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I love to ride

Sep 6, 2016
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Hello Everyone!

I'm happy to be here. We arrived in Tokyo yesterday from Hungary. Currently we'll live in Shinagawa for about a month and will move to another place later, so for now I'm looking for routes/riders near Shinagawa/Minato-ku.

My strava profile is: Adam Papai. I ride a Merida Scultura 300 and usually do around 200km / week depending on the weather etc. I'm working from home so my working hours are completely flexible, I could join any ride at anytime if I don't have a family program.

I'd love to ride in Tokyo / surroundings and I brought my bike with me. There are though a lot of unknown things:

  • Where am I allowed to ride?
  • Where should I store my bike. My apartment isn't that big, no space for a bike.
  • What routes should I follow?
  • Do you guys organize group rides frequently?
 
Hi Adam, welcome to Tokyo.

  • Where am I allowed to ride?
You cannot ride on toll roads or expressways, and a few other places that will have signs like 自転車乗り入れ禁止. Otherwise, ride on!
  • Where should I store my bike. My apartment isn't that big, no space for a bike.
If you have a nice bike, make sure your new apartment has a place to store it inside.
  • What routes should I follow?
Depends on what kind of riding you want to do. If you want to ride in the mountains, then the riverside paths are a good way to get there.
  • Do you guys organize group rides frequently?
A few group rides are posted here. Check the "Rides" section of the board.
 
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Thanks John!

So far I had a few rides, exploring the area. So far so good. At first glance riding in the traffic is scary, but after a few days it's not that scary anymore.

I visited 多摩川 this week. It was pretty good. Although it takes 30min for me to get to the 鳥居 starting point in a saturday traffic.

I also visited the Oifuto track. It's awesome although I had issues with the red lights. I wish they could be switched off... I know that disobeying the law is not something I want in Japan, but I saw that almost all riders were turning on red and ignoring the red traffic lights completely. Is it something I should follow? It's very uncomfortable to stop on red signals especially when the traffic is actually blocked on the left side with barriers.

So what should I do? :) Follow the others or obey the rules? :)
 
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Congrats on reaching the river. City traffic tends to be pretty slow around here.

I haven't been to Oifuto for a long time and don't know the etiquette, but if a lot of other riders are ignoring the lights then you should be safe to do the same. And it's more fun.
 
Thanks John!

So far I had a few rides, exploring the area. So far so good. At first glance riding in the traffic is scary, but after a few days it's not that scary anymore.

I visited 多摩川 this week. It was pretty good. Although it takes 30min for me to get to the 鳥居 starting point in a saturday traffic.

I also visited the Oifuto track. It's awesome although I had issues with the red lights. I wish they could be switched off... I know that disobeying the law is not something I want in Japan, but I saw that almost all riders were turning on red and ignoring the red traffic lights completely. Is it something I should follow? It's very uncomfortable to stop on red signals especially when the traffic is actually blocked on the left side with barriers.

So what should I do? :) Follow the others or obey the rules? :)

Our group tends to blow through the red lights during our early morning rides and obey them during the day. But everyone seems to have their own rules. It is a risk no matter what.
 
Our group tends to blow through the red lights during our early morning rides and obey them during the day. But everyone seems to have their own rules. It is a risk no matter what.

I have another question in regard to Oifuto: To get there I need to go over those bridges (overpasses). I don't see any "bicycles are not allowed" signs, but don't feel quite well when I ride on those overpasses. Am I allowed to ride on those?

Once I tried to reach Oifuto via the road 421, and once from the direction from the Tachiaigawa station, and both requires me to ride up on these overpasses. Those have those flashing orange lights and It does fill me some fear.

So is it allowed and safe to use those overpasses (bridges over the train lines) ?

Thanks for your reply in advance!
 
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You are not allowed to use overpasses. But that doesn't mean you can't. Just that you aren't allowed.
 
There a variety of ways in. I've just looked back to 2012 to find when I did the beginners Half Fast ride down that way. Gives you a couple of options -
https://www.strava.com/activities/24119681
Note on the way back it goes under the railway lines using a small very, very low tunnel (duck!)

Thanks, this route seems to be the best for me. I live pretty near to the Tennozu isle, so I'll try this next time. I hope the taifun will be over this weekend and I can go and ride again.
 
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