Up And Away Over The Clouds On A Brompton

My Brompton folding bike has proved to be more of a handful than I’d hoped with its unique parts costing a lot to maintain, but it is also lifting me to new heights in cycling, literally this month as I rode the Norikura skyline.

The Norikura Kogen skyline is one of the highest elevation roads in Japan and I got a shock riding down a mountain for the first time, especially as I was carrying a heavy load.

I rode my brakes nearly the entire descent of roughly 15 km, which started in pleasant sunshine, but ended in a mist.

I had no idea how to descend properly, and when I rode into Roppongi the following morning after the trip I was shocked to hear what I thought was a gunshot, and immediately stopped to see if I had been hit, as I knew must have been the case because of the close proximity of the blast.

It turns out that I had burned out the rims of the Brompton’s wheels. It required a costly replacement, but provided a lesson.