International Peace Bike Tour arrives in Hiroshima, Japan!

The 7/11 group: Some of the best convenient stores throughout Japan

My bike group was usually composed of myself, Ulli and Maren from Germany, Martin from Norway, Andre (our fearless leader who knew the roads) from Switzerland/Canada, Maie from Estonia, and Karin from Japan. We were coined the ‘7/11 group’ after one of our first days of cycling. Andre used to phone to determine how long we cycled for vs. break times to hide from the blazing sun. 1 hour and 32 minutes of cycling and 56 minuets of breaks; however Andre started the timer after we had already taken a 30-minute ice cream break in the 7/11.

A typical day of cycling:

Is that something grabbing my foot? Yes, it’s Ulli from Germany, gently shaking my foot and letting me know that it is 05:30 and time to get up. Uff-dah, I am not used to getting up this early. I crawl out of my tent, wash up, and get back to packing my sleeping mat and bag to pack in the van by 06:15. Other cyclists greet me for breakfast in various languages. Each day new people share the workload to prepare the meals. By 07:00, each bike group is ready to hit the road. Ideally, we would reach our lunch stop, usually a public park, around 12:00 so that we could take a long break and resume cycling around 15:00. Then the hope is that we reach our final destination by 19:30 since that is when the sunsets in this part of the world. Only twice did some of us bike in the dark because our campsites tend to be up on the top of a mountain and it got dark quickly. Then some make dinner, we all discuss the nuclear chain and its effects with one another, stay up chatting with new friends and repeat the process.

Special events throughout the tour:

Not all days were completely filled with cycling. We did have an agenda since the point of the bike tour is to share information and learn from the people of Japan. Many of the highlights have been listening to the stories of Hibakusha (survivors from Nagasaki or Hiroshima), and others highlights have included:

• Meeting the Mayor of Nagasaki
• Displayed our 50 Hibakusha Worldwide posters on the streets of Nagasaki
• Meeting several hundred high school student activists from across Japan and nearby countries in Nagasaki
• Hearing the story of a young girl and how she was evacuated from Fukushima
• Meeting with activists who have left their life for the past year to become full-time protesters to stop a nuclear power plant from being built
• Meeting with Hikari city officials
• Participated in a symposium in Fukaoka with 200 people (on a Sunday evening!)
• Met the Mayor of Hiroshima
• Was on the Hiroshima nightly news broadcast

Thank you, sponsors!

I understand RAGBRAI folk better now. Yes, padded biking shorts were great! Thank you for protecting me from saddle sores and what not. And thank you to the Broken Spoke in Iowa City for the biking gloves. I have some nice tan lines! Thank you to Nor in Mt. Vernon for the cycling shoes. In combination with the SPD pedals from 30th Century Bicycle, I conserved my energy and had more endurance than I thought I would have. Also, thank you for the hydration pack, 30th Century Bicycle! It was far easier to sip water through a straw then grabbing a water bottle.