Archive for the 'Desktop Backgrounds' Category

Posts with desktop-background images I’ve made

Checking On the Carpet of Yellow at the Ochiba Shrine

I took a short ride out to check out the status of Ochiba Shrine. It's still a few days... maybe three, maybe five... from peak. It seems early this year. When I first posted about it five years ago, it was from a Dec 2 visit.

Yet, the next year I visited on Nov 14, and it was about the same as it was today (Nov 18). Maybe it takes time, because the same year I posted one of my first wigglegrams from the shrine, with full-carpet photos taken on Nov 25.

Even more surprising to me is that last [...]


View full post »
Social Ride to the Quaint Mountain Village of Miyama, With a Twist

A couple of weeks ago we had a nice social ride out to Miyama Japan. It was my third and most-relaxing visit, after the initial shock of a tough ride a year ago that was my longest ride at the time, and again via a mountains route not long after with Gorm.

This time we took a less-mountains route to get there, though for some it would be their longest ride by a factor of two.

It's while inspecting our route on the map for this ride that I came up with the silly idea of riding the entire length [...]


View full post »
Looking Ahead To Fall with a few Shots from Last Season

It's still six weeks before the fall colors arrive in Kyoto, so here's a look forward with a few shots from various outings last year.

My cycling buddies would be surprised to know that they likely pass this garden fairly often. (Those curious about the location can follow the map link under the photo).

今回の更新は去年の秋のいろいろ。

Other posts from the outings that these photos came from include:

"Great Day in Kyoto’s Colorful Northern Mountains, and at Strava’s Kyoto Office" "Cycling to Kyoto’s Ochiba Shrine Amid the Fall Colors" "The Tenjuan Temple (Fall Colors and a Wigglegram)" "Wigglegram of a Pleasant Couple [...]
View full post »
Kyoto to Ohio, Summer 2016 Edition

I traveled again yesterday from Japan to Ohio (Kyoto → Osaka → Tokyo → Chicago → Cleveland → Rootstown) to spend some time with my folks, especially since my mom had a stroke earlier in the year. I wanted Anthony to see the property I grew on one more time, so he came along for this trip.

I don't like having to pop up to Tokyo for the transpacific flight, but that hour-long flight from Osaka to Tokyo always holds the promise of a nice Mt. Fuji view, so that's something to look forward to. Mt. Fuji isn't quite so [...]


View full post »
Monday’s Norikura Big Loop Ride

この記事はこの間の月曜日のサイクリングの物語です。友達と一緒に乗鞍を登った、距離165キロのローングライドをしあした。 進んだ峠は乗鞍、美女峠、寺坂峠、野麦峠、白樺峠。獲得高度は3,907m。疲れたけれども、めっちゃ楽しかった。リーダー達吉川さんと栗田さん、参加させてくれた有り難う御座います!

In yesterday's post I outlined a three-day trip where I cycled up Japan's highest paved road three times. The main event was the middle day, with a group of folks from Kyoto that comes every year. The day's ride started with that highest-road climb up Mt. Norikura, then continued on to four other major climbs in a big up-and-down loop covering 165km (103mi) with 3,900m (12,800') of elevation gain.

Here's the ride at Strava, and a surprisingly-interesting 2-minute Relive video version.

It ended up being the fifth longest ride I've ever done, though the most elevation gain in [...]


View full post »