Aki River

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Paddy, Tell Me Now, ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’

    Tempted by the rice paddies, which now look like mirrors as they are filled with water and the stems planted, I rode through western Tokyo along the Tama and Aki rivers into Itsukaichi to climb and take beautiful photos. It’s been a while since I have ridden in the mountains, but the stars aligned today and I decided I’d try to see whether I could still do it. I’m about 30 kilograms heavier than the last time I rode higher than 400 meters in elevation, which I reckon was about four years ago. And now I’ve just remembered that I rode a climb earlier this year, so I am lying….

  • Many Happy Returns

    Don’t be fooled: This post has absolutely nothing to do with birthdays. It’s about doing things again for the first time in a while. The whole day was a series of events reminding me of the past. We started by cleaning the estate garden. We live in what is basically a retirement village that has cheap management fees, and they’re cheap because residents have to keep the common gardens and grounds maintained. When the cleaning was over, it was back on the bike. And I was back with a camera bag on my back for the first time in many years. I had a delightful ride up to the end…