Matsudo is a city of nearly half a million people on the Chiba side of the Edo River, the border with Tokyo, and nothing about it says Shosenkyo or mountains. It is a commuter place, an hour or so from the gorge's Yamanashi valleys, and so a natural endpoint when the day's riding has taken you back through the whole sprawl of the Kanto plain. Think of it as the dock where the ship comes in.
The Edo River gives the place its character. It was dug and straightened in the seventeenth century to control the Tone river's floods and to carry goods to Edo, and its broad, grassy embankments now hold cycle paths, sports fields and fishermen. Across from Matsudo, in Tokyo's Katsushika ward, lies Shibamata, the setting of the long-running Tora-san film series, and the Yagiri no Watashi, a small ferry that has crossed the river here since the Edo period. It carries foot passengers and cyclists for a small fare, and it is a charming bit of surviving old Japan in a modern suburb.
For a rider, the roads are urban and dull, laced with traffic lights and trucks serving the logistics parks along the Joban line and the Gaikan expressway. The best moments are along the river embankment roads in the early morning, when the light is soft and the air is cool. Rain and typhoons can flood the low ground, and in summer the humidity is something to be endured, with cicadas shouting from every tree.
You will not struggle for services. Petrol stations line every major road, and ramen, curry and sushi shops are around the station. Matsudo also has a pear story: the Nijisseiki variety, still the classic Japanese pear, is said to have been found as a chance seedling here in the 1880s, and Chiba remains famous for its pears and peanuts. Autumn is the most pleasant season, with clear air and dry weather. Park the bike, walk the embankment at sunset, and let the day wind down slowly.