Sore Legs- Riding with the Lady's

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 mentioned to some girls once that I was sad that I had a female customer tell me she wouldn't continue MTB riding because she might scrape her legs, they told me that girl was "Tadashi Nihon no Onanako" (proper Japanese girl) and they were "Warui Onanako" (bad Japanesse girls). I am happy to find more that there are more Bad Girls riding MTB in Japan!

Fujimi Adventure Race

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.