By Emma; What an exciting few weeks it’s been! Lots of great fundraising and exciting encounters! We got to meet the excellent tandem pair Pauline & Cedric, and enjoyed hearing tales of their 16,000km journey from France on their Pino tandem. They have another 2,000km to go before they finish up their trip, back in France. Check out their blog here.

There were a few language barriers to start, but everything began to sort itself out with a regular ‘kanpai’ of the faithful Japanese ‘nama beer’. We shared loads of laughs at the classic Izakaiya “Tengu” in Shibuya and got along so well, that it ended up being a ‘run for the last train’ kinda evening. Good times!

We spent the next day with sizeable headaches, looking through some hilarious photos from the evening. We hope you enjoy them! And of course, we  made plans to meet again for more talk of route plans and the contents of ones panniers.

Saturday night, ended much the same as our first encounter, although we did manage to meet in Yoyogi Park on Sunday afternoon for a test-ride of their tandem bike! We were so excited! Our first pedal of the Pino! And we have not stopped smiling since!

What a great bike! It was a bit hairy at first, being on the front and hearing Brendon’s uncertain warbles as he got used to steering and balancing the tandem beast, but we quickly got the skills flowing and enjoyed the tandem wind in our hair! It was so amazing to ride the Pino in advance of our trip and we are so stoked we got the chance! It has filled us with confidence and renewed excitement about purchasing the most expensive ride of our lives! It has also given us the opportunity to make a few modifications to planned gear placement on the bike. We are so grateful for all the crazy intricacies that led us to meeting Pauline & Cedric and can contest to skyrocketing motivation levels!

This week I have finished my last Disco show, we are moving out of our apartment into Chez Van (thanks KiKi for taking us in!) and the ‘Sayonara’s’ have begun. It’s very real and the emotional boogie has begun.

5 weeks left on the Tokyo clock!

And 39 days left of our Pozible project! If you jump on and pledge $10 today, we can surely make it to our goal! But we cant do it without your help, so please share our Pozible page with your network! No-one parts with their cash unless we make it to 100% http://www.pozible.com/project/22147