An incredibly windy day in Toyohashi

April 29, 2025

Dealing with another flat tire

The weather has been playing havoc with us. We booked 2 nights at the Loisir Hotel Toyohashi due to the forecast of heavy winds reaching 75 km. We have learned in our travels in Japan that their weather predictions are accurate to the minute. 75 km winds seemed to be unridable to us so we are more than happy to stay put for an extra night at our comfortable hotel. During our rest day, our plan is to ride in search of a Tourist Office to get a paper copy of our route for this prefecture, Aichi, and to find a bike shop to fix the problem of 2 flat tires on Mary Ellen’s trike in one day.

Today, our relatively short time in the elements was enough. It was truly unridable. As you can imagine, when the gusts came we were almost stopped by the wind or spun around. We pushed on to deal with what we had to do and returned to the hotel. We realize we have made the right call to stay put.

Our hotel has a towering presence with 30 floors. We are on the 22nd floor which gives us a terrific view. Here is one of the outlooks from our room.

Toyohashi is a fair sized city of 400,000 and is bordered by the beautiful hills we have come to appreciate. Truthfully, we really appreciate not having to ride up and over them, as we have been doing. Now our route will follow the coast which should be a bit . gentler. In the photo, note the large pond covered in water lilies below us. Our route tomorrow will be alongside this pond.

And the view to the right of our room, we can see the fields of produce and rice, within the city.

We have always found Asahi Bike Shops to be willing to help us, despite how busy they may be. This mechanic stopped working on other bikes to help us right away.

You may recall that Barry had fixed my flat with a new inner tube yesterday. We were so close to our destination and of course it was windy and raining. Nonetheless, Barry had it done in record time. The next morning we went to get our trikes for a ride in Toyohashi and the tire was flat again. We pumped it up and it was enough to get me to the shop.

The mechanic was a “cracker jack” and took care of us quickly. He repaired the two inner tubes and showed us a piece of glass that was still embedded in the tire. This was the cause of the second flat.

We greatly appreciated his work. Arigato.

Two thumbs up for Asahi and a job well done.

This shiny Mercedes Benz was on display in the entrance of our hotel.

The Loisir Hotel is grand in size with facilities for weddings and conferences. The oversized lobby and common areas makes it feel relaxing and comfortable. Despite our price point, we are having great luck in finding lovely hotels that are priced modestly due to the age of the building . The staff was outstanding. Every time we walked past the front desk the staff bowed to us. When we first checked in it was raining hard and we certainly looked the part. The man in charge raced over to us and was eager to help us. Once we checked in he ushered us to a special spot in the underground garage where we had a designated spot for our trikes while at the same time, managing to grab umbrellas for us to to keep dry on the 10 metre walkway to the front door. We appreciated his efforts but the irony was we were beyond help as we were already a sodden mess. Nonetheless, he is a pro and offers exceptional service. For the remainder of our stay, he would greet us when he saw us and offer his assistance. We continue to be amazed at the selfless way Japanese consider your well being above their own.

Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 601 km (373 miles)

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