there is no "I" in cyclyng

„In the case of running a red light, for example, car drivers can be fined up to 9,000 yen, but cyclists face a fine of up to 50,000 yen, and there is a possibility that they will automatically get a criminal record.

In April 2006, the NPA set up a program to promote road safety measures, and told prefectural police divisions to crack down on cyclists who violated regulations. In March 2007, while the Diet deliberated on a revision to the Road Traffic Law that would tighten enforcement of the regulation that in principle cyclists should not travel on sidewalks, police began to crack down on cyclists riding on sidewalks. After the revised law came into effect in July, the NPA told police to issue traffic tickets to cyclists for blatant or dangerous violations.

In 2006, a total of 268 cyclists were issued red traffic tickets, but this figure jumped to 598 in 2007, 903 in 2008 and 1,326 in 2009. The most common offence in 2009, committed by 436 people, was passing through closed railway crossings. Next was ignoring traffic lights, for which 358 cyclists were ticketed. Another 67 received tickets for riding at night without lights and 50 were handed red tickets for riding under the influence of alcohol.“

Over 1,300 cyclists ticketed for serious offences in 2009 amid police crackdown

I awoke at a reasonably normal hour for the first day following a flight from the US West Coast–at 6:30AM.  I took my time getting started in the morning … until around 8:30AM my email started to flash and I learned of a 10AM conference call.  Somewhat relieved of the excuse not to head out into the furnace, I jumped at my wife’s suggestion of a late afternoon ride as things started to cool down.

This gave me a great opportunity to try my new Mavic orange reflective jersey, and my „fibre flare“ rear flashing light, attached to my seat stays.

It was still hot at 4:45PM as I started my ride heading directly toward the sun, low in the western sky.

I was rewarded once I got part of the way up the Asagawa toward Hachioji, as a strange cloud appeared directly in front of the sun, blocking it except for a golden lining around the edges of the cloud.  This site had many pedestrians stop, point and shoot with their cellphone cameras.

As I passed Takao, some of the summer festivals were underway.  One group had their matsuri along the Asagawa path, in a nice spot.  Another decided to have their matsuri on Route 20 near a busy intersection, complete with police traffic escort (I think I saw some of the same elderly cops who handled the Tamagawa fireworks on Saturday — overtime pay bonanza this weekend.

Anyway, I skipped the Seven Eleven and kept going up the hill, turned around about half way up, and upon the return saw two motor scooters actually turn right into a newly constructed tunnel that has opened up since my last visit to the Otarumi climb hill, just at the location of the Ken-O-do expressway bridges early in the Otarumi TT route.  The tunnel had a sign indicating „Machida“ — a great find for me since I had been planning a return by Onekansen, and knew I did not have time to go West over the Otarumi hill and around via Tsukui-ko.  The tunnel was cool, fast and well lit.  It must have been 1.5 or 2 km long, and all of 2 cars passed me during its length.

Now the orange bullet really started to fly — down Machida Kaido, then Onekansen, with a slight tail wind to ease the pain. 

The reflective vest, and my flashing fibre flare, must have made me the most visible cyclist in Japan for a hour or more.  … unless the rider from the May 1 600 km Brevet who had a similar Mavic vest happened to be out at the same time.  Do people wear these in Europe?  The label said something about compliance with European Union requirements?  Why wasn’t Sarkozy in one of these for his cycling photo op?

The rider who had one of these won the award for „most visible“ rider in May … but will have competition if he happens to ride theChubu Audax October event.

In any event, I made good time, and after a quick water stop, enjoyed the ride down the Kawasaki side of the Tamagawa.  This afforded a good view of the Keirin track (Tokyo Oval Keio Kaku), which, like many other buildings, looked totally different at night.  Not better, not worse, just different.

Update:

I picked up a copy of the latest edition of Road Bike Action for reading on the plane back to Tokyo … and it happened to have a special on the Masi Grand Criterium, the bike that I rented last week (looks like the article it is not yet available on the RBA website, but RBA seems like a nice find — though a bit too much U.S. focus for many Positivistas).  I am not one of those cyclists who was originally inspired by the 1979 movie „Breaking Away“ (nominated for the „Best Picture“ and other Academy Awards and on many „top 10“ lists of inspirational sports films), but the article notes the great pedigree of the Masi Grand Criterium —  made famous originally when the 1978 model was lusted after and ridden by the star in Breaking Away.  The article also points out that a Masi Grand Criterium really should be red, not blue like the one I rented … just as a Bianchi should be celeste green, a Gios should be cobalt blue, Cervelo black and white, and a Colnago should have a beautiful, multi colored paint job.

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After 4-5 days of what the Japanese refer to as „family service“ (mixed with „client service“ via laptop and some clothes shopping for the next year or so in Tokyo), I stopped by Veloce Bicycles on Thursday in Portland and rented a road bike for the week.  They rent a very serviceable Masi bike (aluminum frame, carbon fork and seat/chain stays, SRAM Rival shifters/derailleurs, Shimano Sora compact crank and Ritchey wheels, bars/stem etc.) for $150 a week.  That’ll do!  Why don’t more bike shops rent out decent road bikes?  I don’t know, but this is one area where a good directory by geography is still needed, I think.  Demitri, the co-owner, said that he has always wanted to tour in Japan by bicycle, so I strongly encouraged him to do so.

After a spin in the area outside Lake Oswego/West Linn near my Dad’s house (including a couple of nasty, short hills) on Friday, I joined a Saturday morning ride — one of about 15-20 each week sponsored by the Portland Wheelmen Touring Club.  They had a 3-day ride at the Oregon Coast, but still a regular „metric century“ ride of 100 km near town.  Around 12 persons showed up by 7AM Saturday at a light rail „park and ride“ lot on the outskirts of Portland, crossed into Washington State (over a bike path running across a long bridge in the middle of 10 lanes of traffic, complete with concrete barriers and chain link fence).  At first I thought I would get very frustrated with the pace, but once we got across the bridge things picked up.  On the first real hill, I was 2nd rider in the group as we neared the bottom, but immediately 5-6 riders passed me as they attacked the hillside, while I downshifted way, way down and started my plodding climb.  At least I could pass two of them again just by holding a steady pace all the way to the top … and on the downhill on the other side, no contest.  We had a pleasant ride through the hills and flatlands of eastern Clark County Washington, a mix of forest, agriculture, and subdivisions, maybe 105-110 km in all.  The most prominent manmade features of the area were at least 4-5 huge public high schools, the best landmarks on the cue sheet/map.

We stopped for coffee (16 oz latte!) and food (in my case, a great „breakfast burrito“ with fluffy egg, hashed brown potatos, salsa and sausage inside a soft tortilla — a huge improvement on the 7 11 version from Takao) at the town of Battle Ground, Washington.  I had always thought of this part of rural Washington (and the adjacent areas East of Portland in Oregon) as strictly „bible belt“ — full of born again Christians attending church, doing adult baptisms, and trying to convert the rest of us.  So I was pleased to see that at least one church had been converted into a coffee shop — the cross remaining in place on the steeple.

Two riders who I spoke with worked for the local government, one in the City of Portland’s „planning and sustainability“ function, and another an economist in the Water Bureau, in charge of cost-benefit analysis of their capital expenditure programs.  (Portland has GREAT tap water, from the Bull Run Reservoir on the western slopes of Mt. Hood.  … then again, Tokyo tap water ain’t too bad in recent years).  One of the stronger riders was a woman triathlete.  She said she had taught English in Kobe from 1991 to 1996 … but did not know Jerome B., who may have overlapped.

After a turn around at Battle Ground Lake State Park, we started a longer down hill stretch.  When I got to the turn off at the bottom of the hills, I looked back … no one in sight.  Soon Eric (the Water Bureau economist) showed up, but no others after 5 minutes.  We assumed they had decided to follow the cue sheet, instead of take the alternate route that had been suggested during our stop.  So we pressed on, eventually doing several detours of a mile or so back and forth to see if we could find the rest of the group.  Then we headed for home as a well matched 2-person team.  We made good speed and were at the cars before the others, despite our detours.  They pulled up just as I was about to drive away — apparently 2 flats had slowed them down.

Saturday was the hottest day of the year around here (98 degrees high temp in Portland — 36.67 degrees celsius).  But it was a dry heat, and no problem for riding, especially after the oven that is Tokyo.  Nicer summer weather.  Nice bike lanes.  … nicer than the trip out of Tokyo as far as Takao/Itsukaichi, but not nearly as nice scenery as the countryside that lays beyond, in the mountains outside Tokyo.

I apologize to all for not having my P.E. jersey with me — I really did not expect to ride, and so was not prepared to add to our „global domination“ series of photos.  On the other hand, I acquired a great Mavic orange, reflective short sleeve jersey that you will see upon my return to Tokyo.  In fact, you will all see it from 1000 meters away as you approach, in any level of light.  So at least on Saturday I could carry on Jerome’s tradition of the „orange bullet.“

„Today’s midlife crisis more likely to result in purchase of Pinarello than Porsche“

New research highlights rise of the MAMIL – Road.cc

* Middle Aged Men in Lycra