Olympic Downhill Please !

Its early March now,spring is showing itself now and my body tells me its time to ride! The trails are still wet and muddy but it won't be long until I can start riding on the lower elevation trails. For now I will stick to my road bike. Mountainbiking is what got me into cycling and will always be my first choice but as I got stronger and rode more I came to enjoy road riding and racing as well. When it comes to watching races on TV I find that watch the pro road races more than anything, its awesome to watch the best racers riding over such hard courses. I was a pretty good xc rider but when I watch a xc race I find it hard as really there is not much action, it is a participation sport not a viewing sport. This summer the biggest sporting event is the London Olympics and the world will be watching. I hope the xc race is a bit more exciting to watch than the race 4 years ago in Bejing but it is hard to show how demanding it really is. I wonder why the Downhill is not yet included? The winter olympics have the Ski Downhill event and it is one of the most viewed events of the games, anyone who watched Danny Hill's winning run in last years world championship would agree that the world is ready for this!

Long Cold Winter

This year it has been one of the coldest winters I can remember since I moved to Chino, it has been at least -10 at night for the last couple of months now. I went for a ride last week and crashed on the black ice, lucky I slid into a big snowbank. For now I will go back to winter activities, skating and snowboarding. When the conditions are right snow riding can be super fun but when the snow gets to deep I would rather be on a snowboard. Here is a link to a video of Mitch and Katherine riding on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. They really know how to ride and have fun doing it. Mitch is one of the best wheel builders I know and last year I finished day 5 of the BC Race with Katherine. She was a guest rider for the day and I had no idea who was riding in front of me with a Cove Jersey. When I caught her she told me I was "pretty good rider", I was actually having a great day and was in the top 30 , the level of riding in Canada is incredibly high. When I watch the video I myself feel quite good about my riding because she is "pretty good".

Ultramontane & Company - Mitch & Kath on pinkbike.com

Happy New Year !!!

Happy New Year from all of us here in Nagano. Lets hope 2012 is a better one than last year for Japan. A good friend of mine, J. Smoke at bushpilotbiking posted this video on Pinkbike recently, 40 seconds into it I am featured showing you how to break ribs in one easy motion.(I did ride this section clean later that day!) Everyone crashes sometimes, the best riders crash harder!

Hits and Misses :: 2001-2011 on pinkbike.com

First Snow

Winter is coming fast here on Yatsugatake now, yesterday it snowed a bit outside our house. Nesta my 10 year old son has started skating but I still want to ride for a bit longer. The last few weeks have been excellent for riding, everybody enjoys riding when the fall colors are peaking but I think the riding is better just after all the leaves have fallen. Sometimes it feels like you are riding on a soft red carpet then all of a sudden you are sliding on the damp leaves, it keeps you on your game. Another nice part of the riding is the visability, more light in the forest really makes for great rides. It is cold when the ride starts but soon the body is warmed up and as long as you don't stop for to long you are okay. I hope this nice cold dry weather lasts for a bit longer as I don't wnat to get the snowboard out until 2012.

fall rides-somthing for everyone

Its now the middle of October, getting into my favourite time of year for riding. Usually its a little cool in the mornings now but the temperature rises quickly and makes for perfect riding conditions. Last weekend I rode one day with a fit xc group the next with a group of hard core riders and on monday I spent the day with 2 beginners, a very enjoyable weekend. All 3 rides were completly different and all 3 were very fun, riding throught he forest on a mtb makes you feel wonderful no matter what your level. The leaves up on the mountain are changing colors now and slowly the red color is coming to our house , get out before you miss it!
Back at the end of August, Nesta my 10 year old finished his first XTERRA triathlon, his mom and dad are very proud of him, check out the pictures! Next year he said he will do it again!

Paul