Links

Audax Australia
This is the umbrella organisation running long distance cycling events in Australia Their website includes a calendar of events.

Bikejournal
A place where cyclist can keep track of their mileage and any number of other statistics, as well as an attached forum.

Bikeforums
A set of discussion forums covering almost every conceivable cycling related topic.

Cycling Adventurer
The Cycling Adventurer has tossed in the structured life of an urbanite to explore the world by bicycle. A well-written site detailing how he came to cycling, and what he learned along the way.

Crazy Guy on a Bike

Bicycle touring journals from all over the world, including a couple of my own.

Johns Cycles

This is my LBS on the Gold Coast. While they cater more to the racing market, their service, advice and workmanship is the best on the coast.

St Kilda Cycles

Importers of all manner of things hard to find in Australia, including the legendary Schmidt hub dynamo & E6 lights.

Blogs

Bicycle-eye
Wonderings and wanderings out and about in Portland, Oregon, US

The Journey
The journey begins in Perth, Western Australia.

Lance Notstrong
The "other" Lance!

Ms Mittens
The Wired Cat on-line

Iron Gambit
.

Aussie Writer and Cycletourist
A blog chronicling the writing and cycling of a seaside baby boomer.

Up in Alaska
Jill's subarctic journal about ice, bears and distant dreams of the midnight sun.

The Kin Chronicles
Taking mediocrity to a new level of ordinary.

Allez
Riding and running with a vengeance.

London Cycling Diary
Pedalling across the capital since August 2005.

CouchPilot-2-BikePilot (Zin's cycling blog)
Living an adventurous life with Type-2-Diabetes.

The adventures of Crazy Biker Chick
... Including cycling, adventuring, cooking, knitting and ranting.

Redneck Espanol
The two wheeled Spanish redneck.

Treadly and me
"Work is something I do between riding my bicycle".

Crowlie
Womanist philosophy and theology. Cycling, climbing, art, single-motherhood and fire-twirling.

Adrian Fitch's random rambling.
A bit about cycling, a bit about genealogy, a bit about radio but mostly a lot about nothing at all.

Geo's big adventure
The life and times of Geo.

It's about the bike
Musings on the cycling life.

Spinopsys
Various cycling tidbits.

Industry Outsider
A blog about bikes and stuff.

Tweed Coast Treadly
An old man's bicycle riding diary.

A cyclist's life in Tenerife
(Canary Islands).

Bike to work to live to bike
It's never too late to get back on the bike

Stupid Hurts
Just the random scribblings of a guy with a bicycle

I'm not drunk enough for this
Really, I'm not.

BikeHacks
What can I say? Just read it.

Mozam's cycling adventures
A random collection of the things I like to do most, and mostly that is to ride my bikes, bicycles that is... My musings from competitive riding, long distance endurance to puttering around the neighborhood..

More cycling blogs

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

One year ago today...



Rather than log on and crap on about my injuries or the bastard who ran me down (see two posts ago), I have decided to use this time to write about some happier memories. 12 months ago I was touring through Japan, an absolutely beautiful country that everyone should visit at least once -- I'm already looking forward to a return visit at some point in the future. To be more specific, on August 23, 2010, I was riding through Central Hokkaido, and about to pass through one of the most colourful landscapes in the world.



Hokkaido had already demonstrated some spectacular scenery on the early part of the tour, as demonstrated by this unexpected waterfall near my impromptu campsite from the previous evening. Today I was going to pass through the towns of Furano and Biei, where I would probably find a place to break the journey before continuing on tomorrow to Daisetsuzan National Park. After shopping in Furano and lunch at a rather odd little cafe in the middle of nowhere, I found some amazing, brightly coloured lavender fields.





What was perhaps more amazing about these is that just a few months earlier the whole area would have been totally blanketed by snow. The time that must go into maintaining these is incredible -- given that they blanket entire hillsides, and yet seem to be arranged in a relatively orderly fashion. I did see some incredible gardens in surprising locations in Japan -- a median strip on a highway near Takayama was quite incredible, but I think these were probably the prettiest of them.





Later in the day it started raining quite heavily, and I ended up sheltering in a backpacker hostel in the hills behind Biei. This would turn out to be a smart idea, considering that the rain that night would cause a landslide that ultimately stopped me from reaching Daisetsuzan National Park. Instead I spent an evening chatting to travellers from other countries and sampling some of the local delicacies. This is the sort of thing I will get back to doing.

Anybody who wants to read the full story of the Japan tour should go to http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/japan-10 and it's definitely worth a read.

* For those who do want an injury update, the broken ribs seem to have healed because they don't seem to be giving me any more pain. The broken collarbone is on it's way, as I seem to have got back quite a bit of the movement in my right shoulder. There is still some stiffness and it lacks strength, so I won't be riding for a while yet. My brain seems to have survived the 12 hour concussion -- much to the chagrin of my co-workers who had to endure some really bad jokes that originated there today.

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