Month: March 2020

Yesterday the weather was beautiful, warm with blue skies. Unfortunately I had other things to do. Today was very mild, but the skies were grey and occasionally threatening. I’m happy to report I only noticed a drop or two of rain as I was riding, and later the sun peeked out from the clouds. At the same time, though, the wind picked up considerably. Near the finish I was nearly blown out of my lane! Fortunately the car following me at that point was keeping its distance.

I made good time through Meiji Jingu, past the State Guest House (Geihinkan) and Akasaka. In fact I set a personal best climbing up from Akasaka Mitsuke to Uchibori Dori, although a part of that was making all the lights green. I made my first rest stop at Shiba Koen, and it was around here that the threat of rain was the greatest.

I’ve never seen the Imperial Palace grounds as empty as they were today, although I’m not usually down here on a weekday. I’ve never been able to get Kuroko in this shot in the past because the sidewalk has always been full of joggers.

Turning east from the palace, I was greeted by the welcome sight of the Bank of Japan, finally done with its renewal and all the walls and barriers down.

I stopped for an early lunch of Nana’s famous onigiri at Tokyo Big Sight. I was surprised to see groups of pre-schoolers out in the park, socially mingling as if there’d been no announcement from the governor asking us to avoid unnecessary gatherings.

After crossing over the Sumida River with Tokyo Sky Tree in the background, I stopped near a baseball field in the park and refilled my water bottle from a tap in a public restroom. Usually I’d avoid that but any port in a storm … I’d no sooner finished than I realized how foolish I was being. It’s exactly the sort of tap that people would be rinsing their hands at, and it’s designed so you can’t avoid touching the spout where the water comes out. I poured out the water immediately, and then stopped at the next vending machine and bought some bottled water. I filled my other water bottle with that, and didn’t touch the first water bottle until I got home — Nana sprayed it thoroughly with disinfectant.

My last stop of the day was at Chidorigafuchi and Budokan. Here the crowds were thick as people turned out despite the grey skies and governmental pronouncements to enjoy the cherry blossoms.

When I got home and synced my GPS, I saw that I’d gotten my 400km badge for the month.

Strava didn’t include the 26km ride where the Garmin wasn’t recording, of course. The Garmin site (where I entered the ride manually) has me at 476km.

The day dawned clear and warm, and the Halfakid and I decided to visit Otarumi Touge, a mountain pass near Mt Takao, for the first time this year. I rode up to the pass at least three times last year, but I’ve never reached the top without stopping for a breather. (The Halfakid goes right to the top each time.) Although I’m in far from my best shape, I thought that Kuroko’s latest and greatest low gearing might just prove the answer to my climbing woes.

From the moment we hit the Tamagawa river basin, we were fighting a strong crosswind. I tucked my head down and soldiered on, and the Halfakid tucked in behind me. While I was riding often three or four gears lower than I normally would for this path, we were still averaging just above 20km/h. I vowed that I wouldn’t call it quits but keep pressing on, no matter how low the gear, as long as we were making progress.

We were a bit fearful when it came time to leave the Tamagawa and turn towards the Aso river, because we’d be facing straight into the wind. After crossing the initial bridge, however, we found that — if anything — the going was a bit easier. We were soon enjoying the views of sakura blooming alongside the cycling path.

At this point I was wondering if the wind would be hindering us on our climb up to Otarumi Touge. We wouldn’t know until we reached Takaosan Guchi — the train station at the foot of Mt Takao — at the earliest. The only thing for it, as before, was to keep my head tucked down and keep my pedals turning.

Here’s the part where the flats come in

Unfortunately, fate had other plans in store for us. I heard the Halfakid calling for me and I pulled up to a stop. He had a flat. We pushed our bikes up against the leeward side of a public restroom and took stock. The Halfakid was concerned he didn’t have a spare inner tube (mine are a different size), but it turned out he did. With my coaching, he removed the flatted inner tube and checked the tire and rim by feel for any foreign objects. Finding none, he inserted the new inner tube and worked the tire back over the rim. After reinflating the tire with my pump, we were back on the road after having lost perhaps 20 minutes.

If that were the end of it, we might still have reached the top of Otarumi Touge and made it home in time for a hot bath and dinner. I’m sorry to report, though, that I failed to finish securing the tire pump to my bike after the fix. It dropped off with a clank as I passed a jogger under a bridge several kilometers later. The Halfakid stopped and picked it up and brought it up to me at a walk. It was easy enough to secure the pump, but the reason the Halfakid was walking was he had another flat! And it was the same tire — the rear.

At this point we decided professional help was in order. (We could have patched the inner tube and continued on, but it might have only bought us another kilometer or two.) The Halfakid looked up nearby bicycle shops on his phone and we set out walking.

The first shop was just an 8-minute walk, but that turned out to be 8 minutes wasted. When we rounded the corner and found the little corrugated tin hut in the middle of a parking lot, we knew it wasn’t what we were looking for. Nevertheless, the Halfakid gamely engaged the worker in a series of questions. She’d never heard of tire sizes in anything but inches (the Halfakid’s are 700C). And when he asked if she knew of a nearby bike shop that could help with a proper “road bike,” her answer was at once meaningless and unintelligible. We thanked her for her time, checked the smartphone for directions once again, and set out.

A pair of familiar faces

On our way to the second shop, much further away and partly retracing our steps, we came across a family restaurant and sat down to a deeply needed repast of calories. Thus refreshed, we continued on towards our local cycling Mecca. And as we passed the final intersection, we both thought it seemed very familiar. Yes, we’d returned to the very shop that had repaired Ol’ Paint for us more than a year ago when the Halfakid was riding her on our way to the same destination — our first attempt on the Otarumi Touge pass.

If the mechanic remembered us, he gave no hint. He was having a very busy morning of it and we had to wait for him to finish up a repair for another customer before he could assist us (and several more customers entered the store as he was helping us). The Halfakid described the problem to him and he set to work. After removing the inner tube, he immediately did what we hadn’t done: inflate the tube to find the source of the leak. And within moments he was pointing out a spot on the wheel where the rim tape was crooked, leaving one of the spoke nipple holes partly uncovered. The inner tube had failed after coming into contact with the sharp edge of the spoke hole.

The mechanic removed the faulty rim strip and installed fresh rim tape, then patched the inner tube. He had the bike ready to go in almost less time that it takes to describe the issue. We asked him for a spare inner tube and left the shop $25 poorer and a lot happier.

Unfortunately we’d used up too much time fixing two flats, including the time spent eating lunch and walking to the shop. There wasn’t enough time left in the day for us to take on Otarumi Touge. We turned our bikes back towards Tokyo and were spurred along by a strong tailwind. As we rejoined the Tamagawa, the wind occasionally came across the path and slowed us a bit, but overall it was giving us a firm push homewards. Before long I was handing the new spare inner tube to the Halfakid at the door to his apartment and setting off for the remaining 8km to home.

In total I rode 84.24km today in just over four hours for an average of 20.88km/h.

After nearly a month passed since my last ride, I finally got back in the saddle this morning. In the meantime I’ve been busy, including a three-day trip to Kyushu, but the main thing keeping me off the bike was pain in my right knee.

After a few weeks of nursing the knee (including hobbling around Nagasaki and Kumamoto on a cane), I felt it was recovered enough to attempt the bike this morning. We’re on reduced hours at the office (a misguided effort to allow us to avoid the crowds on the trains during the coronavirus outbreak), so I was able to depart at a civilized 9 a.m. instead of 6:30 as I’d have to do normally.

My commute is all in traffic but it’s mostly flat. At just over 12km, it’s just far enough to make it worth riding. On a good day, in fact, I can cut about 10 minutes off what it would take me to get to the office by train.

Today, though, I was not in a rush. I was taking my time and spinning the pedals — not pushing hard — to avoid stress on the knee. And it came through with flying colors.

Surprisingly, traffic was heavier than I’m used to on this route. It’s possible that many people who are “working from home” are in fact out and about. But the additional traffic was a good reminder to take it at an easy pace and just get myself to the office.

In like a lion

When it was time to leave the office for home, I discovered I’d forgotten my house key. Nana was in a client meeting, so I had to cool my heels for a couple of hours at the office before setting off. I was fine — the bike has lights and they were charged up. The wind was, if anything, even stronger on the return, and at times I was fighting to stay upright and not to be blown into the path of traffic.

Our December mileage is identical!

Buck

With all the caveats, it was good to be back on two wheels. I discovered the derailleurs need even more adjustment following the latest upgrade, but I assume it’s nothing I can’t handle. (The possibility remains that I have no idea what I’m doing, as well … ) Overall, I was glad to post some March miles. Let’s see how much more I can get in before the lamb runs out at the end of the month.