Getting out of Tokyo is half the ride, and this is where the first half ends. The land here is almost at sea level, forty metres up, and it is hard to believe the mountains are so close, but on a clear winter morning you can see the Tanzawa hills and sometimes the white shoulder of Fuji from the riverbank.
Two very different rides leave from here. One goes south and west along the Tomei toward Odawara, then up into the Hakone hills by the toll road, and the other crosses the bay to the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula, where the Tomiura district grows loquats and flowers and ends at Nojimazaki, the cape with a white lighthouse designed by the French engineer Leonce Verny and first lit in 1869. Both rides begin with a stretch of suburban driving that rewards patience: traffic lights, expressway ramps, and cars changing lane without warning.
The golden rule of leaving Tokyo is timing. Weekday rush hours choke the expressways, and the weekend flood of day-trippers can make the Tomei slow from early morning, so the best departure is before dawn or after nine, and you should check the traffic boards at service areas. Tolls are paid by electronic card or cash, and the rest areas, with their good coffee and noodles, are an institution. There is fuel at every corner in this part of the city, so top up before you go, because stations in the hills are fewer and close earlier.
If you have a moment before you set off, the Tama riverbank is a pleasant place to sit and study the map. Cyclists and joggers share the path, and a vending machine sells hot canned coffee at every corner. In spring the river embankments are bright with rapeseed flowers and cherry blossom, and in autumn the pampas grass glows in the low sun.