With a desk job, I’d been feeling out of shape lately, so about three weeks ago I bought a bike!
DAHON Speed P8 ’09
But the past few weeks have been rainy every single weekend, and I’d been itching to finally get out.
The day finally came. Here’s the route:
Total distance: 47 km! Not bad.
With my old city bike, 30 km was about the limit — already seeing the benefit of switching to a longer-distance capable machine.
This time the destination was Odaiba.
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Purely self-indulgent, but here are photos from stops along the way.
First: Point A, “Kabukiza Theatre”
Ginza has a pedestrian zone on Sundays — no bikes allowed. Not knowing that, I arrived and had to push the bike and find my way along parallel streets.
Then this Kabukiza appeared in front of me. Nagoya has the Misonoza — I wonder if they put on similar programs? Something to look up.
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Next: Point B, “Kachidoki Bridge”
Even people from Nagoya know Kachidoki Bridge from the manga “Kochikame” — young Ryotsu came all the way here to play as a kid.
Apparently the center of the bridge used to lift up to allow tall ships to pass through.
There are a lot of bridges in this area. And with more bridges comes more elevation changes — pretty tough going.
This is my bike.
Yes, I rode here. On an actual bicycle. Just confirming.
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Finally: Point C, “Wangan Police Station”
The Wangan Police Station — I can almost hear the famous line: “The incident isn’t happening in the conference room! It’s happening at the scene!!”
Actually, I’ve been in similar situations at work, shouting that line internally every day. (Classified.)
The cyclist visible at the far left was also apparently photographing the Wangan Police Station. Maybe thinking the same thing?
Odaiba was packed with the Fuji TV “Odaiba Kuni” event going on. Every parking lot was full, and there were long lines for the Yurikamome.
Meanwhile, breezing through all of that on a bike felt pretty great.
There were actually quite a few cyclists in Odaiba too — impressive given that Rainbow Bridge doesn’t allow bikes, so you have to come the long way from Harumi.
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I was running pretty low on energy by this point, but having come all the way to Odaiba, I had to get home somehow.
That’s the thing about outdoor cycling versus the gym — you can’t just stop when you’re tired. You have to get back. (Unless you plan to sleep outside.) Makes it much better exercise.
It was hot today, and without noticing I’d bought and drunk three 500ml water bottles. Good for the metabolism.
Most intense physical activity since middle school probably. (That’s not great.)
But it left me feeling genuinely refreshed.
Next time I want to bring a friend. The question is whether anyone will actually join me… and whether it’s too hot.