Well today didn’t turn out exactly as planned – but we still managed to have some great experiences and food.

Originally we had planned to cycle around the Shimokitazawa area – which is known for second hand variety of shops. We caught the train to Shinjuku and… after getting out of the station (if you’ve been there you understand)… we discovered Kym’s bike had a flat rear tyre. After 25+ minutes of grunt work, disconnecting the gears, changing the tube… we managed to set off again back to our route. Given the stress of this exercise there is no photos. Additionally at this point Kym’s phone didn’t have any internet connection – thankfully mine did.

Cycling the back streets is always a joy in Tokyo – they are quiet, minimal traffic and you see life differently. As we were going… we saw a short queue of people and a sign indicating ‘Gris Bagel’. If it’s good font it’s a sign… so we joined it. As it was only take away we put them in our bag and headed towards Yoyogi Park and sat beneath the autumn leaves. Beautiful.

The lake within the park is being fixed, so we did the cycling route and headed out for a coffee – Little nap stand. When you having an amazing coffee – it’s magic… the textured milk.. the taste of the coffee – bliss.

By this stage we were feeling confident – and continued our route to Main Mono in Shibuya near Yoyogi-Uehara station. The bakery is the work of a Japanese pastry chef – who trained and worked in Paris. Walking inside you can just smell the butter… ah. they have a variety of bread products on sale… so course we decided to buy three and eat them inside with a pot of tea. The croissant was delicious.. as was the persimon danish and the keema curry roll.

Back on the bikes we headed over to Shimokitazawa… however we did about about 1km and Kym said something was wrong with his pedal. As you can imagine 5-10 minutes diagnosing a problem with your bike is not fun – especially when you are not at home and don’t have a wrench. At this point we decided to head to the nearest Brompton bike experts…. At LIFE with a BICYCLE in Daikanyama. Checking the bike they determined the pedal was broken.. and a new crank and new pedals (of which they had the parts) were needed – and it would take an hour. Faith restored in bicycle shops in Japan we decided to go shopping…

An hour later when we picked the bike up everything had been replaced and it was ready to go. Fast, and efficient- recommend! As we were cycling Kym also noticed they had pumped up his tyres… and fixed the gears – ah 😉

While we never made it to Shimokitazawa it did teach us the following :

• When bringing a bike to Japan – always build in a day or two to ensure everything is working
• Know where reliable bike shops are located, just in case you have to go
• … where there is a queue good food is always found

Here’s to a great day tomorrow on the bike – fingers crossed..!