Last ride for January. It’s been quite cold this year, much colder than any other year recently. It’s good if you’re skiing, but not so good for us cyclists. As much as I’m getting sick of this cold weather, I much prefer it to be cool, or cold than the heat of summer. My philosophy is that in winter I can put more clothes on to stay warm, or go inside to heat up, but in summer, (particularly in Japan) once you’re outside in the heat, you can’t escape the humidity, and you can’t take off any more layers of clothes (without being arrested!)
But just about another month until it starts to warm up again, can’t wait. A few friends have a running joke of riding ‘slow along the beach’, of course this has just been an excuse to TT it to wherever we are going at 45km/h or so. We have joked about getting jersey put together since we started riding like this, and now it is starting to come together. We’ve got a few ideas for a jersey based on what I originally made as a simple jersey, but it’s starting to kind of stick. We’ll see how it transforms…
No more media for me…! I’ve run out of ‘free’ space.
So I started a new blog, nearly the same address as this, just with a ‘2’ at the end!
japankharma2.wordpress.com
Managed to get out for a quick ride in the afternoon, and then while the weather was behaving, was able to get some nice pictures of the sunset as well from Zushi.
To be continued…
A few days of this week. Basically means I have been riding
70km
102km
What else can I do. Better than sitting at home doing nothing I suppose!
Ride to Kasai Rinkai Koen 葛西臨海公園
Kicking off 2022 with a ride to Chiba, just across Arakawa river, but counts as a ride into Chiba.
Met Jon near the usual corner, then rode up Route 1 to meet Kazu and Nobu in Kawasaki before heading up to Tokyo. Good lunch at a cafe in near Asakusa (which we dropped by real quick for a few photos), and then took a few wrong turns once we got to the river. Allowed us to get some decent pictures of the highway in the picture above.
Sure was a lot of traffic lights getting through Tokyo though. It was good to get a ride like that out of the way first of the year. On the way home, once we cleared Kawasaki, we were able to get a few stretches where we could keep some pace and not have to stop every 300meters for a red light. That was nice.
Last year I managed to ride just over 10,000km, which I hadn’t originally planned, but once I got to about 8,500km, I thought I could get 10k (it had always been a New Years Resolution; to ride 10k km).
And part is of resolution, including this year is to do some specific rides and areas. So at the beginning of year last year, I put together a bunch of rides I would liked to have ridden. I got all of them except for a few. But just just means I have to do it again this year. All the ones I did last year, and all the ones I didn’t get. I’m sure I’ll add a few more along the way too. (I’ve already ticked off a couple!)
Bucket List Rides 2022
And here is the fastest summary of the rides I did last year.
Parks. This seems to happen more often than I think. Go to a park and see signs like this; “No golf, baseball, soccer, or other dangerous sports…”
Monster. I ordered some stickers and got a freebie… now, just where to put it…
Rice. After Yokohama City announced that schools will be closed, everyone thought about how much food they’ll need.. then rice started selling out.
Almost. Have just a little more to do…
Ume. Plum blossoms in ..full bloom. Normal for February.
Nanohana. Edible! one of my favorites.. fried with sesame oil!
Remembering. A day to look back on a life.
Semi Workout. From April I’ll be getting too busy.. I’m sure. I wonder how long I can keep up my routine…
Morning Rush. In and out of the station, off to work…
100yen. Even ‘Sushiro’ a chain store can get some good tuna every once in a while…
Hiyori. I’m glad I don’t have to pay for it…
Rebuild. It’s only taken me a few years.. like more than 3, to rebuild my bike. Now I just need to stretch out the cables and make the derailleur adjustments. (bar tape is on, cables trimmed, etc.. so a little more complete than these pictures.
Dried Out. Soon they’ll be back, green and …weedy.
Spring. Too early for spring? I think so..