ANOTHER Long Weekend!

Today, Friday, is a national holiday in honor of the official beginning of autumn, and as we kick off yet another three-day weekend, I want to take a moment to appreciate the little things in life.

First - two long weekends in a row. What can be better than that?
Second - today, I am lazing around. I am not riding, not running, not working out. Not working. I instead lie abed until nearly 6 this morning, and now am sipping tea and eating some toast and peanut butter, enjoying the not having to do anything, and not having anything to do.

Brian, however, cannot bear to be indoors on a sunny holiday weekend; can't say I blame him, really. Today, as I do so little, Brian is working on projects like fixing the bike rack and adjusting his fork. Also, as even I can only enjoy one day of idelness, tomorrow we are going to Nagano to ride, packing even warmer sweaters this week!

So finally, as I chill like an icecube, I just have to say that Life Is Good.

Life is ...LIFE

Just a minor reflection on what IS...

Nothing is always perfect
Nobody is who you always want them to be
Everything can be worse than it is....

I am very content today, being as very ME as I can be; and yet I recognise that being ME is my destiny, and at the same time, I understand that you need some recognition...

Under the Clear Blue Sky

People often talk about "getting away from it all". While we embrace even the work aspects of life, we could only appreciate the beauty of a fine-weather three-day weekend which we spent, naturally, downhilling and camping in Nagano. The skies were cerulean blue, and we were able to get a couple of photos of other people who also like to rise above their day-to-day selves:

Not Another Weekend...

Yes, the weekend is here again, and it is a long weekend at that, as Monday is a national holiday. After last weekend's hectic time in Tokyo, we are packing up to go camping and riding in Nagano for this one. Sad to say, the evening temperatures have been dropping, and it promises to be chilly in the mountains, so we've had to pack sweaters.

Ah, well.

Ahhh, a day at the fights...

What a great weekend; busy busy busy! Saturday in Tokyo included shopping, eating, and walking especially around Shinjuku and Ebisu. Mexican for lunch at Rosita's and then dinner at My Thai (just like Bangkok!).

Everything that we bought we had shipped back to our apartment by deilivery service, so we could proceed hands-free for the rest of the time in the big city. Soooo convenient.

Sunday included a huge Mexican lunch (at Zest, also in Ebisu) and then on to the sumo tournament, with a quick stop in Akihabara, the 'electric city'on the way. Here's my ticket for the 'box' seats:



And here's an action shot:

All in all a great time, but exhausting enough to make me appreciate being home in the country!

Tokyo Weekend

Wow - though Tokyo is only about 150km away from where we live, Brian and I rarely venture into the big city. But this weekend we are going to enjoy exotic restaurants, shopping, sightseeing and sumo in the metropolis.

The Morning After

The best part about typhoons is the morning after, or simply the day after– when the rain has finished and the strong winds have cleared the sky of its habitual haziness.

I’m still trying to learn more about photography and how to take good pictures – to that end, I used the soft late-afternoon light and the clear sky to practice with my aperture values and shutter speed, just outside my apartment in Susono.

Here is yet another picture of the rice paddy – this time, with rice growing and ready for reaping:




Here is Mt. Fuji, seen over the neighborhood rooftops, swirling in post-typhoon trauma:

Recovery

Or not.

After Saturday's long-haul cross-country ride, Sunday brought a day of rest and intellectual pursuits and I actually did put in a lot of Japanese study time. Brian, meanwhile, worked on a few projects that had been piling up, such as taking the "step" off his truck and raising the front a little (the result: very cool).

I also went to the gym for the first time in months, discovering that there in fact are still muscles there somewhere!

This week has brought a run for me, a ride for Brian and another workout for both of us. The typhoon that is working its way up a long the coast has meant a bit more rain, but not enough to put a damper on things.

Joining the Blogosphere

The Blogosphere is a great community, and I am happy to welcome another Blogger to the sphere - Brian's mom has set up her own personal blog and has already posted some great photos.

www.neilans.blogspot.com

Biking around Motosuko

First, I love my Rig. I love it so much that this weekend I told Brian that I wanted to bring the Rig up to our downhill place instead of bringing my downhill bike. Luckily, he talked me out of it, and our friend Chris talked us into doing some SSing (singlespeeding) around Motosuko instead. How was it? In a word, awesome.

The three of us got a semi-late start on Saturday morning, but that was not a problem, as Motosuko is not nearly as far as our usual Nagano destination. We got there, traffic free, in about an hour and a half.

Motosuko is one of the Fuji Goko (Fuji Five Lakes - ko means lake). The other lakes are Shojiko, Saiko, Yamanakako and Kawaguchiko, with Kawaguchiko being the most popular of the five lakes. They are "volcanic lakes", formed over the years by Mt. Fuji's volcanic activity.

Fuji Goko:




Motosuko, being less well-known, hosted many windsurfers but few hikers, although the area is criss-crossed with great hiking trails, complete with ruggedly beautiful volcanic geology, which made for great riding.

The pink and the blue line below our the trails we rode:


The riding was so good - we spent about an hour and a half riding to and around Shojiko. After a brief rest at the trucks, we then hit the trail again, this time heading toward a small lake called Tanukiko. However, by 4:00, after climbing stairs and pedaling up hills, I thought there was no way I could pedal anymore; we turned around and headed back for base, which is a shame, really, as the trail was starting to look even more dreamy. I certainly need to improve my cross-country fitness - living in a valley, I can climb 10km straight up, but 31km (which is what we rode yesterday) of rolling hills nearly depleted my energy stores.

This is Chris posing with his K2 Big Train 800 - a 29er which he also converted into a SingleSpeed.


Here's my Rig posing along one of the trails:


Here I am crossing a swampy spot, as caught by Chris on his cellphone/camera: