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A Kickbiking Adventure

10:30 am, Sunday morning – waiting on the train platform at Kemigawahama.

The bike bag is an ‘Ostrich’ – the largest size they make. It’s just a little too large for my Kickbike, but I prefer that over having my handlebars or other parts of the bag stick out. JR seems to have eliminated the fee for carrying bicycles on the trains. It used to be a few hundred yen for a tag you attached to the bicycle bag for the day.

Luckily the train wasn’t crowded, so it was easy to prop the Kickbike up next to one of the doors. The small, rear wheel is at the bottom, but because of the bag it doesn’t roll or move around. I kept a hand on it to make sure it didn’t accidently tip over.

The train from Chiba comes into Tokyo station a ways from the main terminal building, so I carried the bike and bag through the station – about an 8 minute walk or so. Then I transfered to the Yamanote line, and got off at Ueno. It only took a few minutes to unpack the Kickbike and assemble it. The bag comes with a carrying bag that easily attached to my handlebars. In about three minutes I was off and kicking.

From Ueno station, my route took me through the motorcycle district, past Iriya station, back and forth through the Negishi and Nippori areas for several kilometers, down the route the local people take to Uguisudani station, and then back to Iriya station again. From Iriya I followed the main street for a couple of kilometers over to Asakusa and was lucky enough to watch the annual Sanja Matsuri parades. 

And I imposed on one of the bystanders to take my photo as ‘evidence’.

The matsuri was a lot of fun, but more than a little stressful having to deal with all the crowds. For some reason, people don’t notice the rear wheel on the Kickbike the same way they would a rear bicycle wheel. So, I had to pay special attention to make sure people didn’t run into it and get hurt.

Later in the afternoon, around 2:30 pm, I kicked across the Sumida river bridge to explore some of the local neighborhoods.

After a full day of Kickbike adventures, and roughly 15 kilometers of kicking and few more walking, I ended up at Kinshicho station. It took longer to repack my Kickbike than it had to unpack it, but each time I get more proficient at it.

 

Liability Awareness Comes To Japan

 Bicyclists (and Kickbike/kick scooter users) often find themselves trapped in the middle between pedestrians and motor vehicles. The pedestrains don't want the bicycles on the sidewalks, and the drivers don't want to share the streets with them. Many countries and municipalities have regulations against riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, and Japan is no exception. The official regulations vary from prefecture to prefecture, but as a general rule it's illegal to use your bicycle on the sidewalk. Of course, you would never figure that out by observation since people here constantly do it.

An article recently posted on the Japan Today website in the Kuchikomi (word-of-mouth) section highlighted what appears to be a burgeoning liability awareness here:

"A high school student pedaling his bicycle furiously down the sidewalk of a Tokyo neighborhood bowled over a housewife, breaking her femur. The district court, citing the student's "negligence in his obligation to ride safely," ordered him to pay her 1.4 million yen in damages."

"... police are starting to clamp down on traffic violations by cyclists, including riding under the influence (up to 3 years imprisonment and a fine of up to 500,000 yen); riding at night without proper illumination (fine of up to 50,000 yen); and riding on the sidewalk except where specifically permitted (up to 3 months imprisonment and fine of up to 50,000 yen)."

"... Both cycling with an open umbrella or while utilizing a cell phone - violations probably committed by roughly half the riders in central Tokyo - are punishable by up to 3 months imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 50,000 yen."

The sidewalks ain't safe

Join The Fun - Yahoo KickbikeUSA Group

If you're interested in Kickbiking, and even if you just want to find out what it's all about, I highly recommend joining the KickbikeUSA group on Yahoo. There are currently 221 members from all over the world, and 108 new messages plus 5 new photos in the past week alone.

It's a great place to exchange experiences, share learnings, or just find out what other people are doing with their Kickbike. The membership ranges from people that have Kickbiked for years to others that are just considering buying one for the first time; from teenagers to those in their 60's and 70's; male and female, athletes and office workers, but all with a common interest in Kickbiking.

Unfortunately, due to problems with spam, the group is available to "members only" - which just means that you have to know how to get an invitation to join. So, here is what you do:

"If you want to join the group, send your request via e-mail to danconia57(at)yahoo.com and you will be sent an e-mail with instructions on how to join."

Just send a simple email request to the address above, being careful to replace the (at) with the conventional @ symbol. The moderator will respond with some simple instructions inviting you to join the group.

That's all there is to it.

Come on in, and join the fun!

Taking A Tumble - Good News/Bad News

Yesterday was a real good news/bad news day.

Good news: The weather was fine. A little overcast and cool, but great weather for kickbiking without overheating.

Bad news: I had to go into Tokyo to check out a local district for one of my clients.

Good news: I was able to ride (kick) my kickbike up to the local station to catch the train into the city.

Bad news: I spent about five hours walking around the streets. I really missed my kickbike, and committed to bringing with me the next time a similar assignment comes up. After all that walking on the hard pavement, my feet and joints were aching. I wasn't sure I would be able to manage kicking back home from the station.

Good news: Kicking turned out to be a pleasure rather than a pain. It uses muscles in a very different way. The gentle stretching and yoga-like exercise of kicking loosened up my joints and worked out a lot of the tightness I had accumulated during the day.

Bad news: Just a few blocks from home, when I tried to go down a sidewalk curb, the frame of my Kickbike grounded out. It has happened on rare occasions before, and is usually no big problem. Unfortunately this time I had approached the curb from an angle. When the frame impacted the curb edge, my front wheel was momentarily out of contact with the ground, but momentum carried me forward anyway. In a fraction of a second I was down on the pavement nursing a surprisingly minor case of road rash.

Good news: Since I was already much closer to the ground than riding a bicycle, it was easy to cushion my fall. With a little more luck I probably would have been able to just walk through the crash and never hit the ground. As it was, I went down easily, rolled, and sustained very minor scrapes and no bruising.

Bad news: The front forks and handlebars on my Kickbike rotated over 180 degrees during the accident. That forced the front brake assembly under the frame, and in doing that, it managed to distort my front wheel.

Good news: It was easy to put the front wheel, forks, and handlebars back into position. I had to straighten the front brake assembly where it was rubbing on the wheel and tire, but in a minute or two the Kickbike was back in ridable condition. I gathered up my belongings, and kicked back home as if nothing had ever happened.

Bad news: Although my Kickbike is ridable, the front wheel definitely needs to be straightened by a professional. A trip to the local bicycle shop is definitely in order. But, since most of the shops are only open during the day while I'm busy working, that wheel probably won't make it to the shop until next Saturday at the earliest.

Good news: The trip to the bicycle shop will give me a chance to pick up one of the Japanese bicycle bags to fit my Kickbike. I have the official Kickbike bag - and I'm sure it will be great for taking my Kickbike on the airplane or other long trips, but it's just too nice, clean, and pretty to use for everyday kicking around. I want to pick up something that is cheap enough that I won't mind if it gets dirty or accidentally torn.

More good news: It's Monday here already, and I really feel the effects of yesterdays extended exercise. I mean that in a totally positive sense. I'm extremely surprised to find that I don't have a lot of aches and pains. My feet are a little sore, and I can tell that my joints got more exercise than they normally do. Still, I feel ready to go. If I had to do the same course again today, I'm sure I could manage it with no problem.

The best news: I'm wearing a suit today that I haven't been able to fit into for the past three-plus years. And, it fits well. 

Putting A Spin On The News

Facts are facts.

Newspaper reports, while they report ‘facts’ to one extent or another, are not ‘facts’. They are often misleading, sometimes intentionally, sometimes totally unintentionally. The reporters and their editors take the facts of story and position them to serve their own purposes. Typically they want to be informative, or to promote a particular position or viewpoint, or to just plain and simply sell more newspapers.

Take, for example, the case of Broc Bebout. The facts are, as far as I can tell by reading the articles:

• Broc had quadruple-bypass surgery at the age of 39
• He took up bicycling, watched his diet, and paid attention to his health
• He enjoyed another 20 years of good health
• At the age of 59 he successfully bicycled 2,400 miles – from coast to coast in the US
• On the trip back home after his cycling trip, he died of a heart attack

Personally, I found Broc’s example to be tremendously inspirational. Other people may not find it as inspiring. My reaction probably has something to do with my life long preoccupation with bicycling and more recently kickbiking, the fact that as a child I always dreamt of bicycling across the US, and the fact that I happen to be 59 years old. Your mileage may vary.

That being said, Associated Press (AP) put Broc’s story out on the news wires, and newspapers all over the world put their own individual spins on it. As of this morning there were over 271 listings of articles about Broc shown in the Google News search page. All of them had the same set of ‘facts’ to work from, but the way that they reported the story varies dramatically. From many of the headlines you would automatically jump to the conclusion that Broc had undergone heart surgery, then jumped on his bicycle, or that bicycling was the cause of his death instead of prolonging and improving the quality of his life for several decades.

Here’s a list showing the wide variety of spins applied to Broc’s story-

• Heart patient dies day after completing 3,800-kilometre bike ride
• Bypass surgery patient who cycled 2,400 miles has died of a heart ...
• Man dies after completing 3,900km bike ride
• Heart Patient Dies After Bike Trip
• Heart Bypass Man Dies Attack after US Bike Trip
• Indiana bicyclist drops dead 1 day after journey across America
• Hoosier cyclist dies 1 day after ride of a lifetime
• Heart patient dies the day after a 3,800 kilometre bike ride
• Broc Bebout, he lived and died his dream
• Broc Bebout`s 2,400 mile trip is broke off by the death
• After completing “Trip of a lifetime” bicyclist died of heart ...
• Heart Patient Dies After Cross Country Bike Trip
• Man Dies After 2,400-Mile Bike Trek
• Man Suffers Fatal Heart Attack After Biking Cross Country
• Heart Patient Dies After Biking To Georgia
• Man Dies After Finishing 2,400 Mile Cross Country Bicycle Trip
• Bicyclist Dies One Day After Completing 2,400 Ride Across America
• Heart Patient Dies After Biking To Ga.
• Summary Box: Heart patient dies day after completing 2,400-mile ...
• Bypass survivor dies after completing cross-country bike ride
• Heart patient dies day after completing 2,400-mile bike ride
• Ind. Heart Patient Dies After Bike Trek
• Heart patient dies after 2,400-mile ride
• Ind. Heart Patient Dies After Bike Trek
• Heart patient dies the day after completing 2,400-mile bike ride
• Ind. Heart Patient Dies After Bike Trek
• Heart Patient Dies After Bike Trip
• Cyclist Dies After Cross-Country Journey
• Heart patient dies day after completing 2,400-mile bike ride
• Ind. Heart Patient Dies After Bike Trek
• Heart patient dies after completing 2,400-mile bike ride
• Heart Patient Dies After Bike Trip
• 2400 Miles Later, Heart Bypass Patient Dies
• Anderson biking enthusiast dies suddenly after completing 'trip of ...

Are You From Outer Space?

There are days when it feels like everyone thinks I must have just dropped in from outer space. In many ways, I can understand and appreciate their perspective, especially since I’m close to 2 meters tall (6’7”), am obviously ‘white’, and insist on traveling around the neighborhood on a Kickbike when ever possible.

Today was one of those days. My first “are you an alien?” stare came from the cat down the street. I was on my way to the local bakery, noticed the cat on the top of the fence, and stopped to chat.

That would have been okay, except I didn’t realize that the cat’s owner was bent over behind the fence doing some gardening. My second stare of disbelief came from the owner as she stood up to see what nit-wit would be trying to carry on a conversation in garbled Japanese with a cat. . .

Then, a few minutes later, I happened upon this set of twins just outside the bakery. They gave me stares number three and four, and it wasn’t even 9:00 am yet. . .