#TDA IHJ You Need Three Things to Align

NB If you have received an email notification of this post, it is because either (1) you previously subscribed to this blog back in 2015, or (2) you – perhaps just out of politeness 😀- expressed interest in the trip this blog is about so I signed you up, or (3) you – mistakenly perhaps – subscribed all by yourself.

As most of you know I am about to undertake a cycling tour: TDA’s Island Hopping (tour of) Japan 2025 #tdaihj

Osaka to Okinawa: Traversing 7 main islands: Shikoku/Honshu /Kyushu /Yakushima / Amami Ōshima /Okinawa = 2,250 KM

October 2 – November 14, 2025 31 Riding Days 4 Travel Days 9 Rest Days – you can download the full itinerary from the above website.
Full tour riders 28 + Section riders 3 = 31 Riders 23 TDA Alumni, 20 Male, 11 Female.

Depart Australia Monday 29 September.

The reason for the title of this post is that to undertake such an endeavour you need three critical things to align: the time, the money, and fitness/health. Ever since I rode Paris to Istanbul in 2015 (with the same company TDA Global) I have been wanting to do another ride with them, and have watched on enviously as many of my fellow riders from that trip continued to do so. Early on I had the health/fitness but not the time nor money. Not long after the latter two came to fruition last year, a bike accident on a training ride earlier this year and a subsequent but unrelated persistent toe infection, put paid to the health/fitness component for 5+ months until just 3+ months ago.

However, now (touch wood) all three components a in alignment and good to go!

Heartfelt thanks to family, friends, medical and allied health professionals, and fitness folk for your hands on and moral support and encouragement. Special thanks to Mal (of MalAdjusted fame) for investing a lot of time and effort to design (i.e. select components), build and fine tune my bike which is such a pleasure to ride.

Apologies for the basic layout/style: I’m almost starting from scratch in relearning this blogging business. Once the actual travel starts there will be plenty of photos and videos to give some colour to the posts.

Aside from this blog you can follow the ride through other social media posts (by TDA and/or other riders) using #tdaihj.