The story continues from going down to Tokyo and then to Fujimi, Nagano.
The event at Fujimi Panorama Ski Field was part of “MTB Fan Meeting,” and was held Saturday, July 30. I arrived there the night before, or very early in the morning of the day. I joined a few guys hanging around the park area, and they turned out to be Teisuke from TKC Productions and his crew. I dished out some pork intestine stew and okras, and they were soon consumed by the crew including Miya-G and Agnes who were there to ride in the competition. It turned out that Teisuke had been to Hokkaido the previous weekend, just when I had left.
The morning came, and it was the day of the event at the park. Samo of Tubagra did a great job organizing it, but the dodgy weather required a lot of rescheduling and caused some stomachache for him. Most part of the event was executed in mild rain, but that’s just force majeure.
What was cool was that I got to meet a lot of upcoming riders including Sendai+Street, Gyoda Local, Tokyo crew, Suk=!, and KNS.lo. It also was a pleasure of mine to meet Hakushaku and Massan who MC’d and helped the event overall.
The contest started (somehow) with bunnyhop 180. I was out after about 70 cm. Kudo won it at 95 cm, which was sick, and slightly out my capability even if I hopped straight. The straight hop was won by Ashi at 100 cm. It’s a great inspiration since I never really see any contenders left after like 90 cm in my area. To be honest I am gutted though, and am willing to come back with a meter hop which I’m sure I can do.
The street competition had this format of three rounds of one-minute run per rider. I sucked, honestly. And the park sucked as well, with ramps set up on slanted ground that makes you way too fast in one way and lose all the speed in the other. And the steel surface curled up at a point. I’d say the design is outdated by 20 years, though I’ve got nothing to say if they think it’s “better than nothing.”
I know this is my problem, but I got a bruised palm just five seconds into the first run. That’s what you get from falling off some one-meter high ledge… and there have been too many falling off incidents for me recently. Maybe I should change the recognition that, when riding on a tight ledge, your tire can go off the edge by half its width maximum.
The result was 5th. I appreciate getting some votes, but was pretty down for not sticking so many of the tricks and totally missing prize money.
So it’s time to play with some cicada. I also hung out with old and new friends as I stayed the whole weekend at the mountain resort.
And Sunday evening, I starting rolling again.
Around Matsumoto, I found a Subaru Brat, a rare model sold mainly in North America, which I owned once in the past. I still love it.
I reached Niigata, enjoying the view of the island of Sado afar.
As I hung out at a beach, my swollen paw was less swollen thanks to icing but the internal bleeding had spread all over, making it look rather worse.
So, I got on the ferry at the port of Niigata safely. Vehicles with small ground clearance were treated with special care and led into the lower deck of the ship. Looks like a reserved kid surrounded by big bullies.
Coming back to Sapporo, I just want to ride as soon as my hand gets better. Ryo, a BMXer from Kansai region was at Fujimi and taught me how to do tailwhips, so that’ll be one of the new challenges. He was so cool and I knew that when he said, “So here are the tips, and now you can do it after ten thousand tries.” I was also inspired a lot by big airs done by Miya-G and Yushi. I’m really glad I went.