I’d intended to get out the door at 8 this morning and ride up the Tamagawa to Hamura and back, getting in the first metric century in quite a while. As it happened, Nana didn’t get up until 8:30 (while she hadn’t made any of her world-famous onigiri, I don’t like to leave before she’s up) and then I took my sweet time getting ready, imagining the frigid reception awaiting me outdoors.

When I finally got going about 9:40 (the Garmin says 9:45 owing to a false start) it was 3C, but it was sunny without a hint of wind, so I was quite a bit warmer than I’d expected.

With the later start, I’d already selected Haneda as the destination before arriving in Futako. After about 3km of riding I came to the rest area with the row of kawazuzakura — a species of early-blooming sakura — only to find a detour. The alternate route at the foot of the levee was a broad gravel path, very smooth and flat. Within 1km I was back on pavement.

At my first stop at Omoide Sakura I looked across the river for Fujisan. At first I thought it had been hidden by a new tower under construction, but then realized I was looking in slightly the wrong direction. Still there, right where I left it. *Whew!*

After the rest, the wind picked up a bit. It had been largely absent up to this point. It slowed me by a gear or so, but nothing too obstinate. I realized I was starving, so I stopped at a combini about 5km from the end of the route to get some things that would provide enough energy for the return trip.

I knew this particular combini had a bicycle rack, but when I arrived I found it had been rendered useless — it was pushed too close to the fence to make it possible to support bicycles on it. Meanwhile, a number of kickstand-bearing bicycles were doing their best to block access to the stand as well.

I finally made do by propping Kuroko up against one of the A-frames, but it was very difficult to get between the rest of the bicycles to get there. And once there, nearly impossible to reach the front panniers.

Back on the cycling course with schwag in the bag, I was making better time once again. I took my time around the various obstacles on the course, such as an elderly woman who climbed the staircase up to the levee and stepped halfway across the path before thinking to check for traffic. She bowed when she realized I’d come to a stop to let her continue on her way.

When I arrived at Haneda Peace Shrine, a couple of younger men were paying proper respects. I patiently waited for them to finish before getting my snap and then heading to the small park where I could sit on decorative stones and enjoy my combini lunch. I arrived at the park to find the trees full of chirping birds, and all the stones in the shade covered in monochrome Jackson Pollack artwork. I decided for a change to sit in the sun.

Homeward boost

It was just before 12 when I messaged Nana I was on my way home, and she replied (as always), “Be careful!” I was getting a boost from a tailwind on the way, which was really only noticeable on switchbacks when I briefly turned back into the wind. Familiar as I am with my own pace, though, I recognized I was getting a bit of assistance. It was during this stage that I turned in my best 5km segment of the day at 14:14, or 21.1km/h.

I arrived back at Omoide Sakura — where I’d first looked for Fujisan — eager to use the public restroom, only to find a couple of surprises in store. The first was a gent on an ebike towing a bass in a large white case who was also eager to use the facilities. The second was a sign proclaiming “Cleaning in progress — do not enter”. While the bass transporting bloke disregarded the sign and plunged in, I decided to wait it out. In the end I had only a minute to wait, and was gratified at the cleanliness that awaited inside.

On the final leg back up the river, I finally started experiencing a bit of hand numbness and a touch of saddle soreness. I’m glad to report both were less than I’m used to experiencing. My hands would recover after a brief shaking, and when I had the chance I would shift position on the saddle or stand on the pedals for a moment to relieve the pressure there.

Back at the kawazuzakura detour, I took a moment to note the end date of the construction: 27 February. The blossoms are still three weeks off or so, and might still be pretty full by the time the course opens again. I took a peek over the fence and saw the pavement was not only fresh and smooth, but also wider than it had been. This is a welcome development.

As I neared Futako, the river bent west, into the wind. It was not overpowering, but it was a change from having it help me on my way. I passed under Futagobashi and continued until Rte 246. I have to dismount there and push the bike up a circular stairway to the bridge surface, but once there it’s a lot less crowded, with zero contending with crowds of pedestrians and oncoming cyclists.

On the climb back up out of the Futako river valley, I was in my lowest gear before I expected it. I’d been a bit stronger on the brief climbs up to this point, but now my thighs were definitely fatigued. I was gratified to note that Garmin considers this an actual climb — it would have been humbling if the elevation data said, “Pffft! That trifle?”

(I’d disabled climbing mode on the previous Garmin because it took over the screen, obliterating the navigation view. On the new model, it still devotes more than half the screen to navigation while providing climbing data.)

I reached the Dogseal statue at 1:16 and got the snap before sitting on a park bench and devouring a Snickers I’d picked up at the convenience store at Rokugodote. I used up the last of my water to wash down the Snickers and wondered if I’d need to stop on the way home, either at a combini or a vending machine. I decided I could make it at the current temperature. I’d messaged Nana before tucking into the candy bar that I’d be home about 2:30-2:45, so I donned helmet and gloves and returned to traffic.

The ride home was mostly uneventful, and I stopped the Garmin at 2:21 and messaged Nana I was home. I soon had Kuroko up on the parking rack and was relaxing in a hot bath.

I was very much taking it easy today, and am pleased with the time I made — both the elapsed time and the moving time of 3:25:03. The later equates to an average moving speed of 18.8km/h.

Mechanicals

For today’s ride, this should be titled “Meh-chanicals”. Following last weekend’s tune-up in the Workshop in the Sky, Kuroko was completely silent even when I was putting the hammer down. On the other hand, the shifting — while dependable — was just that bit noisy and slow. It could probably do with some adjustment.

When I set out in the morning, the Garmin was set to indoor mode — a legacy of my having fired it up in the Workshop in the Sky to check the charge in the Di2 battery. I’d gone about half a kilometer before I sorted that out (it doesn’t use satellite positioning or record distance in indoor mode), and it was another half a kilometer after that it had connected with the satellites and started recording. So add a mental kilometer to today’s total.

My left knee started hurting just a bit around kilometer 20. It wasn’t enough to make me stop, and I kept going until the combini at Rokugodote. After the brief break there, it was fine. I’m not advocating “riding through the pain” at my age, particularly concerning the knees — not at any age!

I had a very minor pain start up about the same time in my right hip joint. This continued through the ride, and I suspect it’s something — unlike the knee — that’s not just going to go away by itself. I suspect it’s a harbinger of things to come. When I finished the ride and was parking the bike and making my way to the elevator, the hip joint was popping.

Finally, the right knee gave a brief bit of pain while doing just that bit more grinding than normal on a slight rise on the way home. Just so as not to be left out of the misery.

Idiot tabulation

Possibly not exhaustive

During today’s ride I encountered the following:

• An ojisan who had stopped his bike at the side of the path and was scattering bread crumbs for the birds, with the result that a flock of pigeons and seagulls extended clear across the path and to several meters to each side.
• A young girl pirouetting with her jump rope on the path, who ignored my bell and pirouetted one last time directly into my path just as I was trying to overtake. I was going very slowly in anticipation and nothing happened as a result. The idiot is her father, who watched the whole thing without comment.
• The guy in the large white van who refrained from passing me when the road was straight and then decided the time to overtake was when I’d swung out into the lane around a parked car, following the car just ahead of me.
• The group of little-leaguers who stopped at the top of a switchback to await their buddy, blocking the entire path meanwhile and ignoring the bell. Then when the buddy came tooling up the switchback, he was entirely intent on the game still being played out on the diamond below and not where he was going.
• The couple who were adamant that they could walk side-by-side on the path, all other path users be damned.