Early Spring ride

A cost of busyness often is a lack of time for the exercise. I have taken a long ride for several weeks, this week I knew it was time but kept an eye on the weather. We've had lots of cold, rainy days, but I could see some warmer sunny days coming so I held off going riding until yesterday. 

Oh and it was so worth it! Check out these photos. 

Daffodils on my route there.

Sakura (cherry blossoms) also on my route.

It isn't easy to catch cherry blossoms on a blue-sky day in Tokyo. Today the sky is grey.

I sat on grass in the warm sun and gazed at this sight in the park. I really didn't want to leave, it was so soul-refreshing and reviving. 

Most of the trees in the park still had their winter bare-ness, but if you looked closely some had pregnant buds. 

We're not sure if this is a plum or cherry blossom, but it's gorgeous nonetheless. 

These look like weeds, but are a seasonal flower that also only last a short time. They're Rapeseed Flowers (harvested for canola oil in some places in the world) and flower at about the same time as Cherry blossoms here. So they're often planted together and provide a beautiful contrast for each other. 

These daffodils are just down the road from us outside a small hospital. Easy to miss, but gorgeous after a long cold winter.

I rode about 18km yesterday on my mamachari. With the temperature at about 18C, it was fantastic to be out without cowering under tonnes of layers. This map I give you to provide context. 

My ride is in green. You can just see the tip of
Tokyo Bay to the east. We're about
an hour from there by train, only 26km.

We live where the four blue lines converge. I did some local grocery shopping after my ride to the park and left my app running to capture that riding too. 

I'm keen to go back to the park soon—tulips and more cherry blossoms will be out soon. The ride definitely provides more than just exercise. I feel refreshed and more positive now.