Simple Life

I realize that some people may not exactly understand the simple beauty of the singlespeed. My friend Denis wonders why we would be into single-speed bikes when gears "make so much sense" to him. The question, "why singlespeed?", is a long-standing one. In order to explain this, let me veer off the topic of bikes for a minute.

Japan offers so much of great beauty - the temples, the shrines, the gardens, the food, the ukioe (wood-block prints), etc... What all of these things of beauty have in common is their simplicity. You do not find elaborate temples, over-decorated gardens, or complicated food. In her wonderful book Japanese Cooking, Emi Kazuko compares the "elegant minimalism that is found in all good Japanese cooking" to the simplicity and economy of line found in Japanese art and architecture.

And this brings me back to Zen and the Art of Singlespeeding - the singlespeed bicycle is pure, simple and beautiful.

In our modern lives, where everthing seems so very complicated (our jobs, our relationships), the simplicy provides a wonderful balance and peace.

Simply Riding - notice the clean look of the handlebars; no gears.



Rig - out of the box - notice the simple look of the drive train; no gears.

Morning View

This is what we see when we wake up in the morning.


I took this picture at about 7:00 from our front balcony; the super-zoom on my still-new Lumix digital camera helped capture Mt. Fuji without power-lines. And what a view of that crater - the crater was formed the last time Mt. Fuji erupted, about three hundred years ago.

The rumour is that Fuji erupts about once every three hundred years...

Friday Food

All our internet deliveries have finally arrived; the Thai curry pastes arrived early yesterday evening. What a wonderful Friday night - Brian concentrated on cooking curry, while I helped when I could.

I think food is often under-rated. Or, at least, under-appreciated. Food is more than sustenance, or comfort, or reward. Meals are meant to be prepared with care and precision. Any meal is meant to be flavorsome and yet simple.

Last night's curry was very flavorsome, and was made with a lot of fresh vegetables. We both ate too much, I think - it was so good we could not stop ourselves.


Thai Red Curry Fixin's



Brian - the Happy Curry Cook

Morning Ride with the Rig

A brief post before work -

The Rig has been Ridden!

Despite the chill, Brian and I took our singlespeeds out for a little mountain ride this morning. It was the maiden voyage for the Rig, but it met (and perhaps surpassed) Brian's expectations.


Brian outdistances me on his new Rig


Brian with his new Rig, sitting on the steps of a mountain temple



Zen and the Art of Singlespeeding

The Crime of Indolence?

Ahh.. Wednesday night, and I finished work early (at 5:30 pm), so I have some time to relax. Here is what I do to relax:

Good Wine, Good Book and Good Atmosphere


Brian, meanwhile, is at his own place (hereafter referred to as "the bike apartment") working on his Rig. He has already switched the brake levers around, since the Japanese system is to have the front brake lever on the right hand side, and the rear brake lever on the left; for those who don't know, in the U.S., the front brake lever is on the left, and the rear on the right. Suddenly finding yourself on a bike with the brake levers switched around can lead to a marvelous yet dangerous endo (endo = flip over the handbars!).

So, a few minutes alone means a few minutes of quiet relaxation. I am drinking a nice Australian red wine, and thinking about reading some more of "A Portrait of a Lady". Perhaps I will study some Japanese instead?

Tune in tomorrow to hear how the test ride on the Rig went!

There is a Rig for you on line one...

The always hoped for but never expected Rig arrived at our front door last night at 8 pm. We were pretty excited, and surprised the Takkyubin guy (Delivery guy) by asking him to pose for a picture!





Here is the Rig, still boxed, in our kitchen. (The rules say that the bike shop has to assemble the bike before sale!).



Here is the Rig, unbound!



We snapped a photo from our front balcony this morning - you can see Susono city, and in the distance, through clouds, some of the rolling hills we usually ride.

Virtuous Virtual Life?

Well, it is Monday, and we are still waiting for the Rig. At least the time passed quickly today because we were at work!

We have ordered so many things online recently, that I have to admit to our dependence on the internet for daily comforts; just a few years ago, high-speed DSL access was not possible, and as we pay by the minute even for local phone calls, even having a slow, dedicated line was not feasible. Brian and I remember the days when we used to dial-up, download a page that we wanted to read, save it to the desk-top, and sign-off. Still, our phone bills were regularly more than 6,000 yen or so. Netsurfing was too slow to be a pastime, and also the amount of information available was not as unlimited as it is now (whether that is a good thing, I cannot venture to say).

But, back to my point - our lives abroad in Japan have become so ...easy because of our internet access. We now have DSL, and a router, so we both surf at the same time at amazing speeds. I frequently order English language books from Amazon Japan. I can pay by credit card or C.O.D., I pay in yen, there is no delivery fee, and the books are generally delivered within a week. That is a long cry from seven years ago, when I used to set aside a day to go to Tokyo, spend a fortune on an English book, and savour every minute of that book.

Ok - Brian really is not interested in books from Amazon. He is interested in all the other things we have access to - the information, for example, about mountain biking at mtbr.com. He is also delighted by suddenly being able to order Thai curry pastes online (well, I am pretty excited about that, too!); we found a site just yesterday, and even now are awaiting delivery of one tub of green, and two tubs of red, curry paste.

We also occasionally buy in bulk from The Flying Pig, which is somehow affiated with Costco. We order big bags of coffee beans and big jars of mixed nuts from these guys. Yes - we are also now waiting for a delivery of coffee beans and mixed nuts!

So - we are waiting for:

• Three Tubs of Thai Curry
• Three bags of coffee beans, one jar of mixed nuts
• And One Gary Fisher Rig (a 29" Singlespeed Mountain Bike for Brian).

The wait continues...

Sunday Rider

Brian and I went for a little singlespeed ride around our neighborhood today. We pretty much stayed on the road, because the weather wasn't very good (it had been raining for 24 hours - the trails were soaked), but it was a fantastic ride, and a good workout.

We stopped by a tiny mountain shrine, where I had gone alone a couple of weeks ago, and took some pictures of our bikes. Because it was overcast, we got some good pictures with no shadows.


Brian and his old Singlespeed

At the end of a scenic country road, if you turn left and go off-road, then peer through the woods, you can see these poor caged boar (called inoshishi in Japanese). These animals roam wild around here, and while we've only seen wild boars (free ones) a couple of times from the car, we frequently see evidence of their digging on the trails!

Wild Boars (inoshishi) caged up in Susono

Another Boar

The Waiting Game...

I think waiting is the worst punishment.
Now we know that the Rig is in, that though there is only one bike, Brian is the person who will be getting it, we paid for it...now we have to wait.

Brian received an email from Cycle Yoshida, stating that they had recieved the payment, and they would contact him again to let him know when the sending date had been decided.

Maybe just as well- the weather has been rather cold and rainy recently. The weather forecast even says that is might snow tonight. In fact, it has been so dark and chilly in the morning that neither of us has ridden since last Saturday. Considering that we are ordering a pizza tonight, the not riding is not a good thing! The new Rig will be just the thing to inspire Brian to get out on even the coldest, darkest, rainiest mornings! As for me, it will only inspire in me a burning envy, and perhaps make me buy a Rig of my own.

Rooting for the Rig

OMG!

Brian has been yearning for a 29" bicycle since early last year, after getting into Singlespeeding, and hearing about how fantastic 29" bikes were. Then he read about the Gary Fisher Rig - a 29" Single Speed, sold only in Pearl Purple. After hunting the internet to buy the 2005 Rig as soon as possible, we found a Japanese website that selling the Rig over the internet (www.cycle-yoshida.com). We placed the order, despite the language barrier (kanji is still an uphill battle!), and were informed that we a) had to agree to a bunch of terms and b) would have to wait until the bike was in stock (mid-February).

Finally, Brian was contacted by Cycle Yoshida, informing him that the Rig was in, but they had only received one bike. If Brian still wanted it, he would have to transfer 120,045 yen (the cost of the bike, plus shipping) to the shop by February 18th. Needless to say, Brian went to the bank at lunch time today and transferred the requested amount.

And now we wait.

Welcome to our Life

If you are reading this blog, then the chances are, you know us!!

Yes - Brian and I have decided, finally, to jump onto the blogwagon, and we hope to post here regularly with updates about our life, and maybe even just short posts about our outings, weekends, work, and moodswings (oh, that's just me!).

To see pictures of us, and more solid material, check out our website at

www.japanrider.com