Tag: Tamagawa Cycling Road

Daily Life, Strine Sports

離婚ベント同士！

by  • 

Fate smiled broadly on me today as I finally dragged myself out on the recumbent (or the rikonbento as we’ve come to call it), and was rewarded by getting a meeting I had yearned for years.

Following yesterday’s glorious weather and my most recent viewing of a weather forecast showing us to be in store for more of the same, I woke with high expectations.

I was shattered, then, to see it had rained overnight and it was cool, overcast and bleak.

We’d transplanted the carefully cultivated seedlings yesterday based on the weather reports only to go out and have a sweltering sun pound down on them and then followed close by with rain and other unfavorable phenomena.

Normally, I wake in the morning, then get out on my bike before I can talk myself out of it.

But on weekends, I take time and find ways not to go.

With wet roads and a fear of the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of rim brakes, I had to ride a bike with disc brakes, which meant the hybrid or the recumbent.

Mrs. Kangaeroo hates the recumbent because of its potential dangers and lack of safety, so we have been jokingly calling it the rikonbent, a portmanteau of rikon, Japanese word for divorce, and bent, a frequent nickname for recumbent bicycles.

I finally dragged the bike out, pumped up the tires and headed off. I traveled slowly and a little sadly as the cherry blossoms have now passed their peak.

I was heading into the home straight and bumped into someone I have long wanted to meet.

I first learned of him through a massive ride he made through Tasmania several years ago.

Later, I learned he is also a proactive contributor to the Tokyo cycling community through his central contribution to the Positivo Espresso cycling blog.

He is also a recumbent rider, getting on a carbon-framed Pelso that was just an absolute beauty, and a really durable and skillful cyclist, so he has long been an inspiration for me.

I was delighted to stop and have a chat. I know he is a very prominent person, but he was extremely humble, kind and friendly.

Suddenly, I got to come home feeling very upbeat.

And felt even better because I was able to storm past a couple of roadies who had disdainfully overtaken me on the cumbersome turns of the Tamagawa Cycling Road.

Coming home and posting my ride on Strava, another good friend made lots of comments, so it turned out to be a pretty decent day in some ways.

Daily Life, Strine Sports

The Rising Sun Just Stole My Heart Away

by  • 

With only mildly sincere apologies to perhaps the ultimate bogan band, Cold Chisel, this morning’s rising sun just stole my heart away.

Although Jimmy Barnes and the Chisels had their girl stolen, I had mistakenly believed it was their heart.

But the title was too good to throw away, so I had to tie them into this in some way.

It’s been a somewhat lousy week, mainly because I have been flat out and it has stopped me from riding regularly.

Mrs. Kangaeroo was on night shift last night.

As always when alone, sleep didn’t come easily.

I got to crunch out a decent chunk of the work that needs to be done, though, so insomnia was a nice silver lining.

With drizzle on Monday and oversleeping through my alarm yesterday, today was the first time I had been able to head out in the morning with anything like resemblance to my normal pattern.

It’s a little chilly, but this week has become noticeably lighter.

I was still using a 2,000 lumens light to see my way for 3/4 of my morning ride just last week.

Now, I can basically turn off the light at about the halfway point of the ride.

It’s still murky, especially on days like today when the clouds are out, but it is nicer and much more accommodating for cycling to be able to do it in the light.

And it was those clouds that joined the rising sun to put on an absolutely magnificent light show this morning.

The beautiful sky came totally out of the blue as there had been no indications earlier that it would be so sensational.

But as my time cycling along the Tama River drew to a close, I was greeted with a huge yellow disc emerging over the horizon.

Many of the other cycling road users were gasping in awe at the sight.

It was a wonderful chance to actually greet some people as we shared the wonderful moment.

I felt really blessed.

And then, just as quickly as the sun had put on its show, it had risen to a height where the clouds obscured it once again.

And it was back to reality and normality.

Daily Life

Warming Up

by  • 

After yesterday’s spectacular start and the promise of a 20-degree day, I woke with great expectations of another brilliant beginning.

Anticipations of even greater things arose with the warmth being decent enough to enable the year’s first early morning ride in shorts and short-sleeves (albeit with a heattech T-shirt).

Wanting to get higher quality shots of the expected glorious sunrise, I loaded up with the heavy DSLR camera.

And it was with great delight that I headed up the Tamagawa Cycling Road and noticed a bit of patchy cloud cover.

This was delightful as the presence of clouds creates greater visual appeal with sunrises.

And….the clouds ended up taking over.

Approaching the point where yesterday I noticed the sunrise was going to be something special, I was disappointed to see that the morning was still bleak and dark.

And it stayed that way pretty much the whole time for the rest of the ride.

Eventually, despite carrying the camera for the entire ride, I got home without taking a single shot.

At least it was light by the time I got home and I could see the growing number of blossoms starting to flower, including the wattle in the garden.

In keeping with the outcomes of the day, I’d been able to gather considerable video footage of what was frankly an unremarkable ride….but yesterday I got almost no images even though I had thought I was recording most of the trip.

But now, a couple of hours later, it’s shaping up to what looks like a lovely, sunny day! And I am here in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt (more heattech underneath, though!)