Broken Things

Happy New Year
This is the second crank that broke on me - first was a Shimano Dura-ace hollow tech. This is from the commuter fixie. Replacement cost is going to push up my estimate of the price of the daily commute - currently 10 pence!

Positivo Espresso Wedding

Since returning to Tokyo from the P.E./Beeren Pyrenees tour and P.E. London wedding, I have fallen down on the job of maintaining the P.E. blog -- barely sufficient time to ride a bike, let along write about riding a bike.

But I am particularly remiss in not posting here about what must be the greatest event in the long history of Positivo Espresso -- the wedding of the two members of the Positivo Espresso Europe team from Transalp 2011 and 2009 -- Juliane Prechtl and David Jacob!  

It was an incredible party and and incredible weekend, with the entire P.E. team (not to mention tennis-playing spouses) being treated like family.  Actually, we were treated better than family.  And, in case there was any doubt, the photos of the bride and groom are proof that cycling keeps one fit, keeps the girls beautiful and the boys handsome!

Team members in attendance included Stephen, Jerome, M.O.B. and myself.  Jerome even played a role in the wedding processional.

Enough words.  A few photos (and then back to work).

Jerome steals the show as the couple enters the courtyard.  Our first glimpse of Juliane (aka "Queen of the Mountains") in her incredible "Greek Goddess" dress.

David turns to give us a good view of his "Bradleys" -- sideburns in honor of Mr. Wiggins.

And we were not the only ones in London who are "jitensha baka".  There have been over 16 million trips since 2010 using the rental "Boris Bikes", which seem to be visible just about everywhere, as with the rental schemes we saw in Paris (Velib) and Dijon (Velodi).  There are so many bicycle commuters passing through David and Juliane's neighborhood that a very sturdy tire pump has been installed on the curb outside the neighborhood pub.  David offered "free refills" as commuters stopped at the red light.

Even inside Heathrow Airport, there was a crazy cyclist riding a fully loaded tourer around Terminal 5, offering emergency medical care to anyone in need!