I’d told Nana last night that I’d be cycling the Tamagawa today, and then when I woke up this morning I thought the Asakawa might be more fun — especially if the dogwoods are in bloom.

And then, soon after I set out, I saw the azaleas. Everywhere. And I realized this would be a good day to visit Tōgaku-in, also known as the azalea temple. I’ve been there twice before, in 2022 and 2024, but on both occasions I was a few days late to get the peak bloom. Was today my chance?

I hadn’t loaded the route to Tōgaku-in in the Garmin, so when I reached Nikotama I stopped in a small park to take care of that. I didn’t remember the name of the temple, so I first searched this blog for “Azalea”. That gave me what I needed, so I next searched the Ride With GPS app for Tōgaku-in. The route came right up, and I spent a couple of minutes trying to figure out in the app how to send the route to Garmin. I finally found the right buttons, but for some reason the route would not show up on the Garmin.

I finally shrugged, had a good look at the route in the app, and figured I could wing it. It’s quite straightforward in fact.

I’d also remembered that on the previous ride I’d realized the rear derailleur needs adjusting. It wasn’t bad enough to prompt me to bring Kuroko up to the Workshop in the Sky for a session, but I tried to have a go while I was in the park. I remembered that I should put the rear on the fifth gear (counting outwards from the largest), and try to center it there. It looked pretty good to me, but perhaps a bit on the inside, so I gave it a couple of nudges outward.

That’s not it

I set off again and I was OK in the lowest couple of gears, but after that it was a nightmare. The derailleur was hunting across the gears and making a lot of noise. I pulled off the road at the earliest opportunity and nudged in the opposite direction. I got the bike rideable again, but it was far from perfect.

Tōgaku-in

It’s basically straight and flat from Nikotama to Tōgaku-in, so the derailleur wasn’t such an issue. There was a lot less traffic and faff then I’d recalled from my two previous visits, so I’d apparently picked a good time. I checked the app on a couple of occasions to make sure I was heading in the right direction and not going past my goal, but in fact my memory had kicked in as I rode and the route was familiar. Sooner than I’d thought, I was kicking into the lowest gear and making my way up the brief climb to the temple entrance.

It was after 11 when I’d got my photos of Tōgaku-in, and I was getting a hankering for Nana’s world-famous onigiri, stashed in Kuroko’s bags. But first I wanted to have another go at sorting out the rear derailleur. I called up the Better Shifting site to see if I’d been doing anything wrong (apart from trying to do this on the road rather than with the bike in the stand in the Workshop in the Sky).

The first thing I noticed was I should have the front derailleur on the smaller chainring before starting. OK, I was already there from the climb up to the temple. Then, as I was clumsily shifting the rear into the fifth gear, I noticed that the gear shown on the Garmin display (which is synced to the Di2 system) did not match the actual gear on the bike. The display was saying 5, and I could see that it was definitely on 4.

OK, so the first order of business was to use the adjuster to get the derailleur on the fifth gear when then system thought it was in fifth. That done, I continued through the remainder of the adjustment instructions and exited the micro-adjustment mode.

That’s it!

As soon as I got going again, I knew the adjustment was sorted. There might be some room for incremental improvement, but the shifting was smooth and flawless, and quite a bit quieter than it had been. Overall, I was in a better position than I’d been during last week’s ride when I first noticed that some adjustment was needed. And the operation was a much bigger success than some mid-ride derailleur adjustments I’ve done.

After leaving Tōgaku-in I returned to Tamagawa and rode the path up the Kanagawa side. It’s been some time since I’ve come this way. I decided to stop briefly at Funajima Inari Daimyojin shrine for a couple of snaps before continuing on. I finally reached Tamasuido Bridge and crossed the Tamagawa back into Tokyo. At last I came to a stop at Nishigawara Park.

At Nishigawara I took my time. I bought a bottle of water from a vending machine to top up my bidons and sought out a bench in the shade were I could enjoy the onigiri. I’d had breakfast at 6 and it was already past noon, and I finished off three onigiri without pause.

I had just about the right amount of water left to see me home, so I messaged Nana to expect me around 2 and set off. I hadn’t done a lot of distance before turning back, so I didn’t have much trouble with the first couple of rises out of the Tamagawa valley. But after that I flagged a bit. There was never a question of my making it home, but I felt wrung out and I didn’t chase traffic lights — much.

It was a shorter ride than I’d intended from the start, but I was happy with my timely visit to Tōgaku-in, and with the day’s excursion. On a moving time of 2:40:52, I’d averaged 18.1km/h.

Clik!

I’ve had two episodes with bent valve cores in the last two times I’ve inflated Kuroko’s tires, so I decided it was high time to give Schwalbe’s new Clik valve a try. The system combines a newly designed core, which snaps open and shut, with a redesigned pump head. Inflating the tire is as simple as popping the pump head onto the valve, and popping it off again when done. Or so the marketing would have us believe.

The Clik starter pack arrived last week, and I replaced the regular cores yesterday in the parking garage. I tested the pump head attachment with the small frame pump as well as the big floor pump, and there was no issue with either. I had no trouble with the tires or valves on today’s ride: so far, so good.

None shall pass

The last thing to note about today’s ride was the drivers who were observing the new guidance (from 1 April) for passing bicycles. Early on in the ride I was overtaken by a police car, immediately followed by a compact car whose driver swung all the way into the opposing lane before overtaking me. At other times, I noticed drivers waiting behind me when there were ample opportunities to pass.

Not all drivers, or even a majority at this point, but some drivers are evidently heeding the new guidance. I’d been aware for some time of the change in regulations concerning cyclists, and was on my best behavior, but I only learned of the passing rule last week during a lunchroom conversation with coworkers.

I’ll need to get a clearer idea of what the new passing guidelines are before I’m next behind the wheel of a car — about three weeks from now.