MICHAEL RICE
aka Indio, Mikey
ROLE Tour leader, Local Specialist
RIDE The ancient roads “旧道 Kyudo” throughout the Japan archipelago but the “UFO LINE” really stands out as magical
RELAX Every minute he can spend on a bike
REFRESHMENT Real Maccha 抹茶 and Japanese Persimmon fruit 柿
READ Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mikey was raised in Kansas and Colorado in the USA and graduated from the University of Kansas with a BA in East Asian Languages & Cultures with a concentration in Japanese and went on to achieve the highest level of Japanese proficiency. He switched to the 'cycling-only' (no car) lifestyle from 1990 and is still going strong averaging over 10,000km/year for the last 34 years. He moved to Japan in 1991, attended Kanagawa University and then Sophia University from 1993. A semester off from university fulfilled his dream of a solo cycling tour of the entire Japan archipelago in 1992. He has been road racing since 1997 and has participated in UCI recognized MTB events, gone on to do the Mountain Bike Enduro World Series, cyclocross and Ironman World Championships.
He is also famous in Japan as the presenter of the ongoing TV series Cycle Around Japan in its 11th year broadcast globally on NHK World. When Covid-19 hit, he and his partner Gypsy finally had the time to build the “Cycling GYPSY Cafe” they had dreamed of in Odawara at the foot of the Hakone-Mt. Fuji-Izu National Park where they live now after 30 years living and cycle-commuting in Tokyo.