It's not been a good year for me so far, having been beset by all manner of colds, injuries, and other things that have made a big dent in my fitness. As I mentioned earlier in "The Silliness of Japanese Medicine-Dosage Rules" a couple of weeks ago, I topped things off with a horrible cold that put me out of commission for the better part of two weeks. The third course of antibiotics seemed to have finally done the trick, and now I'm looking to reclaim my life.

When in good form last year, I was about 86kg (190lbs) with [...]

Sorry for not posting anything recently. I've felt remarkably unmotivated in all things lately, but found some inspiration in an email from someone asking about this mountain roller slide that I'd posted about some years ago. Now that I'm into cycling (though currently generally unmotivated about it), I thought I'd ride to the location to see whether it's still there.

Here's the ride:

Along the way I came across a lovely lotus field in the middle of the suburbs.

Next was to explore a short but steep (and nicely-paved) climb I'd seen here. It starts under a new expressway bridge...

Yesterday there was a big crash at the end of Stage Four of the Tour de France, involving Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish. Sagan was blamed, and then ejected from the rest of the three-week race.

My gripe is that half of the news articles I've seen today are just wildly inflammatory, using phrases that make for excellent click bait, but are devoid of fact.

First, let's look at what happened. Here's a view from the front. Peter Sagan has a green helmet and a white jersey with rainbow stripes on the sleeves. Mark Cavendish has the green bike and [...]
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The photo above was kindly provided on Flickr by someone going by the name "FABtroni+camera". I appreciate it.

The sport of racquetball involves a high-speed ball in a confined space, so when I started playing in college, I stopped by a sporting-goods store for a pair of racquetball safety goggles. The clerk commented that I was the first person he'd sold a pair to who didn't already have a black eye.

Long-term readers of my blog will know that I've gone through phases in my choice of cycling wear, from jeans on my first ride to hiking/gym wear [...]

The other day in "March’s Higashiyama Hanatoro Lightup", I mentioned a business called "Happy Bicycle" (web site / Facebook) near the Yasaka pagoda.

The shop is run by a guy from Chile who chats amiably with customers as he crafts a wire into the shape of a bicycle. Other than the pedals, he uses just one piece of wire for the whole bike.

He's got all the different styles... mamachari city bikes, kids' bikes, mountain bikes, race bikes... I even noticed a pennyfarthing.

I had a nice chat with the proprietor, but unfortunately didn't take all that many pictures during [...]