Got up this morning to hit the Trail with Jason for the first time. the guy rides super fast and was blowing me away right off the bat. I basically just went at my pace not trying to kill myself.
Jay is a good rider and been around the Hakuba block.
A cell phone pic of Jay blasting down the trail!
Me eyeing the drop in, a little bay fat on those cheeks.
I made it but crap those guys climb better than me.
Great little view that I never get sick of.

Dropping in

Thanks Stevie for the pics.

Always hunting for new trails the crew headed out for a well known trail that I had only heard about. I can`t say that it is a secret trail cause the older riders have been riding it for years.

A great ride and one of the longest in the valley. Steep the whole way with even a set of stairs to run down. bottomed my forks for the first time ever on the trail too.

Now I have to find the next new trail!

After thinking I was going to die with a bad cold it was great to finally have some energy to get out there and do something. Saturday was a rain day so we just wrote that off and did painting.
Sunday was gorgeous! Sunny skies great temps and a Halloween party! Hannah got dressed up as a bunny and was cute as a button. Many photos and even 2 crazy rides down the Goryu ridge to scare me silly.
Hannah post party saying "I like this boot but I wont wear it today"!
Outside of the party, its a bad shot of my girls!
Stew flying down goryu!
Me with some halloween spirt and stew in the background.
Hannah just chilling
Hannah after loving some soup, Man does she like soup!
On the drive to work on Friday part of the Tateyama mountains.
The Hakuba Baby boom!

Babies in fully get-up!

Had some of my best mates up this past weekend to paint and do a little biking. I was feeling a bit under the weather so I skipped a Sunday ride. We had our first snowfall of the season up in the mountains too. Also had a some frost on Sunday morning as well

Got to re-painting the kitchen because the new flooring has arrived in Tokyo. Now we just have to get that flooring laid and the kitchen will be ready to go. I always find that at this time of the year it is really rush rush rush. Get all that you can get done within your budget and then let the guests take over your place. Man I love the winter here I was so stoked when I saw the snow. I called at least 5 mates! Anyways enjoy the pictures please.

Steve and I clibing at 6:40 in the morning.
A little view from Aoni with the snow
The view from our backyard
A little bit of downhill on an unused Olympic road. Great single track above this.
The first frost of the year!
Dan the man putting on the first coat.

Aoni is one of the best rides in Hakuba. Wall rides, jump, tunnels you name it Aoni has it.... It also has the 30 minute hike but heck it is worth it!
Here is me riding a banking.
Steve just flying down through the endless banks.
The stinky tree tunnel man that tree smelled like cow poop!

Steve climbing about 10% of the way up and man what a view!

Had to work on Saturday but still wanted to head out for a ride. Steve ever willing and ready to go said heck 5am ill be up a 4 anyways so lets try. Grab the headlamp and giver is what i said and thus the weekend went from there.

Not many pics Just one on Sam near the trail head. I had a great ride thanks Sam you shouldve come to Aoni the next day.

After a good morning ride on the new bike I needed to get back out there again. Jeff and Alex were in town so it was great to get them onto one of the DH courses around town. Alex has no fear and progressed pretty quick. Give that guy time and he will rip.
Great day up there we should have brought lunch instead of just water.
Alex the kid improving all the time.


Jeff doing the pensive

Jeff breaking the pensive
Thanks for the BBQing and great wine guys, come back anytime.

Got the new bike the night before and im impressed. I felt that I rode so much better today. Today we did a shuttle up because our Japanese friend just cant climb Minagata really. I prefer to climb it as it is great exercise. The course was in top shape so good actually.


There she is the Schwinn Rocket, Man I finally stayed close to Steve on the course that was fun!
A little bike shot kinda poosing for the camera.
Hlemet cam boy man he loves that camera
The Daily shot of the young model Steve

At the Imorii Shrine after a nice ride. The rice is slowly being picked which doesnt look as pretty as before. Great day with at least another ride planned.

It was cold this morning! Honestly about 5 degrees this day wow! The cloud level was at 850 meters so Hakuba was right in the clouds. Because we were in the clouds it felt really wet. After climbing 100 or more meters we broke through the clouds and it started to feel a bit warmer.
The sun poking through the trees below made for a good shot. The best model in the world Steve makes the picture look so much better.


After we got to the top we saw the view into town. The town was covered in clouds and the ski was bright blue and perfect. Almost like heaven up there today .
Steve above and me below trying to look like a serious biker.Hakuba Yari and Shakushi mountains, I have skied the triangle shaped Yari but not Shakushi yet. Have to get my friends Damion and Jer to attack Shakushi.
Steve admiring the view

Me on my last ride with the hard tail. We had a short life together but it is filled with great memories that got me hooked on biking again. The red rock now passes onto Ben "oyuki" may it bring you nothing but stoke and pleasure Ben San.
Got the banker boys to do the Goryu course, might have been a bit hard for them as it was their first and second mountain bike rides. They did fine actually.

All in all a great start to the weekend.

Sunday, Septmeber 30th, 2007
The weekend Blast
The Weekend Started off great but then took some twists, turns and falls. I am selling off a ton of my gear at the moment trying to get rid of stuff that I frankly just don't use. I Have gotten rid of about half the stuff I should get rid of but,,, there is still more.

On Saturday the morning ride was good and bad. On the top section at Minagata, I went balls out on my bike and felt great. The bottom section is getting harder for me now because I am getting faster. As I get faster, I am out growing what my brakes can handle going into the corners on technical downhills. I had a good fall because I over broke in one corner and had my leg pulled back. On a good note Steve got some nice shots of me. I'm really happy with the pictures thanks steve.

I had a few guests and a friend staying with me on Saturday night. While I was waiting for them, I just kept thinking I want to get back out there and make up for a sloppy morning ride. People were late to buy things, I was slow and it wasn't until 5 pm that I got on My DH rig and rode hard out to Goryu. I was going to ride the technical 5 minute DH ridge. My DH bike has some problems in the gears and etc.... but once it starts going downhill you are given a sweet ride. Pushed the bike up the hills to get to the course and with about 15 minutes of grace before the course got too dark I started my ride down. I always ride this course on my hard tail, I do this because I have to climb up to the top of Goryu which isn't fun on the DH rig/bike. The ride is always a pure nervous ride as the Hard tail bike really doesn't like all the roots on the course. The DH bike though just glides over all the roots, I must say I enjoyed the ride a lot because of this. The goal of the ride was to get the bad taste out of my mouth about the morning ride and boy did I ever! No falls, no feet down, prefect braking power and timing. I know that equipment doesn't always make you better but, on a course like this you are much better off using good gear.
Back home to meet my friend drink a beer and head to Tony's for some food. I owe Tony a 6 pack at least.


Minagata meadow section after my fall so really not feeling good.

I love this picture!

The bottom of the Goryu course ends at a cool old shrine with really old trees!

The top of the Goryu course, you can access it right in front of the Escal plaze entrance.


The old cross country course section on the Minagata ride I like this section alot as well.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
2 Days with the web design team
Had George and Izumi up to talk about the website and try to make them see why Hakuba is such a great place. They work really hard and were snapping pictures within 30 minutes of walking through the door.

Look them on the normal Minagata morning ride and they were stoked. They did really well and we all had a great time.

George snaped some pictures so you can actually see me for a change.

Coming home after a nice wet ride. Goryu in view.

Chilling out with a view of Goryu before a ride!

Trying to find new areas near Iwatake

Riding through Iwatake just enjoying a relaxed ride.

Sunday, September 23, 2007
Free meat and Soba, plus a jump event.
After a rainy ride and some Coffee it was back out to enjoy some family time with the kids. Hannah my little girl was away for a few weeks visiting the family before the busy season. Wow kids grow so fast, she is running, smiling and pretty much becoming a toddler. We had a good time eatting lots of free food.


Hugh making a funny face.


Steve with the quote of the day! Man this is good soup!

My messy baby

Papa and Hannah

Steve, Mia, Hugh and Hannah making Soba.

Me destroying the soba.

Our fat noddle soba, Steve thought it would taste better that way.

Cut those noddles Mia! Hannah watches as papa makes sure that no one cuts off a finger.

A person flying high

Another kid flying high

Saturday, September 22, 2007
The Magic Mushroom tour.....IN THE RAIN!
Another day another ride. A bit slick so I took it really easy. I had a bit of a crash 2/3's of the way down but it was nothing cause i was going at only 70% and on the brakes. Steve shouted great photo chance so I snapped a shot of him riding by a perfect mushroom. Take a look!




I think that if you ate that mushroom you might actually find the yellow submarine that the Beatles were singing about! Great ride and will head out to the Evergreen event later on tonight.

Friday, September 21, 2007
Another day another Minagata ride
Some nice Sake at Steve's house the night before led to another early morning ride. After fixing the bike the night before, then breaking it then fixing it again I went to bed. Woke up in the morning, had a cup of coffee and waited for Steve. Steve was a bit surprised to see the hard tail ready to go I think. Super glue, self tapping screws and a hacksaw is what the bike needed I told him.

A stunning day really so glad to be out in the cool morning air. I had to take this shot I only wish that I had a better camera. Really thinking about a Nikon upgrade.

Although the bike was fixed the derailleur was not set right for the new chain. The chain kept slipping which was very annoying. Steve got up 60% fixed which allowed me to actually climb up the hill rather than walk. Thanks Steve, maybe one day ill buy a good bike. What a prefect day! Too bad we didn't have enough time to really enjoy the view.

My mug I love taking shots like this. You can just make out Goryu in the background.

Steve flying down the trail. Actually I didn't have the camera on sport mode but I like the color of the picture.

This one of my favorite sections on the ride. Once you drop in here the course is a scenic single track that is quite fast. It was a bit slick with morning dew but it was still very fun.

I must say that I had great time. Met some cool people and improved my biking skills 2 fold. The only problem now is that I ride much faster and crash harder. It was very hot but that made the course perfect for 2 days.

For the rest of the pictures check here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54631&id=890405050

James jumping
Matt banking at the bottom

Steve running the wal
Chris showing us up per usual
Yanik on the Wall
Andrew with a great wall ride
Andrew again.
and again
Yours truely on a wall ride of my own
Chris about to fly