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As part of a weekend trip to see autumn leaves and hiking at Mount Mitake [御嶽], we came to Okutama 奥多摩 to do cycling and chose to rent bikes at Trekkling トレックリング! It was an excellent half day cycle... great scenery along the way!! After exiting Okutama Station, go left and turn left before the bridge - the shop is right there! We reserved bikes online for 2 days but they let us cancel the second day without trouble since the forecast was rain (even though it didn't actually end up raining). They've got an English website and forms in English. Very helpful staff who explained the route and how to use the bikes. They gave excellent directions and have really clear maps complete with photos of exactly where to make turns. One of us got a mountain bike and the other a little "power assist" bike for a bit extra. We chose the 10 km (x2 return) "Mukashi Michi" course (むかし道) along the river valley to Lake Okutama - not too difficult despite having some stretches of having to go uphill. The bikes look really new and are really nice! The power assist makes it much easier to cycle uphill even though you do still have to put in a little effort. Lake Okutama didn't really look that nice on a cloudy day, but the way there was gorgeous - incredible autumn colors in late November - all the hikers looked at us with envy as we zoomed past. Originally, we were planning to do the cycle to Nippara Cave but glad we didn't as we found out that the road there is very windy and quite steep! There are a lot of other routes available - will not hesitate to rent bikes at Trekkling again if I have a chance even though I'm not the most outdoorsy person! |
