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I biked from the mountains of Japan’s Shikoku Island to the ocean, with the passage of time — and old age — on my mind

I’m aching to sprint, to finally physically feel this ride, which now seems far too short.

Updated
3 min read
Japan-1 CREDIT Darcy Rhyno.jpg

The writer’s cycling tour group on Japan’s Shikoku Island.


As our young, energetic guide Hirofumi Takenami adjusts the seat on my bicycle, I’m conscious of every one of my 64 years. Yesterday was my birthday. In exactly one year, Canada will begin paying me a monthly pension based on the single fact that I am old.

But for the next two days, I’ll be trying to keep up with Takenami and his group on the Niyodo River cycling route, which runs about 60 kilometres, from the rural mountains of Japan’s to the river’s mouth at the Pacific Ocean. That I’m riding an e-bike has me feeling my age even more acutely: Do I look like someone who needs help adjusting his seat and cycling uphill?

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