I got a day off work with beautiful weather. Before setting out I took off Kuroko’s stem cap and discovered the compression plug was standing proud of the top of the steerer tube. It was a moment’s work with the proper hex wrench and torque wrench to put that right. Then, with a couple of spacers I’d bought on the way home from work yesterday, I finally sorted out the stem cap with the proper White Industries model.

I set out at a leisurely pace, mindful I’d had some knee pain on the most recent ride. The cherry blossoms have mostly fallen but there were a few hold-outs along the Tamagawa. The wind was a mixed bag, at times with me and at times against, but not nearly as it had been my last two rides on the Tamagawa.

I wasn’t sure what to expect on a weekday, but traffic in Yokohama was surprisingly light. There were still a lot of tourists walking around Minato Mirai, but vehicular traffic was blessedly thin.

My knee had been sending urgent signals for a couple of kilometers before I reached Yatozaki, so between that and the wind, I didn’t even attempt the climb. There’s a sharp transition not far from the bottom where the gradient suddenly ticks upwards from low single-digits to double-digits. I dismounted there and took my time pushing Kuroko up the remainder of the climb, mindful of my cleats on the cobbled sidewalk.

Yokohama was windy but not murderously so. I’m pretty sure I was benefiting from a tailwind most of the way back to Kawasaki and then the Tamagawa, but I didn’t set any records despite the boost.

I reached Tamagawa about 1:40 and messaged Nana to expect me home about 4 p.m. I was feeling the urge to make good time, but I smothered that (for the most part) to continue the leisurely pace. My knee felt fine and I wanted to keep it that way. I considered whether I wanted to stop for food but in the end just kept riding. Before reaching the park in Futako, I stopped to check my water bottles. I had just enough to get me home.

On the climb out of the Tamagawa river valley, I shifted almost immediately to my lowest gear and just kept spinning. I’d passed a couple of schoolgirls on their bikes at the bottom of the hill, but I could hear them chattering behind me as they kept pace with me. I put a few meters distance on them in the second half, but I was fully winded and they continued chattering as if the climb was of no concern. (My friends agree: the climb is nothing. It’s me who’s old and fat.)

As I rested in the park at the top of the climb, I noticed a few remaining yaezakura blossoms, and the start of the azaleas. I checked the time — 2:40 — and messaged Nana again to expect me around 4. And then I was off into traffic. Not much to tell about that, except I was reaching for lower gears than usual for the few remaining hills. I was able to clear one traffic light that I usually catch red, and the drivers were for the most part patient where road work made the going too narrow for overtaking.

I made pretty good time on the way home despite the wimpy climbing, arriving at 3:35. On a moving time of 4:42:09 I averaged 18.9km/h for the day, which is pleasantly surprising considering my leisurely pace.