Creating a route to ride in an area where one isn’t familiar can be a daunting task, we’ve all been there wanting to maximise the enjoying of a cycling trip but not being sure which road to plan to take.
Tools
Here are a variety of tools that one can use to help plan their trips
- Strava Head Map
- Google Maps and Road Types
- Open Cycle map and Cycling Paths and Cycling Routes
Strava Heat Map
Having access to the knowledge of which roads are the most ridden in an area can be a great starting point for understand what roads are most ridden and likely offer the best experience in the area
The Strava Heat Map shows which roads are most ridden using intensifying colours. Users, so long as they have a Strava account can zoom in and see details on the base heapmap. Premium subscribers have access to the premium maps (weekly heatmap and night ride heatmap).
Using Google Maps
Taking a look on google maps can also be a good tool. Google maps shows many of the highlights along the way as well.
Streetview is a good tool to see how much traffic actually uses a road, dropping the “streetview man” in a couple places along the road to see the number of cars on the road. Additionally, streetview can give an idea of the number of trucks that use a road.
If a road doesn’t have any streeview availabile on the section where one looks, it’s fairly likely that the road is closed or dirt (or both).
National Roads
National roads criss-cross the whole country and maintain the same number as they cross prefectural lines.
Generally speaking national roads are the most directly way between two cities and consequnetly have high traffic. In particular most of the two-digit national roads are generally worth avoiding. In fact, some of the famous old roads of Japan are now repreented by national roads.
Route 1 – Tokaido (東海道）
Route 17 – Nakasendo (中山道)
Route 20 – Koshukaido (甲州街道)
100 series national roads can be somewhat hit and miss but some can be quite nice.
Frequently, 200 series, 300 series and 400 series national roads running through the mountains can be quite nice (though there are some exceptions like Route 246)
Prefectural Roads
Prefectural roads vary quite wildly. Some are heavily trafficed industrial roads and others can be some of the most wonderful, smooth scenic roads anyway in the world.
Forest Roads
Forest roads are roads that are used for forest maintaince and can be a hilly alternative to a main road. Many of them are dirt, so if being paved is important, it’s important to confirm that they are paved beforehand.
Frequently, forest roads can be varying degrees of closed from a sign at the entrance saying that regular traffic (一般車両禁止) to having a small gate that has a clear path around it by hikers which is often used by cyclists as well.
Finally, some forest roads are closed off by a quite significant gate and should be considered closed and are also frequently, impassable.
Forest roads are not built and maintianed to the same standard as other roads. In particular, there may be debris on the road, so it is important to take care when descending.
As a general rule forest roads are used at the rider’s risk and as a general at ones own risk.
Cycling Paths and Cycling Routes
Japan doesn’t have a lot of cycling dedicated infrastucture.
It’s important to understand the difference between a cycling path and a cycling route. In recent years, Japan has added several cycling routes throught the country but that doesn’t mean that they run on dedicated cycling infrastructure. In fact, the majority of these cycling routes run primarily on public roads (some of which can be busy) with virtually no separated bike paths. The most famous of these are Biwa-ichi, the Pacific Cycling Route and the Shimanami Kaido
See Japan’s Cycling Routes for indepth about Japan’s cycling routes.
Open Cycle Map
The Open cycle map can be a good resource for finding the dedicated cycling paths that do exist. On the map the National Cycle Routes are Red, and regional routes in Purple and local cycle routes in blue.
For the most part blue and purple routes on the map tend to be separated (mostly on the bankes of rivers, with the odd old railway right of way) however, in order to be extra sure, checking streetview can be helpful to.
Seasonality
Japan tends to be extremely seaosonal. For sites of natural beauty like cherry blossoms or fally colours, the area can be deserted most of the year, and then insane traffic during the one week when the area is at it’s peak.
In the countryside, the tourist area tend to be much more traffic on the weekends, so going on a weekday can also help one avoid traffic.
Additionally, the major traffic seasons of New Years, Golden Week (end of April/early May) and Obon (mid August) can bring a lot more traffic on the roads.
Other ways to have a good ride
Time of day
If you are planning to visit one of the tourist locations in peak season (like visit a cherry blossom location) visiting early in the day can keep leave you with clear roads. Roads are generally clear until 7 or 7:30 in morning, later on Sundays with roads virtually deserted before 7AM even in areas leading to major tourist areas.
Rurual areas do have rush hours as well. In particular from about 7:30 to 8:30 can see increased traffic particularly on main roads in areas leading to areas with factories.