Craig and Wisdom at training in Accra

The CCE supported project, Bamboosero has announced that a new shipment of frames have arrived from Ghana.  Road, City and Mountain bike frames of various sizes are available.  These frames are hand made by Ghanaian bamboo frame builders (“Bambooseros”) trained by Craig Calfee.  Two of the Ghanaian Bambooseros, Ben Opk and Wisdom Toxla,  will be coming for the Strawberry Fields Forever and CCE Spring ride this May.

We are already hard at work planning the next edition of Strawberry Fields Forever, which is scheduled for Sunday, 20 May 2012. Our volunteer team captains have met and we’re excited and hope you are too. We will have new routes and a new starting location, so stay tuned for updates. Registration will open on 1 January at Active.com.

Register before February 15 for $45, a discount from last year’s fee. Registration after that will be $55. If you have family or friends who’d like to join you for one of the best rides in northern California encourage them to take advantage of early registration.

As in the past there will be no “same day” registration. Rider limit will be 1200, and this year we will only have online registration.

We have a scrumptious new jersey design, courtesy of local designer Janet Allinger. And this year you can order your jersey directly from Voler.

We’re planning an exchange program for the last two weeks in May here in California and a ten day exchange program in Italy for the fall.  Info as it becomes available and applications will be posted here on our website and you will also receive updates if you are subscribed to our e-newsletter.

We thank you for joining us, and thank you for supporting our cycling programs over all these years.

Wishing you the best in cycling adventures in 2012….

the Strawberry Fields Forever Organizing Committee

by Vita Pritchard & Janet Starr – October 2011

Thirteen American cyclists participated in the Shikoku Cog-way 2011 Discovery Ride in Japan. September is part of the typhoon season and we just missed one when we arrived in Osaka. About 39 international riders came from the US, England, Denmark, Italy, Poland, China, Taiwan and Korea. There were also about a dozen Japanese bicyclists and staff. One weekend we were joined by an additional 70 Japanese cyclists.

Shikoku Cog-way was designed to bring cyclists from many countries together to create an international network of friends, develop bicycle tourism on the island of Shikoku and discover new ways to build peace around the world. Mio Yamada, a young woman from Osaka, stands at the heart of it. Two years ago, Mio and Saki Yano, another Japanese woman, took part in a Cyclists for Cultural Exchange (CCE) program in California which inspired them to create their own bicycling adventure based on the CCE model. This event was supported by the local governments of different prefectures and sponsored by a number of companies, including Family Mart and Coca-Cola. We had full international media coverage. There was much community involvement and the participants experienced the culture and traditions of Japan through the incredible hospitality and enthusiasm of the local people. The island of Shikoku is famous for its pilgrimage route to 88 temples.

The city of Onomichi was the starting point of our 11 day bicycle tour. The first couple of days we were on the popular Shimanami route, taking us across several islands by means of bridges and ferry boats. The weather was hot and humid. There was surprisingly little traffic and beautiful scenery. The second day we were introduced to traditional Japanese baths in a Spa Resort Hotel on Yuge Island. I would imagine spending hours sitting in an outdoor hot tub with a stunning ocean view right in front of me. However, we only had minutes to wash up and be ready for a welcoming ceremony on a boat. The boat party was awesome. We were greeted by Taiko drummers, followed by the mayor’s presentation, fabulous food, music and dancing.

A big part of the Japanese culture is gift exchange. We were advised to bring a lot of little gifts and souvenirs, and something more substantial for official ceremonies and presentations. Each of us had to carry a share of leftover Strawberry Fields t-shirts, headbands, socks and caps. We also had a number of commemorative tiles and smaller ceramic medallions (made by Janet Starr). During this trip we met almost all the governors and mayors of Shikoku at the numerous receptions and banquets that we attended after riding all day – and we used up all 20 of the tiles and everything else. In return, we received many small towels (Shikoku’s main industry) and other small gifts.

Our accommodations included hotels (plain and fancy), temples (they have guest houses), a Japanese inn, and a school floor – some dorms, some double rooms – with mostly futons on the tatami (matt) floors. Almost every day a Family Mart truck would arrive at the lunch spot with these beautiful bento boxes. Dinners were either the banquets mentioned earlier (with sushi, tempura, kobe beef and all kinds of Japanese cuisine as well as saki and beer), food prepared at the temples, or home-cooked meals made by local residents and brought to us. Breakfast is the same as lunch and dinner – udon noodles, rice, miso soup, fish and mystery items.

We visited two elementary and middle schools. The adorable students prepared for us with gifts and skits and songs. In one temple in the evening, we heard a jazz band and a pop singer. In the morning, there was a Buddhist chanting service in the same place. Every day had such unexpected surprises!

I can’t leave out the vending machines. They are everywhere – even beside a shack in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. They sell not only soda, water and mystery drinks (everything is written in Japanese characters), but also iced coffee and beer. So, if you are fading on a ride, you can stop anywhere and get a café au lait. And there is beer when you arrive. Even just going into a grocery store was an experience because of all the strange foods in fancy packaging. Ordering in restaurants was a real challenge.

The weather was not so kind to us. The first half of the trip was very hot (90-100 degrees) and humid. We soaked the gift towels and wrapped them around our heads and necks. The second half of the trip was the edge of yet another typhoon, so it rained very hard (but thankfully no wind and the river didn’t flood). A few times we took the train when the rain was really bad.

Some of the roads (like the first 2 days) were good and we especially liked the roads along the Shimanto River in the mountains with exceptional scenery. However, some of the roads near the cities had no shoulders and lots of trucks. Sometimes, there was an option of riding on the sidewalk. There were also tunnels – some with a sidewalk and some with very little room. There were many stops at local communities and sponsors along the way, so it was difficult to get to the night’s event on time for all the riders with different levels of ability. The terrain is hilly and the temples are all on top of hills.

Japan is probably the culturally most different developed country that we have ever visited.

This was definitely an experience not to be missed. Our Japanese hosts put so much effort into making this a memorable trip for us, that we cannot thank them enough for giving us this opportunity. We also made lots of new international friends that may invite us to their countries for a ride, or they may join us here next Spring (or both).