There are two routes to Aomori: the coast (no convenience stores) and the mountain road (brutal elevation). I was born and raised in the Peak District, so maybe I'm naturally drawn to mountains, and in the end I chose the mountain road. It's 112 km from Akita to Ōdate! That's the furthest I've ridden so far, but I feel like I've finally got the hang of it.

Compared with other people who are touring, I haven't been riding all that far, and I have more muscle than they do, so I wondered whether there was some secret or trick to it. I tried getting into that state of total focus I talked about before. I tried not to think about anything other than the fact that I was riding a bike.

I'll write the things I tried and the tips that helped below:

Decide on a distance goal, and once it's decided, don't waver from that number. If you force the pedalling you'll just tire yourself out more, so make a point of not forcing it. I changed my intervals from 20 km to 30 km, and dropped my speed by 5 km/h. I increased my time in the saddle I gradually increased how much I ate from morning to evening I didn't take any long breaks

When I went into the sauna, I started talking to an old man. I can't usually stay in a sauna for long, but I didn't want to be rude, so I somehow held out until the conversation trailed off, then said, "I'm not good with saunas, so I have to get out," and made my escape. From the moment I went in I was pouring with sweat and desperate. While I was soaking in the cold water after leaving the sauna, all I could hear was the sound of my heart. The hot bath was scorching too. It was so hot that my skin, no, the muscles in my whole body went numb.

On the way from Akita to Ōdate, I passed through a town called Futatsui. From the moment I entered, I sensed that something was off. After I crossed a rusty blue bridge, eerie music started drifting in from somewhere. I couldn't tell whether I was being welcomed to the town or warned.

I kept riding, but I got a vaguely strange feeling from the town around me. I saw lots of unusual things, so I'll write them below. I was so taken aback that I forgot to take photos.

Strange things:

A big Johnnie Walker doll or figure standing in a shop window. I thought I'd ridden into the town from Kafka on the Shore, and it really did have a Murakami-like atmosphere, so I wouldn't have been surprised An empty house with its front completely open, and there was a cat inside too The eerie music at the entrance to the town A sculpture like a blade A man walking with heavy steps, who looked close to death, like a zombie Something was off about the air in the town too A narrow building, incredibly thin, which made no sense A strange library: it was in an old style, but prefab instead of brick, as though they'd tried to recreate a Western building out of prefab A Yakult shop. Did Yakult shops even exist? A strange tractor parked in front of a house

It really was an eerie town. It was so strange that I wondered if someone was pranking me. There were so many fascinating things that I got distracted. When I spot something interesting I want to stop and take a photo, but I can't stop every time.