From Tokyo

I've been in Tokyo for almost three weeks now. I bought a "mamachari"—a single-speed used for local trips to the market, the train station, etc.—last week, and I've done some riding. The bikes are fun and comfortable, but long rides will tear your knees to pieces. Knowing that, I'm going to take it easy until I can get a proper travelling bike (I should be saving for one now, but it is difficult at the moment).

I have gone on a couple of rides, though, first one along the Arakawa river and back, then to Akihabara, over to Itabashi in the northwest, and back along the Arakawa. Riding in Tokyo isn't too bad, but in the more popular areas of town—Ueno and Akihabara being examples—the sidewalks are clogged with pedestrians and the streets are full of cars, so it can be a bit daunting. It was still manageable, though I'd recommend, if possible, taking some extra time to follow (and inevitably get lost in) the smaller streets that weave and writhe around the larger streets.

My Arakawa ride followed the last part of the ride to Itabashi, so I'll just use that last one for both. The river is okay, and there are natural areas, but you'll never get away from the city's constant pressure of people and buildings, even late at night. In addition, there are long stretches of golf courses and baseball diamonds that interrupt the (naturally occuring?) stands of bamboo and reeds. More annoying from a biking standpoint are gates that keep motorcycles from entering the path—even a rider comfortable on his or her bike will very likely have to jump off the bike to navigate between the narrow metal pipes.

Finally, at this point in time, I recommend the Tokyo (south) side, as the Saitama side is under construction in many places, and often the road ends without warning.

Grand Finale

I'm off to Japan next week, so I won't be able to ride as much for a while, but this weekend I'm going to do something I'd hoped to do the whole time I was here. First, though, a lot has happened over the past month - I rode a half century (I don't have a map, but it was Lonestar to Baldwin then back to Lawrence), rode my bike out to the Wakarusa festival a couple of times, and got three flats.
I've kind of gotten off track the past month or so since my Grandma died because that threw off my schedule. My riding has mainly been for transportation or fun, not much "training" or anything.

Anyway, I'm doing some last-minute shopping and packing today, then heading out to Clinton for some camping with friends. I'm going to load all my gear into my backpack and then head out.
Here's the route out to Clinton.
To Clinton.
It's only 20 miles one-way, so it should be a piece of cake.

Fixed

I managed to figure out I twisted my chain somehow, and twisting it back in place helped. It still skips, but no different from before. Muscles felt pretty weak today.

Route

Easy and yet frustrating

Today, trying to cross a stream made by construction crews working on an overpass, I screwed up my derailleur throwing my bike across to the other bank. I worried, when it landed hard on the front tire, that I might have bent the fork, but that turned out all right. In fact, everything seemed in good shape other than the rear brake and gear shift--it had been twisted a half turn around the handlebar. But I got out my allen wrench and put it back in place.

Once I got back up to speed, though, my gears kept slipping, and I spent the next 16 miles yelling and screaming at the damn things.

I had the most energy I think I can remember, maybe due to the rice omelette I ate before heading out; or it may have been adreniline from anger at the derailleur. In any case, I barely felt twenty miles, though I was starting and stopping due to the damn skipping gears.

I followed the Around Lawrence in 20 miles route.

Eudora by backroad

Today I took a killer (the bad kind) trip to Eudora, and, including a trip to the library earlier, managed to just barely beat my record of last week, with about 34.4 miles. But about half the time I was on backroads, hilly roads of gravel, and my entire body aches as if I had a fever, the constant bouncing was so bad.

I'm having a problem with bottoming out about half way through. I manage these (for me) long rides, but the back half is always a struggle where I can't keep a steady pace. Today I even considered walking up a hill a couple of times, something I'm proud to say hasn't occurred to me much. Need to eat more carbohydrates first?

My route. No, not all 34 miles because I didn't include the trip to the liberry.

The old Clinton ride and "utopia"

I usually ride and come home, and that's the end of it. Yesterday I went for a good ride (my usual ride from my mom's house to Clinton Lake), then went to a friend's house. Somehow it made me feel more engaged, less dependent on a car and freer. I can imagine a world where people ride bikes more, and only use cars for emergencies or out of town trips. It doesn't completely wean us from oil, but it would be a great step. Not that that would ever happen. But what a different world it would be if the streets were clogged with bicycles rather than with cars.


Route

Monday

Around 13 miles total today. 2.5 Getting to work and back, almost 11 on a "ride".

I'm still pretty worn out from yesterday's ride. Nice to know, though, that I can still manage a 10 mile ride, albeit at a fairly slow pace. It took me an hour, not too bad.

The ride out on 1400 is nice, though there are more cars than I would have liked. It is very pleasant, near the wetlands. I think I might venture further south on it some time soon.

Route

Half a metric century!

I'm exhausted, but I managed to make a new personal record: 31 miles. I went on a trip around Lawrence, very enjoyable. I ran into construction early on, outside of town to the north, and suddenly the mountain bike qualities seemed to come in handy - I had to ride through mud and down an uneven hill. However, that didn't last, and my front fork quickly choked in thick mud; I had to carry the stupid thing! Oh well.
It was nice ride, though I'm not sure how much I can handle on that mountain bike. I'm tired, but more than that, my body hurts from bouncing around too much.

Anyway, my route, a little over 31 miles.
Route

Lawrence Area Rides

Around Lawrence and Clinton in 45 miles
Around Lawrence in 20 miles
Work and back
Levee and back
North Lawrence
Perry Lake and back
South
Lawrence in Outline (~30m)

Rain

Went for a ride in the rain today - not far, but I haven't ridden for a couple of days and felt the urge. It wasn't too bad, the air was fairly warm and thus I wasn't too cold even in the rain. I tried out a splash guard I'd just bought today, and while it's hard to tell the difference when it is raining, it seemed like the guard, as big as it is, didn't keep small bits of sand from getting on the seat of my pants. The real test will be after rainfall, when the ground is wet.

I rode over to old West Lawrence to check out the bike path that leads out that way. Nothing special, but I didn't get very far before I felt satisfied with my ride enough to want to get home and dry. Thus, I can't say whether there is much more to the path.

I probably rode about 7 miles total.