Entries this day: AM_McD's_pre_Hakone_climb Made_it! crash_in_Hakone

AM McD's pre Hakone climb

7am 29 May 2006

At McDonald's in Fuji-shi Mapple 3p 10,D:3 at 396 crossing a tiny curvy train line. The woman spoke English carefully and brought water to my table while I was washing my hands. So awesome.

40km to Odawara, but Hakone in between has got me mentally stuck. I don't want to climb that shit again, but we're gonna go for it right.... now.

Made it!

14:30pm 29 May 2006

On Highway 1 in Hakone at an old Family Mart next to Hakone Eco-Parking. I *might* be at the top of this hill.

crash in Hakone

~8pm 29 May 2006

I had been okay with the idea of my journy being terminated by the theft of TJ Bike. I rationalized I had ridden over 1000km and it cost less than $1000 so that was less than 100 yen per kilometer. Fair enough.

But.

Now I'm being okay with termination of my journey due to crash and clavicle displace-fracture.

Damn.

The 14:30 entry was, in fact, basically the top of the hill, and I had a decent slash awesome zooom down Highway 1 to Hakone lake. Then a bit of a climb to 732, which, on the map, *appeared* to be a vaguely straight shot to Odawara, but, actually, has curves SO TIGHT that they don't show up on the map whatsoever.

My angels had warned me twice:

1. The guy who confirmed that was the road I was looking for said basically "use your brakes a lot"

2. Once I got started on the road, speedy zoom, then suddenly dismounted as I couldn't turn tightly enough and hit the embankment. Dirt, dismount, whoops.

I shook it off, got a photo, hopped back on.

Short zoom, then couldn't turn tightly enough to stay in my lane and *almost* avoided hitting a jeep directly on its door, but just sideswiped the very back of it. Bump, tip, boom slide for many feet. Like 20 feet. Thankfully the pavement was basically smooth. Then hefted TJ Bike up and to the side of the road (with my new broken clavicle (and TJ Bike wasn't any lighter than before)) and sat down. Put my right hand on my sore left shoulder and noticed a bump that hadn't been there before.

Oh shit.

I knew it was either broken or dislocated, and I remembered Phil telling me how he had dislocated his arm in Japan, but it took the doctors forever to fix it and how it hurt like hell.

I was in the edges of passing out, but held on long enough to be thankful the driver had stopped. I told him in the most directly understandable way I could, "please use your phone; I broke my bone." (*) I didn't know the word for shoulder. "kata"

(*) In Japanese, it didn't rhyme.

Anyway, he called and an ambulance came, wiggled me around to see what hurt, locked TJ Bike (at my request/direction) to the roadside guardrail, whisked me to an outpatient clinic where I met Yuka, a patient, who happened to be there for some pain in her neck, who happens to speak perfect English, who happens to live in Tokyo, and who happened to have a car available (with mom and brother) and offered to take me back to Tokyo!!!

"That would be a blessing."

Took the car to TJ Bike; the police unlocked TJ Bike and took it to Odawara police station until I / a friend can get it (because they couldn't reach Nachiko); went with Yuka et. al. the rest of the way down the hill to Odawara.

I could see the road and see on the car navi that the road was SO curvy that the curves didn't even show up on the map. Just switchback-switchback-switchback-switchback like the last bit of cake batter pouring from the bowl. Oh my god ... so steep. so curvy. There's basically *no* *way* I could have made it all the way down without an incident. 100% anti-recommendation from Rob to you: don't ride a bicycle down 732 from Hakone lake to Hatajuku.

In Odawara, we dropped off the rental car; they bought me a personal sized pizza while I contacted Carla (left a message "Hey Carla! I am one half okay; only *one* broken shoulder.. So, um, I'll talk to you later!") then Jesse to see if he could meet me in Shinjuku station, which he couldn't but Michael could.

I am so so thankful for such wonderful bilingual angels taking care of me after my silly accident.