Just a quick post to say I am here, I'm not dead and I haven't forgotten about this blog. Rock climbing season is upon us and I've had the chance to do... almost no climbing.
I headed up to my most local outdoor climbing area recently - Konnpira-san - but the sum total of that effort was walking in a perfect loop over 4 hours and finding not a single climbing rock area (we were in the wrong place, it seems). We gave up and went to CRUX Osaka, an indoor climbing gym that I've been to before. It may have both bouldering and indoor leading, but it's just not the same!
I'm hoping to head up to Rokko-san soon, out near Kobe. Access is apparently much easier so hopefully there'll be some climbing to be had there!
Meanwhile, summer is well and truly upon us here. Spring finished as quickly as it began, only marking its presence with a burst of cherry blossom for about a week. Daytime temperatures are now up to mid/high-twenties most days... only another 10 degrees to go before the peak of summer. Thankfully the unbearable humidity isn't really here yet...
Since I've not been able to get much climbing in, to get out and about I've been doing a lot of cycling instead. As well as just bumming around town in my free time, I'll commute to campus every day by bike (about a 7 mile round trip). On Wednesdays I have a good ~30 mile round trip to get to my office at the DPRI in the afternoon, which is a really good run (unless it's raining)! I've managed to build up a really nice fixed gear, mainly by scrounging parts here and there and just getting really lucky on occasion, so riding all of that distance fixed makes it doubly fun (and doubly tiring!).
Alas, that 30-miler and the rising temperatures have pushed me to invest in a pair of bib shorts and a jersey - for that full on 'lycra road warrior' look - things I vowed I would never buy. I feel dirty...
I headed up to my most local outdoor climbing area recently - Konnpira-san - but the sum total of that effort was walking in a perfect loop over 4 hours and finding not a single climbing rock area (we were in the wrong place, it seems). We gave up and went to CRUX Osaka, an indoor climbing gym that I've been to before. It may have both bouldering and indoor leading, but it's just not the same!
I'm hoping to head up to Rokko-san soon, out near Kobe. Access is apparently much easier so hopefully there'll be some climbing to be had there!
Meanwhile, summer is well and truly upon us here. Spring finished as quickly as it began, only marking its presence with a burst of cherry blossom for about a week. Daytime temperatures are now up to mid/high-twenties most days... only another 10 degrees to go before the peak of summer. Thankfully the unbearable humidity isn't really here yet...
Since I've not been able to get much climbing in, to get out and about I've been doing a lot of cycling instead. As well as just bumming around town in my free time, I'll commute to campus every day by bike (about a 7 mile round trip). On Wednesdays I have a good ~30 mile round trip to get to my office at the DPRI in the afternoon, which is a really good run (unless it's raining)! I've managed to build up a really nice fixed gear, mainly by scrounging parts here and there and just getting really lucky on occasion, so riding all of that distance fixed makes it doubly fun (and doubly tiring!).
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| It is a bike. |
Alas, that 30-miler and the rising temperatures have pushed me to invest in a pair of bib shorts and a jersey - for that full on 'lycra road warrior' look - things I vowed I would never buy. I feel dirty...
