The Week #224

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  • 🚲 I did my first commute by bicycle and it was everything I thought it would be. I posted a small tootstorm (?) with some photos of my commute on Mastodon. Time saving wise – it's not as much as I was expecting, but I felt way more energized and better when I arrived to work. I think it's not going down 2 levels to go up 3 levels just to to go down 4 and up 3 i.e. riding 2 subways and an commuter train.

    When I arrived in Shinbashi the FujiTV folks were milling about in front of the steam train. I purposefully tried to hide from their view. What I noticed takes longer than unfolding the bike is actually putting the bag back into its case and securing it to the seat.
    A matcha green Brompton in front of a steam train in Tokyo


    There aren't that many options for coffee / breakfast open at 7am in Tokyo that aren't Starbucks or a Tully's. But I found one . At first I was wondering how they'd react to me trying to bring the bike inside. But it was perfectly fine and they didn't say anything. Also the breakfast and coffee were really good, so I'll probably go back again this week as well.

    Finding my way from there my office was a bit tricky as near my office the roads curve around a lot and I haven't memorized them yet. I'll find the optimal route soon enough.
  • 💤 A major milestone, Leo stayed the night at the in-laws by himself without his cousins being there. Just jiji and baba. The boy wanted to watch YouTube that much. For better or worse that's kind of turning into our routine. After a busy school week and swimming on Fridays, he wants to spend a day laying around. If he does it at the in-laws' then it means we can go out and...get lunch and have a break.

    The next day it enabled me to have a second run at just bringing my folded bike into a cafe (komeda0 and turns out, they don't seem to care. It slid right under the table easy peasy, too
  • 🌳 One of the reasons I wanted the folding bike was so that Leo and I could ride bikes together away from the house. Both bikes fit in the back of my kei. When I went to pick up Leo from in the in-laws and I took our bikes so we could ride some place new. We rode down to the major park and played for a bit. On the way back we stopped for some ice cream 😋. It's so  easy to go out and explore (especially as it's flat), I'm tempted to leave a bike for Leo at their house.
  • 🚲 I recognize this week's post has mostly been "James and his Brompton". I'd be worried if, a week after new bike day it wasn't.  On Sports Day, I took the bike out for a long-ish ride. I rode down to Sakaigawa and headed inland towards Yamato. I used to ride this direction a year or two ago on my cross-bike for a while. Rides along the river are always fun because there's dedicated paths sandwiched between the river and farmland.
    Brommie near the river in front of a harvested rice field

    When I got back, Leo wanted to go out on bikes with the 3 of us. It was getting dark so we made a bike-train and rode over to the bike shop (to adjust Leo's brakes), Ito Yokado (for some shopping), then to Chai, (a local Indian joint) before bike-training back home. It was a lot of fun riding together as a family and I hope we can do more of it in the future.
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