• Strine Sports

    Sunrise of the Year (So Far!)

    Mother Nature turned on an absolute bloody ripper of a morning with the sunrise of the year so far, at least as far as I am concerned. The skies were simply glorious as light broke through, blended with the clouds and created a mix of vibrant colors crossing the spectrum. And the clouds played their part, too, creating swirls in the skies that shaped an otherworldly ambience. It’s the second consecutive fantastic sunrise I’ve seen and was simply breathtaking. I spent a lot of the ride voicing my thanks to Mother Nature for such a stunning start to the day.…

  • Strine Sports - Unknown Nichigo

    Up There, Kazari!

    Australian Sports Day was a fantastic event held at Komazawa Olympic Park yesterday, and I got to go and enjoy some of the proceedings that were a decorative display, (or should I say kazari?), of some of Down Under’s favorite pastimes. The day itself was a ripper, starting with explanations, demonstrations and games of cricket, moving on to games of footy and then ending with a netball exhibition, with sales of Aussie foods, wear and fare such as meat pies and banana bread and cuppas from Club Australia‘s Tad Watanabe and the Australia Cafe van. Needing to deal with duties…

  • Daily Life - Strine Sports

    ベロ👅にヴェロ🚴 (A Taste for Cycling)

    Cycling is one of Kangaeroo’s great loves. And so is chocolate. It’s rare when the two meet, though it’s not unfair to claim that the prospect of guilt-free gluttony of chocolate is a motivating factor for Kangaeroo’s cycling. But in this week when chocolate assumes center stage in Japan, it was a delight to come across cycling chocolate sets. It was this great delight that Kangaeroo managed to come across the sets, which are selling for a measly 184 yen apiece (for a boxed package of five decent-sized chockies!) The sets contain chocolates in the shape of a bicycle, a…

  • Daily Life - Strine Sports

    Wonder Undies!

    Kanageroo hasn’t really won a great deal in lotteries or the like over the years (despite hitting the jackpot in so many other ways), so it was a pleasant surprise last week to win a great prize! That prize was a gift coupon for undies! Kangaeroo won the undies through a website called Miles. Miles is a downloaded phone app (at least that’s how I use it) that keeps a record of all my travel. A bit ominous perhaps, but I have nothing to fear and my phone is tracking my every move and sending all the data anywhere, anyway.…

  • 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 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…

  • Strine Sports

    Some of the Cycling Camerawork that can be Expected

    These are the types of shots that I’ve been able to take of bikes. Related posts: Rounding Biwa, Japan’s Largest Lake Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 5: Beppu to Uchiko San-poses! Dekochari, Proud Member of Japan’s Itasha ‘Cringeworthy Cars’ Family Goings On Cheating Death! Well, At Least We Found Out Aussie Kit Maker Perfuro Storming Onto the Scene Nature’s Double Delight and Not a Skerrick of Proof Tripping on the Tama River Powered by YARPP.

  • Strine Sports

    Getting Off to a Good Start

    So far, the winter of 2022-3 has been fairly kind to Tokyo. Unlike 2022, when the early days of January saw snow and generally gloomy weather, this year has been warm and sunny on the whole. Kangaeroo got on the bike early today and headed downtown to meet some mates near Tokyo Tower. It’s Coming of Age Day in Japan, a national holiday, and the first when legal adulthood in Japan is designated as 18 years of age instead of 20, as it had been up until this year. The holiday is also one of those made flexible a few…

  • Strine Sports

    Nature’s Double Delight and Not a Skerrick of Proof

    Nature turned on a absolutely glorious morning – albeit a freezing one. There was a huge moonset in one direction and a delightful sunrise simultaneously in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, the only camera Kangaeroo was carrying was on a smartphone. This rarely takes decent pics at the best of times, let alone trying to get a lunar shot, which is challenging at the best of times with the most sophisticated equipment. Then, blessed with a delightfully colorful sunrise and otherworldly cloud pattern on the return journey, positioning and timing rendered photographic evidence impossible. Kangaeroo was not in a good spot…