My wonderful mother got my bike sent to me really cheap through FedEx, so now I have a real bicycle. It was supposed to get here Wednesday, but it got delayed in customs a little bit, so it didn't end up getting here until Thursday night. The road that I live on, as I have probably mentioned, is really small. Down the street and around the corner, the road narrows into what looks like a walking path between the railroad tracks and a sandstone bluff. If you can fit your car through there, then you have to negotiate a 90 degree corner between two old houses, with concrete walls on either side. The final part up to my apartment building is half taken up by stairs, so you have to squeeze between them and a drainage ditch. I don't think the delivery truck made it past where it narrows past the railroad tracks because I heard a clanking sound coming up the street for a couple minutes before I had a knock on my door.
I got my bike put together pretty quick, but I had to walk it past the next station to a decent bike shop to get the tires inflated. Most regular bikes in Japan use this really weird type of valve that I really hate, and my bike uses European valves, so I didn't think any other shops would be able to do it. Plus I needed some other stuff.
Once I got air in my tires, I rode home and WOW!! I'd forgotten what it was like to ride that fast! I've gotten pretty good on my other bike at predicting the movements of Japanese pedestrians, who care even less that you're coming at them than US pedestrians. If I was driving a car going that fast, people wouldn't go out into the street, but on a bike, it's like they assume you wont be going that fast, so they walk right out in front of you. I was looking forward to going on a ride today, but it's rainy. I might go anyway.
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