Bike Ride of Doom

Today, my host mom showed me the way to school by bike. If I described it in one word it would be kowai (scary).

I have not ridden a bike in a while (year or 2) so for the first bit I was kinda shaky/ unbalanced. My seat was loose which did not help because I kept turning it. Anyway I thought I would just deal with it, but then came the first crossing so I hit the breaks, and the one side screeched like a dying squirrel. No joke, I screamed, which made my host mom turned around XD. The breaks were also kinda slow (one side doesn’t work at all). My host mom still wanted to show me the route, since it was supposed to be rainy the next couple days, so we ended up switching bikes. Her seat was really low, which made it a bit more difficult to pedal, but wasn’t that bad.

Now for the actual route, the first 15 minutes I was scared. I had to drive on the road with the cars. It’s a main road so there were lots, and I would freak out when they drove by, because they are like right next to you (sometimes within a couple inches O.o). About halfway in, there was a sidewalk we could bike on so that was better. It was still kinda nerve wracking because there were a lot of side roads, and you can’t see if there’s a car coming until you actually cross. We finally got to school after 30 mins and she showed me where to park my bike. There were only one or two hills, and I wasn’t too tired. I will be in good shape though. :D.

Then it was time to come back. It was busier, being close to rush hour. Returning seemed to go a lot faster. When you’re not watching out for cars, you have to watch out for bikes. When we were about 10 minutes from home, we were crossing the street, and this one guyon a bike almost ran into my host mom, so she kinda veered away, which caused her to almost run into the side of a taxi turning >.<. A lot of the streets in japan are pretty narrow, so it can be difficult maneuvering around pedestrians, other bikers and cars.

We got home safe and sound. I don’t remember much of the route other than we crossed 2 rivers, train tracks and drove through the parking lot of the gym where my host sis practices. All of my attention went to trying not to run into anyone or get run over. I’m sure everyone got a good laugh watching the gaijin (foreigner) trying to ride a bike XD.

I’m sure in time I will get used to it and with practice I will learn where to go. I did not crash into anything and I can still ride a bike, so to me, it was a success.
I also got my skirt, so pics of uniform soon to come...

Edit: Host dad is in the process of trying to fix my bike…