Type R
Warming-Up
- Jul 25, 2010
- 41
- 0
Howdy!
My friends call me Jeeves, I'm an ALT and crazy, crazy cyclist, living and working for over 2 years now in Takasaki City. I came here on the JET programme in 2008 and have been living it up, enjoying life, learning new things about Japan, the language, about myself and life in general.
Before I arrived here, I cycled in Canada, my home country. Been cycling there since I was 2 or 3 years old. While other kids' parents played field sports with them, my father would throw me on my 3 wheeler at first, then 2 wheeler and we'd go cruising along the sidewalks, me desperately trying to catch up with him, in our neighborhood in my hometown, Toronto, Ontario.
In Japan everyone asks me what my 'tokui' is. A 'tokui' is something that you're good at, your strong point - usually a sport. I'm proud to say that cycling is my 'tokui'.
Just before coming to Japan, I had a cross country bike in Toronto. After arriving in Takasaki, I needed something cheap and comfy to ride to work and back every day - so I went for a soft-tail dual suspension mountain/street bike. After using that for 2 years, I managed to score an A.N. Design-Works DRA-150 (http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/nextbike/and-dra150.html) Road Racer off a friend who returned home to Ireland. I love this bike and actively use it to get around not just in the city, but to neighboring cities, towns and even up to the mountains occasionally. It's so much easier to push a hard-tail with skinny tires up a mountain than it is to with a soft-tail mountain bike (and yeah, I climbed mountains with that mountain bike too).
In the past year, I came into possession of the book 'Its not about the Bike' by Sally Jenkins - about Lance Armstrong and his ordeal with cancer and his return to the Tour Du France. Before reading the book, I knew of Armstrong and the scandals about drug-use, but through reading this book (I'm usually pressed for time and haven't finished it yet), I've got to say, even if the man did drugs (which, imo, he probably didn't), it's still remarkable that he returned to racing. In short, I've been inspired to try my hand at cycle racing, or at a Tour - and I have my eye on 'Tour Du Kusatsu' coming up next year. I was originally informed about the Tour Du Kusatsu by some friends who suggested I try it, but didn't care for it much until I read Armstrong's book.
So yeah, I hope to meet some of you some day - I absolutely love cycling - to me, it's akin to flying - I just love the freedom. I actually prefer to cycle than to drive and alot of my co-workers and friends call me crazy for being so into cycling and commuting to work everyday by bike. But I'm not so crazy when they're stuck in traffic a few meters away from work, and I whiz by them, blasting my loudspeaker MP3 player, and enjoying the feel of the wind against my skin...
Thus, I hope I've landed in the right place here on the TCC. If you're as crazy as, or crazier than I am at cycling, ring your bell!
よろしく!!!
Catch ye later.
My friends call me Jeeves, I'm an ALT and crazy, crazy cyclist, living and working for over 2 years now in Takasaki City. I came here on the JET programme in 2008 and have been living it up, enjoying life, learning new things about Japan, the language, about myself and life in general.
Before I arrived here, I cycled in Canada, my home country. Been cycling there since I was 2 or 3 years old. While other kids' parents played field sports with them, my father would throw me on my 3 wheeler at first, then 2 wheeler and we'd go cruising along the sidewalks, me desperately trying to catch up with him, in our neighborhood in my hometown, Toronto, Ontario.
In Japan everyone asks me what my 'tokui' is. A 'tokui' is something that you're good at, your strong point - usually a sport. I'm proud to say that cycling is my 'tokui'.
Just before coming to Japan, I had a cross country bike in Toronto. After arriving in Takasaki, I needed something cheap and comfy to ride to work and back every day - so I went for a soft-tail dual suspension mountain/street bike. After using that for 2 years, I managed to score an A.N. Design-Works DRA-150 (http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/nextbike/and-dra150.html) Road Racer off a friend who returned home to Ireland. I love this bike and actively use it to get around not just in the city, but to neighboring cities, towns and even up to the mountains occasionally. It's so much easier to push a hard-tail with skinny tires up a mountain than it is to with a soft-tail mountain bike (and yeah, I climbed mountains with that mountain bike too).
In the past year, I came into possession of the book 'Its not about the Bike' by Sally Jenkins - about Lance Armstrong and his ordeal with cancer and his return to the Tour Du France. Before reading the book, I knew of Armstrong and the scandals about drug-use, but through reading this book (I'm usually pressed for time and haven't finished it yet), I've got to say, even if the man did drugs (which, imo, he probably didn't), it's still remarkable that he returned to racing. In short, I've been inspired to try my hand at cycle racing, or at a Tour - and I have my eye on 'Tour Du Kusatsu' coming up next year. I was originally informed about the Tour Du Kusatsu by some friends who suggested I try it, but didn't care for it much until I read Armstrong's book.
So yeah, I hope to meet some of you some day - I absolutely love cycling - to me, it's akin to flying - I just love the freedom. I actually prefer to cycle than to drive and alot of my co-workers and friends call me crazy for being so into cycling and commuting to work everyday by bike. But I'm not so crazy when they're stuck in traffic a few meters away from work, and I whiz by them, blasting my loudspeaker MP3 player, and enjoying the feel of the wind against my skin...
Thus, I hope I've landed in the right place here on the TCC. If you're as crazy as, or crazier than I am at cycling, ring your bell!
よろしく!!!
Catch ye later.