Archive for the 'Cycling' CategoryI stopped by NORU Kyoto today, which reopened after a summer hiatus. I'd mentioned them last May in "Discovering Kyoto’s Wonderful Toji-in Temple on a Tour with NORU". I picked up a nice quick-dry T-shirt from Morvélo, a British cycling brand. I think that NORU is the only place to get them in Japan, though I suppose you could get them directly from the company if you didn't mind paying more plus shipping. It's much more expensive than the 500-yen Uniqlo T's that I wrote about three years ago, but also much more comfortable and stylish. The price is on [...] View full post » この記事は長いですが、簡単な要約すると、新しいサイクリング用の靴を慣れてきました。 It's been a couple of weeks since I posted "Trepidation and Anticipation: Moving Up to Cycling Shoes", which opens with the same photo seen above, and in which I admit my anxiety of riding with shoes that physically clip to the bike's pedals. The fear arose from not being able to put my food down in an emergency, thereby causing me to fall over, perhaps on nasty rocks or at high speed, or, even worse, in front of friends. Prior to this change, since I first got bitten by the cycling bug in January, I'd ridden 2,978km (1,850 mi) [...] View full post » This post picks up from "Bridget and Sarah’s Tour-de-Kyoto, Part 1" about a great ride with a couple of Aussie girls visiting Kyoto. That first part of the story left off 3½ hours and 41km into our ride, after Eric had fixed his flat. We got almost four whole minutes farther down the road before the next flat, this time on Sarah's bike. Despite the rain, things got bright after that because we didn't get another flat for almost a full 30 minutes! The rain abated a bit, so later when after having crested a short mountain pass, I went [...] View full post » They said "Road Closed", but no road is closed on an epic day of epic cycling done epically. I wasn't originally planning to cycle today, but a hastily arranged plan for a short ride to attempt the most-heinous Momoi Pass (east) while riding clipped in without falling or otherwise stopping. But in the end no only did I conquer that personal goal, I went on to have the most epic cycling adventure with Andy Clark and Nigel Randell. The ride was only 100km (62mi) long, with only 1,841m (6,040') of elevation gain, but it was epic and I'm too exhausted [...] View full post » Manu Mohan and Manseki Kanemitsu joined me on light ride to Osaka Castle and back. It was my first ride with Manu since we tackled Seryo Pass three months ago. Manu's bike is a folding commuter bike, which is not really appropriate for "real" cycling. It's too small for him and the range of gears is limited, but the ride to Osaka is not challenging except for its length. The round trip is more than 100km. His rear tire seemed a bit low on air, something that would rob him of speed and power. If he had a normal road [...] View full post » |