Jason, Vivi, Charles and James

The group.....

We had a blast partying 70's style at James house warming party Saturday night....what better way to end off a great first tracks day!!! However, James being a great host, provided his guests with appetizers, and killer margaritas!!! So I am sure a few of us had headaches the next morning........lol!! MORE PHOTO'S HERE!

Ok, here we have it. The first dump and it was great!! About 75-90cm fell on the top and it provided a great day of pow with a stable base. We really thought it was going to be wet and heavy snow but it was actually great fluffy stuff!!! We know this was just a glimpse of what is yet to come.... bring on more snow!!!!!!!!

Josh, Yasu and I on the quad up 47,,,,,, couldn't have stopped any of us from smiling today.....

Josh's interview, lol

Group shot with the view.......thumbs up!!!!!!

Ha ha, here we are just chilling out in our new pad,,,,, it is so nice to finally have our own place....even though it is a bit chilly, it's all good!!!!

Even better since I am going snowboarding tomorrow...... yeah you heard it sliding tomorrow morning early with Josh!!! Then heading to a 70's party.....at a friend's place....James is having a housewarming party and it's 70's style, should be some great pics coming up!!!!!!!! Stay tuned......

Ever heard of a bamboo bike????? Well now ya have it, and they are hand crafted in CANADA....... you have to check out this site.....http://www.evolvebicycles.com/
Way too cool, Santa...... you know what I would like for Xmas.........

Wow, November 19th, is that right??? Yep,,, pretty early for our neck of the woods....hey it's really winter.......now!!

The view from our front window... about 50cm ended up falling from this dump sooooo.......


I decided to go for a snowshoe up the nearest ski hill, did two laps up and down, yo yo..... great workout and bring on the snow!!!!!!!!

Today was another perfect day for a ride!! Still tired from the shows but wanting to ride so I ended up giving my good friend Albert a text and he said him and Marcus were heading up the ridge trail today and would I like to join them. I jumped at the chance and off we went. Can't tell you how much fun and spectacular the scenery was..... you can take a look for yourself here!

The ride was tough, just how I remembered it. I have only ridden it once before last year..... it was the perfect day, except I had the perfect crash, lol.... because it is fall, and many leaves are on the ground, it is very difficult to see what may be lying beneath them. As I flew over the bars, smashing my crouch on the stem and knees on the pedal and bars, and landing with the bike hitting my back, I wondered what the hell???? Then I saw it, a huge branch that must have just instantly jarred my front wheel sending me flying like superwoman..... ha hahaha!

Anyways, in a bit of pain but the ride was well worth it. Just beware all of you fall riders out there, watch for those hiding rocks and big sticks!!!!!! Happy trails!!!

Weee, me on the Specialized Fat Boy, think I really got get me one of these.....could just see me cruising the streets of Hakuba, lol. Another show down. Wow, it's been a tough two weeks with back to back cycle shows in Osaka and Tokyo. The hard work was worth it because both shows saw huge increases in the numbers that came out to check it all out!!! Which means cycling is getting more and more popular again, yeahhhh!!!!

Friday, from 3-9pm was ladies afternoon, which means the ladies got in for free. It was surprisingly busy and seemed to be the hardest and longest of the three days. We were all used to the routine from the previous weekends show so it seemed a bit easier and smoother this time around.

I was supposed to race on Saturday and Sunday in exhibition races but the one on Saturday was cancelled due to rain. Luckily, they moved it to Sunday so I was able to race in the 1 lap 4X style race. Ha ha, with only three riders it was a bit short, for the ladies that is. I had to race against my formal DH rival Hiroko Inumata (who raced on a bmx bike) and the 2008 Japanese National Series XC Champion Yukari Nakagome. Talk about good sprint training, the races were both just a full on sprints. There were a couple of jumps on the track that were tons of fun, so both races I came in second and my legs were worked.

Needless to say this week I have been bit of a vegetable recovering from the last two weekends. Thanks to all of those who came out and to all of us who worked our butts off to show the public what cycling is all about!!!!!
ENJOY MORE PHOTOS HERE!

Here I am at the Specialized Booth at the Osaka Cycle Mode Show. It was a great success with numbers higher than last year. That means maybe even a better year for cycling in Japan. It seems the interest in cycling for many reasons is increasing. Now that, is what we like to see!!!! Our booth had over 25 bikes to try, and we were very popular. We had a huge line up of people waiting to test ride our bikes. Our booth had a great crew and we worked the 2 full days quite smoothly. I had a great time and am very proud to say that I AM SPECIALIZED!!!

We will be doing it all over again this upcoming weekend in Tokyo. If you want to come out and try one of your favourite brands bikes, don 't miss this chance. How often do you get to test ride a bike that is over $8000????? For more info check out this link

Our booth

Designs for women .......

The test ride line up......

The president of Specialized Japan and I, testing out our own Specialized seats.....

TK and Masa testing them out too!!!!