Japan Journey - the Gear

There is a saying, a mantra in triathlon, that there should be "nothing new on race day". No new gear, no new sources of energy. Race day should be predictable. I am throwing that out the window and taking on the journey with almost all new gear. The good news is that I am not entering a race, but instead just trying to get from bottom to top. In fact, I am actively telling myself to go slow, to take my time and not turn it into a race against myself.

The gear, though, is new, or at least most of it is. My bike, my shoes, and my helmet are all new. The bags that my gear will get stored in are also new, this is the first time I have taken on this long of a ride and have previously only worried about where to store my phone, a few energy bars and my water bottle. I haven't worried about my clothes and where they will go on my bike. This trip is, as a friend proclaimed, "credit card bike-packing". I will be jumping from hotel to hotel, so don't have to worry about hauling camping gear around with me, which is a good thing, because the bags I have are not all that big.

Over the last day, I have put together my new bike, a Canyon Grail, which Canyon makes about as easy as it possibly can be. The time it took to attach the bags took more time than the actual assembly of the bike, and filling the bags was disconcertingly fast.

I am a few days from getting started on the ride, but basically ready. I had to take the stock image above since my bike is already nestled in a Rinko Bag, a bag that is so wonderfully Japanese that I am surprised it has not caught on in the rest of the world, and kind of makes sense that it hasn't. The bag is an ultra-lightweight (more expensive because of this) cover that is required to take the bag on public transportation and in some hotels. It helps ensure that the dirt and grease from the bike do not get on anything or anyone else. It really is such a simple system and helps to transport it cleanly. It doesn't make it smaller, but if that is what it takes to get from place to place, it is totally worth it.

This has been one of the hardest trips to pack for. I don't want to have too much with me, but also, I will be in places far from bike shops, very far from stores where I can buy clothes that fit and perhaps, times when I am far from places to buy something to eat or drink. That doesn't mean it all has to come with me, but at least some of it does. If I can make it through the first 9 days of riding, I will be revisiting a hotel in Kyoto and have a chance to get a bag I will leave there, to replenish supplies and decide if the clothes that are with me on the first leg of the journey need to make the second leg, or if instead, others are needed.

I am not sure how to wrap this post up. I think a sign-off line is required. Sounds like a perfect thing to think of on the bike! So lacking that, an abrupt end.