osaka, thursday.

arrived osaka around 3pm local time. took airport bus from kansai to namba area was fairly easy and took 45 mins or so. bus stop to hotel was pretty close but since i have two luggage and a backpack and also not knowing the direction, i decided to take taxi. putting the bike together took longer than i anticipated since i didnt have all the tools i have at home, but i was able to put it together no problem. only down side of bringing bike is that i found a few scratches on bike although bike was packed carefully. was very tired a hungry so just went out and had a udon with tempura.



riding today will be interesting as i'm in a very crowded part of town. hope steve knows where to go.

preparation

purchased a ritchey break-away cross bike frame for this trip. to save money, parts from my specialized tarmac elite were used to build up the bike. don't want to get charged by the airline, i also purchased a airline legal size hard case. broke down the bike and sure enough, it fits in the case with a little practice. building up the bike from the dis-assembled case took 35 minutes or so.

tentative path is from osaka, ride to kobe and take ferry to takamatsu.