Tokyo Charity Ride

Hey Blog fans! I tried to get Robin to tell you this story, but he declined. It is one of those "Only in Japan!" stories that we tend to giggle about.

So Sunday morning dawned sunny and clear. Perfect temperature with birdies singing. Robin was up and out of the house early...before I was even up. Sunday was the Make a Wish Charity 25K bike ride around Tokyo. The Make a Wish Foundation helps treat terminally ill children and their families to special events such as trips to Disney World or other events/destinations. It is a wonderful cause. Suzuki-san from his office told Rob about it and they signed up together. Robin has been riding his bike to and from work almost every day. So he's been logging about an hour of good cardio work daily. I know it's a good work out, because he always comes home at night winded and perspiring. It takes him a few minutes to cool down. Riding his bike is faster than the metro or a car. Getting around Tokyo by car is the slowest way to go. He loves to ride on the weekends too, and will hop on his bike to ride to a new area and find good grocery stores. (Lucky Me!)

So how was the event? He tells it this way: there were about 1200 bikers participating. They let them off the starting line in groups of 25 every couple of minutes. They rode single file and stopped AT ALL THE LIGHTS. ALL OF THEM. The leader would stop, raise his hand, and they would all have to stop in line. No policemen along the way, no closed route, no stopped traffic. At about 4K into this physically challenging event, they all STOPPED AT A STARBUCKS, where they were given muffins, fruit, drinks. I guess they were worried about the bikers keeping their strength up during all the grueling starting and stopping...This 25K was painful in a couple of ways; frustrating beyond your wildest imagination (at least for Robin who has participated in events like this in the US) and hard on the back. He spent a lot of time with one foot on the curb, out of balance and as a consequence, his back is bothering him this week. After completing 3/4 of the route, Robin bailed. He just couldn't do it any more. He rode across town and back home. The first thing he said to me was, "I made a new word today!" (We do that a lot here)

"Oh?" I said. "Do tell!"

Godzilligan. adj. A combination of Godzilla-like over-sized horror with the ridiculousness of Gilligan's Island.

He did receive a sleeveless light blue windbreaker that barely fits me and that has the sponsors listed on the back. Oh well. It was for a good cause.

Only in Japan.