(Ya-Chan and Darcy Turenne)

This weekend I attended the Shimano Bikers Festival in Fujimi Panorama... I knew I had to go because two famous Canadian riders were going to be there. Darcy Turenne, free ride goddess and Ryan Leech, trials god, both fellow Canadians who are the best of the best. Lucky for me, I got to race with Darcy and become friends. She is a great rider and a great person... as well as, catch part of Ryan's trial demo.. wow, can he do some tricks!!!!

I raced the "Super D", which is a mass start downhill and witnessed several big crashes in front of my eyes... I managed to stay on the bike and make it safely down the hill in 9th place. Men and women were mixed in one class. It was a great time but I am still wary of these types of mass start races... arrrgggg!!! Dangerous........

(My new Specialized Demo 8 I )

The next day I race the DH and took a sweet victory! I was so lucky to get my hands on the new Specialized Demo 8 I ........Oh my godness, what a sweet ride..... so smooth in the corners, handles so nicely and it' s so light!!!!! Thank you to all who supported me!!! After the first run in the morning I seriously had my doubts because I felt all over the place ... but I managed to pull it together and have a pretty smooth run for my final! Yeah... and I have to brag... I was 15th in elite mens time... he he.....oh well let's see what I can do in the next big JCF DH race in September!!!!

(Yeah, top three!!)

This week is very busy for me.. final exams to give at the university and then marking and grading... help!!! However, after that I am off, yippee!!!! I race in the XC here in Hakuba on Sunday.. wish me luck.. these cross country girls are way fast......yikes....Then summer begins.....riding, swimming in the lake, BBQing etc... can't wait.. come on down and join us at Sweet Riders this summer!!!!!!!! More photo's here....

Today we had the Gilmore family from Singapore take their first mountain bike clinic ever!!! Joining them was Anita, a personal friend also from Singapore. We had a great day and for first timers on the bike, they did a wonderful job. Great work guys and can't wait to ride with you again!!!! More photo's here....

This was taken with three beginners we had for our first tour on the opening day of Hakuba 47 MTB Park... Hori San of shot-project and I had a great time with these guys!!!! Great job guys!!!



Hakuba 47's own ski patrols turned mountain bikers made this sweet video of the park... check it out!!!!

This past weekend was three days long and my girlfriend came down from Tokyo with her two lovely kids. We had another action packed weekend. We went for a mountain bike ride, spent the day hanging out at Aokiko lake, hit a local party, then went canyoning!!! It all came from, "Hey, I am not coming to Tokyo this weekend, so why don't you come here??" says Karey...Noako said "MMM, mmmmm,,, OK!"
More photo's here


More photo's here....

I had to go down to Tokyo for the 2011 Spring Collection Exhibition last Thursday. I decided to stay on for the whole weekend....on a whim. The Oakley collection was great, more lifestyle cycle wear for men but not so much for women.....

I took Minamisawa San along with me, an old friend and we ended up meeting an associate of his for a quick meeting which turned into a champagne break meeting ...lol. The restuarant in Omotesando was ¥1000 for coffee and ¥1400 for a nice glass of champagne.... well guess which option we choose. Yummy...!

Then I made a quick decision because of the rain I decided to not head back to Nagano where I couldn't ride and head to the beach where even if it rained I could still swim in the Ocean. My good friends Angela and Yasu are opening a new pension called Tabi Tabi Izu on the beach of Shimoda City so I called them up and they said come on down, and off I went! So glad I did, it was heaven. You can see by the photo's how beautiful it is there. I will go back and I totally recommend that you head down there and stay with them for a great beach weekend!!!! Enjoy the photo's here...

Check out this great event for the first time in Japan, my best friend Ya-Chan and some other locals are putting this on. You don't want to miss it.. mark it on your calendar and see you there!!!!

Join Shot-Project's Hori San and Sweet Riders's Karey Watanabe for a fun 3 hour mountain bike guided tour on Hakuba 47 Ski Hill's Mountain bike park!!!!

We will be riding on the jump course, as well as on the trails.  We will provide light instruction at first, then we will take you for a ride that you won't forget!

Sign up today....9:00AM-12:00PM, 3 hours for only ¥3500, which includes a full day's gondola ticket, so you can continue to ride after the morning session.

Bike Rentals are available, either from Sweet Riders or Hakuba 47 (Sweet Riders bikes are limited so put your request in asap!)

Looking forward to riding with you!!

Karey and Hori San


To register contact:
Karey at info@sweetriders.com
OR
Hori San at info@shot-project.com

This weekend Liza and her boyfriend Brad are in town visiting from the States....we decided to do some cycle touring around town....despite the light rain and clouds, it was a nice break from the super hot and humid weather we have been having for rainy season. We even hit the local Gelato place....mmmmm, good stuff!!! See all of the photo's here.....