Today I put the snow tires on my Van, I am hoping that it was a bit premature as I still have a couple more weekends of riding booked and would love to finish the riding season properly. Now the riding is super fun with most of the leaves on the ground , it makes for a magic carpet ride! Hopefully we will have a few more warm days before winter really sets in before I put the bikes away for another year.
I woke up this morning and my legs felt tired, I wondered why and then thought about the ride I did yesterday. I met my clients at 9 in the morning and we were climbing into the forest right away. At 12:30 we stopped for a Soba Noodle lunch and were back on the bikes by 1:30 . Rode all afternoon and got back to our cars at around 4:30. Our pace was good, always able to talk as we rode but 6 hours of MTB riding will make anybody's legs tired. At least 50 kilometers and 1400 meters of climbing probably more and no breaks , 2 very strong fit Gals.
I am now 14 years into Freeride Adventures and in the last few years have really noticed a big increase in female riders here in Japan, not girls just tagging along with their boyfriends, but girls who ride because the love it.
I had a chance to race the Fujimi Adventure MTB race last weekend, it is a 40 kilometer loop that includes a very hard 15 kilometer climb right at it's start. I was happy to be able to enter this race as it is very close to my home and has'nt been held since the 2011 Earthquake, which also happens to be when I last raced. The climbing is the challenge on this course and once I got my beer gut over the first climb I was able to enjoy the fire road downhill and then the last 7 kilometer ride down Panorama Ski Areas C-course. I highly recomend this race for anyone wanting a good challenging race . The first climb takes you up through private land that is only open for the race giving racers an great chance to see into the Southern Alps of Japan from a great vantage point. The course is not a technical course(one crazy rider rode it on a full carbon road bike) so any reasonably fit rider should be able to ride the course within the time limits. Look for this race sometime next year as I was told they were going to do it again.
I have quite few groups of riders who come for a ride once or twice a year. I really enjoy meeting them again and seeing how much better riders they all seem to be getting. Its also interesting to see some customers meeting and joining into different groups over the years. Once such group sent me this link to a video they made when they last visited us, over the years I have watched them all become realhard core MTB riders, not just Downhill, or XC, they just enjoy riding anywhere, anytime and anyway. Check out their video
The weather has been very strange this year, it has been very hot in the Mountains and quite dry. When it rains it pours, not very good for the trails or the riding. When one months worth of rain falls if 2 hours it turns the trails into rivers, a good time to avoid riding off road. We got caught out last week and were lucky enough to be able to get off the trail and wait for the rain to stop but for 10 minutes it was quite a downpour. It cooled down a bit but once again I am sweating at 1300 meters today as summer wants to hang around a little longer. Soon my favorite riding season should be here but for now
It cooled down a bit but once again I am sweating at 1300 meters today
as summer wants to hang around a little longer. Soon my favorite riding
season should be here but for now the mountain is still green.
It has been a very hot summer this year,
August has been the hottest that I can remember here
in Nagano, we are very lucky to have it cool down at night
or I wouldn't be able to sleep. Before I got into the MTB rides I spent a week riding the Noto
Peninsula with a family from the USA , it was the second time that they
came riding here in Japan and it was super fun to show them the Japan
Sea side of this country.
The temperatures are rising above 30 degrees even up here on the bottom of Yatsugatake. Last weekend we rode up to 1800 meters and the cool breeze was fantastic. As we descended back down to the valley not only was the riding heating up it felt like the furnace was also cranking. I drank about 2 liters of water during the 4 hours of riding and it still wasn't enough, take care out there this summer
I usually don't ride Panorama in the rain, living near bye lets me pick the good dry days and stay clean. Yesterday I had a 16 year old from Australia here and we only had the one day to ride. I pulled out the rain gear, put the bikes in the car and got a quick start before I started to hesitate about riding in the rain.
As we were riding up the Gondola, Henry could not hide his excitement. He keep telling me about the 1 minute DH tack that him and his friends practice on. He was shocked to find that he had a 7 , 5 or 4 kilometer course to play on. First we rode C-course and I warned him about it getting a bit slippy further down but it took him one crash to learn himself . After is minor crash he was ready for the day, we rode all day in some ugly weather , I realized that I was going a bit slower than normal but actually felt like I was riding really well , you have to concentrate 100% when the conditions are not perfect and it really is good for your focus. I hope next time the course is dry I can keep the focus and get some good flow happening ! I won't wait another year for my next rainy day session!
Yesterday I took Dayna my 8 year old to Panorama MTB Park for a bit of fun. We met Yuka-chan, 9 and her Dad just as we were getting on the gondola. We talked a bit at the top and then did a run down C-course together. I was amazed to see how well the 2 of them could ride and found myself wishing I could have been doing that at such a young age! Today Dayna asked me to take him back again as soon as possible!!
I just had a 4 day mini camp with Jonas from Belgium. we spent the 4 days riding in the mountains that surround us here in Nagano. Jonas is a very fit 26 year old and he and I put in some good kilometers and lots of vertical. I lost a couple of kilos and feel a little bit better on the bike just a few more and I might actually be in good shape. I realized during this time that I had been spending more time on the Mountainbike lately and had forgotten how beautiful the riding is around here. Jonas was riding my Classic Tange Tubed Italian Colnago road bike , check out the picture , nice fit Thanks Jonas!
I spent last week riding the Noto Peninsula with a couple from Australia. The weather was tough on us for a few days but with the Hot Spring Baths waiting for us every night we had no problems getting a bit cold. Quiet roads and fresh seafood makes the Noto one of my favourite places to ride a bike. The Cherry Blossoms were spectacular once we got inland , a perfect way to end the tour.
Last fall my friend Maki-san asked me to come to Mie Prefecture to participate in a new race series he was involved with . The race was a short 30 minute mtb criterium , one lap was a short hard uphill then we followed a fun roller single track acroos the top of the course and joined the bmx track to drop back to the climb again. Short, hard, intense is how it was and being as I had not ridden since the middle of December and had consumed many beers between it was not easy for me. I will go back to Mie sometime again once I have lost my 6 kilograms of winter fat and try again as the course and the people at the race were very enjoyable. The race was good for me as I knew I had been very lazy this winter and it has given me a bit of a kick to get going again. I hope to do a few more races this year , lets hope we can all stay healthy and have a good 2013!
