S-2 Tama River riding
This route(S-2) is in Area-S “Short trips". See Area-S map/ See Japan map
Tama river which is a place of relaxation for many urban people flows through west side of Tokyo and it’s a little far from my home. Since I had wanted to ride along the river, I visited there on a sunny winter day by train.
Starting at Hachiouji station, I rode along Asakawa river(pic.1,2). The river is not so large but is familiar to the local people, so the bank was well maintained for walking and riding. The river joins up with Tama river at point 3(pic.3) and I had to ride on Tokyo side bank since suddenly the cycling road ended on the other side(around pic.3). Gradually the cycling road width became wide but pedestrian on the same road also increased. So I should be much more careful about pedestrian than when I ride on the Edo river bank. And unlike Edo river, the greenways were often suddenly terminated and had to go down to normal roads. As I went downstream, it seemed better to ride on a normal road to speed up. This river seems better for pottering.
I turned left around Kamata city toward Tokyo and my home. It became city cycling from that point. So just cycling without seeing any sight for 30km. The Tokyo skytree is familiar with me but when I reached Kototoi bridge over Sumida river, I was fascinated with the contrast of clear blue and the tower(pic.5). Honestly speaking I’ve not found a good long cycling road to see the tower since Sumida river doesn’t have a bank for riding. It would be fun to search a good view point for skytree by pottering. But pls be careful for traffic since this area’s traffic is always very busy.
