Well this about sums up the long weekend. It was a beautiful three days filled with blue sky, great food and drink, great people and a fantastic ride. On Thursday night, I was invited to Charle's place for a special dinner. Charle's dinners are always so good, so I knew I was in for a treat. We had a great dinner with some fine wine and spent the next morning chilling and then hitting an onsen.

On Friday afternoon, I then headed out to Hakuba for another dinner. This time it was for Yanik's Sayonara party. A bunch of us gathered at Hiro and Nick's pension the Powder House in Hakuba for a great evening. Yanik made a delicious persimmon sauced salmon with bok choi that stunned us all. Thanks Yanik! We wish you well on your journey and you will be missed! It was another superb evening.

Saturday morning, it was a little slow, but we all headed off for a nice walk. The day was warm and the sun shining. Was great to get some fresh air. I had some business in the afternoon and then was headed back to Matsumoto. Since Kouji was away at a junior high reunion party, I decided to head to my good friend Kelton's for another great evening.

Kelton made one of his famous non recipe dinners, that tasted so good. We relaxed by the fire, and I got to take a bath in his new jacuzzi and then we watched a Joni Mitchell DVD. Joni you rock babe!!!

Sunday, since it was another blue sky day, I wanted to ride. So since I had just met Marie, a fellow Canadian rider from Canmore, at Yanik's party, I called her up and we decided to hit the mountains. We had a fabulous climb with killer views and a great long downhill. Thanks Marie, it was a sweet ride!!!

What can I say, I have great friends, and am very grateful for this weekend. Kind of goes along the lines since it was Thanksgiving weekend in the States..... thanks again to all and hope you had a great weekend yourselves!!! VIEW ALL PICTURES HERE!

Our first snow of the season, bye bye garden!!!!! Hello winter!!!!

These pictures were all taken by !!! Thank you very much!!!! Great pictures!!!

Check out this event!!!! We will be there, so should you!!! If you live in the area, we hope to see you there!!!
Sports Land TAMADA ByCycleHiroshima
There will be a clinic on 12/1st and a pump track race on 12/2nd!! Come out and join us for some fun!!!!!

This past weekend was spent in Tokyo. I went to the Tokyo International Cycle Mode to do the annual networking thing with sponsors and friends. Friday night, Ya-Chan and I met up with my old friends Andy and Nate. It was great to catch up and spend some time with them in Roppongi. Then, the next morning we were off for day one to the show. It was a busy day and of course involves a night of drinking with our sponsors. I was invited to the OGK sponsored athlete dinner party. Thank you OGK, it was great fun and very delicious!!

The second day was even longer, and more tiring, however it was great that we had so many people turn out for the show. Bigger numbers than last year, so everyone is excited about the cycling scene for 2008. I will tell you more about next year's plan soon. It's in the works now!!

Finally, after the show Ya-Chan and I exhausted, made it to Shinjuku for a much needed r & r dinner before catching the train back to Matsumoto. Unfortunately, our last train leaving at 9 pm was delayed due to an accident so we were even more tired when we arrived back to Mats. It was a tiring but exciting weekend!! Looking forward to 2008 with some great movement in the cycling industry!!

Me with the man himself, Mr. Gary Fisher. We had a good chat since we have met so many times at previous shows but this time officially introduced. Keep on doing what you do Gary, we love you for it!!

The 2007 JCF Series Champions, all of us!!! Congratulations. It was the first time for the individual series title awards to be given out in both XC and DH categories. Last year, it was only given out for teams. Here here, was glad to be involved as the first one out on the stage!!!

Emi, Hiroka and I having fun!! MORE PICTURES HERE!

Rae and John soon to be from the Crowsnest Pass in Alberta, visited us here in Japan, we met them in Hakuba, with their friends from Kyoto and had some fun. We had a great dinner, talked about the Pass, and planned our ride for the next day. The weather gods were on our side, we had a great blue sky day. We headed out with some other friends Charles and John, and spent the afternoon in the beautiful mountains of Minegata. Couldn't have been a better day or a better ride!!! Cheers John and Rae, enjoy your the rest of your trip!!! MORE PICTURES HERE!

Purple, got a love it. Just got back from the Oakley family sale in Ebisu, Tokyo. I bought a few new items. Too much fun. Thanks Oakley!!!

All dressed up for girls night out, before the drinking began, ha ha!!

A small but memory filled picture! Here I stand with two great friends, Luna and Marsanne. Luna is in the red and Marsanne in white. Marsanne and I have known each other since highschool. She now lives in Hong Kong and was over inTokyo for business. It was really great that we could meet up and catch up on the past 3 years. We had a great dinner and some wine, then another friend Luna, who lives in Tokyo came out to meet us. We had a great time and did a bit of drinking. It was a great ladies weekend!!! So nice to see you guys!!! Thanks again!!

You will never guess what I ate??? This is wild boar, イノシシ in Japanese.
It was really delicious. These little guys live in the mountain area I live in. Never thought I would be having one for dinner.......

Now in Roppongi and having way to much fun!!! Cheers to ladies nights!!!!

Here we are Japan's top elite, Raizou, Kouhei, Kei, Kouji, Ya-Chan and me on an epic ride. The girls lasted 4hrs and the boys almost 7!! Ya-Chan and I departed from the pace after giving it our all for an hour and forty minutes. Then we were off on our own beautiful ride. The boys, wow good job guys! We rode up to Tobira Onsen then did another loop and saw some spectacular views!!! Please check out more pictures here!! I am off to work now but it was a great day!!!! お疲れさまでした皆さん！！！

Yeah, I made the climb!!!

This past weekend was spent helping a friend and having a private MTB lesson. I helped a friend do some moving on Saturday morning then met Ya-Chan for a great lunch. After that I headed to Hakuba to prepare for the next days private MTB lesson. A friend of a friend from France studying Japanese in Tokyo wanted to try some mountain biking. I said come on out and he jumped on the train and here we are.

Matthieu practicing some balance skills.....

practicing some bike body separation.

With this smile, I think I succeeded in converting him into an official MTBer!! For being a first timer, he did really well on the bike. Good job! We had an afternoon private lesson in Hakuba. I decided to ride the Hakuba Iwatake singletrack trails. They are in great condition right now and it was a perfect afternoon for riding....

I did manage to get in a bit of jumping fun as well. We warmed up on this mini jump park near Donguri grounds in Hakuba then off to the trails. On the way back, I just had to finish off the day with some rounds of jumping, fun fun.......

As we were driving back, we saw these in the parking lot. Just had to stop by for a picture, look at all of these cars??? They were having some kind of weekend meeting........

Here are some of us from the Norikura Trail MTB meeting this past couple of days. We had a great turnout with guides and fellow MTBers coming from all over Japan. We rode, we discussed, we ate, we drank.... we had fun!!!! This meeting was super productive and a huge thank you to Dan and Yama Ken of Northstar!!! All of the staff was terrific. Also a huge thank you to Wada San for making this possible. For pictures click here for DAY1 here for DAY 2