I was thinking about going for the trail or at least a part of it by bike at some point, but I wondered if anyone here has done something similar before? I’m not religious and would rather do it for the experience and to get to know Shikoku better. I’m not sure whether this would be considered offensive to practicing buddhists in any way and I don’t want to disturb people in their religious activities. But it seems like some people have done this by bike before, so maybe it’s ok (looking at the paywall of a Japan Times article)?
I’m a moderately fit cyclist, I’ve done multi-day tours before years ago but not in Japan. So I’m also a bit unsure about steepness and weather conditions. Roads are probably in a decent condition (?) My options are an urban foldable bike (I kind of like that idea) or renting a decent one (probably better in reality).
My relatives have made many month long trips here and always cycled. I’m talking about trips like Kumamoto to Osaka and farther.
They’ve always brought their own bikes from abroad. Put it this way, the first year was the only time I saw them with folding bikes (albeit they were pretty small, but I’m not sure the size you’re talking about). Since then, they have always brought hybrid GIANT bikes.
Thanks, maybe it would be best to try it on a shorter weekend trip or so to get a feeling for how it works on actually steep roads outside Tokyo. I’m still not a big fan of electric bikes somehow (and don’t own one either), although this may really be one of the cases where they make total sense :D