Scene while riding

This is one of the pictures I took while we were out riding a couple of weeks ago and it pretty much sums up how fun a long ride, amidst beer stops can be. There were 5 of us that day and we covered about 90 solid Kms with additional shaky ones that were mostly side trips to pick up more beer. It was sunny and a little chilly but it was the chilly that quickly turns to refreshing as you sweat away the time. I need to upload some more pics but until then ride safe and remember that commuting is like midday snacking while you wait for the weekend buffet.

On my way down

Last year end was going great. Greater than any year had gone in a long and, despite being on the verge of being cut from work, I was optimistic. The weather had been great, bonus season is around the corner and I was coming into more than a week off. I was on my my to work on Christmas and I decided to take my camera because it was probably the last chance I was going to get to commute by bike to Shinbashi. I have commuting by bike since June 1st and I can honestly say that I can't go back to taking the trains. I get frustrated by every stop thinking "jeesh, I could be at blahblah by now" or "I am going to get sick from the prick next to me coughing all over everyone". I was riding high on that buzz when BANG. I slipped on a wet patch and slid into a car waiting for the light. I dismounted, being already half on the ground and went over to the sidewalk. Now the driver didn't know what to expect and my gut said BOOK IT outa here but my conscience said you hit his car and you're at fault. Never did it cross my mind that all those drivers that have hit me with their sideview mirrors should have stopped or the taxis that speed in front of me and slam on the brakes to drop off a fare were in the wrong. I honestly felt that it would go smoothly. He called the police and I waited. This sort of thing has nothing really to do with cops but the guy was shocked and pissed and I was wishing I had kept on going. The cops showed up and took my information and his then proceeded to berate me about what I had done and how was I going to recompense the driver for it. I told them that I had stopped so I could give him my info and that I should pay for it but burst out laughing when the cop asked if that was it. I couldn't control my laughter and the driver, taking pity on me had to turn away and smile. The cop was upset so I asked what I should do and he told me to apologize so I responded " that's a good idea" but didn't say sorry because he was waiting for it and I thought I was going to lose it again. I haven't been back on a back until the 11th of this month. I was really pissed about the whole thing and I tried to hide it from my wife but the more I thought about the angrier I got at all the drivers that have squished me into parked cars or almost killed me while they talk on their phones. When I finally did tell her she laughed and asked if that was it because she thought that I had hit a pedestrian in a cafe in Israel or something. Nobody had been hurt and I was still alive. I have never been so relieved before. The whole time I had been doubting my choice to stay at the scene but I felt better about the whole thing and I was guiltless to start the year. I shot some other pics that day and you can see some of the sights I saw everyday on the way to work. Here's to 2009 RIDE SAFE! The track bike that never moved. I guess there were some days that it wasn't there but I usually saw this bike on the way to and from work Tokyo tower. I must have passed this place more than a 100 times and I always thought it was pretty cool. This is the park where I stopped for beers and the fixster took pity and talked to me. If I had the extra cash I would buy a Brooklyn machine works Gangsta (full brakes) because it was such a fun bike to ride The arch thing by the park. When it was lit up at night it was cool and reminded me that I still had an hour to go before I was home.

Dopeness

Rapha Gentlemen's Race - Sept. 6th, 2008 from RAPHA on Vimeo.
via D'ordinaire

Boss got a bike

I always find it strange when people talk about how long they have been riding bikes because, I always figured, everyone learns to ride a bike when they are a kid. I can see asking more specific questions like "How long have you been riding a track bike?" or "How long have you been commuting by bike?" as understandable because those aren't things that we take for granted. I was shocked when my boss told me that he hasn't ridden a bike in over 4 years because he seemed like the type that would ride sometimes. Recently he'd been asking me more and more about bikes and then he told me that he was planning on buying one. I really envied him because he was going to go through all the fun of waiting until it finally got there and that feeling is something unto itself. There's always a little bit of disappointment when you finally get what you have been waiting for but it disipates quickly when you hop on and ride. He picked it up from the local shop and was ready to go instantly, even bought a helmet. He called me up and we worked out a meeting point. He had bought a 2009 Giant seek which seems like a pretty cool bike and looks like a sturdy. I know that $600 in the cycling world is a drop in the bucket for some but to a regular person you always want to get your moneys worth. We stopped for a beer and got to do the "let's look over this bad motha!" tough guy thing. I felt like he had the hood up and we were getting the IROC ready for a trip to jersey to pick up hair spray girls. We were being tough. We headed down to the river and talked some more about biking and how it doesn't get easier because the more you do it the further you want to ride.

VH1

A ride to remember

Another night and I wanted beer, as I was on my way home, because the train was so crowded and everybody was very stinky. I wasn't stinky because, as one is in one's own mind, I'm not lumped in with everyone else. I got off the train a stop early to grab a cold one and make my way to the bike shop where my wheel was being repaired and my seat nut stem fudge thing is on order. Turns out they forgot to fix my wheel and my seat nut is "on the way" which is when I held it all in and told them it was cool. Enter the son who, upon seeing me, grabs, incorrectly, a carbon wheel from the building rack and apologizes. I tell him I am happy to even be let in the shop and he gets to work on my wheel. I wish it were the carbon but the lurker says you'll get hit by lightning if you ride them so it must be true. I looked through the hat bin and head off to grab some more beers. I grabbed the recent release, without meaning, lager for the guy who is truing the wheel and head back. I pass him the beer and, being Japanese, he dis acknowledges them. He goes on and on about the wheel as I listen and wonder about some of the vocabulary. I asked him a couple of times and they, the father, mother and son laugh because the onomatopoeia are killing me. I left with a new quick step cycling cap and a free wheel true true method man. My pension will buy a frame from that store. so happy that I bought the brooks there. Then I was at home. I was on on my way to place where people shouldn't ride bikes and that is way further away from the place where people shouldn't drive cars, yet they do more than we do. After a beer and a tyre replacement, the good Dr. needed a new skin, we were on our way. to the ends of sanity. Where we all wear north face and devour human souls!!!!!!! Or at least where we all have expensive bikes Christ like balance while emitting a beep beep beep stylistic like " I remember 10 years ago" massage to your senses. So we took group photos that made about as much sense as the previous sentence. I took a sick pleasure in calling them all together for more and more group pics. They were all so happy to do it, likes Nazis to kill or Italians to eat pasta, they crammed themselves in again and again to have their picture taken. and again I hope you note, if it's published, that the good Dr. held up my steed in the rear for all the pics that he could. Then I went for another beer and the bike tried to kill a Run dmc inspired Christmas tree After that we, the royal one, returned to where the ride had begun. I found a wheel and a shirt, panicked that thieves might come so I tried to find the owner. After calls and riding I remembered that, being Japan, you can leave wheels and shirts laying around because it's safe. Thank you for how safe this country is and have a merry Christmas. I wish I could bring the benefits of CA and JP together so we could have great beer, food and outdoor contests of strength that end in great food and beer. At home yet home sick.

SNOW!!!!

you'd think everyone around here had an extra chromosome with the way drivers were acting on the roads yesterday. ridiculous. fun ride regardless, though verrrrry slow. 15 cm yesterday, although today was sunny, but the flurries have already begun and they're talking 15-20 (depending on proximity to and position around the lake) overnight/tomorrow morning. the photo's not mine, but it's a good one - this isn't dawn or dusk, but midday at king and bay. so much for the sun...