[Dream Ride to Hyonosen Gravel!] Ride of Hyonosen in the mist…

Introduction

Since I started riding on gravel roads, there have been a few roads I've wanted to ride someday.

Such as Tokushima's "Mt. Tsurugi Super Rindo" and "Kurokawa Rindo", which connects Shiga and Fukui.

One of those longed-for roads is the "Tajima Alpine Road (Toreki Hyonosen Rindo)", where we went for a ride this time.

It's thanks to these people who will be riding with me this time that I had the opportunity for this long-awaited ride.

The weather had been looking dubious for several days, and I was worried whether we could hold the event, but it finally settled into a cloudy forecast, so we decided to go ahead.

However, the one disappointment was that 24-senpai became unavailable at the last minute.

This time, the remaining three of us decided to ride, but looking back, I still wish I could have shared this experience with 24-senpai.

And so, off to Hyonosen Gravel.

Off to Hyonosen

For this trip, we left the transportation entirely up to Farao-san. We loaded our bicycles and ourselves into a rental car and headed to the location.

The sky was still looking dubious, but it wasn't raining. For the time being, it looked like we could start as planned.

Our drop-off point this time was "Michi-no-eki Muraoka Farm Garden." It was close to the entrance of the Tajima Alpine Road, and the approach to the forest road began shortly after we started riding.

And then, it was an immediate climb.

The gradient itself wasn't particularly steep. However, there were almost no sections where we could rest, and we continued to climb steadily.

After climbing for a while, the surroundings were completely covered in mist.

Even in places that seemed to offer good views, all we could see was white haze. There was no way to enjoy the scenery.

Partway through, we entered a section where paved and unpaved roads were mixed. It was finally starting to feel like a gravel ride.

We continued climbing for a while, stopping at a viewpoint along the way, but of course, everything was shrouded in white.

What exactly is a viewpoint...?

To the long-awaited "Mt. Hyōno Straight"

The road surface was relatively easy to ride on, which was appreciated. However, having already gained considerable altitude by this point, my mind was already filled with the thought, "Am I still climbing?"

After climbing continuously for just under 11km, a perfectly straight road suddenly appeared.

One of the highlights of this route was something called the "Mt. Hyōno Straight".

As the name suggests, it's a gravel section that stretches out in a straight line.

I joked, saying, "This must be the Mt. Hyōno Straight," as the road I was on was straight, but an unexpectedly long straight section continued.

Thinking, "No way?" I checked the route...

It turned out that this really was the Mt. Hyōno Straight!

However, the fog was so thick I couldn't see the end of the road. This wasn't what I was told.

Normally, this should be a place where you can enjoy a clear, straight road. But before me, as always, was a world of white.

When it gets like this, there's no point in having a famous spot.

A foggy downhill is a trial.

After that, the downhill began in conditions that were more like a drizzle than fog.

The road surface itself wasn't bad at all. The problem was the visibility.

Not only could I not see ahead due to the thick fog, but water droplets formed on my glasses, further worsening my vision.

Inevitably, I had to wipe my glasses with my finger as I descended, which was quite difficult.

I carefully descended, making full use of what you might call the "finger wiper" technique.

There were places that looked like they would have good views, but naturally, I couldn't see them properly.

When even seeing a few metres ahead is uncertain, you can only imagine the scenery you're missing.

It was quite thrilling like this. Or rather, it was just plain scary.

Where on earth am I riding?

Before I knew it, I had finished the downhill section and seemed to have passed the first major challenge.

However, the course doesn't end here.

The route continues with repeated ups and downs of a similar scale.

In other words, we still had a long way to go.

Unanimous decision to take the shortcut.

As we started the next climb, we decided to take stock of the situation.

We considered the distance to the next aid station, the current weather, and the remaining route.

And the conclusion we reached was...

"This is going to be tough..."

It was, of course, a unanimous decision.

There happened to be a shortcut route from a fork in the road a little ahead, so our way back was decided.

We had seemed tired just moments before, but for some reason, as soon as we decided we could "go back", energy surged through us. How fickle we are.

An unexpected turn of events awaited us here.

The section we ran as a shortcut was, contrary to our expectations, very atmospheric and incredibly enjoyable.

We continued running and safely returned to the depot.

Glancing at my watch, it was already lunchtime.

We loaded our bikes into the car and headed for lunch to round off the ride.

On the drive back, we chatted about how it felt like a "sort of ascetic training ride", and so on.

The long-awaited Hyonosen Gravel remained shrouded in mist until the very end.

Conclusion

If asked, "Did you enjoy the Hyonosen Gravel?", honestly, it's a bit of a mixed bag.

We could barely see the scenery we had been looking forward to, and it's hard to say we fully appreciated the charm of the signature Hyonosen Straight.

We also had to cut the planned route short, so perhaps the ride plan itself was a failure.

Nevertheless, personally, the act of "going all the way to Hyonosen to ride" was surprisingly enjoyable.

There are rides where the weather isn't kind and things don't go as planned. In fact, those experiences are the ones that tend to remain strangely memorable later on.

As we only rode the first half of this Tajima Alpen Road, it's difficult to evaluate the course as a whole.

However, based on the impression from actually riding it, I felt it was a challenging but appealing road.

Presumably, if we could have seen more of the scenery even under the cloudy skies, the impression would have been quite different.

That said, considering the access from Osaka, it's not a place you can easily say, "Well, let's go again next week!"

Perhaps another time... And by then, the memory of this ascetic training will probably have been nicely romanticised.

At that time, I would definitely like to ride the Tajima Alpen Road on a sunny day.

The track of this time

Distance: 49.52 km
Time: 3:04:47
Average Speed: 16.1 km/h
Total Elevation Gain: 1,221 m