Tokyo Cyclist

 Whenever I prepare for a trip like this, a lot of ideas flow through my mind.  Some of my friends also offered ideas this time as well. "Something like this might be a lot more enjoyable on a motorcycle" - to be sure, the road part would be more enjoyable.  Instead of struggling to maintain 35, I could easily maintain 30 on a moped, or 40 or 50 on a larger motorcycle.  Even on a moped, I might have more presence on the road.  This would also prevent me from taking a lot of the back roads and cycling trails I that are part of the fun.  A road legal dirt bike would probably have been the best compromise if I wanted to go motored.  Part of the reason for the trip was to get some much needed exercise, however.   "Wouldn't a lighter bicycle be easier?" - again this isn't wrong.  On the roads, a lighter bicycle with thin road optimized tires might be easier to maneuver - especially up hills.  The astute among you might know the bike I to...

 I woke up relatively early yesterday and headed out some time around 8:00.  I chose to take the roads most of the way, with a little bit of cycling along streams and rivers thrown in.  This was because I was prioritizing getting back home soon, and not so much worrying about the scenery.  This doesn't mean it wasn't nice for part of the trip - but most of it was through semi urban areas.   Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to have taken the scenic route, just like I would have loved to go all the way to Mishima (Or Nagoya!), but I have other things planned for Winter break, and I was running over budget. If there's one thing I have learned on this trip, it's that 50km through forests, mountains, and fields is not the same as 50 km of riding on roads in terms of speed or endurance.  Sure, this should be obvious, but it's difficult to quantify until you try it for yourself.   When you ride 50km in a day in the city, it's easy to think "Oh...

I made it to Atsugi Hayashi ahead of schedule, arriving at 10:10. The straight line distance in the map was less than 30km, but of course once I planned a route it was longer - 36km to be exact. ( Leomo Nav Data ) The other thing is that I stopped at Atsugi Hayashi last time, however I thought it might be interesting to stop near Atsugi station this time instead.  The only issue is that sometimes parking can be a pain near the station, and I didn't want that hassle for what I hope is just a quick stop.   I decided I had experienced enough of the scenic view and wanted to prioritize getting here quickly, so I chose Google maps instead of Navitime. The first part of my trip involved roads with a speed limit of 40kph, so I tried on the road and kept up my speed as best as I could.  I made good time during this portion of the trip. The second part was hight speed roads with a limit of around 50kph, so I decided to relax and ride on the sidewalk. The last part was retails...

Having aborted the last leg to Mishima, I am back in Odawara now.   I checked the flat tire in the morning and found that it had list a little pressure, but was serviceable.  To be sure, I pumped it up until the pressure was around the same as the rear tire, and then went to a cafe to kill some time.  When I went back to check about an hour later, there was no noticeable pressure loss, so I continued on my way.   It occurred to me that last time on my way through Odawara I had not actually ventured near the station, as the net cafe I stayed at was quite a ways away.  Since I had found that there were some cheap hotels nearby, I decided to give the station a try this time.   Taking the windy road (Partly route 135, partly Ogawara-Yugawara Line) was fun, but a little tiring, as it was 40kph and 30kph all the day, and I tried to keep up that speed as best as I could in order to minimize the number of cars passing me....

I'm sitting at a McDonalds in Yugawara right now, which is saying something since I actively hate McDonald's - but I needed to take a rest somewhere.  (I ordered the green salad, edamame and corn, and iced coffee). I haven't been inside of a McDonald's for over 10 years, so I was surprised to see they use paper straws and wooden utensils now.  I guess be good to the environment in some ways while you are causing deforestation?  Anyway, I checked the route to Atami this morning, it seemed reasonable enough.  I started out irritated because there are entirely to many cars for such a sleepy little town as Odawara, and still enough houses that every corner is a blind spot with cars and people just waiting to pop out and surprise me. In other words, it's urban enough to have a lot of people, and hence, cars.  Yet it's not urban enough to have a subway system, and not remote enough to actually have spaces between the buildings so you could see the death m...

 I woke up around 5am today, but since it's Winter, the sun hadn't come up yet.  When the sun did come up a bit before 7am, I headed out.  My idea was to head to Odawara, arriving there around 10am, rest for 2-3 hours, and then head for Mishima around 1pm.  Logically, this plan should work since even if I left at 1pm, I should arrive in Mishima in 3-4 hours, so it would either still be light, or just getting dark near the end of my trip.   But I didn't arrive at Odawara at 10am, more like 11:30.  I also stopped to eat, which took some time.  More than that, the route from Navitime was "Interesting", to say the least.  I was directed through small trails, farmland, through the forest, and other places where you couldn't take a car and wouldn't want to take an ordinary bike.   That's fine, I have a mountain bike for a reason - but it also directed me to some corporate owned roads with "No Trespassing" signs.  I managed to work my...

 The only thing you can truly count on is that things rarely go according to plan.   I had planned to leave for Mishima last Thursday the 15th, however I also was asked to decide if I would attend my company's Christmas party.  I was too busy to check the details, but I figured "Why not, I should be back in Tokyo by Christmas", and accepted. I realized too late that the party was on Friday the 16th.  That meant that I would need to delay my departure until the Saturday the 17th.  Of course it was raining on Saturday, so I ended up leaving on Sunday - and later in the day than I had planned. I decided to only travel during daylight hours, which meant that I was limited in how far I could go.   I made it as far as Machida before it got dark. ( Leomo Nav Data ) To make matters worse, I had video equipment failures.  I recently bought a "Dummy Battery" for my camera so that I could power it directly from my bik...