I’d planned an earlyish start today, out the door before 8 a.m. But our sleep was interrupted about 1 a.m. by a fire that broke out on a lower floor of the tower. Lots of sirens and alarms ringing, and conflicting instructions. By the time we’d dressed and grabbed our wallets and bags, they were sounding the all clear.

I found it oddly difficult to get back to sleep after that, finally drifting off about 3 a.m. only to awaken at 6. At that point I immediately updated my expectations. I would obviously be getting a later start, and I would have a lot less in the tank than if I’d had a full night’s sleep. The other factor was letting Nana sleep in, meaning the world-famous onigiri wouldn’t be ready for a while yet.

One benefit of putting off the departure was watching the mercury climb out of the single digits, until it reached the point I was fully comfortable when I set off in shorts and the lighter of my winter jerseys.

I was riding for the first time with my new Garmin, and I immediately noticed it didn’t show the map. This wasn’t a complete surprise — the seller didn’t specify but I assume it came from the US. It was also set to auto-pause each time I stopped. I had disabled this on the old unit after Lejog, when I realized I couldn’t tell from my ride record what time of day I’d reached a given spot. I couldn’t find the setting while waiting at a light this morning, so I just shrugged and continued on. I had to remind myself when the first 5km split came in at 15:08 (which would be a very good time in traffic) that it wasn’t counting the time I’d been waiting at lights.

When I reached the Arakawa I paused just long enough to update Nana with a picture of my location before continuing downstream. I bounced back and forth between feeling I was making good progress and feeling the fatigue from the lack of a good sleep. I was also wearing a new pair of shorts for the first time, and while the fit is very good, the chamois is on the thin side. So I was dealing with saddle issues in addition to the rest.

When I reached Sumida Lock I stopped in the shade of the New Arakawa Bridge to eat a couple of onigiri. I was starving! I took a few minutes to rest as well before continuing on for the last stretch to Shinsuna.

I reached Shinsuna, exactly 40km from the start, at 1:15 and immediately sat down for another onigiri. I didn’t rest long this time but mounted up immediately for the ride back into the city on Eitai Dori. I skipped my usual stop at Nihonbashi just because I was making good time, and was soon circling the Imperial Palace — which was thronging with tourists.

At Chidorigafuchi I sat down to eat the last onigiri, washed down with Pokari. I checked the time: I’d told Nana I’d be home by 4 or 5, and it was now just 2:35. I messaged her I’d be home by 3:30 or 3:45 and set out again. I was really feeling the fatigue over the last few kilometers, but was pulled onward knowing I only had a few more minutes to go. I made it home at 3:11, just a few minutes after Nana had returned from whatever she’d got up to today.

With the auto-pause enabled, the headline figure shows the average speed based on moving time. And in this mode, the time on Strava matches. (The moving time tends to be vastly different when auto-pause is disabled.) On a total elapsed time of 4:26:48, I averaged 13.2km/h.

The bicycle worked flawlessly. (I’d topped up the tires before setting out, as it had been the better part of a month since the last ride.) As for the Garmin, I got the Di2 integration working while I was resting at Sumida Lock, and I disabled the auto-pause once I got home. I’ve run some updates and I’m now struggling with maps of Japan. As for the shorts, I’m going to check with the vendor if they offer a thicker chamois or another selection with a separate undershort.

There’s a semicircular gate where the cycling course meets the street at Eitai Dori, and I just nudged the edge with one of the front bags. Overbalancing, I banged my leg against one of the handlebar ends just above the knee. So that’s still a bit tender. And then a few kilometers from home, the other knee started hurting. I was nursing it through the last bit, and I can still feel it’s a bit tender now. After publishing today’s blog, I think I’m going to put these aging bones to bed.