Mutsumi Hashimoti has been a delight to deal with at the KKR Hotel. All of the staff here offer exceptional service, but Mutsumi has really taken us under her wing and made our stay even more special. She speaks English well and loved practicing her English with us.
Tsurumi Park Ryokuchi is our destination today. This park was the site of the 1990 International Flower and Gardening Expo which attracted over 23 million visitors over the 183 days. We will be meeting Yoshi at the Life Tower in the park. Osaka will be hosting World Expo in 2025.
We stayed on in Osaka for an extra night so that we could attend Yoshi’s Recumbent Rally at Tsurumi Park Ryokuchi, about 10 Km from our hotel. As usual we enjoyed breakfast in our room - yogurt, granola, fruit and Barry’s Aeropress coffee. It continues to be humid and will be in the high 20’s.
The energy of the city will be different today. Being Sunday the park will be full of families having barbecues and enjoying the day.
We heard the music, voices chanting and drums beating long before seeing this group on the road. The traffic stopped and let them through. We continue to be pleasantly surprised by the consideration of drivers, not only for us but for events like this. Not sure what is happening but I’m sure we’ll see more. Festivals are a common occurrence here.
The Outre is Japanese built and provides a solution to carrying a bike on the crowded public transit and storage. The vertical bar has a brake lever that activates a rear disc brake and a front brake. It features one and a half wheels, hence the name. The Shimano grip shifter features 8 gears. A fascinating invention and it is about as far away from the huge size and comfort of our trike. We love the unique and quirky world of bikes that defy the conventional
This weird and wonderful bike defied the efforts of those who tried to ride it. It takes tremendous core strength and is quite twitchy. It seemed to us that it is perhaps like riding a unicycle but with added complications.
Keith AdamsSomehow I don't think I'd want to try that one on a long, twisty, steep mountain descent. Or ascent either, for that matter. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
The fellow seated on my trike is about to have a test ride. He owns a recumbent trike as well.
This is what a Rally is all about. Like minded people enjoying each other’s ride. Some of the guys spoke some English, but it didn’t deter us from communicating as we all spoke the language of bike.
It has been a wonderful day. We really enjoyed being included in this gathering and meeting these fellows and seeing their bikes/trikes. My trike was test rode by some of the guys and they loved the suspension and steering. Barry’s trike was too large for them.
After spending a few hours at the rally we went for a ride around this huge park. As we were about to leave, we heard chants and drumming and sure enough, the festival and come to the park for their finale.
