Further and further we go

Several weeks ago, as we returned from a quick trip to Ikebukuro to pick up some ballet tights for our son, my bike started shaking and was increasingly hard to steer. After stopping to investigate, we realized several of the spokes on my rear wheel had broken resulting in an unbalanced wheel. I tried to limp back, but lost my nerve. With my son on the back, it was too intimidating to be so off kilter. So, my husband and I switched bikes and he rode our son back the rest of the way.

The next day we took my bike in to get the wheel repaired. A couple hours and around $80 later, my bike was back in working order. When we were wrapping everything up, the man who fixed the bike commented to my husband, “she doesn’t ride with him on the back anymore, does she?” referring to our son. He continued without either of us admitting to it. “If so, that’s why the wheel had to be fixed. He’s too big and should be riding his own bike.”

We knew this, of course. He’s getting to be too big to ride on the back of my bike. Since getting a new bike for his birthday, he generally rides his own. But, for long rides, like to Ikebukuro, I’ve still had him ride on the back of mine. The issue isn’t actually the riding. It is the mounting and dismounting. When a child climbs into a child seat on a bike, they tend to pull the bike hard and then put their weight on it, damaging the rear wheel. Bikes are built for even pressure.

Since having my bike repaired, we’ve been going on longer and longer bike rides on the weekends. We are working to build up his stamina. Of course, we haven’t really found an end to his boundless seven-year-old energy, but we prefer to build versus just going somewhere and getting stuck with a melting down child.

As usual, we tend to have destinations. Ride 3 km to a new lunch place or 5 km to a specific store and back. This past weekend, we had him ride 6.8 km (each way) for kakigori, or shaved ice. If there is sugar involved, this kid would ride 100 km! My husband, the dutiful researcher and captain of our weekend adventures, found a tea shop that freezes tea and makes shaved ice with it. As soon as he described it, I was eager to go.

The small shop, called Ooyamaen (oh-yah-ma-en) only has three flavors to choose from - green tea, strawberry (they freeze the berries in blocks of ice, like we do at home), and hojicha (roasted green tea). Since there are three of us, we ordered one of each. 

 

For sweetness, each pile of frozen treat was lightly graced with sweetened condensed milk. It was served with a small amount of syrup that was recommended to be poured on when half the mountain was devoured.

All three kakigori were light and had just the right amount of sweetness. They were very reminiscent of many Japanese sweets I’ve had over the years - meant to be eaten slowly and savored. I loved it, but it might not be considered a dessert to many westerners.

Once the weekend was over, the weather changed from a lovely warm temperate range to cool. It now feels officially like fall, including rain as a typhoon passes by us. While I’m overjoyed to be wearing a sweatshirt today, I’m also grateful we had one last summer treat to celebrate the autumn equinox and the official transition into one of my favorite seasons of the year. While we might not be riding far distances for frozen treats anymore, we’ll still be riding near and far exploring this crazy country and seeing what there is to see.