A Valentines Caffine fix

Wild gal Riebo celebrated Valentines day by setting up a little coffee shop on her bike. Rie has been studying proper coffee making techniques at a local café and thought it would be a good time to show off some of her skills. With beans roasted by a small company in Chita, the coffee was actually very good and kicked Starbuck's ass (not a difficult feat).

Coffee-Meister, Rie in action

Slow brewed and good

Little Emi & Friend trying the coffee

She set up her bike café at Circles bike shop and sold lot's of hand brewed coffee to friends and customers. We even got to sample some delicious chocolate treats made by Izumi and a few other local girls. Rie thinks she might make this a weekly event starting sometime in March. I plan to bring my BBQ bike the next time so we can have a little coffee and hot dogs action.

Hand made chocolate treats

Cycling Scenes in the City: Feb 13, 2009

Cycling scenes from my hometown Nagoya, Japan

Not a "death" bike. Just a Japanese knockoff

Bike parking area by Matsuzakaya department store

Small urban bike with a hint of Penny-farthing

Canadian foot fetish

A Canadian custom

There's only one thing I enjoy more than cycling, and that is getting free cycling stuff. The cultured and highly advanced Canadians running the PezCycling News site were kind enough to send me a pair of their branded cycling socks (unused, odor-free). The socks are a Canadian way of saying thanks for allowing them to use some photos from my Love Wheels Nagoya Calendar. I like Canadians, in fact, I have quite a few Canadian friends here in Japan. They can always be counted on for helping you move furniture or when you're in need of a quick self deprecating humor fix. The custom of gifting socks in exchange for sexy girlie photos has its origins in the long harsh winters of the Saskatchewan plains. Early settlers and beaver hunters would pass the long winters stuffing their wool socks with pages from the bloomers & pantaloons sections of the Sears Roebuck catalog. In addition to preventing frostbite, the pages were thawed out in the summer and exchanged for new socks at the local general store. I love history. And Canadians.

Buried treasures in Osu Nagoya

Namikoshi Park in Osu, Nagoya

Cycling around Nagoya City affords me the opportunity to discover nooks and crannies that I would not easily find inside an automobile. The Osu section of Nagoya, a popular shopping district comparable to Tokyo's Harajuku, never disappointments. I've been visiting Osu on an almost weekly basis since I moved to this City over 18 years ago, yet, I can always count on finding a little surprise around the corner. On top of that, Osu has been in a perpetual state of flux since about 1999. Old shops close, new ones open, nothing stays the same. So it was with no small pleasure that I discovered a tiny park located about 300 meters from the Osu Kannon shrine.

Park sign

The Namikoshi Park site is less than a 1000 square feet in area and you'll miss it if you cycle by and blink. What caught my attention was the bulbous hill in the center of the park which indicates it was once an ancient burial mound. According to a sign on premises, Namikoshi was the first public park opened in Nagoya city back in 1879. It remained the most popular park for 30 years until overshadowed by the much larger Tsurumai park about 3 kilometers away. All that remains of the park is this mound, ad old gnarly tree and a sign. Overall, I'd say it was a good find.

Old steps leading up the burial mound


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Final call for the Love Wheels Nagoya Calendar

Mica - Miss August

I have less than 15 Nagoya Love Wheels Cycling Calendars left. I want to get rid of them by the end of this month. Don't be the only kid on the block without a cycling calendar brimming with young perky Japanese girls and their rides. Order 5 copies and get a sweet discount. Remember, shipping is FREE....anywhere on god's green earth! Order Here.

Why I do as my wife says

I go to the gym every morning. It's one of my secrets to staying beautifully fit and handsome. I'll cycle to the gym unless I'm with Mrs. Crankee, then we take the Honda. Today I was going alone and decided to bring my Surly Steamroller.

"You need to pick something up for me, so you'd better take the car", she said.

"But it's such a nice day and I want to ride my bike", I whined. I do that a lot.

She won, I lost. Surprise.

Well, 3o minutes into my warm up stretches, I hear a loud bang and thud. I look out the second floor window of the gym and stared at the spot on the corner where I usually chain my bike, right by the Chez Toto restaurant street sign. This is what I saw:

Where I usually chain my bike

Apparently some poor sap lost control of his car, plowed though the Chez Toto sign, jumped the curb onto the sidewalk, continued straight down the block, destroyed the awning belonging to a seafood restaurant, crossed the street and crashed through a small fence. The couple in the car didn't seem terribly hurt, but the wreck they left behind them will certainly give their insurance carrier a fit. First thing I did was email the wife and thank her for forcing me to bring the car instead of the bike.

Smashed awning

Had my bike been chained by the street sign I would have been spending the afternoon picking up bits of Surly and cursing my bad fortune. Unfortunately, Muto san, one of the gym employees, wasn't so lucky, his scooter now looks like Godzilla slept on it.

"Ah, no worries, I was planning on buying a new one anyway." he said.

Damn Japanese optimism.

This is a good place to park

Frozen cats

Last Saturday night's alley cat race went off well except for the slight cold weather. Turn out was about 30 strays. I'm noticing more new faces lately and quite a few young ones. One of the top winners that night was a high school kid. Good to see the young'ems getting some exercise.

Emi & Rie showing off their cap collection