Preperation

I actually realized yesterday with just over two weeks to go –  I have no bike, map, equipment or any idea what im doing.

I decided to have a constructive day. So I woke up constructively at 1pm and then proceeded to productively mess around in my room for a 1 hour – achieving nothing.  I then walked down to my local bike shop (It’s tiny).  I studied the bikes for 15 minutes (under close supervision of the shop owner – がいじんは危ないよ）.  After realizing none of them had gears and Japan is to say the least – a little hilly, I decided maybe I needed a more specialist bike.

I found a specialist bike shop after asking a few friends.  It was only a few minutes away so i headed down there to look around. The shop was great! I stood and marveled at stupidly expensive bikes pointlessly trying the breaks and pulling levers  (I think I broke a 5000 pound bike because something came off  –  Walk and whistle…..just walk and whistle….). I ventured into the clothing sections, seeing what options could replace the `skin tight revealing shorts` of which I  refused to wear.  I also looked at the clothing and to the passers-by I probably would have looked knowledgeable, flipping the sleeves inside out of a jacket and feeling the material inside – `womens section` signs really need to  be bigger in Japan.

I looked for a bike that fell into my small budget and I was nowhere near. I was just about to give up hope when I walked around the corner.  There he was.  That`s when I found Colin.  Black smooth body, thin tires, large frame, screaming quality and attached to the front of him…there was a nice little  crispy `Sale` sticker gently blowing in the wind.

The salesman uttered something about this being a hybrid blah blah blah bike and how it wasn’t suitable for a journey the length of  which I planned. He was ignored, and price bantering pursued.

I soon after left the shop having paid the original pre-banter price. (-.-)

Yeaaaaaaaaaah! Commitment!