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Today January 2023

But this is the one she veto'd....
When my wife came to terms with my cycling addiction and we discussed the possibility of me getting my dream road bike, her last sentence of our discussion was "At least you are not into cars."

Perhaps Ms. @bloaker feels the same way? (My wife is absolutely correct, what we'd consider expensive in the cycling world is cheap in the car world.)
 
My hobbies from way back...
1) Cars
2) Bicycles
3) Motorcycles

Cars were expensive and I could not afford the short list of cars I wanted beyond my AMX. When I had the accident - it took some time for me to get back to the point to be able to work on cars again. By then - I had grown accustomed to decent gas mileage and accepted 'one day I will get another'

Bicycles... well nothing has changed. I just have nicer toys than before.

Motorcycles - I had my share and spent plenty of time on the race track. Plenty of little mishaps, but nothing really bothersome until I splintered my collarbone. That was 2006 and it has never healed correctly. I struggle on a motorcycle under heavy repeated braking. Oddly, while rehabbing, I found I preferred touring more than racing. I didn't see or expect that, but a motorcycle, a tent, and a sleeping bag became my new idea of an awesome weekend. When i moved to Japan, i sold off my last few motorcycles and here I am.

I guess technically... this is the cheapest option of the 3.
 
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I got my Moderna Omicron BA.4/5 booster (mRNA-1273.222) this morning. On the way to the vaxx site I met a fellow cyclist who turned out to be @Nuff on his way to an exercise ride along the Tamagawa. We had time for a quick chat waiting at the traffic lights. I love those chance encounters!
 
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I got my Moderna Omicron BA.4/5 booster (mRNA-1273.222) this morning. On the way to the vaxx site I met a fellow cyclist who turned out to be @Nuff on his way to an exercise ride along the Tamagawa. We had time for a quick chat waiting at the traffic lights. I love those chance encounters!
It was good meeting you too! Although I don't get much time to hang around here, it's good to meet other cyclists in person. And yes, it was good chatting to you too!
 
I exchanged glances with a few gaijin cyclists on the Tamagawa today. Could one of them been @Nuff? One certainly looked like a younger @GrantT.

Might have been me! The only person I know on this form that I bump into frequently is Kangaroo.

Edit: checking the strava flybys, we did miss each other by seconds today, but I'm sure we might have bumped into each other in the past, since I do the similar route very very often.
 
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Just had a quick ride up the Edogawa River.
Not too far but the re-appearance of the so far this year absent North wind was a pain in the butt.
Felt like I had asthma after cycling in the 25% humidity with nothing but a cold strong headwind to inhale.
The weather since the turn of the year has been exceptional.
The lower temps and inclement weather aren't a problem for me.It is the wind......either like riding against a turbo boost hairdryer in the Summer or a wind tunnel of cold dry ice in the Winter.
Still.......calm weather is given for tomorrow.
 
Went out for a ride around Miura yesterday before ending up at Beach Muffin for the Vegan Chili festival. Some nice weather on the whole, with some beautiful warm sunshine but was cancelled out by the biting headwinds at times. The good thing is that the shoes, socks, foil, and overshoes did they job and my feet were super toasty for the 6 hours or so I was out on the bike.

Wind was super strong at Enoshima so had to prop the bike up to get this because it kept getting blown over.
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After a long ride, a nice cold beer was in order, with this being the tropical stout with chipotle - it was ok but lacked enough flavour to be to my liking.
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Ended up having a few too many beers, thanks to someone kindly lending me some money, and ended up bagging the bike up to get home. Didn't quite get the 100 km + ride I was aiming for, but that can be done another day.
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The owner of beach muffin is super nice. He hooked us up with coffee early one morning before they were even open. He saw us slowly riding by as I was asking Ray if he was ok due to a nasty incident on the trail. We were invited in, he brought us out some wet paper towels and checked in on us to see how he was doing. - No blood - but the most disguisting contusion and the swelling was just starting when we arrived. It was very nice of him and ultimately, I left to ride home to get my van to come back and pick up my buddy.

Aside from that, I used to swing in there to get the Curry Potato Wedges.
 
Yesterday I was buffeted somewhat by the wind in the short distance from home to Musashi Kosugi station; but from Takao station SW to Gandō pass and from there ENE all the way home (total 117 km), I hardly felt the wind at all. So perhaps: When wind is forecast, head for the hills?
 
The owner of beach muffin is super nice. He hooked us up with coffee early one morning before they were even open. He saw us slowly riding by as I was asking Ray if he was ok due to a nasty incident on the trail. We were invited in, he brought us out some wet paper towels and checked in on us to see how he was doing. - No blood - but the most disguisting contusion and the swelling was just starting when we arrived. It was very nice of him and ultimately, I left to ride home to get my van to come back and pick up my buddy.

Aside from that, I used to swing in there to get the Curry Potato Wedges.
Larry? Yeah he's a diamond dude. We spent about 20 mins after drinking + eating talking about the bikes we had and local cafes + craft beer places.
 
Rode up the Edogawa River today as usual but veered off once I reached the Tobu Noda Line to check out some stations and their neighborhoods for my daughter who is looking for a place 'in the wild' so her Labrador can have a bit more freedom than he got in Tokyo.She,the boyfriend and dog are coming back to Japan sometime in March and she asked me to have a look around the Tobu Noda Line stations.
I had a scan of them from Kawama,nearest to the Edogawa to Unga.
I must say that the whole area has certainly changed since I was last around there.
However,Nodashi Station seems to have been on steroids and become huge while the surrounding area consists of only Kikkoman.
Shimizu Koen looks to have changed the most and for the better.Ther last time I was there my daughter was in her child seat on the back of my Trek.
How time flies.
 
This morning I pedalled my way to "Handmade Bicycle 2023". As always, there was a certain amount of flashy stuff going for high prices -- though, as pointed out above, low compared with four-wheeled analogies. This time around there were three exhibitors of wood-frame bikes: I don't know quite why (I'm happy with wood tables, etc), but I find wood bikes hideous. But it's still possible to get a stylish hand-built-from-steel frame that should survive misadventures for under 200,000 yen, which I suppose isn't all that much for a plastic frame that might have voids and other weaknesses. The most lavish exhibitor? Panasonic or Toei, one might guess. Wrongo: Equilibrium, which with its sutajan sales might be starting to transform itself into a "lifestyle brand" (aargh).

As usual there were plenty of fascinating machines parked outside. You've heard of "reinventing the wheel"; Amanda has gone one further and

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reinvented the cartwheel.
 
Popped out for another ride on Sunday and the weather was nice again. Had to go visit the FiL's grave on the day so tried to make a longer run of the ride, getting to another 50+ km, before stopping off at Hammerhead to get some beers - I am only allowed to drink beers if I do some exercise for the day. It amazes me how so little of Yokohama has cycle markings outside of the Sakuragicho area. The roads are generally wide enough to have some markings on the ground.

As for the beer? Picked up a few cans though easily could have gotten a lot more. This should see me through for a couple of weeks until another beer ride is needed
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