The weather leading up to the bike event was terrible. There was rain, cloudy skies and wind. And then, it warmed up on Saturday, and as the day fell away into night, the sky lightened and showed promise for Sunday.

Sunday turned out to have a pretty clear sky, but horribly strong, cold winds. I dressed up with my fleece jacket and a wind breaker jacket over it to keep out the cold. I don’t have any fancy clothes for cycling other than the cycling shorts and tights I wear over the shorts when it’s colder.

There were two different courses available for cyclists to join, the Mankitsu course, which was 65 km, and the Shiokaze course, which was 23 km. Most of the cyclists were in the longer, Mankitsu course. Not for me. I joined the Shiokaze course because I generally only cycle about 10 km when I go cycling a couple of times a week.

The big banner advertising the race was taken down due to the strong winds, so this background to the stage became the largest advertisement for the event on Sunday.

The long course cyclists left first, in groups of 10 cyclists. Here’s a group just on their way.

Our group, the short course riders left about an hour after the long course riders, again in groups of 10 cyclists. We started in Uchinomi Park, went through Naruto city and then back to the park.

A few kilometers from the end we had to take a ferry across the water (when we left the park we rode over a bridge). Here’s some of the cyclists on the boat on the ride across.

The cycle was pretty easy-going up until the final few kilometers when, having rounded a corner we came face to face with gusting wind. Moving to very low gear, I was still going as fast your average pedestrian walking on the street. After cycling 20 km, this sucked out a lot of energy from me (but maybe I was pushing myself too hard?).

Going over the last hill before the park I concentrated on tasting the Uzushionabe, a soup containing various seafood and vegetables from this locality. And you know, shortly after I arrived I met my wife, picked up the soup and together we enjoyed a fantastic lunch, overlooking the sea near the park. It was a great finish to a great day.

I look forward to the event next year and who knows, I just may try the long course!