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A Snow storm hit last week.
Going to work was fine but on the way back the snow started pouring down. Luckily I didn’t have to go to my second job. I took my usual route down the river and things were going fine until I ran into some dog that was a little to genki – happy to see me. The owner called it back but didn’t lease it and then it came at me again and after pointing at the dog in frustration to the owner the husband I presume came and collared him but that was not after their son or daughter was crying. I checked my bike and kept on trucking towards home. Why didn’t they do it the first time and well I survived being attacked by Sasquatch/fluffy and I felt relieved.
Near home it was useless to try and ride my bike. I had to carry it through the snow to my house. Now the snow has subsided but the roads have black ice and there are no city snowplows here so snow is piled up on the sides of the roads. It’s treacherous. Just ventured out a few days ago to go to the bike shop and I found out that my right shifter was broken. Good thing I did because it would have been a long ride home.
Last year during the fall, I was in a hurry and I ran into some old man on the river levee. I tried to avoid him but it was too late. I think he realized that too and he braced for the impact by putting his shoulder into me like a linebacker and I flew off my bike, again lucky to land on grass and when I came too I turned around and he was standing in the middle of the road. I picked up my bike looked at him wondering if it was going to be a samurai showdown but he just smiled at me and said thank you in Japanese and turned around and walked away. He was listing to his iPhone and maybe the music was just too good and I was going just a little too fast. I was a little pissed but I didn’t have time to dwell on the moment too long and so I headed towards work. It was dark, I ride fast. I felt it later but that’s the life of a commuter in Japan besides almost getting hit by drivers making left hand turns.
I can’t wait for the bike Jedi to fix my bike, he’s my bicycle mechanic. I miss the summer when I could fly down the streets like a maniac and race people on the street but I’ll just have to take it slow for now and just worry about getting to work on time. I went home for a months in the summer and I didn’t ride. When I came back I was so out of shape. Then I realized how much cycling had become a part of my life, thanks to living in Japan and not being able to get a drivers license. Maybe that was a good thing. There is always more. For now I have to survive the winter commuting or being on the trains which are good but I don’t like and dreaming of spring when I can put the pedal to the metal on the streets.
I may have to move back home. I’m sort of dreading it. I like it here in Japan and I would hate to separate from my family. My job sucks again and after confronting some corruption, I got canned. I have my own business but it just supplements my income. Maybe I could do more. I have to reach deep inside of myself, especially now. I know there is a school that will appreciate what I have to offer, where I can be myself and give back like I always do but that may take some time or maybe I’ll have to just make my own way and put myself on. Usually that is the case. No matter what happens, I’ll never stop riding my bike and I’ll alway be myself. A bright side to it all is that I finished a novel and I finally submitted it to a publisher that will review it and hopefully publish it. I hope so because it would be vindication for all the crap I’ve been through. It’s a long process but I’m patient and I’m grateful for all that I have. Like having met a lot of cool people here in Japan, a great family, a lot of support, the cycling community at my local bicycle shop and the Jedi who make my bike a reality.
Actually, I’m not doing too bad but I could use a decent job preferably writing but it’s hard here in Japan because I don’t speak the language and I didn’t come here for my career I came her to save my marriage but after eight years things have changed. My kids are older, they’re riding bikes and my health is better but maybe it is time to go home. Who knows? I just have to keep peddling forward like I always have and hope for the best and prepare for the worst on the road.
No matter what keep cycling.