Falling behind a little here, people. I have great intentions late at night forgetting the fact my internal clock won't be fooled by the tasty food and drink I can't avoid colliding with in Japan. Ending a night of partying at 2am here means it's high noon yesterday back home. But I just can't seem to sleep past 7am local time. I ought to go to bed early on account of it. Oh well. You have no idea the sacrifices we at Surly make to ensure you're entertained. As popular myth states, the band played on as the Titanic sank. I have no idea how that relates. I'm listening to Japanese techno. My beer is getting warmer by the minute so I better get cracking.


Day 3 was staged for more press time and a riding event. From the left, going clockwise, that's Noz, Ross, Rie and Shigei. Noz and Shigei are from Bicycle Magazine. Ross is Ross the Xtracycle guy; maybe you recognize him from flyers at your local post office. Rie is owner of Motocross International, the outfit responsible for the thriving Surly market in Japan. This was taken at an informal press interview held at Jonathan's -- the Japanese equivalent of Denny's, remember? Yeah.


It was decided we should do less talky and more pedaling. A fine idea indeed. Noz wanted photos of us guiding our longtails through the city. We happily obliged.


In interest of keeping a finger on the pulse of cycle trends, I present the hub scrubber. It's a big deal in Japan. Maybe it is in the States as well but I live in a cave. I can see the benefits since this simple apparatus ensures your fans will be able to read the brand of hub you're rolling, whether you clean your bike regularly or not. I would very much like to see one of these after a couple of months during a MN winter. Ice polished hubs, anyone?


A wall of vending machines. I know, I'm stuck on the vending machines. Get over it. Wait till I blog the showering toilets. Seriously though, I'd be fun to spend a month living out of vending machines in Japan. That might sound stupid but don't steal my idea. Now I just have to convince the wife and kids.


Noz was our Tokyo guide. He knows every alley and street. He's also one hell of a photographer and has become quite adept at whipping that rather large, expensive camera around while pedaling his fixed gear through the tight and narrow streets of Tokyo. Ross had another idea -- tow the bike and give Noz a ride so he could get all the action shots he needed without having to pedal.


Most residential streets in Japan are the width of alleys in the Midwestern US. After a winding route executed urban assault style, we arrived at Tokyo Tower. Its 333m of glory dwarfed Snack's 2m of stature most profoundly. He needed something to put him in his place. This year the tower celebrates 50 years of dominating the Tokyo skyline. Rie was kind enough to treat us with tickets to the observation deck up top.


On the way to the entrance of the tower, mopping brows and fanning our sweaty tees, I posited a timeless question -- What's a tourist attraction without the token acrobatic monkey? All of a sudden, there he was -- a trained monkey with his human prop doing tricks in the plaza. If it weren't for the dude with the headset, this monkey might actually go somewhere in life. He had skillz. Quick -- toss him a fixed gear bike!


Noz attempts to show us where we came from, where we are and where we're going on a map with no street names. Beauty. It was an awesome day however, and all we had to do was explore Tokyo aboard two Big Dummies and a Radish. Not a bad way to spend a day at work in my opinion.


This ain't Mpls. From the air Surly's hometown resembles a sheet of graph paper -- easy as hell to navigate except for the occasional lake that interrupts street flow. By contrast, Tokyo is a dense city, don't you think? Still, I am amazed how they make use of every square meter. Building tops are cultivated with grass and gardens or used for athletic courts and many other purposes. From up high I was also struck by the amount of green space in the city. It's really quite beautiful/


Meet Noppon, a lovable and thoroughly indescribable critter greeting young and old alike at the tower. The benevolent soul inside the costume has way more patience for stupidity than I would have. But enough silliness, we had a picnic in the park to get to.


Peter and Ross load up provisions en route to the party. I've become accustomed to commuting on my Big Dummy almost every day. The convenience of hauling anything I want whenever the need arises is a privilege of sorts, one that I frequently take for granted. Normally I fly with a Travelers Check. Without a doubt it's an awesome bike to have along for the ride. But enjoying the convenience and plush ride of the Dummy in a location far from home has truly been a treat.


Confession time -- until this trip I hadn't ridden a stock Big Dummy complete. The thing was solid right out of the box. Although it is one size too small (as demo bikes they needed to fit the customers who'd be riding them so we went with smaller sizes) it didn't feel uncomfortable. Sure I might add a longer stem but it was more than acceptable as is. Dealers and consumers alike commented on the quality of parts spec and overall durability of the bike.


Surly bling, Japanese style. Noz customized his Steamroller headbadge by applying dots of gold metallic sticker material. The King headset doesn't hurt either.

This is a Surly -- a Steamroller in fact -- but I didn't recognize it at first. Custom fade paint job on the frame is accented by the matching rims and custom anodized New Hubs. This is not out of the ordinary among Surly nuts in Japan.

This is a Cross-Check belonging to the wife of the Steamroller owner. Again, stripped down with a custom paint job and every bit of matching pink anodizing that could be found. It's flattering really to visit a place and meet riders who have created rolling art from our frames and parts. In contrast, I met a fellow who was riding a stock beef gravy brown Cross-Check that he'd just bought that day. He loved it and was thrilled to simply be riding a Surly. He'd obviously been anticipating the purchase for a while. Aww shucks ... cut it out, people. We're not worth it. Seriously.

As the bike pile grew and the hot sun began to set, Ross decided it was time to show off a few rope tricks as a preamble to the longtail races. After he wowed the crowd, we devised an out-and-back course and signed up teams of three to perform all kinds of stunts during progressive heats to determine the champion.

The ever vigilant and dependable Shuji-san (the gentleman who shuttled us and our bikes between three cities during our visit) shows off the grand prize -- a Mr Whirly crankset. Better than a t-shirt or hat, this bait ensured we could justify all levels of abuse toward our willing contestants. Such unsportmanlike conduct included mock "pit stops" where we held a team back while pretending to change wheels and adjust components. It further digressed into running head-on toward and screaming at riders. All the while the poor souls were faithfully attempting to surf laps across the bumpy field and change riders relay-style at each leg. Being one of the jerks organizing a race sure beats competing in the race itself. Especially when it's organized by such jerks.

Our lovely runners-up, these ladies excelled at surfing and bested their male competitors in all but the final match. Yeah -- the women kickin' some dude ass on the Big Dummy!

However, in the end there could be only one team. This member of the winning team looks a little excited to have earned the Whirly crank by means of a fair-and-square draw from the smelly cycling cap. Incidentally, when he picked that shirt to wear for the day I wager he had no idea he'd be the Big Dumb champion of Tokyo. Isn't it ironic, dontcha think?