cycling

  • |

    Big Red Bike Tour Stage 1: Chilling With Chooks

    Chooks and geegees played an unexpectedly pleasant role as the Big Red Bike Tour Stage 1 got underway. Unsure where to go and uneasy to leave the ailing Dino the rosy faced lovebird alone for too long, I decided to enlist the aid of Mrs. Kangaeroo. Mrs. Kangaeroo is a great horse rider and had a session planned. Back in the day I often used to ride by Gocoo Horse Village, the corral where she rides frequently, but I haven’t been there for many years. Nestled in the mountains, Gocoo was a cool option to beat the heat. Leaving almost an hour after Mrs. Kangaeroo, I was surprised to arrive…

  • 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…

  • Sunshine On My Shoulders Makes Me Sappy

    It’s hard not to wax lyrical when greeted by a spectuclar morning where the moon is waning lyrically and the sun about to wax. The waning moon, Venus and, I think, Mars, really stood out in the pre-dawn skies as I set off on my ride this morning. I’ve long given up trying to take a decent photo of the moon because I don’t have the technical prowess to do so, but the sight was so delightul I tried anyway. (And failed!) Yet again, the late summer sunrise did not fail to, well, shine! It really is a wonderful start to a day to be greeted by such a glorious…

  • The (Ballsed-Up) Big Red Bike Tour

    Had things been different, right around this time I would have been getting ready to go off on an exciting bicycling adventure that I’d named the Big Red Bike Tour. But the trip is off, or at least changed into a different, much-truncated version. Having fortunately fallen into buying an aesthetically delightful bicycle of such an azure hue it could only be given the name Big Red, I was keen on taking advantage of its comfortable riding sensation and ability to go anywhere to head out on a tour. Keeping up the Big Red theme, I promptly went out and ordered a blue Kangaeroo kit (replete with thought bubble to…

  • No Better Time To Ride In The Land Of The Rising Sun

    Now’s about the best time of the year for me to cycle in Japan. Being an early riser, I hit the road just before the sun rises in the sky. The upshot is that I get to see some beautiful skies to start off most days. Today was a bonus as there were some delightfully whispy clouds, plenty of color and gradation to greet me and my bike. I stopped in a few different places to capture what I thought were increasingly beautiful scenes as I moved on. It was a bright start to something of a bright day. My finger has healed as well as it is going to….

  • | |

    Riding Miles Into Town For An Exxy Esky

    Never much of a sleeper, I got a lucky break during a bout of insomnia when I found an online marketplace offering an esky giveaway. Luckily, the owner was connected, and we arranged a pick-up earlier this morning. Always an early riser, it wasn’t tough to get up, but I am now paying the price for the midnight exchange as I had to do a 60-km roundtrip before I started work. In that regard, the free symbol of Australia has turned out to be a bit exxy as I feel bloody tired.

  • |

    The Lions Won’t Eat You…As Long As You Can Outrun The Gazelle

    Blessed with more time than I’d expected yesterday afternoon, I got to have some fun with the statues at the closed Yokohama Zoorasia. My Astuto bicycle got some great shots running away from wild animals, including a pack of lions chasing a gazelle. It reminded me of my schooldays, when I was the slowest runner in the entire school, and a friend joked that it wouldn’t matter if a wild animal chased our group down, as all they would need to do would be to run faster than I could. Painful, but true! I’d often toyed with a visit to Zoorasia, so was glad to finally make it, and pleased…

  • Sizzling Hot Hits The Spot…Sometimes

    Tokyo has been blistering hot for weeks now, with temperatures topping 35 degrees nearly every day now since at the least the start of July. For someone who despises the cold as I do, the heat is welcome, regardless of its energy draining effects. At least, that is for some of the time. Steamy humidity throughout the night has made sleeping onerous, and I’m not helped by Mrs. Kangaeroo being extraordinarily sensitive to the cold, which rules out my preferred remedy of having a fan going beside the bed. Fortunately, cycling helps acclimate to the heat, I have found. My experience has been that riding in all weather conditions essentially…

  • Meeting Little Mate Is An Absolute Tweet

    Thanks to the courtesy and support of colleagues, I could whip out of the office early, get on my bike and be greeted with the delightful chirps of a little bird ecstatic to see me as I arrived at the Yokohama Bird Clinic. Dino, our rosy faced lovebird, chirped excitedly upon seeing me. I was delighted to hear that she is improving, but also a little disheartened to hear Dr. Ritsuko Kato’s opinion that it is unlikely our bird will ever make a complete recovery and will need fairly constant attention if released from the hospital. After the roughly five minute visit, which is about the extent permitted, I got…

  • Heading Out On A Bird-Brained Mercy Mission

    Another extreme heat warning has been issued for the Tokyo area, but that’s not gonna stop me from heading out on a bird-brained mercy mission. It’s bird-brained in more ways than one as I will go to visit Dino, our ailing rosy faced lovebird who is hospitalized in Yokohama. She is, according to her vet on a phone call last night, doing OK, but the core problem of her being unable to poop remains a sticking point. I’ll find out more when I leave work early today to ride through the heat to see her and the vet, but the state of affairs is casting a pall over my lifestyle…