From our intrepid correspondent Billy M.
„Without our fearless leader, who had exerted too much pace of a very different kind until the wee hours, we set off at 7:05 like ronin – bereft of their Lord. Ben and Chris turned back at Tama and Alex decided to break all known records in reaching the Source of the mighty Tama Gawa. A clearly determined David was soon knocked out through key components dropping off.
That left M and M. Big German M set the pace and manfully provided an excellent shield for most of the rest of the ride. It was a terrific day of sunlight, though at zero do crossing our favourite hill, which Big M did quite a bit faster than Billy M.
An attempt to find the new road of last week, with the steep bit that killed Alex, proved too much for us. We did find the tank road ok, and all was going well until I joked to Big M that a one legged cyclist (with a very smart shiny chrome mechanical leg) had beaten us up a hill. That was too much for Germanic pride to take. With a parting cry of „I have excess energy to burn off“ Big M went in hot pursuit of the chrome legged man.
Bereft of the comforting sight of Big M’s bottom I plodded on home, getting back by the magic hour of 1:00 pm. Luckily I was in the ofuro before the clock chimed.
(For those who have not wasted hours learning Japanese „Billy“ is the term used to denote the person who comes last!!)“
From our intrepid correspondent David Litt.
„Well, a group did show up on the street in front of my house, we met Michael Kraehe at 8AM at Tamagawahara-bashi, Chris and Ben headed back early, and 4 of us (Michael K., Michael H., Alex K and I) made it to the turn off to cross the river and head for Takao. Alex said goodbye to just go up to the end of the path and turn around, … and a minute or two later my rear derailleur, which had not been shifting smoothly, stopped working completely — a severed cable at the brake hood lever. So I turned around and only the „2 Michaels“ headed on toward Takao.
(I did the same ride backwards yesterday — out One-kansen and the North side of Lake Tsukui, and a slightly longer loop, out Doshimichi and over Rte 76 to Sagamiko. Snow flurries on the hill outside Takao, and damned cold without any sun, but a good workout.)“
Photo from my Saturday ride — on Route 76 North of Doshimichi:
The same view on a much nicer day in mid-November:
Meanwhile earlier in Tokyo our not-so intrepid correspondent Jimmy Shinagawa was found wanting..
"My dinner at Aquavit ran on later than planned and my pre-ride preparation took a turn for the worse at Lebaron around midnight.. nursing a mild hangover after not enough sleep was not how I had hoped to spend Sunday, but so be it. Until next week."
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Last year, I did a most exhilarating ride on February 27, the day of the first strong southerly wind of spring…the air felt steamy and I remember it got so hot that I welcomed the sudden rainshowers cooling me down. Tomorrow, I might go out to YABITSU to savor and brave those haruichiban elements again! 
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there is no "I" in cyclyng 