On my own

I finally went out on my own...on my bike...in a new direction...and found something awesome! I have written about the 7-11 that I frequented before I acquired Blue Steel, well I headed in that direction with the plan of passing the 7-11 and just seeing where that road goes. No need to get lost, just take the same road so you can find your way back. And that was a great idea.

The road I took goes straight into Taiwa Town at the foot of the mountains. Just a short trip out my front door and I can be at the mountains! How sweet is that?!

Once on the other side of town there are no buildings to obscure the view. Just rice fields and these flowers.

I got a late start and left after lunch and had to be home to have dinner with Luke so I was only gone for about an hour. I will have to come back here and explore if there is a way up the mountain. But it was a beautiful day and Luke was right, when it's sunny out the rice fields blowing in the wind really does look like the ocean. Totally awesome!

My awesome new ride!

Saturday morning bright and early we went into town with Luke's supervisor and her husband to get me a bike! Finally we will be able to ride places together. Up until now we have been at the mercy of other people with cars to get us around. You see, although we are in a "village" we are on the outskirts of a large town and a car, or bike, really comes in handy.

So we arrived when the bike shop opened and looked around in awe. There were hundreds of bikes. If you ever want to open a bike shop, Japan is the place to do it! They will never be out of business, and people here will pay lots of money for a bike. Luke took me over to the mountain bikes. We had decided against the granny bikes, which most people in Japan own, because they don't have any speeds and with all the hills here and the places we want to go on our bikes we wanted more to our bikes.

When we had finally settled on one (it was the exact same as Luke's, color and everything) we told the owner. He was the same man that had helped Luke and of course, being the only non-Japanese around, he remembered Luke. Then he asked if we wanted to see the blue one. And I was like yeah! Alothough Luke's silver bike is very pretty I thought it would be nice to have one we can tell apart. And he brought it out, beautiful and shiny blue!

This is my new Diamondback bike! I love all 21 speeds! I call it "Blue Steel"! The reference is from Zoolander. I thought it fitting!

This is my kick ass kick stand. Every bike in America should have one of these. It is locked so it doesn't go forward. You put your foot on the short part to unlock in and move it back. It's awesome!

And here are my handlebars with gear shifters on both sides and my cute little bell which comes in handy when little grannies can't see you coming from behind! Soon I will get a light to put on the front for night riding.

P.S. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the Japanese are a gift giving culture and when Luke bought his bike from this man he was given a bike light as a gift. When we got mine he gave me an awesome bike lock and chain oil. The Japanese are awesome!