The Cycling Gods

The cycling gods have been active through 2024. Like all the gods of ancient times, there have been plenty of trials and tribulations and (so far) a happy ending.

It’s no secret the period from about October 2021 to July 2024 was one of the most testing periods of my life, and riding my bike was probably the prime way I dealt with life experiences I couldn’t otherwise handle.

Life conspired to drastically curtail my cyling this year. I’ve been sick, old, looked after dogs, had a faulty bike, struggled through a grueling bike build, lost cameras, crashed, and been lazy and unmotivated. Recently, my life has taken a massive and delightfully pleasant upturn courtesy of a new job. And that has cut into my cycling, too. But I am enjoying life immensely, blessed to be surrounded by constructive colleagues and guided by supportive leadership. Though the former has been common through my career, the latter had been severely lacking for the bulk of the past three years, and it was extremely diffiult to deal with. But now, life is good. And I will continue to do what I can for that to go on. Hopefully, the cycling gods will be riding with me, too.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • Saturday Night Shibuya

    After many years of not blogging, a website fix inspired me to get back into it. For several years, I had been keen on photography but let that fall by the wayside, too, mainly because carrying a camera around everywhere is bloody cumbersome and I now cycle a lot, which makes me focus on reducing the volume of stuff I carry. Yesterday, though, I took my camera with me and shot a few pictures for the first time in a long while. I’m really rusty, but liked some of the results.

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    RIP to a Ripper Bloke, Bob Hawke

    Australia’s last man of the people to become prime minister is no longer. Robert James Lee “Bob” Hawke died earlier this week, just two days before his beloved Australian Labor Party is expected to re-take office in the May 18 federal election following six years of misrule by an incompetent Liberal–National Party coalition government. Hawke was 89. He was a popular prime minister whose time in office went from 1983 to 1991. He remains the longest-serving Labor prime minister in Australian history. Hawkey didn’t really have much to do with Japan during his time in office. Perhaps the closest project involving Japan was the disastrous Multifunction Polis proposal that sparked…

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    豪キャブラリー： Pissed

    オーストラリアの飲酒文化が深く、近所でバーベキューを頻繁に開き、日本などに比べて娯楽施設が少ないので、暇があると酒を飲む人が少なくなくpissedとなる場合が多い。他の英語圏の国ではpissedは主に「怒る」と言う意味だが、オージー英語ではその意味の上にもっとよく使われているのは「泥酔状態」を示すとしての言葉だ。考えてみれば、泥酔状態だと怒りが共通となる場合が多い。ところで、ノンべは、pissheadとも言う。ちなみに、pissedは、不敬な言葉なので、使うに気を付けましょう。

  • Otherwordly!

    Strange things are at play today, starting with a sunrise that for a fleeting moment created a scene like the cover of a pulp science fiction book from the ’50s or ’60s. The sun was shaped like a perfect disc and rose above the horizon, turning the early morning sky into a hazy shade of pink. Gradation of light meant that this blended into the gray and specks of blue that were also evident and made for a spectacular sight. It was lovely to ride. The light is enormous, and being able to see from the get-go makes a huge difference in the way I cycle. I can let loose…

  • Castle In The Air

    From Atami, we backtracked only the old Tokaido route to the castle town of Odawara. We were delighted to be presented by a garden full of flowers again, this time the hydrangea and shobu, both plants that bloom around now when the rainy season hits. Mrs. Kanageroo had never climbed the keep of the castle, so we headed upstairs through the concrete recreation of the once crucial fortress in feudal times and enjoyed the glorious view it gave of the once strategic city. Greater things awaited, though, so we didn’t linger for long, but were there for just enough time for Mrs. Kangaeroo to get an unexpected horse ride.

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    How a Koo Wee Rup-Ture Created the Legendary Aisha the Geisha

    Becoming a geisha, a practitioner of Japan’s arts in a rigidly controlled, hierarchical society with customs dating back centuries, takes a rare kind of inner strength, and doubly so as a foreigner in a world insular even for the generally inward-looking Japanese. 激しい縦社会の中、数百年の歴史を誇り日本独特な伝統文化を身につけるために厳しい訓練を受ける芸者になるには、相当内面的な強さが求められている。ある意味で「閉鎖的」と言われている花柳界は、一般に内向きと言われている日本人が溶け込むのが難しいが、そもそも島国根性が見せられている外人にとってなおさらそうだ。 A Koo Wee Rup cutie displayed such power after being mercilessly dumped by her Nar Nar Goon goon as she wrenched herself away from the attractions of asparagus farming, booted the Blundstones, rammed the shears and shoved aside all the old cows’ bullshit to create the legend of Aisha the Geisha. しかし、アスパラとじゃがいも栽培で有名なクーウィーラップからやってきたオージー農家おてんばが農家で泥・沼（そして、泥沼）・羊・牛などとの生活の魅力を破棄して、内面的な力を示し、振られたナーナーグーン住まいアスパラ農家である彼を勝ち取り戻せるために「エイシャ・ザ・芸者」の伝説を作った。 Aisha dedicated herself to embodying Japan’s tradition-seeped, delicate, refined arts where every move is executed…