Mount Fuji And Lovely Leaves

Bless with time, fitness and fine weather, the highlight of another month of stupendous cycling was heading up the Doshimura road to Lake Yamanaka and its wonderous views of Mount Fuji and the autumnal leaves in the area.

This is the path the Olympic cyclists will take if they ever manage to hold the Games here, and it’s a bit of a challenging ride, but the return downhill was magnificent! Oh, how I love Belladonna and the world she has opened up for me.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • Disobedience Is The True Foundation Of Liberty

    Prohibited by my doctor and physiotherapist, and frowned upon by Mrs. Kangaeroo, I’m not supposed to be riding my bike because I haven’t fully recovered from a broken leg. But after giving it a try and coming through unhurt, I have gotten on my bike again and find it liberating, regardless of whatever anyone else says. I’m spouting all sorts of tripe like the title of this blog post that I stole from American philosopher Henry David Thoreau. But my track record in life is more disruptive than disruptor, and rebellion and defiance have almost invariably left me smashed to pieces, mostly rightfully so. So, I’ve been scared to get…

  • Floral Flamboyance

    I’ve said it before and will say it again (over and over, I’m sure), but Japan when the cherry blossoms are in bloom has got to be the most exquisitely beautiful place on earth and now, with the flowers bursting into their peak, is no exception. As happens nearly every da, I got to take a ride along the Tama River in the (still) pre-dawn hours. Today was a little different as the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, leading to some delightful shots. Perhaps even more beautiful were the blossoms on the tributary, Kotta River.

  • Warm in the Winter

    It’s bloody freezing, but some know the best way to beat the cold. We had a pretty heavy snow fall last week, but it was followed by a few days of unseasonably warm spring-like weather that took the edge off. Only for winter to return with a vengeance as the mercury plummeted, the winds wound up and the sun struggled to break through the clouds. Some of us are better at coping with the cold, with my pet Dinosaur being a case in point. Dino is a rosy-faced lovebird, which is endemic to south-western Africa, so they’re genetically inclined to seek the warmth. In the coldest parts of winter, usually…

  • |

    Football, Meat Pies, Samurais, And…Penny Farthings?

    After a fairly busy weekend in which I was constantly busy, but never really got much of note done. I could, however, look back and say that at least I had encountered football, meat pies, Samurais and….well, not the Chevorlet or Holden cars the old ads talked about, but, um, penny farthings. Rides on Friday and Saturday traversed the Sekiya no Kiridoshi, a samurai road connecting Onojijuku, an inn from the Edo period (1603-1868), and the road into Edo, the predecessor of Tokyo. It’s a delightful, bucolic setting and photogenic. Saturday afternoon was devoted to study, then calling family and catching up on the latest news, which was unfortunately that…

  • Summer Drawing To A Close Even If It Doesn’t Seem So

    It’s gonna top 35 degrees again today, but it was pretty obvious to me this morning on my ride that Tokyo’s summer is drawing to a close. Not only are the mornings getting cooler, albeit only slightly, they’re also getting darker. I’ve been using a small, flashing light to let others know I’m around for the past few weeks. But today I needed to use a bigger light that would enable me to see what was going on during the first part of my journey along the Tama River Cycling Road. And instead of being accompanied by the sound of chirping cicadas, the dominant bug life on morning rides this…

  • 2023, A Japanese Odyssey

    A mate of mine has just accomplished a superhuman feat that filled me with admiration and maybe more than a little inspiration: a (barely) 10-day bicycle journey from the south of Kyushu to the northernmost part of Honshu as part of an event called the Japanese Odyssey. My mate, who I haven’t named because I haven’t sought permission to write about him and who I think is so humble he usually lets his actions speak for him, went on a trek of about 2,500 kilometers long and some 30,000-odd meters of elevation. And he finished this while only just into the 10th day of riding, and almost three full days…