The next day I woke up at 6. Got breakfast in the room at 7 and was ready to go by 7:30. When I checked out one woman who worked at the hotel wanted to escort me outside with my bike. She was really interested in how all the bags attached and wanted to help me put them back. She then stood at the front of the inn waving until I turned the corner at the end of the block. It was very sweet.
The day before I had stopped off at the ticket counter to buy a ticket at the train station to get back to New Chitose Airport. A reserved seat ticket on the express train was around $50. The train ride takes about 3 or so hours. You could get a ticket a little bit cheaper in the non reserved section but the seats are not as nice.
In Japan you are not allowed to take a bike on a train without putting it in a bike or as they call it there a rinko bag. They consider bikes to be dirty. When you get on the train car there is an area for oversized baggage by the toilet where the bike can go. I had bought a rinko bag off of amazon at home but had not tried it out yet so it would be interesting to see if it fit.
I got to the train station and the first order of business was coffee. Once I had that i set to work outside the station partially disassembing the bike.
First I started by removing the front bags and the rear bag. My plan was to carry these and put my helmet and all of the smaller bags in the bag with the bike.
The rinko bag was the largest size and it showed that removing the front wheel and strapping it to the crank, frame, other wheel was all that was needed. Maybe because I ride 29" wheels and wider drop bars it still would not fit. I ended up taking the handle bars off and turning the headset and fork backwards the same way I did when I packed it in the bike box. Then it fit. Even better, I had done a large portion of the work that I would need to do to repack the bike at the airport hotel.
bags removed
front wheel strapped to frame before I took off handle bars.
I got the bike in the bag. It comes with a shoulder strap so you can carry it like luggage. Pretty cool for $30.
Now that the bike was packed I visited the bento shop. Wish i had taken a photo. Most larger train stations and airports have shops that sell bentos. Almost everyone who rides the train will buy one. Seems to be part of the whole train ride experience there. (there also is no food or drinks sold on the train) People in Japan seem to really like trains especially the Shinkansen. You can buy replicas of the trains to bring home to your kids. They even have bentos in a plastic box shaped like the Shinkansen. There are about 50 different bentos to chose from in very decorative boxes. Some of them even heat the food up!
With my lunch secured I boarded the train and left for Chitose.
The train drops you off in the bottom of the airport so all I had to do was get in the elevator walk a few hundred yards and I was back at the hotel. Now here's where the Rinko bag comes in handy again. Now the bike looks like luggage. When I checked in the last time the bike was in the box. I have the feeling that if I had rolled the bike up to the desk they would have said "nope no bikes in the room" Pretty neat trick. Anyway, my bike box was waiting for me in the lobby with a tag that said Mr. Elkins. All had to do was walk up to the desk say who I was and they handed me the room key. Easy Peasy.
I put the bike in the room and it was only 330 so I figured I would take the train in to Sapporo to walk around and grab dinner. The express airport train is pretty fast and drops you off right in the middle of the city. It might take 1/2hr tops. I got there a little past four when the commute was starting up. Until this point I had neglected to check the population of Sapporo and I was kind of shocked at the sheer number of people. Maybe because the city is not as sprawling it has the feeling of being in a city like New York. Especially since most people use the train. It was super bustling and truthfully a little exhausting.
I did a little shopping, walked through the park with street food vendors, and ended up having dinner on the 3rd floor of a building at a Tonkatsu restaurant. Nothing amazing but still good. Finding a place to eat is a little confusing because they are all on different floors in buildings not always street level. This is true for a lot of businesses so you gotta read signs.
I hopped on the train and headed back to the airport. Watched a little TV while I put the bike back in the box.
The next day my flight did not leave until 3 so I had a fair amount of time to spend at the airport which was awesome. That's right New Chitose Airport is the best airport I have ever visited. It has in between the domestic and international terminal a massive 4 floor complex that is all about food. The 1st floor is all gourmet shopping. Tons of beautifully packaged food that showcases all of the local agriculture and fishing. For example they have one stand that only sells milk from Hokkaido. The small bottles are catagorized by what type of cow they came from.
I cannot do justice in a verbal description of the airport here's a video
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The second floor is all restaurants. There are no chains. No fast food. There might be 40 different places to eat including a ramen alley that has six different places to eat ramen (ramen was invented in Sapporo) There is a 4 different places with chirashi bowls, a restaurant that specializes in dishes with gourmet cheese, curry joints, sushi EVERYTHING.
I opted for sushi. It was really good. At this restaurant you sit in a little cubicle area at the sushi bar. There is a touch screen in front of you and you scroll and push what you want the chef makes it and brings it to your cubicle. You also have a spigot that dispenses hot water and a little container of green tea powder. If
you want a beer just touch the screen and the waitress will bring it. Sushi in Japan is very different from the U.S. For the most part there are no rolls especially rolls with the rice on the outside. That's right no California Roll, no spicy tuna roll, no dragon roll with the fish on the outside. The only roll is tekka maki tuna with seaweed on the outside. Sushi is nigiri and if its high grade fish you don't get 2 pieces. Only one. Spent about 5000 yen ($30) drank two beers and was stuffed which is pretty damn good for an airport.
It was time to get on the airplane and go home and that's where I leave you.
Thanks for reading my TR and I hope this inspires other people to step out of their comfort zone and into the unknown. Visit somewhere off the beaten path in another country. on't worry if you can't speak the language or you don't know exactly where you are sleeping.
Believe it or not I did a tremendous amount of preparation for this trip. Not only because it was in another country but also because I would be riding and transporting a bicycle. My one suggestion to anyone thinking of bike packing or touring is know every part of your bicycle and how to take it apart and put it back together. Before this trip I pretty much took apart the whole bike. The one crucial part was the drive train. I had an unfortunate mishap where i bent my deraileur hanger and before I could get home it got sucked into the wheel. I pretty much redid the whole drive train. New cassette, new rear derailleur, new front large chain ring, recently changed the bottom bracket. New back wheel( after the derailleur broke two spokes and cracked the rim in the process) New cables, bled the brake system and replaced the brake pads. Cleaned and regreased the headset. If you a familiar with all this stuff you will have a better idea when something is going south and needs to attended to before you wind up in the middle of nowhere in a thunder storm I had no mechanicals on the trip and the bike with all the new components was a dream to ride.
Anyone who reads this in the future please feel free to get in touch with me if you need any more info or resources about Hokkaido.
Thanks again for reading.
