Glad you're feeling better, Thanks for the new chapter!
Oof, that thing about breaking something about your bike each time you fall no matter how slow you're going rings so very true based on my short experience as a rider... Also, there are places even more boring than Hakata? When I went there to use my last day of the Japan Rail Pass, all I remember is that on the distinctly unimpressive Pacific Ocean beachfront there were plastic palm trees (and unashamedly so, think rainbow-colored ones). Never again...
P.S.: If you get around to correct typos, "souvenirs" has just one E