matt you won round one round two will be a doddle.
look forward to photos of your first spin when all is done and dusted.

meself i have near enough all new gear bought just this minute bought a backpack monster of a yoke
ill have to go into training to carry it 
my plan for this year is to load up the car with all my gear and bike head up north do a bit wild camping
thats where backpack comes in, if all else fails (usually does with me )i.ll find a campsite set up tent and cycle the local country lanes.

anyway Matt you'll be in my thoughts my friend have a great year.

anto.

Andre, the two tunnel pictures are actually opposite walls of the same tunnel. One wall is tiles made from children's art, and on the other side, they let the grown-ups play.

Jumping back in time from the cycling road, here are some pics from my last week on tour.

1 and 2   Japan has done an incredible amount of flood mitigation work along many of the rivers. A bonus for cyclists is that a huge majority of the rivers have paths on the dikes. This one went for about 20km along the Chubetsu River, near Asahikawa. (The path along the Tone River near Tokyo spans 230 car free km!)

3  Cycle art along the bike path. This particular path wasn't too well-maintained and right after this part, it became impassible. Luckily, a little bushwhacking brought me up to the top of the dike, where there was a smooth path.

4  There is a famous animation studio in Tokyo called Studio Ghibli. One of their more famous movies is “My Neighbour Totoro”. (Adapted for stage and currently at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London. Go see it if you're there. It's great) A character in the movie is a bus that is a live cat. Someone near the town of Fukagawa took an old bus, decorated with characters from the movie, and put it on an empty lot. Great fun. Totoro is the happy grey marshmallow just above the  bike’s saddle.  I highly recommend you give My Neighbour Totoro a look. The animation is absolutely stunning. Another one by the same studio worth watching is Spirited Away.

Best wishes to everyone in the new year.

And Matt, wishing you a complete recovery and another Time to try Thai

And a shout out to Mrs Matt.

Yes indeed. This thing certainly effects a lot of folks around me.
Mrs. Matt has been a diamond. Too many things to list here where she has shone and gone one step beyond.

Here's a shout out to all of our partners who put up with us.

All support from Denise and myself, Matt; I'll keep in touch.

Best, Dan.