Biking in Japan - Sagamiko Picnic Land Trip

> ===== Mountain Biking at Sagamiko Picnic Land - June 9th, 2001 =====

> This was my very first mountain biking experience in Japan, and I was not disappointed. Even though I come from the infamous North Shore of Vancouver, B.C., I found the MTB trail at this Picnic Land, which was about 2 hours west of Tokyo, impressive in both layout and difficulty. The trail was classic single track, XC in the trees with a few short climbs, and a few really steep sections, a few 1 foot drops, lots of twists throught the trees and a couple jumps too. The track itself was quite short, it took us about 15 minutes to finish it the first time.

The 16 people that I went with were mostly part of Team Victoria, Victoria being a sporting goods store kinda like Comor back in Vancouver. A couple guys are bike couriers, most of them compete in local races, and a couple were elite riders. An interesting part was when one of those elite guys (a highschool student) taught us how to take a hairpin corner without losing a lot of speed, and he did it pretty fast and made it look good too. We stood at the corner and watched him bomb down the slope, then brake early and he drifted a bit, then went very wide up the side, and cut right thru the apex. Pretty impressive, I hope I can do that soon! We also hung around the jump for awhile and took photos, kinda like what we do when we go snowboarding.

Well, I found out that my tires aren't so good in the mud, since it just cakes in and I lose traction. I wish I had a lighter bike too!

==== Just click on the image for a larger photo. ====


We got to the Picnic Land about 11 am, and were able to get in and park for free because they knew how to get in the back entrance.	After unloading our bikes from the vans, we started to put them back together again.	That's Nakashima and Migiwa in the forground.


This is my friend Migiwa in bike number 507 whom I used to work with but she's now going to the states to study. You can see from their big smiles that she and Mike (on the right-pronounced Miki) are enjoying the trails at the Picnic Land.	This is Mari, confidently taking a sharp corner that was visible from the parking lot.	A shot of Migiwa, Nakashima, and Kishi in the parking lot while we were preparing for a day of riding.


Shimazaki preparing to take the sharp turn quickly by putting a foot down.	Here's Mike, a cool pose by Migiwa, and an even cooler pose by Ishibashi and his water bottle!	Another Team Victoria member taking the quick turn.


Takuro launching off a pretty big jump at the bottom of a steep decline.	Here we are after taking some photos of our little jump session.	Here I am taking the jump!