Our ironman cyclist Michael sets off from Osaka. Leaving the giant city, he tackles the challenge of Japan's steepest road on his way to historic Nara, site of the capital 1,300 years ago. As he rides through this tranquil countryside, he dives into a world of myth -- from Nara's sacred forest, brilliant with the colors of fall, he travels south to a land teeming with prehistoric burial mounds. Here, where ancient rulers slept for millennia, the old wisdom still shows us how to live in harmony with nature.