Shimanami Kaido E-Bike report (…15 years since I last rode a bike)

Hello there,

I am writing this from my hotel in Matsuyama, about 4 1/2 hours after finishing the Shimanami Kaido so you could say this is rather _fresh_ as far as reviews go.

The purpose of me writing this is that I want to give people like me a description of what they may be in for. People who have either not cycled in ages (it has actually been over 15 years for me) or don’t know if they are in shape to undertake a 75km cycling route but _really_ wanted to do this. Or maybe you are unsure about whether you can do it in a day or if you should split or wonder how much the battery lasts on those rental e-bikes. I guess this is supposed to help people who eye an e-bike in particular, but may also help others who cycle regularly.

**About me:** I’m 30, not an athlete whatsoever and I am skinnyfat. That being said, my average monthly walking distance since coming to Japan in June is ~210 kilometers. I do not know if that counts as “in-shape”. Prior to today, I walked up and down hills in Onomichi for 10 kilometers and had a stretch of 4-5 days of walking 15-25km leading up to this cycle.

**The cycle itself:**

I reserved an e-bike at https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/ two weeks before the cycling day. At first, I thought about a cross-bike but considering the fact that I have not been on a bike in over a decade and a half AND I wanted to go up Kirosan Park, I decided to go for the pricey (12.000 yen) option and play it safe. Not knowing how long the battery would last and me _really_ wanting that Kirosan view, I conserved as much battery as I could until getting there.

I started at 7am, got my bike, took the ferry over to Mukaishima and went on my way. It took about 5-10 minutes for me to get into things (mainly balance…) but after that, it was as if I had ridden a bike just yesterday. The first two bridges have manageable inclines, but I did test the battery here and then. The third bridge, however, had a _10%_ incline and I might have done it without the battery but I did not wanna challenge myself – I booked that thing for a reason and it made that incline a breeze. The cycle is mostly flat, so the battery doesn’t really do much there, which made it so that I arrived at Kirosan with 80% left. Now this is the part that isn’t officially the Shimanami Kaido, but it offers an incredible view of the final bridge and surroundings and this is where the battery really saved my ass (not really.)

If I read correctly, it’s 3.5 kilometers up there, 330m elevation and inclines between 5-9% _all_ the way up. It took me about 15-20 minutes with some breaks for pictures and it drained _20%_ of my battery. So that part burned as much as the 7 hours of me cycling before that overall. After I was done with Kirosan, I decided to just keep the jucie on and see how much I would have left by the end.

It was 52%. It’s like 18km between Kirosan and Imabari station (the end of the route) and it burned only 8% – mainly because the last bridge has another series of steep uphills and the bridge itself is also not flat. Feel like a lot of people leave that part out.

Anyway, in total, I spent 10 hours on this 75km with no prior _cycling_ training and an e-bike. I stopped _a lot_ for pictures all over the route (I have over 200), one 10 minute break for breakfast, another half hour break at the cycling sanctuary halfway through and then 1h 15 m on top of Kirosan. So I really wasn’t pushing and still got to see and enjoy a whole lot. That being said, if you want to check some other temples/shrines on the individual islands, a day might be too short _but_ if you want to do it in a single day and you’re a seasoned cyclist, you can 100% do it with plenty of time to stop along the way and take in the incredible views. I’d even say do it if you are in similar shape as I am. Seriously – all those Youtube videos do not lie. This is the best thing I’ve done so far and even though the pain is strong (see below), it was 100% worth it.

**A couple of things to note before I end this:**

– Remember when I said “not really” about my “saved ass”? Yeah, my ass hurts. It is sore as hell and it started hurting after about 2 hours into the cycle. By the final stretch to Imabari, I was cursing out loud whenever I got over a bump as it hurt my damn ass. Getting on and off the bike was a pain in the ass. I’d say invest in padded pants – although, many a people said that their asses hurt with those too. BUT SERIOUSLY – my legs are mostly fine (as of now…), my ass will definitely hurt for a few days.

– Pay attention to the blue line. Sounds easy enough, right? But when you are sometimes looking over the sea or mountains, you may miss that one spot that says turn right to Imabari and you’ll have to cycle back. After well over 12 hours of being awake at the point of me getting there, I even missed the final train station.

– Keep track of sunset. In fall, the sun sets rather early. But the more “tricky” part is how fast it just disappears when you think it will still be there. You do not wanna ride in the dark before you get onto the final bridge or if you are up on Kirosan. I hated riding in the dark towards Imabari for 4km. So start early if you plan to do it in one go.

– Maybe wears gloves too? I don’t know what the science is because I do not cycle regularly, but my palms are also rather sore from gripping the handles all the time. Seasoned cyclists can probably say more about whether it’s worth wearing gloves, though.

Anyway, I hope this helps people on the fence about cycling this thing. As you may tell, I recommend getting an e-bike even if it is pricey. The battery was good and now that I know this, I will use it more next time. The bike itself was good, the guys at the rental place didn’t really speak much English but they explained as best as they could. Oh and the communication over E-Mail was pretty smooth!

One thing to note: if you get a bike from Onomichi and cycle it all the way to Imabari and drop it off there, you ain’t getting the 5k deposit back. I knew this beforehand because I researched, but I’ll just throw this in there.

Excuse any spelling or grammar errors, I am tired!