Japanese Wins Tour de France

July on the Champs-Élysées…
Hiro: Unbelievable! A Japanese winning the Tour de France! On a Japanese bike!
Wataru: Historic! Always been dominated by Western cyclists.
Hiro: Never imagined a Japanese cyclist wearing the yellow jersey.
Wataru: Western sports medicine is so advanced and doping was so well hidden. Look how long Lance Armstrong got away with it.
Hiro: So how did a Japanese cyclist manage to win?
Wataru: I think teamwork was a big factor. The Japanese team were a strong presence in the peloton. Their strategies worked.
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Voice-over
Some other factors could contribute: anti-doping regulations getting stricter making for a more even playing field, Japanese physique has been getting stronger, Japanese research into nutrition improving. Japanese are becoming more prominent in a wide range of sports.

Tailwinds and Yellow Jerseys

Early summer ride…
Jacques: We’re organizing a bike ride tomorrow. Interested?
Filippo: Thanks but alas. Would if I could but I can’t.
Jacques: Busy?
Filippo: Preparing for the big move. Stuffing fifty years of Japan into fifty boxes.
Jacques: What to keep, what to throw?
Filippo: Oh yes. Dilemmas, big time. Hey, I found a forty year old envelope from Oikaze, the cycling group that used to send out notices of rides by post.
Jacques: Pre-internet I guess it was more cumbersome getting a peloton of riders together. Now it’s an email or a LINE message.
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Voice-over

TQ Durban

But expressions like tailwind and yellow jersey survived the digital transition.

Sugiura Keiko

Keeping on keeping on...

Aprés the Paralympics…

Aya: So who was the Japanese who moved you the most?

Naomi: That’s hard. There were so many inspiring stories. But maybe Sugiura.

Aya: Because you are a cyclist too?

Naomi: Two gold medals. At age 50. The oldest Japanese gold medalist.

Aya: She got over a lot of adversities.

_________

Voice-over

A pharmacist, with two children, who used to cycle as a hobby. Fell off at age 45, multiple fractures, brain damage, had to learn to read again. Took up Paralympic cycling. Games were postponed by a year and almost gave up. But stuck at the training  to win a gold medal in a time trial event and another in the road race. Mix with people who tell you, “Don’t give up.”

Cycling to the Hospital

Seeking advice…

Eddie: You’ve taken the train into town recently. Was it crowded?

Louis: A bit. And that was at 10:30. Off peak.

Eddie: So that’s why you bicycle everywhere now.

Louis: You get used to it. It’s only 20 kilometers to town. An hour and a half.

charging bicycle lamp

Eddie: I can do that.

Louis: When do you need to be there? 

Eddie: Hospital checkup at 9 am.

Louis: Early start.

Eddie: Yes. Maybe 6:30. So I’ll need a new light and a seat.

Louis: Cheaper than driving and paying for parking. And think of your carbon footprint.

_________

Voice-over

Preparing the bicycle brought pleasant ecological surprises. A gel seat cover and a light that can be recharged by USB.

Cycling from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego

In the Plaza de Armas, Cusco, late in the afternoon.

...

wh5: Is that your bicycle? Could I ask you why it has two chains?

Goat: The wheels are too wide for a standard crank so I had to figure a way to transfer the drive to the rear wheels.

wh5: And you’re heading for?

Goat: We started in Alaska about 3 years ago, we're hoping to reach the bottom of South America by next spring.

Wh5: You travel with friends?

Goat: There are three of us.

wh5: And do you blog about this?

Goat: Sure, you can follow the progress at ridingthespine.com.

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Voice-over

A crowd gathers, questions are asked in Spanish. Goat (his real name) fields them deftly. His sister arrives having just flown in. Jacob says the crowds gather whenever they stop in a town square, and the usual questions come up. You can imagine they are mostly the usual what, when, where, who, why types, even if they sometimes lack an interrogative.

If you read Goat’s bio on the website here, you can’t but help admire his independence, inventiveness, curiosity. If more of us traveled this way, tourism might not have such a dark side.

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