さてGWも終わって最初の週末。帰京は電車でしたので１週間自転車🚲️に乗れなくてウズウズしてましたが、待ち望んだ週末土曜日は強風過ぎて心折れました。
でも日曜日は穏やかと言うことで、サイクリング出発❗️
とは言うものの予報数値以上の風の強さを感じたよ。やっぱり群馬は風を気にしてたら走り出せないね。
もう諦めて風速一桁mの時は頑張ります💪
で、今日はどこをサイクリング？ですが、前橋市街を街ポタすることにしました。
前橋ウィッチーズのスタンプラリーが今日（5/10）までだったから😆
↓ランキング参加中、応援クリックお願いします↓
Well, it’s the first weekend after Golden Week. Since I took the train back to Tokyo, I hadn’t been on my bike 🚲 for a whole week and was itching to ride. I’d been looking forward to Saturday, but the wind was so brutal it completely broke my spirit.
However, Sunday was supposed to be calm, so off I went on my cycling adventure❗️
That said, the wind felt much stronger than the forecast suggested. I guess in Gunma, if you worry about the wind, you’ll never actually get out the door. I’ve given up on perfect weather; as long as the wind speed is in the single digits (m/s), I’ll give it my best shot. 💪
So, where did I cycle today?I decided to go for a "town pottering" (casual ride) around downtown Maebashi.
Why? Because today (May 10th) was the final day of the Maebashi Witches stamp rally! 😆
Maebashi Station isn’t a Shinkansen stop, and the JR line serving it is the Ryomo Line—a very local line connecting Takasaki and Oyama (though a few Shonan-Shinjuku Line trains do run through). As a result, the station front is a bit compact and quiet.
Takasaki Station, which sits on the Takasaki Line directly connected to Tokyo, is definitely more bustling.
Still, the roads in Maebashi are wide and well-maintained, which leaves me with a very good impression.
The station-front shopping streets are a bit desolate, while the suburban malls are thriving—a common sight in regional cities across Japan, and Maebashi is no exception.
But I don’t dislike it. During the two years and three months I spent in Tochigi, I did nothing but complain from start to finish. But after a month and a half in Gunma, I’m actually really liking it here so far. 😏
Yesterday and today, there was a "Pizza Festival" style event at the shopping district’s plaza, and it was incredibly crowded! If they can keep creating value through these kinds of events—the sort of charm you can't find at a suburban mall—I think there's still plenty of hope for urban revitalization.
Gunma is one of Japan's biggest "car kingdoms," and people drive everywhere. But if we can create a city attractive enough for people to visit by train, or a place that's popular with middle and high schoolers who don't have licenses, maybe we can start to see some change in these shuttered station-front streets.
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