I had other plans on Saturday that kept me off the bike, but it was all to the good as there was quite a wind, and today was milder. I’ve been eager to get Hornsby out for a test ride following the drivetrain replacement (see Part I and Part II), and it was only a question of how far I’d go — how much to tempt fate.

I waited until 10 a.m. so the temperature would rise above 10C, and set out on the Tokyo Landmarks ride. My last two goes on this route with Hornsby were cut short, so I was determined to break the streak of bad luck. And from the first flick of the shifter lever — beauty.

The shifting was working great, but I hadn’t positioned the lever properly. It was a challenge to shift up to a higher gear. At Meiji Jingu I broke out the multitool and had that sorted out in less time than it takes to tell.

Then there was a rubbing or squeaking noise. Brakes? No. Saddle? No. I eventually realized the wheel had shifted in the frame (again — this was the problem on the last ride that resulted in me having so many shifting issues). At a traffic light I pulled up on the sidewalk and had the wheel aligned in short order, and gave the quick release a couple of extra turns to tighten it further. There were no more issues the rest of the day — just a couple of small adjustments to the shift cable tension to stop chatter in a couple of gears, all accomplished via the barrel adjuster.

The Imperial Palace was far too crowded with tourists for me to stop for my usual photo at the moat corner. There were some nice pink blossoms on the sidewalk surrounding the palace, though. I continued on towards Tokyo Big Sight, getting hungrier by the minute. After passing Tsukiji I was surprised to see a delivery bot at the crossing in Tsukishima. I was a bit slow getting out the phone for a snap, and I’d just put it away again when another bot crossed in the opposite direction.

Blossom season starting

The start of cherry blossom season in Tokyo was announced last week, but it was still early for the famous somei yoshino. That did not stop the blossom viewers turning out in droves, and when I arrived at the usual 7-11 in Tokyo Big Sight I discovered the shelves had been picked bare. I was able to find enough food to keep me going and turned my sights towards the Sumida river and Tokyo Skytree.

Leaving Skytree behind, I turned into traffic by the famous Asakusa shrine and climbed the steep rise up to Ueno Park. This and the following climb up to Tokyo University were two out of several where I dropped to the lowest gear and crawled along at a walking pace. The new derailleur and gears worked wonderfully — never a missed shift, and not once did the chain drop off the largest cog as it would on the old drivetrain.

It was about 2:30 when I stopped at the entrance to Tokyo University. I figured I could reach Budokan by 3, and I should have no trouble with the Kudanzaka climb now that Hornsby’s gears were performing so flawlessly. I was right on both counts, and along the way I crossed paths twice with the Good Day Cycling group out on one of their Brompton excursions.

When I’d set out at 10 this morning, I was immediately warm and soon sweating. I thought I might have waited too long for the day to warm up. But the wind could be chilly still, especially where the route was in shadow. At Chidorigafuchi, with the sky becoming darker, I was starting to feel the chill again. I messaged Nana I would be home about 4, and then turned on my lights before continuing.

Despite the gathering gloom, there were still large crowds at Shinjuku Gyoen when I passed. While they were a week early for the main somei yoshino event, the park has many other varieties of cherry trees that should already be in full bloom.

The new drivetrain continued to perform flawlessly all the way home. I’d tended to downshift more than necessary when coming to a stop, which doesn’t hurt anything — I just have to shift up a few more times when starting up again. Shifting under load was no problem, although of course it would make a bit of noise. I’d only managed to create a bit of stress once when I back-pedalled at a stop when I hadn’t quite finished downshifting before the stop. Even this was not an issue — I started off gently and the derailleur had sorted itself out in just about one second.

I reached home at 3:37 without any drama. On a riding time of 3:38:59, I’d averaged 16.8km/h. It’s hardly the fastest time, but I wasn’t trying to break any records.

This is an excellent course for Hornsby. The upright position and single derailleur are handy in traffic, and the stop lights are frequent enough that my hands didn’t get numb and sore as they had on the Tour de Tohoku. I overcame the mental blocks that were growing over Hornsby’s shifting issues, this course in particular, and cycling in general.

I couldn’t be happier with the new drivetrain. Despite my fears, I can balance the bike up a steep climb in the lowest gear. It does spin out at the top end — there were some descents where I started coasting at a speed where I’d still be pedaling with Kuroko. But it’s not likely I’d reach those speeds in any other situation than on descents, so it’s not an issue.

Now I need to get back in the habit of riding on my daily commute!