I’d told Nana yesterday that I would be riding to Kawagoe today, and then I woke in the middle of the night to a gale wind howling through our open windows. Things had settled down a bit by the time I got up at 5 (having shut the windows and gone back to sleep), but the forecasts were still showing a northeast wind of 9m/s. In fact every source I checked differed from the others — more or less chance of rain, high of 18-24C, etc. — but they all agreed on a northeaster. The most favorable forecast was 4m/s.
Given the direction of the Arakawa, I should not be riding directly into the wind at any point, but I was looking at a crosswind from ahead on the way upriver and a crosswind from behind on the way back down. There are worse alternatives! When I set out just before 9 with a bag full of Nana’s world-famous onigiri, the wind was cold and gusting from several directions.
Any way the wind blows
Of course, nothing is ever straightforward when it comes to the Arakawa and wind, and for the first 5km or so I had a tailwind! I was a bit concerned that would make for a headwind on the return trip, but it got me to the Asaka Weir (the “UFO”) in jig time.


I’d meant to have an onigiri while I rested at the top of the rise up to the UFO, but somehow it slipped my mind. I hadn’t gone far when I realized I was getting hungry, but I didn’t really want to stop on the side of the path. I kept on, and the wind was coming across the path now, as I’d expected. It wasn’t as strong as the forecasts had led me to believe, and it wasn’t coming from ahead to a significant degree. This kept up pretty much the whole way into Kawagoe, meaning it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared.
For the past year or more there’s been a detour about 4km short of the Kawagoe Sports Park, but today when I came to the fork in the road the detour sign was gone. I continued along the former path and was glad to find the construction completed and some of the pavement improved as a result. I rolled into the sports park about 11:15 and immediately sat down to devour two large mentaiko onigiri.
Matsuri!
I didn’t think anything of the heavy traffic as I headed into Koedo — it’s typical on a weekend when the weather is nice — but as I approached my goal I was waved down a side road by several police and security guards forming a cordon. The reason was soon apparent: an enormous festival was going on right in the heart of Koedo.



With all of the parading and baton-waving, I had to dismount and choose an alternative route to my usual destination: a selfie with the Toki no Kane. I ended up approaching it from a side street, giving up on my usual short jaunt up and down the main street between the 19th-century warehouses.
After getting the snaps I wanted of Toki no Kane and the chanting revelers, I returned to Kawagoe Sports Park for another rest and more food before continuing home.
If the ride upriver had been not as bad as I’d feared, the return downriver was not as easy as I’d hoped. The wind was once again more of a crosswind than a tailwind, although I certainly benefited in spots. I was feeling OK about the time and my condition as I approached the UFO again, when I suddenly heard a shout, “On your right!” I turned my head to see three young men on racing cycles flying along, and I pulled to the side and shouted, “Go ahead!” They raced past me and up the climb to the UFO water gate. I followed (as always) at my own pace.
When I was still about 2km from the spot where I’d leave the Arakawa for city traffic and home, the wind turned against me. Still mostly from the side, but I was fighting a bit into it. This was the same place where early in the ride I’d enjoyed a tailwind, so there you have it: there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.
Mindful that I’d told Nana I’d be home about 3, I was hoping to reach the sign on the levee by 2 p.m., and in fact I got there at 1:55.
Dash home with the wind
After leaving the river course for traffic, the wind was nominally at my back. I’m not sure that I ever really noticed an appreciable boost. I didn’t have any issue with the climbs along the way, nor did I set any records. I dealt with the usual number of asshole drivers along the way, and kept my cool. I had almost enough water (i.e., not quite enough) for the trip. I rolled to a stop in front of the tower at 2:55, stopped the Garmin, messaged Nana that I was home, and got the bike into the freight elevator for the ride back to the Workshop in the Sky.

I’d brought the ride in under 6 hours. (I think my record might be 5.) On a moving time of 4:24:11, I averaged 19.8km/h. That’s about as expected. The wind was neither as much of a hindrance as I’d feared nor as much of a boost as I’d hoped.
Mechanicals
I’m not ready to talk about it. This will be a separate post in and of itself.
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