Since Yuri first got pregnant with Lin more than eight years ago, I’ve been dreaming of going on touring trips with the whole family on two bikes, and now we’re finally doing it!
This is only the second time Yuri’s had anyone on the back of her bike, much less loaded up with camping gear, and Mai’s never done a long ride before, so we picked a relatively close campsite in Susono, at the foot of Mt. Fuji.
So the ride itself wasn’t too exciting, but there was comparatively little traffic since it was the weekend after the Golden Week break, and the weather was great. The girls even got to surprise Yuri with a Mother’s Day gift of wildflower bouquets they gathered at the campground and a chocolate bar Lin bought the day before and hid in my saddlebag.
Even though this was mostly a practice run for later camping trips and rallies, we had an amazing time, the girls had lots of fun, and Yuri got a good chance to put her Sportster through its paces. Here’s to lots more to come!
Another great ride, even though we faced a few more obstacles than usual.
I got an email from Go the night before, saying that the security system on his Harley had drained his battery. He then charged it overnight and was able to join us for most of the ride, but that set the general theme.
On the morning of the ride, I was just about to head out when I got a call from Ami-chan, saying that she had made it partway to my neighborhood and stopped at a convenience store to find that her bike wouldn’t start. I grabbed my jumper cables and rode to the rescue, and at first it looked like a jump was all she needed, but then the bike died again, and it was clear that it wasn’t charging even at high rpms. We managed to juice it up enough to make it to my house, when all of a sudden gasoline started gushing out of my carburetor. It turns out I had damaged the fuel hose when I adjusted the carb float the week before.
So for a while there it looked like Ami’s bike had no electricity and needed a new regulator, and mine needed a new fuel hose, which you can’t buy at 7AM. We were beginning to resign ourselves to the idea we wouldn’t be able to make it, when I noticed that the regulator plug was hanging free on Ami’s bike. Some idiot mechanic had disconnected it to change the oil filter, so she was running without generation. I then found ways to jury-rig a fix for the fuel hose while we charged Ami’s battery, and we left a little less than two hours late. Knowing how slowly large groups move, we figured we might even be able to catch up, and we were right.
We met up with everyone at the entrance to the Izu Skyline, one of my favorite roads anywhere, and I set up my new secret weapon, the gorillapod flexible camera tripod.
For the rest of the trip, I experimented with various ways to mount the camera, and got the low-quality video I’ve embedded above. I think it shows some of the flavor of spring riding in Izu, though.
We stopped for a late lunch at Spice Dog in Shimoda for the best curry on the Izu peninsula.
It started to get cloudy, so rather than taking the usual route around the coast past Irozaki, we took a chance with a road none of us had tried before that turned out to be a fun ride over Jaishi (Snakerock) Pass. Unfortunately, none of the video I took there was usable, but the memory is plenty.
Then up to the campground for barbecue, booze, and brotherhood. (Of course, this being Izu, the campsite also has an onsen bath to relax and wash off the road dust.)
That’s some good shiitake.
And I can never resist taking a few shots of my bike with cherry blossoms, especially with the color of Noji’s Z2 in the background to set it off.
The next day, we got in more great riding, only to have Yos’s front tire go completely flat at a gas station. Luckily, I was able to locate a tire shop willing to help us out—iPhones come in handy in unexpected ways—and we were able patch the tube and get back on the road without too much delay.
Just to cap it off, my rear turn signal cover flew off on a mountain curve, and while Ami was able to find the lens, the mount escaped somewhere, and I had to make do with electrical tape.
But in all, the problems we had on this trip all came with pretty good timing: Ami’s battery died in range of my house, where we could charge it. My carb leaked in front of my garage, where I had the tools to fix it. Yos’s tire went flat sitting still at a gas station in one of the few towns we passed through big enough to have a tire shop, rather than at high speed on one of the mountain roads where we spent most of the trip. And who cares if I’ve got tape on my turn signal?
All these little complications just added to the adventure, and couldn’t keep us from having an amazing ride with good friends in great weather under the cherry blossoms.
The muse isn’t moving me to write a real touring report, but we had another great ride, mostly along the same route as last year.
This time, my old friend Kaze joined us from Osaka, and we got some great shots with his helmet cam despite the overcast. Unfortunately, the clouds mean that you can’t see the Pacific Ocean on both sides of the peninsula, but I think it turned out OK.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to upload this video of a Japanese TV show I was featured on, because while there are some great shots of my bike and Stinger’s riding along the Shōnan coast, the voiceover makes me sound like an illiterate twit. Still, the reasons I sound like an idiot say some interesting things about how TV shows are filmed in Japan, so I figure I can make a post out of excuses for my goofy babbling. (more…)
Back in 2001, we got an email from some folks at the BBC, saying they were producing a TV program about global biker culture called Mary Anne’s Bikes, and wanted to do a feature on us (another benefit of having a website back when that was still relatively unusual). We got a bunch of our friends together and rode around Tokyo with their film crew, causing major congestion on the Shuto expressway in the process, and got some sweet shots. Since I’m on a Google Video kick right now, I’ve uploaded the clip.
This is back when I had no hair and my bike still had short forks, Owen was still single, and we were both noticeably younger than we are now. Thanks once again to professional editing and a kickass voiceover by Mary Anne Hobbs, we come off looking a good deal less dorky than we were in real life.
Mary Anne’s Bikes was a great show. The episode we were on also featured guys who test sportbikes on the Riviera, a biker from India who lost his leg but kept riding, a muddy no-frills biker rally in Russia, and more. It’s a pity it only lasted one season and doesn’t appear to be available on DVD, because I think more bikers around the world should see this show.
I finally got a chance to upload a clip from the DVD of the Stinger’s wedding parade through Tokyo. This is a montage of the Hawaii wedding, the Tokyo Harley parade, and the Tokyo reception, professionally edited by our friends from Moment Factory.
Stinger, Yuka, and the parade bikes look amazing, and even I end up looking pretty damn cool, if I do say so my damn self. Don’t be fooled by the crappy thumbnail. This is a must-see for anyone thinking of getting married soon, or just for people who like bikes.
