20代後半の4年間、バイクで北から南まで日本中を走り回った。その総距離は4万キロを優に超える。地球1週以上の距離だ。
When I was in my late twenties, I rode a motorcycle for four years, traveling around Japan from the north to the south. The total distance during those four years was more than thirty thousand miles, which is well over the circumference of the earth.
その4年の間、夏、冬、そして春の休みはすべて1週間の1600キロを超えるバイク旅に出た。さらに、週末には山と海に挟まれた近隣にもバイクをよく走らせた。
During that period, I spent all summer, winter, and spring vacations going on week-long motorcycle trips, traveling more than 1000 miles at a time. I also made lots of weekend trips around the neighboring areas, sandwiched between the mountains and the sea.
日本は島国だが、その3分2は山と森林なので森の国とも言える。つまり、日本中をバイクで旅したということは、夏は鮮やかな緑に囲まれ、冬は葉の落ちた木々や積雪のある森の中の道路を頻繁に駆け抜けたということだ。
Japan is an island country, but it's also a "forest country." Two-thirds of its land area is made up of mountains and forests. That means that when I journeyed across Japan by motorcycle, I often rode through forests, along roads with lush green banks in summer, and past the leafless trees and some snowfall in winter.
そんな若かりし頃の自分が晴れの日も雨の日も次の目的地に向かってバイクで疾走している姿を思い描くと懐かしさが込み上げてくる。
Just replaying this in my head, a young me riding a motorbike, in rain or shine, hurtling onto the next destination, makes me feel somehow nostalgic.
忘れられないシーンがいくつかある。箱根に行ったときのこと、ワインディングロードで休憩しながら丘の連なりやその丘の上に低く漂う幾ばくかの雲を眺めていたら、傾斜の緩い丘の斜面を絨毯のような濃い霧がゆっくり滑り降り始めるのに気がついた。
There are some unforgettable scenes. One of them was when I visited Hakone, a highland area near Mt. Fuji. I was taking a short break on the winding road overlooking the undulating hills and some low clouds hovering over them, when I noticed a blanket of thick mist starting to slide down slowly over the sides of the hills.
丘の上には美しい青い空。その下では白い絨毯が緑の緩やかな斜面をその頂上から一番下まで覆おうとしている。太陽の光の中、青、白、緑の色が互いに際立たせあい、眼前に広がるその壮大な光景には畏敬の念さえ感じた。
The sky was a beautiful shade of blue high above them. Looking down, it was like a white blanket covering the gentle green slopes from the top to the bottom. The colors just contrasting each other in the sun. What a gorgeous scene! I even felt in awe of this magnificent sight before me.
多くの記憶と4万キロの走行距離。それはバイクでどこかへ出かけることに取り憑かれた4年間だった。何がそれほどの距離を走るよう駆り立てたのか。
A slew of memories and a distance of thirty thousand miles over the four years. Those were the years when I was obsessed with riding a motorbike somewhere. And for what? What drove me to ride that much?
1週間（あるいはそれ以上の）旅の途中、もう何年も旅をしているように感じることがよくあった。おそらく、朝起きてから夜寝るまで、食事や小休憩、そして路肩から景色を楽しむ以外、一日中走り詰めだったからだと思う。
While on those week-long (or more!) trips, I usually felt like I'd been traveling for years. Maybe that was because I rode all day from waking up in the morning until going to bed at night, except for stopping for a meal or a short break or to enjoy the scenery from the roadside.
バイクの旅がこのあと何年も、あるいは終わりなく続けばいいなとよく思った。実際、一生旅をし続けたいと心から思った。
I also somehow felt like my motorbike trip or journey would last many more years to come or have no end. Actually, I really wished I could travel around for the rest of my life.
左下にバイク
（英文が原文で、日本語はその訳文です）
バイク旅はひとりだったり友人とだったり
