To listen or not to listen

I rode my Tokiwadai-Kiyose-Kunitachi-Machida-Yokohama-Ota-ku Circuit in reverse yesterday, Sunday, May 30. I tried to avoid taking Kan-nana Dori south although early on Sunday mornings it doesn't care much traffic. However, I missed a number of turns on the back streets and so didn't reach the Tokaido (Route 1) until 6 a.m., two hours after leaving home. Lesson: you can't review your route often enough to avoid mistakes. High point: I may have rescued a baby sparrow from certain death by picking it up off a street and setting it among some azalea bushes.

Today, Monday, I did my usual cool-down ride from Tokiwadai to Fuchu. Round-trip was just under 52 km. The extra load was 21 kilos on both days.

To listen or not listen? I'll be riding for at least 6 hours every day. As much as I'd like to stay alert, I'm tempted to get earphones and listen to music while biking. Perhaps I should save the music for long rest spells.

Training continues into May

Since my last post I've done nine rides. The longest were: to Toride (97 km.) on April 25, to Mito (122 km.) on May 4, to Kiyose-Machida-Yokohama-Denenchofu (114 km.) on May 9 and today, May 16, to Kiyose-Machida-Yokohama-Yamate Dori (111 km.). The ride to Mito in Ibaragi Prefecture was a one-way with return by JR. Coming back on the train with the bicycle in its bag plus four panniers was not much fun so I doubt I'll be coming back by train very often.

I've tried to minimize the amount of sunblock I have to put on by wearing a light weight long-sleeve t-shirt, a towel around my neck and long pants. When I start riding in Hokkaido I'll be riding into the westering sun much of the time so I'm thinking of wearing a long-billed cap to avoid using sunblock every day.

As these rides are for training I've been adding a little weight to the panniers. I'm up to 18 kilos now in the form of nine 2-liter PET bottles of water or Aquarius. I'll try to raise the load gradually to 25 kilos. I doubt I'll be pushing that much on the trip.