• Strine

    Costly Bloody Crash!

    Kangaeroo’s accident this week continued to have reverberations. Although both Kangaeroo and the bloke he collided with rode away apparently unharmed from their predawn collision, costs have since mounted. The crash gave greater urgency to updating the chain and gear sprocket on La Cangura, which had been showing signs of wear for a while, and there was also a sneaking suspicion that the gear wire could probably do with replacing. That proved to be precisely the case with a visit to the Y’s Road bike store later in the day. The good news was the sprocket and cassette are still…

  • Strine

    Ouch! Taking a Tamagawa Tumble

    「Ouch!」 「バカヤロー!」 「ごめんなさい。」 「日本は左通行だよ。バカヤロー!何考えてんかよ?バカヤロー!」 Kangaeroo took a Tama River tumble today and it was entirely his fault. Taking his normal pre-dawn ride along the Tama River Cycling Road, Kangaeroo caught a glimpse of an oncoming runner just late enough to be able to swerve away from her and avoid striking her…. ….only to slam straight into another cyclist coming from the opposite direction. The immediate aftermath was the aforementioned conversation. It seemed like the other bloke and his bike were OK. We rode off in opposite directions. La Cangura is scratched and her wheels wobbly. The Wahoo mount destroyed beyond…

  • 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…

  • Strine Sports

    Doing Something Better than Nothing

    Kangaeroo had a rare late night, typically torrid sleep and woke with great reluctance when it came time to take a customary morning cycle. Eventually, Kangaeroo did get up and drag himself out of bed thanks to the events of the previous day. For much of December and continuing on into the new year, Kangaeroo had been gutsing himself daily. Pigging out is a traditional way to greet Christmas and the new year. And this year was no exception. With a year of substantially reduced inactivity and greatly increased stress and pressure (that resulted in damaging emotional eating as an…

  • Strine

    Kicking Off 2023 With Central Tokyo Loop And Super Sunshine

    If nothing else, 2023 sure started far better than the awful year of 2022 did, and eventually led to a wonderful ride focused on a central Tokyo loop. Just as had happened 12 months ago, Kangaeroo headed off on the first day of the year before the dawn. Unlike 2022, when sleet and snow had been the order of the day, 2023 was bright and clear, a much more attractive prospect even if it was still equally as cold and dark as it had been the previous annum. The objective for the day was to take part in the Half-Fast…

  • Strine Sports

    Enjoying the Cycle of Life

    Kangaeroo is not a young marsupial. He is old, fat and lazy. Exercise is not his thing. Yet, thanks to the humble bicycle, this exercise-averse old codger can enjoy a relatively healthy lifestyle. Every morning, almost without fail, Kangaeroo wakes, dresses, has a cup of joe and gets on his bike. For the most part, it’s not a long ride, but it’s a ride. Kangeroo has got a lot of cobwebs in his head and these rides usually help to clean them out. They’re back soon after the rides are finished, but even so, they would be much worse without…

  • Strine Sports

    New Roads

    Kangaeroo won’t be doing much riding along the Tama River for a while. For the next few weeks, it will be back in the homeland again. Riding will be a bit of a challenge while there. But also a bit exciting! Oz is far stricter on policing road rules than Japan. It will be interesting to see whether Kangaeroo can adapt to the differences. Kangaeroo grew up in the Dandenong Ranges, which are apparently a cycling Mecca for Melburnians, though it wasn’t the case back in the day (at least to the author’s knowledge). For the time being, though, it’s…

  • Strine Sports

    Tripping on the Tama River

    Kangaeroo cycles pretty much daily. Due to a number of time constraints, nearly all the rides are along or near the Tama River. This river is one of the main waterways in Tokyo and has been supplying the city with water for centuries. River-side cycling is on bike tracks and really isn’t demanding (except for the requirement to be constantly wary of pedestrians). But it’s still great fun. Being able to wake up, get on the bike and shake off the cobwebs and let life rip is a blessing for this old man. And Kangaeroo is even luckier by being…

  • Strine Sports

    Enough Of The Cold, Already!

    May weather is generally the best of the year in Tokyo, by Kangaeroo’s reckoning, and though it looks like it’s gonna shape that way, it would be nice to say “bye” to the cold until at least the late autumn. The first weekday of May greeted early risers with a delightful sunrise over the Tama River. Rain started falling around midday the previous day, rendering riding as a bit too tough., The rain persisted overnight and into the early hours of the morning. The forecast was for the weather to clear and become sunny by the end of the day.…