• Strine

    Not Everything About Winter is Cruddy

    Winter sucks….for the most part. Winter is cold, dark and seemingly endless and colorless. For someone whose daily routine involves rising early and cycling, winter is not exactly the pleasantest time of year. And the cold mornings start from November and linger on until deeply into April at least, and sometimes even May, so more often than not, it’s chilly at least. January ends today, so on the calendar the winter doesn’t have much more time to eat away at us. Winter can’t end soon enough for the Aussie garden at Kangaeroo Corner. Many of the plants are feeling the…

  • Daily Life - Strine Sports

    Calamity Free Ride!

    After several days featuring a series of stumbles, fumbles, bumps and bruises, it was fantastic to finally have an early morning ride that went without a calamity. Sort of. Riding La Cangura much slower and more cautiously than usual, the morning ride went without a hitch. There were many fears that the guy I crashed into on Friday would hit me up for damages caused in the crash. I think our paths crossed, but no words were exchanged (and no trouble occurred). Of course, it’s still early in the day, so there’s plenty of time left over for it to…

  • Daily Life - Strine Sports

    Wahoo for Wahoo, and Thanks Y’s Road Lads

    Further to the weekend’s bike device calamities, Saturday’s mess turned into a much better Sunday. Saturday was supposed to be a day for getting the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt repaired. But an untimely drop in front of a couple of passing cars resulted in the device being utterly destroyed. Already worrying too much about too many things, Kangaeroo knew that pondering was not an option and a planned tough ride on Sunday would need guidance. Moreover, Mrs. Kangaeroo had gone to work and forgotten her mobile phone, so rather than asking for permission, actions would have to be apologized for, which…

  • Strine

    Costly Bloody Crash!

    Kangaeroo’s accident this week continued to have reverberations. Although both Kangaeroo and the bloke he collided with rode away apparently unharmed from their predawn collision, costs have since mounted. The crash gave greater urgency to updating the chain and gear sprocket on La Cangura, which had been showing signs of wear for a while, and there was also a sneaking suspicion that the gear wire could probably do with replacing. That proved to be precisely the case with a visit to the Y’s Road bike store later in the day. The good news was the sprocket and cassette are still…

  • Strine

    Ouch! Taking a Tamagawa Tumble

    「Ouch!」 「バカヤロー!」 「ごめんなさい。」 「日本は左通行だよ。バカヤロー!何考えてんかよ?バカヤロー!」 Kangaeroo took a Tama River tumble today and it was entirely his fault. Taking his normal pre-dawn ride along the Tama River Cycling Road, Kangaeroo caught a glimpse of an oncoming runner just late enough to be able to swerve away from her and avoid striking her…. ….only to slam straight into another cyclist coming from the opposite direction. The immediate aftermath was the aforementioned conversation. It seemed like the other bloke and his bike were OK. We rode off in opposite directions. La Cangura is scratched and her wheels wobbly. The Wahoo mount destroyed beyond…

  • Daily Life

    It’s All Happening Here!

    Pushed for time and all other sorts of resources, Kangaeroo was surprised to note this morning that it had been almost 10 days since the last post on the site. So much has been going on, some of it pretty crucial, that time slipped away. To borrow a turn of phrase made popular by one-time Australian cricket captain and commentator (and fellow Victorian) Bill Lawry, it’s all happening here. I guess it’s best to go forward by category. Among Kangaeroo’s interests over the past year has been the Aussie garden. A crucial part of that garden is the lawn, traditionally…

  • Strine Sports

    Cold, Wet and Dark

    Doesn’t get any more archetypically Monday than today….cold, wet, dark and bleak. Kangaeroo wasn’t too keen on getting out on the bike with a huge day ahead. But it was precisely because the day promises to be demanding that dragged him out in the end. Rain had been forecast, but the prediction was that it would be intermittent and not heavy. That was exactly what happened. Rather than hit the dark bike path where many people dress in black and are hard to see at the clearest of times, Kangaeroo decided to stay on the main roads, which were hard…

  • Daily Life

    Grass is Greener….Here, And Not On the Other Side!

    Kangaeroo Corner’s garden is about to enter its second spring, and is currently going through its first winter. And its grass is greener than could ever be imagined…literally! Although Kangaeroo comes from a family of avid gardeners, he had never really had a chance to do much gardening. Only an unfortunate attempt at a balcony garden during penthouse living at the turn of the century had afforded itself, with less than promising results that were later to dwindle away to nothing. Until Kangaeroo Corner came into being, and with it a garden. It was an ounce of luck, actually, as…

  • Daily Life

    Well, At Least We Found Out

    Kangaeroo’s housing estate has recently been afflicted with a spate of bicycle thefts and vandalizations. As an avid cyclist, this hit Kangaeroo hard. Mrs. Kangaeroo’s winter gloves were stolen, forcing her to head out into the freezing cold winter morning with her hands unprotected from the elements. Kangaeroo’s spare road bike and the death machine were also vandalized and various equipment and accessories were stolen. Enraged, Kangaeroo headed to the police to report the issue, even if only to be able to received formal notification to enable making an insurance claim. Astonishingly, instead of largely ignoring a bicycle-related theft issue,…