AWESOME! GO SEE TOKYO ON A BIKE!
Gak, tour guide, was great! Knowledgeable about Tokyo, well seasoned in his years of cycling and bike safety, upbeat and super friendly, welcoming and happy to have me spend the day with him.
What makes this bike tour different than another? Well, Gak the tour guide, for one. But even if you do not get Gak, this tour puts a maximum of I think 5 people per tour which makes it more intimate to navigate on a bike this big, fast paced, cool city. Any more and there would be too much to manage, for all on tour, I would think.
I have been to Tokyo before and have seen all the major tourist spots. I was interested in this tour in order to see Tokyo from a different vantage point. Seeing the sights of this spectacular city, taking in the smells of the city streets, feeling the pulse and DNA of Tokyo while peddling along for 20 miles over 7 hours was a great new way to experience Tokyo, all while getting in some exercise in my day.
Once the bike tour company knows your height, they will have a bike and a helmet for you when you arrive to start the tour. You start and end the tour in the same spot. The tour would cater to all levels, but know you are cycling along the busy city streets with traffic and along the foot paths with people. As long as you can ride a bike and can last a 7 hour day on bike and on foot, you'll be fine.
Tokyo is flat, so there are very few inclines along this route that will take you to about a dozen spots including shrines, temples, scenic places and tourist attractions. You cycle for 10 minutes, stop and walk around the destination spot for a bit, then hop back on the bike and cycle again to the next stop. This tour is more cycling and seeing and generally less feeding you info although Gak was quick to answer any and all questions. The shortest time on the bike is probably 5 minutes point to point and the longest time was probably 30 minutes point to point with a stop in the middle to buy water. It is one giant loop around Tokyo.
Cycling through the beautiful Aoyama Cemetery was a personal highlight to me. It houses about 40,000 guests and is so peaceful, lovely and calming to be cycling through, it is almost beyond words. Also, sitting outside and eating our lunch along the Waterfront at the Takeshiba area was really nice lunch not included, but you pick out on your own from a grocery store you cycle to along the route and then Gak carries in his pack for you! . Both of these experiences were off the beaten path of tourism a bit and thus I think why I enjoyed.
I am an athlete and pretty adventuresome, so this tour was a good fit for me personally.