Okinawa Moon

Late Post. The following posts were transferred over from the archive of a different website's blog that I maintained that is no longer in use, Okinawabikelove.com

Folding Bicycle Maiden Voyage: Ishigaki Isand

3.14.2016

Folding bicycles are quite popular in Japan. All of Asia really. And Europe. At least more so than in the United States. Their ubiquitousness got us thinking. It sure would be nice to have a couple bikes to bring with us when traveling. So, after researching folding bikes online and prowling bike shops in Okinawa, my partner bought a Dahon Boardwalk and I opted for a Ferrari.

The nice thing about the Dahon, is that it fits inside a checkable luggage bag.

The nice the about the Ferrari, is that it's a Ferrari. And half the price of the Dahon.

Our folding bikes maiden voyage was to Ishigaki Island. A 45 min flight South of Okinawa. After arriving at the airport we assembled our bikes, located a luggage transport service that brought our luggage to our guest house, and hit the road.

Stopped at an interesting Shisa Park on the way from AP to guesthouse

It was a blast having the bikes. Tooling around the island on them gave us freedom from having to rely on public transportation and lack thereof. We both appreciated the independence to do things on our own schedule. Riding them made getting from point A to point B fun exploration rather than monotonous travel time. All in all, we are happy with the purchase and look forward to where we will take them next.

Aside from biking, Ishigaki is home of the highest point in Okinawa. There is a nice trail and hike to the top of Mt. Omoto. If the weather is nice, the snorkeling is unbeatable. Ishigaki is also home to one of two places in all of Japan that cultivates black pearls, Kabira Bay. There is a small but excellent museum there that explains the fascinating process. We stayed at Guesthouse Iriwa in Kabira Bay. Friendly staff and unique lodging options. Thanks for reading!

All Packed

Bike Touring de Okinawa

12.4.2014

Bike touring is a great way to take advantage of Okinawa sights, It's a low cost and adventurous way to spend a long weekend get-away. Over the past holiday weekend we were able to escape the commotion around American Village and rode our bicycles up North. Our first bike touring trip in Okinawa.

What did we Pack? 2 sleeping bags, 1 mat, 1 single person lightweight tent, 1 outfit to change into after riding, 1 change of cycling cloathes, 3 pairs of socks/underwear, 1 single burner light-weight stove and small pot, oatmeal, raincoats, 2 spare tubes, 1 spare tire, 2 mini pumps, 2 patch kits, 1 set allen wrenches, spoke wrench, tire irons.
Where did we go? We started at Camp Lester in Chatan. Our first day we rode through Motobu--North West of Nago to spend the night at a jungle oasis called "Beach Rock Village." Total milealge: 40 with the last 2 k climb into the jungle by far the most challenging. The second day we continued North. We pulled over at Okuma and camped a night before heading back South the following day because of wet and rainy conditions.
What was the best part? My favorite part of bike touring is the slow pace. I love the liberating feeling of waking up in the morning and knowing the only thing on my agenda is to ride my bike. The slowed down pace allows a special appreciation of the scenery passed along the way. Partner: Beach Rock Village and the fact that I did it! Especially the 2k steep climb up to Beach Rock.

Beach Rock Village Teepee

Communal Dinner Shared With Other Guests Left These Two American Bikers Hungry

Beach Rock Community Goats

And Tree Houses

Sometimes the Best Part of Biking is Who You Meet Along the Way

This is Ken. He approached us at a beach spot we pulled over at for a rest. He was also on his bike. We especially appreciated his friendly enthusiasm for biking, his sharing his favorite place to bike in Okinawa-a place we plan to ride to on our next bike trip, and his simple yet brilliant home-made water bottle cage large enough to fit square shaped cartons!

Another Curious Person Wondering Where We Were Headed With Our Loaded Down Bicycles

This high school mathematics teacher from Saigon approached us and struck up a conversation at this beach rest stop. She and a few other teachers were with their students on a school trip to Okinawa from Mainland

Rainy Riding

Although we turned around earlier than planned due to wet conditions, we had a great trip and will definitely be doing more "Bike Touring de Okinawa".

Win or Go Home

11.21.2014

Tour de Okinawa 2014

Tour de Okinawa is the biggest cycling event on the island. Every year, the challenging international courses attract professional cyclists from all over the world. As the weather starts to cool and the race approaches, the tense anticipation of this event shatters the language barrier. This year was my first year racing. I was proud to race for the team I regularly train with, Team Komesu. I participated in the women's 50 kilometer amateur race. Early on it was made clear to me that I was supposed to win the race. I competed in athletic events throughout high school and college and never was I told so bluntly to win a race. I understand Japan has a reputation of high pressure and high performance but I was surprised by how strong I felt it. I finished 4th. I lost the race in the final 50 meter sprint to the finish. In the end, I am glad the race is over and happy to be back at practice with out it's presence in front of me. Next year I will try the 100Km course!

This is a combination of old posts from a blog I wrote at Okinawabikelove.com (now discontinued website). These are some of the projects we completed during our 4 year stay in Okinawa. Where we discovered we love DIY projects!

Carry Freedom Bike Trailer --- 5/12/2014

One afternoon my partner and I were discussing purchasing a bike trailer for bike hauling/touring purposes. In the midst of our web query of various options, we stumbled across a build your own bike trailer design by Carry Freedom. The purpose of this non-profit venture by Carry Freedoms in their own words: "Places that need a bike trailer the most, often have the least capacity to build or buy them. Carry Freedom developed the Bamboo trailer to allow anyone the ability to build a strong adaptable trailer from anything." Right on Carry Freedom! After perusing the plans, and given that we live on a tropical island where bamboo grows naturally, it was decided. We would build our bike trailer. We are very impressed with how well it works.

Supplies

Frame

Adding wheels

Sinew

Project: Bike Wheels 8/1/2014

The allure of building your own wheels does not disappoint. I first learned how to build wheels at Sunrise Cyclery in Minneapolis. My teacher was, and still is, my bike sensei Jamie McDonald. He has built hundreds, maybe even thousands of wheels. The pair below is my 3rd pair which brings my grand total to 6. However, that number would increase if I counted the multiple times I built up a wheel and realized my spoke length calculations were off and my spokes were too short/ long. Although it may seem like a challenge, building wheels is a fun, doable, and rewarding project.

My Supplies:

Rims:  Velocity A-23 rims. The rear, an A-23 OC (off center.) Why did I go with an A-23 OC for the rear wheel only? Because of this tutorial from Bill Mould.
Hubs:  Hope RS Mono front and rear
Spokes: Single butted spokes. 28 in front, 32 in back.  I would have preferred to use a double butted spoke like the DT Swiss Competition. However, they were too costly to ship to Okinawa and the three shops I tried to purchase them in on island either did not carry them or too much was lost in translation while trying to describe what I was interested in.
Spoke Prep: I used linseed oil. Spoke prep works as well. The function is to lubricate the spoke threads for building but harden or get sticky over time to prevent spokes from loosening while riding.

Tools:
-Spoke wrench
-Spoke tension tool
-Spoke nipple driver or flat head screwdriver
-Truing stand

Steps to Building a Wheel:
Step 1: First, calculate the proper spoke length necessary for the hubs and rims you are using. The front wheel will have the same length of spokes on each side while the rear will have a different length for the drive side vs. the non drive side. There are many spoke calculators out there to make this step easy. Here is a spoke calculator that I like and used for this project.
Step 2.: Dip spokes in linseed oil to lubricate and proceed to drop spokes into the hub every other hole.

Step 3: Pick a spoke and thread it (loosely) into the first position on the rim. The first hole to the right of the valve stem. Thread the rest of the spokes into the rim every 3 holes.

Step 4: Twist the spokes away from the valve stem hole and flip the rim over. Drop the remainder of the spokes into the hub.

Step 5: Pick a spoke. Thread under, under, over and through the middle rim hole.

Step 6: Follow the spoke directly to the right of the valve down to the first spoke it crosses on the hub. Drop a spoke through the other side. Pull the spoke through the empty hole on the rim next to the valve

Step 7: Drop spokes through every other hole

Step 8: Feed all spokes through the rim in the middle of the parallel spokes

Step 9: Flip wheel over and drop the remainder of the spokes in the hub ( head side opposite of the other spokes ) and drop through the big V after a pinch

Step 10: Feed all spokes under under over before tightening

Step 11: Set the spokes into the rim by squeezing each side of spokes together pressing them into the hub flanges

Step 12: Tighten all spokes to your fingernail placed at the bottom of the threads on the spoke. The more consistent your tightening here, the easier your job truing the wheel will be

Step 13: Tension the wheel by turning each spoke 1 or 2 full revolutions. Keep this as consistent as possible. When the wheel starts coming into tension, in Sheldon Brown's words, " There are 4 different things that you need to bring under control to complete the job: lateral truing, vertical truing, dishing, and tensioning. As you proceed, keep checking all 4 of these factors, and keep working on whichever is worse at the moment." Check out his take on wheel building here

Home Project: Paddle Boards 3.13.2016

I remember the scene clearly, my partner and I were sitting on the couch surfing the web on a breezy day in October. We were trolling the inter webs interested in purchasing kayaks for fun/fishing. Out of the blue, he suggested, "how about we build paddle boards?" Without hesitation I enthusiastically replied "sure!" And it was settled.

This post will mostly be a photo journal of the process of building these boards rather than an explanation of each step. For that, we watched a LOT of youtube surf/paddle board building vids and read blogs ect. We had 0 experience building paddle boards before we started this project. Although, my partner was employed for 4 summers during college building fiberglass bathtubs. Which proved to be a handy knowledge base. This project took a 8 months of a to complete and was a

ton of work. What a relief to arrive at the fun finished product!

Step One: Choose board style and make blue print. Find board materials. We used foam board insulation from a hardware store. Make blank. Glue foam together to make desired width/length. We used epoxy as our glue for blank construction.

Plans for the design

Size of boards is specific to performance goals

Step 2: Shape and sand foam blank. We used a sure form file and 60 grit sandpaper. Also add wood inserts for mounting hardware if desired. These wood inserts are specifically for mounting tie down rings for securing cargo on a fishing paddle board.