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This is Japan’s best cycling course, but is it fun for bicycling beginners too?

Casey Baseel a few minute ago
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We head to the Seto Inland Sea for a Shimanami Kaido sampler.

Japan has a lot of great places for bicycling, but the Shimanami Kaido Cycling Road is widely considered to be the best. Stretching across the Seto Inland Sea, the 70-kilometer (43.5-mile) route ties together seven different islands as it runs from the town of Imabari in Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku all the way to Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture on Japan’s main island of Honshu.

But while the idea of a 70-kilomter, possibly multi-day ride sounds fun for dedicated cyclists, is it possible for beginner-level bicyclists to enjoy the Shimanami Kaido too, even if they can’t devote a whole day to it? That was the question our Japanese-language reporter Saya Togashi found herself asking. Saya lives in a fairly rural part of Japan, and the lack of public transportation means that she spends pretty much every day getting around by car. Sure, she knows how to ride a bike, but it’s not something she does very often, and certainly not to the extent that she’s built up a fitness cyclist’s musculature and stamina.

And yet, Saya could still feel the Shimanami Kaido calling to her, and her initial research suggested that while the course is loved by serious cyclists, it’s very accommodating to novices as well. For starters, there are 10 official rental cycle depots along the route, so there’s no need to bring your own bike. Depending on the type of bike and specific location, some of the depots even allow you to drop off your bike at a different spot than where you started your ride, in case you want to go part-way across the islands on bike, then do the rest by car, bus, or boat.

Saya decided to get her bike at the Imabari Itoyama Rental Cycle depot in Imabari, essentially the southernmost tip of the Shimanami Kaido. It’s possible (and, honestly, advisable) to reserve a bike ahead of time, but Saya hadn’t made any such arrangements. Nevertheless, when she showed up at around 10 a.m. on a weekday, they still had plenty of bikes available, even some electric-assist ones like the one Saya picked out, which cost 4,000 yen (US$25) for one day.

▼ Imabari Itoyama Rental Cycle also provides helmets free of charge.

Instead of the full-course Shimanami Kaido, Saya’s plan was to experience the first section, sort of an appetizer-size version. Since Imabari Itoyama Rental Cycle has a free parking lot, she could leave her car there while she was pedaling and take her time without worrying about racking up expensive parking fees.

After Saya selected her bike, the staff adjusted the seat height for her and pointed her towards the nearby bridge that makes up the start of the course. They also explained that you can tell when you’re following the Shimanami Kaido by the blue lines marked on the pavement, so there’s no fear of getting lost.

This first bridge, called the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge, is less than 10 minutes from the rental cycle depot, and it’s a very big piece of infrastructure, about 50 meters (164 feet) up above the shoreline. The bike path, though, spirals around on the way up to keep the incline from getting all that steep, and especially if you’re using an electric-assist bike, it’s not so strenuous, even for a beginner like Saya.

The high guard rails were also reassuring, keeping Saya and her bike separated from car traffic on one side and safe from the drop-off down to the sea on the other. The peace of mind they provided left Saya with the necessary mental space to appreciate just how beautiful the view is from up here.

The weather was a little cloudy on this day, but that added to the atmosphere, and also meant the sun wasn’t beating down on her with full force. There are so many islands in this part of Japan that sometimes they look like they’re layered on top of one another. On the closer ones Saya could make out individual houses and other buildings, while the ones farther in the distance, wrapped in a light mist, looked like they could be part of an ink seascape painting.

Though she’d worked up a bit of a sweat, Saya was making steady progress, and had a smile on her face with no stress in her heart. She felt like she’d sprouted wings as she smoothly zoomed ahead to the far side of the bridge…

…though she stopped for a bit at a cyclist rest area, not because she was worn out, but to snap a few more photos and bask in the cool sea breeze for a bit.

Once you come down on the other side of the bridge, you’re still in Imabari City, but now on the island of Oshima, in a picturesque coastal community.

Following the blue line in the road brought Saya to Yoshiumi Ikiiki Hall, the island’s michi no eki/”roadside station,” a center for local foods and handicrafts. Bringing her bike to stop and heading into the food court, Saya spotted several other cyclists who were biking the Shimanami Kaido in whole or in part, and she decided to fuel up with a fish sandwich, a sausage one…

…and, of course, some soft serve ice cream.

This was as far as Saya was planning to ride today, but rather than rushing straight back to Imabari Itoyama Rental Cycle, she stopped by the Oshima port along the way, which offers short sightseeing cruises on the Seto Inland Sea.

In total, Saya covered around six kilometers on her round-trip ride from the rental cycle depot over to Oshima and back, and spent around an hour and a half pedaling. This is, she admits, only a very small portion of the Shimanami Kaido, but she still feels like it was enough to understand what makes the course so fun. In addition to experienced bicycling buffs doing the whole thing, she also saw people like herself who were clearly just doing a part of it. She saw people of different ages and backgrounds, and even from different countries, all enjoying this unique activity, creating a heartwarming sense of comradery, and at one point when she got off her bike to readjust the seat, a passing cyclist stopped to make sure she wasn’t in any sort of mechanical distress.

So yes, Saya is happy to report that you don’t have to go hard-core to enjoy going along part of the Shimanami Kaido. Maybe she’ll eventually cycle the whole thing, broken up into different segments on different trips, but if and when she, or you, are ready to go all the way from one end to the other, we’ve got a report on what that’s like too.

Related: Shimanami Kaido official website
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