Bicycling Japan 2024: Day 0 (Mental Prep)

 

I used to make fun of 40 year olds. I'd laugh at their bodily ailments, their boring lives and mid-life crises.  

And then I became one of them. 

Now I'm several grey hairs in, suffer from chronic back pain, and can say with my Google medical degree that my diastolic blood pressure is mildly alarming. Boring life and mid-life crisis are just extra perks.

then...and now.

So one day I thought "hey, why don't I let my husband convince me we can do another bike ride like we did 11 years ago?" You know, when we were in our 30s and fit and young and fun and excited about life. 

Ok, it didn't quite go like that but we're doing another bike ride. In Japan. With lots of (steep) hills. On folding bikes. hurray.

Day Zero

November 2024. We land in Osaka, bee-line for the Junkudo bookstore to see if our trusty map-bible still exists, and it does! Thanks amazing bookstore lady for leading me to the obscure shelves upon which this was housed (not in the map section, wtf). I was apprehensive about navigating the city with no digital mapping device but it's do-able (I mean, people have lived and traveled in the dark ages pre-phone). I became a bad Japanese and had gotten to used to the European/Western way of navigating via street names but once you memorize landmarks, it's all good.

Obligatory chaotic street photo of Osaka. Taken near our accommodation, which I will not recommend because it was...weird and you get what you pay for.

This is what guided us during our trip last time. So awesome. The new versions seem to highlight scenic areas, cafes, and soft serve ice cream hot spots.

Armed with maps, we're ready to face the world and beyond!!!