Less means more.

More or less.

Resting.

Cruising.

Parking.

Pouting.

I forgot the presents!

Sayonara 2013

There's more to come.

See ya!

The other bike.

The other bike - The Pacer. The new bike in background.

Sadly, I'm not yet head over heals with the new bike - The LHT. Why you may ask? It's not the bike, it's me. But we can work it out. We just need some time apart to figure things out.

Ever since moving to Japan 2 years ago, I've only had The Pacer to ride. It's a wonderful bike, fits me perfect. My body became used to the drop bar - go (relatively) fast - more aggressive style of riding on The Pacer that the flat bar - go slower - more relaxed style of riding on The LHT felt very foreign.

So I'm giving the new bike a little break and giving the other bike some love.

A sound upgrade.

Just about the time I was finishing up The LHT, I broke a spoke in the rear wheel on The Pacer.
It was a crappy wheel that came with the bike and because I had just spent a buttload of casholla on The LHT, I left it alone.

A couple months later, as I was wanting to get back on The Pacer, I came across a great deal online on a gently used Mavic wheel with a Dura-Ace hub. Nice. I've not had any high end parts on any of my bikes before except for nice tires. My favourite part about the new wheel is the sound it makes when I'm coasting. It sounds expensive.

Sorry WTB saddle. I misjudged you. Seat post, you are OK.

Because I wanted The LHT to be perfect, I moved the Brooks saddle and nice Nitto seat post over from The Pacer. I bought the saddle pictured as a temporary replacement. I'd used the same saddle before and knew it would do. But so far, after a couple of 2 plus hour rides, I'm surprised to say that the saddle works great. I think I've been giving the Brooks too much credit. Although if I had another one, it would go on The Pacer. For sure. 

Tama River river.

Some photos from some days

Advice to myself: If you're going to maintain a blog, try to keep it current and post regularly. 

People riding along the river trail as the sun is setting.

Hard to tell but I'm standing in front of a mirror. In the forest.
With my mouth slightly open so I can catch some tiny bugs.

Piggy back ride from sister cuz my hands are full.
We live on the 4th floor of the  building straight ahead.
She was carried up the stairs too.

Sunset on our balcony. We're lucky to be having some
beautiful sunny days so far this winter. 

Purchases from Japanese dollar store - a hundred yen shop.
Dollar stores in Japan are no joke. You can get some sweet stuff
for a buck. The charger cables are a bit shorter than the genuine thing
but work fine. And come in purple too.

Japanese people aren't too hot on hot sauces. No variety.
Most stores only carry tabasco.
This little fella was purchased at the dollar store too.
Never know what you can find there.

New bike. Another Surly. I've had it for about 2 months.
I finally have a bike that can use the tires a bought 2 years ago.
Best tires I've ever had on any bike ever. A bit expensive though.
The bars on it are waaaaay too wide.
Eventually I want to try it with drops and albatross.
 

Until next time.

6 months later…...

Notes from Pajan is in the ICU but off of life support.

Back with more soon.

Word up.

Upgrade

This is the pinkest you'll ever be.

Good April 7th

Somehow lost April 6th. Turns out all of today's activities happened on April 7th. 

So April 7th it was and I will move forward as if it was April 7th. 

April 7th was a good day.

Super duper early April 7th.

I got up super early on April 7th. Like 2am early. Spent some time staring at Google maps, as is my daily routine, and hit the road soon as the sun started coming up. The roads were still wet from the night before and devoid of any traffic. Early cyclist gets the open road.

There are many beautiful country roads once you get out of Tokyo, but it usually takes me a couple hours to even get to get there. I have a couple hour long loops I like to do that involve taking the cycling road along the Tama River. There's always a ton of people using the cycling road but it's better than mixing it up with car traffic. The cycling road runs east to west and today I headed west for a 30km loop.  

This hill is about 15km into the ride. Most of the hills I've found around here are super short and super steep. This hill is one of the only longish steepish hills I've been able to find. On weekends many cyclists come here to train. If I were in Spokane, this hill would be similar to Greenwood, just a bit shorter. But now that I think about it, If it's shorter I guess it wouldn't be Greenwood at all because for me what made Greenwood challenging was the last bit.

View from top of not Greenwood climb.

Yomiuri Land ferris wheel.

The climb takes you to an amusement park called Yomiuri Land. We've been here several times. It's a great park. They even have a water park in the summer time and hot springs next door. Not surprising because there are hot springs everywhere in Japan.

Yomiuri Land early birds. Not sure what they were waiting for.
It was 7am , so they were probably up to no good.

The second half of the ride takes me up a short steep climb to a shrine and by a freeway. Actually it's great riding along freeways because theres less traffic around it and much of the land right next to it is undeveloped. I've found some fun dirt trail options next to freeways.

Locking up the tandem. 

In the afternoon Miyo and I braved strong winds for a fun ride in the hood. This was taken in an underground bike parking lot. Free for three hours. Most places charge at least a dollar for parking your bike. Abandoned bikes are a huge problem around urban area train stations. 

Shopping spaces us out.

Precision packing. Fast too.

Then it was back to the grocery store for more edible goods. Tacos were on the menu.

It was a great morning of bike fun. Thank you.

Mojo mojo.

Snotty April 5th

Bike resting in a dry spot.

Rode a total of 2km. A good day of thinking and pondering. Maybe more rain tomorrow.

Greyish mojo.

Warm April 4th

Occasionally the younger daughter says "Go on bike ride." When she does, I happily oblige. We got the family out for a ride around our neighborhood and enjoyed the warm weather and the left over cherry blossoms. These are my favorite kind of rides.

 I've been taking on-bike photos with my iphone with very little success. So far it's been quantity over quality as I push the button many times hoping to get something good. Not my favorite way of taking pictures but it works when everyone is smiling!

Enlarge for bigger smile.

Smiling on the way up, frowning on the way down. 

Veggie stand. Notice surveillance camera top left. Don't steal my spiznach fools!

Ohh rusty chain, why must you rust? 

Well, tomorrow, or actually today, we're supposed to get typhoon strength winds. Great.
Perfect weather for a long ride.

Warm mojo.

Bright April 3rd

After 2 whole days of constant rain, we welcomed a warm sunny spring day. Since this was the last day of spring break for Miyo, we took off to the river on the tandem and explored what there was to explore. I think we rode about 16 km or long enough for Miyo's butt to hurt.

 

I always take my fishing pole to the river. I've never caught anything. And I'm ok with that.

The Tama River.

These carp were spawning. This river is warm enough that some
tropical fish are able to survive the winters in it. 

Tomorrow is going to be another blue sky day. Bring it on!

Beautiful mojo.