fall colors by bike

Now we are well into the fall colors here in Nagano, mornings are actually cold and at night I am burning wood to stay warm. Cold nights and sunny days make for ideal fall colors and riding conditions. I did a couple nice one day rides last week, one ride was around Yatsugatake about 120 kilometers long and the other a nice flat ride in the Azumino Valley of about 60 kilometers. The Yatsugatake ride has lots of climbing and decending, not a ride I would reccomend for beginners but the Azumino Valley is perfect for a nice easy flat days riding, we stopped and checked out a Wasabi Farm, ate freshly picked apples and enjoyed the sunshine.

Age doesn`t matter

Saigo-san and his friends came for a ride during the week, it was my first time riding with this group and we had a really good time. The ages in this group varied from 30 something year olds to 60 something , they were a perfect example of what makes cycling so wonderful. We did one of my more aggresive rides with a good 8 kilometer climb and fun downhills, I won`t say who was fastest or slowest but I will say the youngest and oldest were right in the middle. Great day , Paul

BC Race, Awesome

I just finished the BC race in British Columbia, Canada. 7 days of hard mountain bike riding/racing. I did my first race in 1983 and have no idea how many races I have done since then but this last race was by far the Best Race I have ever done. Great organization took care of all our needs, tents were always built before we arrived at the finsh everyday, good food was plentiful and even the emergency crew was very profesional during the entire week. More than anything though was the riding, everyday was epic, lots of hard work but if you like single track riding like I do then the 5-6 hours a day were a joy not a burden. Look for my race report in outdoorjapan coming soon.