Miyagi Prefecture is a cyclist’s paradise

An environment that captures the full spectrum of cycling

Miyagi Prefecture Cover-All Cycling Ride

The blue of the vast Pacific Ocean, the wild yet beautiful ridgeline of the Zao Mountain Range, and the Sendai Plain shining in golden color. Miyagi Prefecture is the stage for premium road and gravel cycling created by the contrast of topography. Here, by riding just a few kilometers away from the hustle and bustle of the city, an ideal environment for cyclists is prepared, where you can melt into breathtaking great nature.

Routes with Two Faces Nurtured by the Wind

When talking about cycling in Miyagi Prefecture, the dynamism of the “sea” and the “mountain” cannot be missed.

If you turn your eyes to the east, courses where you can feel the sea breeze of the Pacific Ocean spread out. Especially, the route heading from Matsushima, one of the three most scenic views of Japan, toward the Sanriku Coast where beautiful scenery of the rias coastline continues is a masterpiece. The coastal roads, which were beautifully and newly prepared as a symbol of reconstruction from the earthquake, are flat everywhere and easy to ride. If you prefer ups and downs, take your course to the Cobalt Line of the Oshika Peninsula. Winding roads running along the ridge while looking down at the deep blue bays appearing on your right and left will make you remember the pure joy of riding.

On the other hand, if you turn your eyes to the west, mountain routes that fascinate full-scale climbers are waiting. The leader of them is the “Zao Echo Line.” This road, which is surrounded by snow walls of several meters in spring and burning autumn foliage all over the mountain in autumn, invites cyclists to the world of high alpine exceeding an altitude of 1,600 meters. The appearance of the mysterious volcanic lake “Okama” appearing near the mountain top after overcoming the harsh gradient is the best reward that can be obtained only by those who kept pedaling.

Deep Forests of Tohoku, and Toward Unknown Gravel Roads

The charm of Miyagi does not stop only at paved roads. An unpaved frontier that makes riders wearing thick tires on drop handlebars enthusiastic spreads out in the northwestern part of the inland.

Around Kami Town, at the foot of the elegant Mount Yakurai which is praised as “Kami Fuji.” Here, a vast forest road network sleeping in the bosom of the Ou Mountains is stretched vertically and horizontally without limit. In recent years, as the host site of “GRAVEL CLASSIC YAKURAI (HYSK GRAVEL CLASSIC YAKURAI),” which was chosen as the stage for Japan’s first “UCI Gravel World Series,” this place became the holy land of Asian gravel all at once.

Passing through the beautiful rural scenery of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems “Osaki Kodo,” you slide your tires into one unpaved road. What appears in front of your eyes is a deep gravel road surrounded by virgin forests and tough topography rich in ups and downs. Only the crunching sound of tires repelling small stones and your own rough breathing echo in the silent forest. The end of pavement is the beginning of adventure. The experience of dividing deeply into the wilderness shakes the adventurous mind of cyclists violently.

Stop the Pedals and Taste the Blessings of the Land

Cycling is not just something to digest distance. It is also a journey to touch the culture of the land and satisfy the five senses.

Another main character of the ride in Miyagi Prefecture is the overwhelming richness of food. If you drop by a fishing port in the coastal area, freshly caught sea squirt, large oysters, and seafood bowls of fresh tuna will fill your stomach. If you finish riding the gravel, it is also good to smack your lips at local sake and exquisite rice nurtured by clean snowmelt water at the foot of Mount Yakurai, and supply calories with traditional Zunda-mochi. If you sink your body into Akiu Hot Spring, Naruko Hot Spring, and Yakurai-no-yu which are ancient famous hot springs, muscles exhausted by the harsh journey are unraveled instantly.

Feeling the Transition of the Four Seasons with Skin

With the arrival of spring, you run through the cherry blossom blizzard of the Shiroishi River Tsutumi Hitome Senbonzakura, in summer you run through the dense green Naruko Gorge or the gravel road of Yakurai seeking coolness, and in autumn you open your eyes wide at the autumn foliage of Zao. Before winter, the plain area running while looking at snow-capped mountains in the distance inside the sharp, tightly stretched cold air is also exceptional.

In Miyagi Prefecture, dramatic landscapes that can be seen only with road bikes or gravel bikes, and that can be deeply tasted precisely because it is a bicycle, are condensed. Now, prepare your bike and let’s go out on a beautiful journey of Michinoku.