Initial Thoughts on Bicycle Touring

Yesterday I took the new bike out for a spin in the sweltering Tokyo summer heat and humidity. It must have been well up in the thirties yesterday here.

The bike rode very well. You get a lot of response for very little effort with a good bike. I think I rode about 25 kilometres in total. The route was familiar at first, circling the Palace using Uchibori Dori, down into Marunouchi and the heart of Tokyo.

From there I did something different, as I ventured into the unknown (for me) realm that is Tokyo's Chuo Ward. After getting lost a few times along the way, I finally made it down to the bicycle course that runs along the Sumida river. This is very a nice course: no cars, cool air coming down the river, and beautiful views.

It's also a ghetto for the Tokyo homeless community. Some of them are very well established along the river, to the degree that shanty town might be a more appropriate term than homeless community. Many were enjoying the strong sun, sunbathing and sleeping on the benches along the way.

The river was up to dangerous levels. Another couple of feet and it will burst its banks. Today the forecast is for thunderstorms; tomorrow is for more of the same. My guess is the Sumida will overflow and flood the shanty town set up along it in the next two days. There are big disadvantages to settling along a flood plain.

Crossing the Chuo Ohashi bridge, I moved down into Tsukishima, one of Tokyo's shitamachi areas. It is famous for its Monja Street. Being Sunday, many of the old restaurants were closed and there were relatively few people about. A TV drama was being filmed in the middle of the street. The shopkeepers stood around hassling whoever was passing by to come eat their monja. They were being too pushy so I gave the gooey Tokyo delicacy a miss.

Back down and across the Sumida again and into Tsukiji, the fishmarket on the edge of Ginza. Two massively different worlds side by side. The Kabukiza theatre was advertising a Kabuki adaptation of Shakespeare--a new concept for me. Ginza was its usual Sunday self, and having cycled through it before I knew to bypass it this time. Over to the Yaesu exit of Tokyo Station, across the Yamanote tracks and back toward the Palace, Uchibori Dori, and the way home.

It was pleasant rolling along, but the bike is so smooth I felt I was cheating. In the evening, I frustrated myself taking it apart and practicing putting it in the Rinko bag, the special bag used in Japan for transporting your bike on the train system. I am about as mechanically minded as a goat.

Posted by Setsunai at August 1, 2005 1:44 PM