Ep.117 Winter Hits Ishikari & Chocolate Milk

Ep.117 Winter Hits Ishikari & Chocolate Milk

Yo folks, how’s it going out there? Welcome back to the show. Well, first off, let me say today I finally got out for a ride. Um, the other day, what was it? Last Sunday, we actually had decent weather. And I mean, it was sunny, it wasn’t windy, it was really, really nice cycling weather. So, being a bit careful still with my my biker’s elbow, it’s still quite tender. I I did a quick ride up to the Ishkari Lighthouse, which I think as you know is like a 35 a little bit not 35 kmter ride for me, but it felt great being out there again. Finally. Finally. I mean, the weather has just been miserable up here in Hokkaido this autumn. Um, but that is not really the main story. And and I actually had a a bunch of stuff I wanted to talk about this week, but I think obviously the main story for this week is the absolute destruction that mother nature decided to throw down on Ishkari on Tuesday. Now, yeah, we saw snow in the forecast. that was that was coming. But we had no idea of the scope of what fell from the sky. I went to bed Monday night and it was autumn. When I woke up, we were bam in the middle of winter. It was a fullon white out blizzard up here in Ishiadi. I think it was about 20 cm that was already on the ground. So, by the time I woke up at what what was that 6:00? So, right away I had to to get the shovel working for the first time this winter season. And and it was that wet and heavy snow. You you know what I mean? The the the real fun kind to shovel. But it wasn’t that bad that first thing in the morning. I I got it done in about half an hour. And then it was off to work. And as always, after that first big snowfall, the driving is just so much fun, isn’t it? It’s It’s just It’s always amazing to me how bad the driving here is. it especially at the start of the winter. It just amazes me because Hokkaido people live in winter for what four or five months out of the year. So, it’s not like they’re strangers to driving in winter conditions. But sure enough, the driving is ridiculous. You you have people puttering along, you know, anywhere between 20 to 30 kilometers an hour in a 50 zone. You you’ve got people that seem to take a geological age to turn a corner. It uh it can be very very frustrating. Again, I don’t know what it is. They should be winter driving experts, but what are you gonna do? Okay. Well, well, I’ll I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to scream obscenities into your steering wheel as you ever so slowly make your way from A to B. But another weird thing about living here in Ishikari, then you get 12 kilometers south down the road and there’s almost zero snow in Saporro. And at work in ebbitzu, it was still all green grass and blue skies. I am telling you folks, Ishi kari is like it’s a different world sometimes. And it it often happens that you’ll have a perfectly sunny day in Saporro and just a fullon blizzard in Ishikari. It’s it’s just it’s wild up here, folks. I’m telling you. And and then you should have seen when I got home from work that day, easily another 30 cm had fell throughout the day. So in between jobs, you know, after I come home from high school and stuff like that, I got to do classes here at home or community centers, right? So, right away it was just straight back into shoveling. Even using our snowblower, which I’m really happy we invested in a few years ago, even using the snowb blower, it took me an hour and a half to dig out the drive and walkway. And it took so long because all that snow that fell on the ground was already kind of wet. and it it fell on ground that was already still kind of warm. So, it got that nice heavy wet base and through the day as it piled on obviously the bottom just keep kept getting heavier and heavier, right? So, again, it was just a joyous bit of shoveling for the first time of this 2025 2026 winter season. And when it gets to be that kind of hard pack solid kind of icy stuff, the snowb blower is not really a big help. It kind of just drives right over the top of it and compacts it down even more. So yeah, you can kind of blow off a bunch of the stuff that’s on top, but you still got to get in there with the shovel. That having a snowblower is is not the end of all your shoveling woes. Believe me, folks. And then they’ll, you know, there’s like if you want your driveway to be perfect, then you got to do all the detail work and chip that away, chop that off. The the snowblower is not the be all end all of snow clearance, folks. But no doubt about it, it helps a lot, but you still got to put your back into it. Plus, the thing’s heavy. Cornering takes a lot of work. Like, I don’t think my wife would actually be able to maneuver the snowblower. It it it takes a lot of musling about. So, still not easy. It’s a tough life up here in Ishiad, folks. But, you know, again, just bit by bit, you you know, you get the snow cleared and and then you feel pride in a perfectly cleared driveway until the rotten the rotten snowplow comes by at night and fills it all in again. ridiculous. I swear when you hear the sound of the snow plow coming to clear off the street and it just pushes all the snow to the sides, which means it blocks in your driveway again after you’ve spent a couple of hours or what have you clearing it all away. It you’re like, “No, it’s a terrible feeling.” and you can’t stop it, but you know, you want to get out as kind of as quickly as possible after the plow comes because if you leave that stuff to freeze, then you’re just dealing with an ice wall to carve through in the morning. Right now, for those of you out there listening to this that may not know the joys of having to dig out before you have to drive to work, maybe this episode of the podcast is of value to you. And I will be putting up a clip of me uh heading out first thing in the morning with the first big snowfall of the season. Uh so again, well not again the first time this season, but in my life again it was just another shoveling session that was another shoveling day that involved three different sessions. shoveling snow, clearing the the driveway and the walkway, right? You know, you have the morning session, uh then you have the heavy heavy lifting of the afternoon, the late afternoon session, and then the night session after the snowplow comes through. So, all in all, those three sessions, I think I put in about 3 hours worth of shoveling snow. And folks, that was just on November 18th. That is early for that level of effort to have been put into shoveling snow up here in Hokkaido. So, it it feels like it’s going to be a long winter this year, folks. Now, don’t get me wrong, up here in Ishikari, three shoveling sessions in a day is not out of the ordinary at all. But usually that is that’s like mid winter level type exercise. And make no mistake about it, shoveling snow is exercise. I have got sore muscles and as I’m recording this, my back muscles all up and down my shoulders, my hamstrings, of course, from shoveling. Dude, it’s a full body workout shoveling snow. If any of you out there are in the mood to have a snow shoveling experience, come on over. I’ve got the shovels and I’ll let you have at it. Oh man. But the exercise is good, right? Because Lord knows we we need as much of it as we can get in the winter months. I I know for me my exercising just goes way down in the winter. I don’t ride in the winter. I know many of you lunatics out there do and it looks like a lot of fun. A couple of things. Well, basically I just I don’t have the cash to invest in a a fat bike to be able to ride or and I think those spiked tires that uh Darcy Lewis was talking about in episode 66, you know, I think those spiked tires are are pretty expensive as well. I think he said they were 15,000 a pop. And I do No, no, that was after Corona. So, it’s already in inflation infested, but I don’t ride in winter. But I really hope we’re not done yet. Uh I hope to get a couple of rides in still. As as I as I’ve said before, you know, it’s always interesting to see how deep into December we can get. And I did write this past Sunday. Again, it was kind of a weird progression. Sunday was just this gorgeous fall day, very mild, no wind, sunny. Monday was hammering down rain with with the, you know, all the wind warnings and all that kind of jazz. I mean, the wind was just blowing a gale. And then at some point during the night, we just got slammed with that first big snowfall of the year, right? And that and that continued right through. So, um, really strange weather right now. Well, actually, I guess it is always kind of strange weather transitioning from autumn to fall. You never quite know what you’re going to get from day to day, right? But, well, anyway, I hope we’ve got more riding to do. And for me on my normal bike with normal tires, it’s not a fat bike with spiked tires or anything like that, but there are a few warm days still in the forecast, especially uh what is it? I think this weekend, Saturday or Sunday, supposed to get up to 13° C and then winter will probably hit mid December. Full full on full on. And again, I’ I’ve said it before, I don’t mind having an off season. I, you know, I cycle a lot of kilometers. Granted, not as much as some of you maniacs out there, but I I cycle a lot of kilometers and and I think having an offseason is is good. It’s good to rest up and heal up and um just kind of take a break from it, you know. Um I’ve always had an offseason from hockey or or whatever sports. Offseasons can be good. Speaking of hockey, I will still be playing hockey this winter, but to be honest, the hockey is not really regular enough to keep the winter pudge off. But um anyway, with not riding in the winter and and I think that’s actually what most people do. I don’t think most of you out there are riding in the winter anymore, but a question came up. What do you do with your bikes in the winter? Now, that might sound kind of like an odd question. I mean, for me, I I live in a house and so my bike I have a shed. My bike is stored safely uh dryly uh in the shed over the winter. Maybe some of you uh in countries where it’s very common to have a full-on garage, you can just keep your bike in the garage. It’s no big deal. For those of you out there with sheds and garages, this might seem like kind of an odd question, but again, think about it. A very large number of people here in Japan live in condominiums and apartments where they don’t have a shed or a garage to store their bikes over the winter. Some buildings have indoor storage spaces, but a lot don’t. And you see lots of bikes just sat out all winter under these flimsy little shelters. Like the bikes pretty much just get buried in snow. Not good for anybody with a serious bike, right? So for people in that kind of situation, you’re in luck. Or for those of you who don’t know about this type of situation like it is here in Sapor, like it is here in Hokkaido, this might be news for you. There are services around town that can help you out. You can store a bicycle in Saporro during the winter by using the city’s official storage program at designated parking lots or private storage services. you you have to apply for seasonal storage at the designated lot of your choice and for the 2025 2026 season they started accepting applications on November 17th. So what was that just this past Monday? The cost for seasonal storage, which is generally from December to March, I believe the cost for seasonal storage is about 2,000 yen, which is very very reasonable. I think I saw uh for the uh for the storage facility at Saporro Station, it’s 2,300 yen. And and there are kind of many of these facilities around Saporro. Uh places around Saporro that are like major transport hubs. Obviously, Saporro station. Uh Shiroishi station has one as well. Also the uh Nishi to Chome uh the Nishi Chu. Sorry, why can’t I say two? The Nishi 2 Chen underground bicycle parking lot is also a big facility. Uh you can store your bikes underground. And don’t forget if you’re looking to apply for this winter storage, you also have to provide your bike’s registration to prove it’s not a stolen bike. as you know, reselling bikes, uh, taking them to pretty much anywhere if you you know, you have to register bikes with police when you first buy them and things like that, which which is automatically done through bike shops when you buy a new bike. But, um, having proof of registration that it’s not a stolen bike is a big deal here in Japan. Um, you can also get winter storage and servicing at some bike shops around town. Uh, a couple of examples, shops like North Bicycle Saporro, uh, and Sam’s Bikes offer those kinds of services. So, ask at your local bike shop if if they have winter storage services. I I know the one definitely the one at North Bicycle Saporro it’s not just a storage they they’ll for extra various levels of charges and payment they’ll they offer various levels of cleaning and and service to your bike right but uh those two shops definitely have winter storage options uh I’m I’m sure they’re not the only two around town those are just kind of the first two examples that popped up when I was checking this out and and actually I Got to give a shout out again to Darcy Lewis for for telling me the other day about these services. Um, again, if you recall, Darcy was my guest on the show in episode 66, which is called Winter Rider Darcy Lewis. And in that episode, we kind of talked about Darcy’s spiked tires and and winter rides and things like that. Uh, he kind of turned me on to these kind of services available throughout Saporro. I mean, me fortunate enough to have a shed. I I’ve never really thought to go out and look for these kind of things. But if any of you out there are spending the winter in Saporro and are wondering what to do with your bike or or maybe this just is a completely foreign tale to you somewhere out in the world. I I hope it’s of interest. But again, I am really hoping this big snowfall does not mean that the the cycling season is over for me. Again, as I was saying, I think the temperature is supposed to really warm up again this weekend and should be warm kind of through the beginning of next week. But if I do get out for more rides, I am going to be sure to have chocolate milk as a recovery drink. Now, that that also might sound kind of weird, but for whatever reason, my algorithm on my Instagram has somehow found it a good idea to start sending me articles. Not just one. I’m getting some articles about why chocolate milk is the best recovery drink for cyclists. Now, I don’t know what I checked out or what I clicked to get that stuff sent my way. out. But I suppose there are many many worse things that could be showing up in my news feed. But um so okay, this chocolate milk thing, what’s it all about? And this isn’t only good for after cycling, of course. It’s it’s also good for recovery from shoveling snow. It It’s supposed to be great because apparently chocolate milk is like an ideal mix of protein and carbohydrates, fluids for rehydration, nutrients like calcium and vitamin D. It’s supposed to be better than all those fancy sports drink. It’s actually it’s supposed to have like a near perfect ratio of carbohydrates and protein. Who knew? I mean, good old chocolate milk, right? I remember when I was a kid, we used to go to a family’s friend’s house for the holidays and the like, you know, barbecues, what what have you. And when my brother and I were were little kids, our aunt Janet used to give us chocolate milk and we just thought it was hilarious that she would not give any chocolate milk to her son because he was too old for it. I think I think he was what 10 years older than us. 10 years older than I am. Um, for us being kids, him not getting chocolate milk, which to us as kids was just the greatest thing in the world, it was a great source of hilarity, right? No chocolate milk for you. But then one day it it happened to us finally when you know Aunt Janet’s boy had had a child of his own. She had her her grandson then it became only him that got the chocolate milk and and suddenly we were too old for chocolate milk. Then it wasn’t so funny then was it? But now look at this. It’s coming back into my life as a cycling necessity and I’m quite happy about it. Now even at a much older age, I have a great excuse to start drinking chocolate milk again. And I couldn’t be happier about it because now there is scientific backing behind my consumption of the delicious chocolate milk. But obviously we all do different things for recovery, right? We all eat and drink different things after a bike ride and after not only after a bike ride, sorry, but during a bike ride, right? I I know some people like to have a can of Coca-Cola midride and and so do I from time to time. The the sugar is a is a great pickme up, but obviously you go for carbs and protein, right? But how about you out there? What do you go for? Do you only go for healthy options like, you know, grilled chicken and and brown rice or or do you just dive straight into recovery beers? But but for carbs here in Japan, we have the perfect cycling snack. E rice balls, oni as they’re known locally. The things are everywhere. Supermarkets, combinis, homemade. I’m telling you, I think rice balls are just the perfect cycling snack to power you through a ride. They’re easy to carry. They pack well. They last all day. Uh you can have a multitude of different flavors in them. They they oni rice balls will set you right if you’re looking for something to power you through a ride and actually for recovery as well because all the carbs in the rice you know gets processed in the glucose and all that kind of jazz is what we need after rides right recovery all that kind of jazz right um so write in let me know what what you do for recovery what you do for for midride sustenance Um, right. I’d love to hear from you folks. That’s all for today and I hope your weather is being kind to you wherever you are. Love you.

That storm last Tuesday was something else, wasn’t it!? That was really early in the season for close to 50cm of snow to fall in one day. But I guess it’s just a part of living in Ishikari. And I don’t know about you but I did not know that chocolate milk was about as close as you can get to a perfect recovery drink for after exercise. As always, I hope you enjoy this episode of the Cycling Hokkaido podcast.

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