Wakayama Mayor Masahiro Obana, sixth from the right in the back row, and the tandem cycling project members pose for a photo after reaching the Pacific Cycling Road end point in the city of Wakayama, on May 7, 2023. (Mainichi/Ryota Hashimoto) WAKAYAMA — More than 100 people in total took part in a 1,100-kilometer tandem cycling project along the Pacific coastline from east to west Japan and crossed the finish line here on May 7 after a nine-day journey.
The project to cover the roughly 1,100-kilometer distance on tandem bicycles between the Chiba Prefecture coastal city of Choshi, east of Tokyo, and the western Japanese city of Wakayama for people with disabilities was organized by the Japan Para-Cycling Federation and other groups. Its objective included introducing the joy of tandem cycling that people with visual disabilities can experience and interaction with locals in areas along the cycling route.
The participants cycled on the land ministry-designated "Pacific Cycling Road" stretching from Chiba, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie and Wakayama prefectures along the Pacific. The project’s four main members took turns to sit on the front seat of the two to three tandem bikes used in the journey, while bikers with disabilities from each prefecture along the route took turns to sit on the back seat.
The cycling journey started on April 29. On their last day on May 7, the bikers started off from an inn in the Wakayama Prefecture city of Gobo in the early morning amid pouring rain and strong winds. The […]
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