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Tuesday, 13 October 2026 · A morning note before a planned stage of roughly 300 kilometres
Today’s plan comes with the label “monster day”: roughly 300 kilometres from the Mount Fuji area towards Nagoya. This is not yet a report from the road; it is the announcement for the day. And, as dependable as a Japanese timetable, our 6–7–8 rule is back.
A travel group is not a sociology seminar. Or is it?
On a motorcycle journey, it is never only the bike that comes along. Everyone also brings their mood, their habits and a small invisible item of luggage called personality.
And in almost every group there is someone Austrians would describe with the wonderfully precise word “Ungustl” — the resident difficult character. I am deliberately leaving this person nameless. This is not about one individual; it is about that remarkably reliable group phenomenon: somebody will test the social suspension.
So what do you do? Ignore them? Remain exceptionally friendly? Ride through the social bends in calm neutral? Or “neutralise” the Ungustl — meaning, of course, only their influence on your own mood?
The second kind of riding technique
Perhaps a group tour needs social riding skills as well as cornering skills: enough distance, a clear view and no temptation to turn every small bump into a personal drama.
Early this morning, I do not yet have a final answer. But the question is riding with us today. Roughly 300 kilometres should be long enough for scenery, thoughts and the occasional lesson in group psychology.
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