Just so you know, I got permission to post this.
The sand had a fine grain and was well-packed—
tires barely sank in, making it a great surface to ride on.
Around the 76km mark, in Shika Town:
what was once the world's longest bench (past tense).
This was an off-route detour unrelated to the brevet tasks,
so we had to park the bikes and climb a long staircase.
Around the 217km mark: the Squid King,
an enormous giant squid.
Of its 27-million-yen construction cost,
25 million came from the government's COVID-19 stimulus funds,
which drew some criticism.
However, estimates suggest the economic benefit exceeded the cost.
The brevet organizer had told us to "play around,"
so we stopped by (it wasn't mandatory).
I did see some other brevet participants
who completely ignored the Squid King
and powered through instead, visible from the rest area.
It's huge.
Had some fun with it.
The day of the ride was cool, either because of the season or the weather,
and we didn't get rained on,
so it turned into a really enjoyable ride.
I did a brevet ride around the Noto Peninsula.
↑From my Polar log.
The distance was just over 400km.
The ① and ② markers on the route
are accidental lap button presses.
I wish cycle computers and heart rate monitors
that record GPS logs had features like:
being able to delete mistaken laps after the fact, or
conversely, being able to specify two points on a route—say,
the start and finish of a mountain pass—and display
that segment's lap data.
The latter is technically possible in some cases,
where you can click two points on the route
and see time, distance, and average/max data for that section,
but you can't permanently save it
as "lap number X" or anything like that.
The Noto Peninsula is still in recovery from the 2024 earthquake,
and there are some large cracks in the road,
but a lap around the whole peninsula is doable.
I'm grateful to the brevet organizer who confirmed this
and set up the route accordingly.
This time, I didn't push myself too hard—
I went in a sightseeing mood
and made various detours along the way.
For lunch, around the 130km mark,
I stopped at a restaurant called
Koushuu Agri Zenza (鵠州あぐり膳座).
The original Zenza shop in front of Nanao Station in Nanao City was damaged,
so this became a temporary location
in the Kouno district of Wajima City,
though I hear the original storefront has since reopened.
The bike in the photo belongs to
my riding buddy who always does brevets with me.
We didn't stumble upon this place by chance—
my friend had researched it beforehand.
↑Noto Fugu Don
It's like a parent-and-child rice bowl,
except the chicken is swapped for fried fugu.
↑Sashimi Set (the sashimi plate)
The sashimi on the left is Japanese amberjack.
I'd thought it was yellowtail,
but I asked the staff.
↑Kawahagi Don with Ara Soup
The small dish in the middle is liver soy sauce,
which you place on the kawahagi (filefish) meat to eat—
absolutely exquisite.
Between the filefish and rice
is a layer of egg white meringue
(meringue being whipped egg whites, so that's redundant),
which the staff explained represents Noto's snow.
They also told me what the decoratively cut carrot represents.
The three of us shared all these dishes.
Total: 3,500 yen. Insanely cheap.
Though the timeline jumps around,
at around the 40km mark,
I rode part of Chiriham Nagisa Drive Way,
Japan's only sandy beach drivable by cars and motorcycles.
You can see an "SSTR" banner in the photo—
that's a motorcycle rally event that had
Chiriham as its finish line that day,
which is why we saw a lot of motorcycles
all over the Noto Peninsula that day.
My friend riding on the sand.
Just so you know, I got permission to post this.
The sand had a fine grain and was well-packed—
tires barely sank in, making it a great surface to ride on.
Around the 76km mark, in Shika Town:
what was once the world's longest bench (past tense).
This was an off-route detour unrelated to the brevet tasks,
so we had to park the bikes and climb a long staircase.
Around the 217km mark: the Squid King,
an enormous giant squid.
Of its 27-million-yen construction cost,
25 million came from the government's COVID-19 stimulus funds,
which drew some criticism.
However, estimates suggest the economic benefit exceeded the cost.
The brevet organizer had told us to "play around,"
so we stopped by (it wasn't mandatory).
I did see some other brevet participants
who completely ignored the Squid King
and powered through instead, visible from the rest area.
It's huge.
Had some fun with it.
The day of the ride was cool, either because of the season or the weather,
and we didn't get rained on,
so it turned into a really enjoyable ride.