photo by C. Rayne

About now cycling becomes a bit more of a labor of love than the daily pleasure it is when the days are long and evenings warm.

When late fall rolls around, the commute to and from work occurs with LED lights blazing, booties on over cycling shoes, and insulated gloves on to fight off the chill. An evening that several weeks before would have begged for longer rides, now seems to pull us inside for a warm meal. Seasonal colds and H1N1 threaten to take us off two wheels for longer. This is when discipline and inspiration play a key role in determining whether we stay fit through the winter or give up some of our legs over the colder months.

In Tokyo/Yokohama we’re lucky as it never gets too cold to ride. I spoke with a bike commuter in Alberta, Canada this past summer and asked him if he commutes year round. He said that he draws the line at -18′ C and by comparison our occasional zero degree mornings seem tropical. Nonetheless, its hard sometimes to put in the clicks. Previous weekly totals get shelved in favor of more sedentary projects – excuses are easier to come by, work get’s busy and things “need” taking care of. In reality we are what needs taking care of. I’m not the same person if I haven’t been out for ride but I forget that sometimes.

Not long ago, something in the air made it feel like a very good idea to go for a bike ride after work. One of the people I cycle with said, “we need to get out as we won’t have many more days like this.” We got out for a casual easy tempo ride with heart rates well below aerobic thresholds but this was a ride for the soul not so much the lungs and legs.

At the top of one of my favorite training hills we rounded the corner to see Mt Fuji for one of the first times this fall. It’s only 100k away but it’s obscured by humidity during the  summer so seeing it there with sunset blazing around it reminded me that the fall chill comes with pleasures all its own. While much of the ride may need to occur under cover of layers of nylon and darkness, there are reasons to turn back around after work and get out. Its good for the legs and good for the soul.

photo by Lynette Chiang

Having returned from field studies in Izu, we were set to head to Nagano on Saturday night. With my Scott Road Bike off the road thanks to some issues with my relatively new Easton Wheelset, I was happy to take my Bike Friday Pocket Rocket to Karuizawa for a week of play in the mountains.

I regularly follow YAK which is BF’s email based message board. On Friday night I got an update from Lynette Chiang, who I knew had been in Tokyo the week before, saying the Bike Friday group was heading to the mountains of Japan. Curious I checked to see where they would be staying.

Much to my surprise, they were in Karuizawa and further that they were staying at a pension less the 1km from our family place out there. Not certain what their internet access would be, I sent off a last minute invitation for anyone in the group to join me for my typical 60k morning ride that runs the ridge from Karuizawa 72 golf course out to Uchiyama Farm, with fantastic views of Mt Asama and down a spectacular 12k descent into Saku city, then along the foothills of the same ridge back to Naka-Karuizawa.

Mt. Asama from the Shimonita/Saku Super View Road

I swung by the Pension at 6:30am to see if anyone was awake but save a dozen Bike Fridays snoozing in the back, all was quiet around the place. After completing my ride, I stopped by the pension around 9am to see what was going on and enjoyed the shock of all particularly Lynette Chiang aka. Gal from Down Under or Bike Friday Customer Service Evangelist. I guess an unknown foreigner rolling up on a pocket rocket wasn’t what they expected to see. Apparently I had just missed the rest of the group departing for Karuizawa station.

Hearing that the group’s experience with Karuizawa had pretty much been limited to the major roads, I took it upon myself to at least share a bit of Karuizawa’s back road charm as they headed into town. Under pending drizzle, we climbed into the edge of the mossy forest that characterizes this region. We lucked out with a bit of beautiful fall color on this short 4k back way into town.

With Jeff and Miki taking in the leaves on a chilly Karuizawa morning (photo by Lynette Chiang)

It was good fun to connect with other Bike Friday people. I’m not usually one for networking with people just because we own the same brand of something but there is something unique about Bike Friday that makes it a bit of a exclusive club. For one, as Lynette pointed out, it takes bit of security to ride around on small wheels. As she said, most people want to look like Lance and a foldable doesn’t quite cut the image.

The bikes the other members of the group had were great to see. A couple of Tikits, which I had already seen around Yokohama, and Jeff’s Air Friday – my first to set eyes on. That really is an interesting frame design.

After a quick little descent along the golf course adjacent to town, we rolled along some of the old foreign vacation properties. We ended up in the old shopping district of Kyu-Karuizawa and finally onto to Shinkansen Station where we would rejoin the rest of the Bike Friday traveling contingent. It was great to meet some others who are passionate about these little bikes that fly like the wind.

With a classic Karuizawa drizzle settling in and my low blood sugar levels from the longer ride that preceded this gathering I zipped back home to a hot shower and full breakfast.

Thanks for the warm welcome from all the people on the Bike Friday Japan Tour. For more photos of the gathering click through to this link.

Calgary Shopping Stampede, originally uploaded by sk8evangelist.

The stampede is on in Calgary and I am here for the summer institute of my grad program. I brought my Bike Friday along and as you can see this is a very solid lifestyle vehicle. The super is 2 or so km away from student housing so a pretty rough walk with groceries. The standard sized suitcase that the bike packs into for airline travel converts to a rugged trailer for errands or other domestic chores. It also works to carry your luggage from the airport to where you’re staying if you don’t arrive in the middle of a thunderstorm like I did.

I am here for 3 weeks so stocked up on a huge amount of groceries. I am hoping to further convert these calories into kilometers cycling out and through the Tsuu T’ina First Nation land just SW of town here. If anyone is a serious cyclist and you want a bike that does everything well I can’t rave enough about this bike. It is fast when you want to just sit and hammer, light, and really fun to just buzz around on.

When my wife, Asako, had to go to the doctor in the afternoon with an allergic reaction to kemushi (hairy caterpillars that can leave a nasty rash) my planned afternoon 30k maintenance ride with 650m of vertical ascent quickly transformed into hide and seek with my kids. This is no reflection on how much I love playing with my children but with already over 24 hours off the bike, plans to leave the mountains the next day, and the weather becoming more unstable, a bud of desperation took hold. “Tomorrow, I need to ride”, I heard in my head as I counted to 30 again with children giggling under the desk in the next room.

This time of year I flip my normal summer routine of waking up at 5am in favor of mid-afternoon to sap what little is left of summer warmth. Further in a blitz of optimistic bag packing in Yokohama, I left out my insulated booties that cover my thin, vented cycling shoes but tossed in my winter cycling gloves as a hypocritical precaution. “I won’t be needing these.” I thought, as I imagined warm fall afternoons gliding through the fields and forests of Nagano.

With plans to return to Yokohama before lunch in place, I knew it would be an early morning departure if I wanted to get any real distance in. My thus far favorite cycling route in all of Japan is a mere 60k spectacular loop with over a 1000m of vertical ascent, mountain views, a convenience store at 40k to re-fuel, and farmland on the return. As far as a “guy with other responsibilities” ride goes it is just about perfect. I only get to do this ride in August and October as vacations in Karuizawa and weather allows. I had ridden it 2 out of the four days thanks to a bit of rain and some well spent time with friends keeping me off the bike. The remaining hours to come would be my last chance at it in 2008. The bud of desperation sprouted.

My dog, Biko, knows whether to get up with me in the morning based on the equipment I lay out the night before. If I only put out a t-shirt, running shorts and shoes with my heart rate monitor, Biko knows to get up and get excited. If my cycling helmet is out she doesn’t even budge when the alarm goes off. Sleeping dogs slept as I quickly hurried into a few layers of cycling clothes, filled my water bottle and put some granola into my blood stream. Even though my other rides this week had been at the warmest part of the day, I took notice that the temperature was down to 6 or 7′ C  when we woke up. Cool but not cold enough to really warrant the booties or so I mused.

I opened the door and was stunned by something wrong. Frost was on the plants and the thermometer read “-1″. Even with my feet still warm from the bed clothes, from past experience I knew what my toes would feel like in 15min without those booties. It didn’t matter, the bud of desperation had blossomed and I was going to ride.

It was a gorgeous morning, yes my feet froze, and I relished long climbs to try and work some heat into my toes. The road I have been milking is 7k from home when it climbs off into the forest for 30k of desolate ridge riding until a screaming 12k descent at 50kph plus – top speed today was 65kph. The high woodlands along the desolate ridge were as still as well-water and my steady breathing seemed to echo off the trees. Clearing my throat from the dry chilly air I scared a Nihon Kamoshika (Japanese mountain deer) that was resting not 5m beyond my left shoulder. It took off running with such effort and speed that I felt baldy for it. If it only knew how little danger it was really in.

After skirting the alpine pastures where the stockyard grazes their cows in warmer weather, the cold but thrilling decent past the fish farms, horse stables and rice fields, and rolling hills through commercial vegetable fields, I was home with a few routine highlights that included fantastic views and a warm canned coffee from the convenience store as a peace offering to my sorry feet. It was a routine ride, with all the events and un-eventfulness.

I could wax poetic about the steady sustained effort of long mountain climbs or the sweeping S turns through the forest across the ridge or the stoke of the downhill descents when everything feels right. The interesting thing, however, isn’t the hype but more so the motivation that started at least as early as the day before counting to 30 pretending to search for two small people whose location I knew before I opened my eyes.

This week we have seen some rain Tues and Wed but today was beautiful. We had Parent Teacher conferences tonight (meaning back to school by 5:45) and I didn’t have a class last period so I took that as my cue to get out the door right before the bell rang, race home, install my new brake cables and get out for a nice after school hill session. There is a crusher hill over by the American military base that I like to torture myself on. To be honest, I didn’t feel that great today but I was happy to be out there. See the smile! ]]> http://freedomphilosophy.com/2008/10/09/mid-week-burn/feed/ 0 http://freedomphilosophy.com/2008/10/05/before-the-stress-has-left-the-body/ http://freedomphilosophy.com/2008/10/05/before-the-stress-has-left-the-body/#comments Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:00:55 +0000 Adam http://freedomphilosophy.com/2008/10/05/before-the-stress-has-left-the-body/
Originally uploaded by sk8evangelist

This was a demanding week. Lots going on at school Monday and Tuesday. Then things picked up for the end of the week with the skatepark, high school dance and presenting on wikis at the Apple iSan Summit in Tokyo on Saturday.

I can see the effects of all that here in this photo. At just about 18k into the ride, I’m not right yet. I can see the stress in my cheeks. It wouldn’t be for another 15k before I’d start to feel like myself again.

Today’s ride was pure recovery. Usually recovery rides are reserved for those days following long days in the saddle. This recovery ride was to put those late nights of preparation, planning, and graduate school into perspective.

Oddly I thought I’d feel worse. I thought my upper body might be tight and my legs weak. I expected to look down at my speedo and see something depressing like 32kph that I couldn’t get past. In spite of my mental readiness for pain and suffering I actually felt pretty good and sat on my normal speeds, relished in having to push against headwinds and went out of my way to find some good climbs. Even this close to the ocean I got in over 200m of climbing in my short 40k journey.

What I see in this photo is that I need to figure out a way to get out at least 3 times per week and I can’t over commit myself like I did over the past week. Once in awhile this much stress is probably unavoidable but in the long run it just isn’t good. Praise Jah for cycling to turn things around.