I have been in Utah since July 6th. My wife is expecting a new boy in September so we decided to come home to our house in Utah to have the baby there. So far everything is going well with her and the baby. The thing is that despite my promise to exercise more and keep in shape this past semester I was in charge of about 10 classes at Kangaku, the universith where I teach in Japan so I really didn't have much choice for exercise. I did go biking at least once a week, but they were really short rides. Well, now I decided to take a new approach and go to bed early so that I can wake up early to go biking in the hills near my home. So far, i have been here exactly 2 weeks (14 days) and have gone 11 times starting between 5:45am and 6:30 am. The first few times, I felt really heavy as I am guessing my weight was around 180lbs (81 kgs), which is really heavy as I am 5'8". The route I decided to take is fairly hard since I go up most of the time for the first two thirds of the way and then down for the last third. I guess I gain about 1,000ft (300m) elevation before going down, but this is just a guestimate. The trails are very varied. I start at home on the Lindon bench and go up Dry Canyon Rd to the Dry Canyon parking lot. I then take the Bonneville Shoreline trail to the Bonneville Shoreline parking lot in North Orem. From there I go up the same trail to the Great Western trail, which is the longest span of the ride and takes me along the North ridge of Provo Canyon. I take the Great Western up towards Little Baldy and turn West at the rock mound which marks the intersection between the Great Western and what I believe to be Route 051, though there are no markers to indicate so. From there I go up to the top most point of the route, which overlooks the great Utah Valley. I can see the Provo Temple and as far South as Mount Nebo and as far North as Point of the Mountain. It is such a great view! From there is all the way down to the Dry Canyon and then to the Dry Canyon Parking lot. Then, I just go straight down to my home.

The first time I did this route about two weeks ago, it took me over 3 hours because I was taking it easy and stopping a lot along the way. Now I can make it under 2 hours! I did a physical today and I am back down to 170 lbs (77 kgs)! All this in just 2 weeks! My goal is to go down to my ideal weight of 155 lbs (70 kgs). I think I can accomplish this over the next two months if I keep it up. My wife says that I can't and that I'll give it up. But this has given me more motivation, since I would like to prove here wrong, at least this once.

I look forwards to going back to Japan after I have accomplished this goal so that I can ride again with my Japanese friends.

This past Saturday we had a very nice gathering at my home in Sanda. It was a perfect day, except that it rain like crazy ;)

We were planning to go to Dojo during the day and then on the way back come to my home, but we didn't because it rained so much. It just kept on raining all day. The day before I went shopping at Costco and bought enough food to feed an army of MTbikers. So canceling wasn't a choice and I decided to move forwards with the party. Only five people showed up as seen in this picture:



The grayish blue thing reflecting on the back of the picture is actually a blue tarp which I improvised in my backyard so that I could cook the BBQ. We had lots of food because I was expecting more people. We had tons of beef, chicken, pork and shrimp. We had a lot of left over I was able to consume up to three days later with my family.

We really had a good time and I hope we can do this more often. Perhaps during the summer we'll be able to do it many more times.

It would had been better if we had actually gone biking, so hopefully next time it doesn't rain!

We had a very nice trip to Mt. Rokko on Apri 1st (April's Fool Day). It was very nice and I got to meet some very nice people. I met with the group. The group had already made their way up to the top of Mt. Rokko from Sannomiya earlier from 8:30am. I met with them up at the Rokko-San Hotel. From their we went up and down along the mountains towards the East and ended up at Kobe's Pharmaceutical university. From there we then went down to Rokko Island and I got a ride back to Rokko-San Hotel to pick up my car. I took some pictures of the broup first at a rest stop we made while making our way up from the mountains:




These pictures were taken at the end of the tour at the base of Mt. Rokko by the Kobe Pharmaceutical University. It was the only Sakura tree we saw during the tour.

No Sakura on this one, yet:



Only Sakura tree on the trip:

I was really a meiwaku rider this weekend. Meiwaku means trouble and being on the way of others, an annoyance. That's exactly what I was. I am really ashamed of admiting it, but if I was the other people that were with me, I would have been really annoyed. The truth is that I was really not prepared for the ride and I had no business being there. I am just really greatful that my friends were really kind and did not at any time showed me how annoyed they really were. But the truth is that I really think I owe them my life. I have definitely learned a valuable lesson from this whole experience. I was not in good physical condition, I did not bring lunch and my bike was not the right bike for the ride. I have promised my friends that I will be much better shape for our next ride, that I will always carry food just in case something goes wrong and that I would get a more suitable bike. I plan to keep my promise.

Anyway, despite I was so misserable it was a wonderful adventure. We thought the ride would take only about 3 hours and we were going to take an easy route in Dojo around the lake Sengari. We started around 10:45am by going up some stairs and next to a beautiful waterfall and dam, which was amazing because of all the rain and snow we got this past week. Here is a photo:



However, we had to turn around at the top of the dam because the trail was closed. I guess all that rain had made the trail impassable. We backtracked and went on to a more difficult trail. It was all full of obstacles like fallen trees, rocks and missing portions of the trail. We ended up carrying our bikes a lot so that we could follow the trail. By 1:30pm, we found our biggest obstacle, which was a whole bunch of fallen trees. We found an alternative route by going down river, where Mister felled in the water. As we crossed the river, there was a nice beach by the bank so we decided to have lunch there.



However, I thought I would be home by this time, so I didn't bring lunch. Some people offered me some, but I declined out of shame. After lunch we continued. We kept on passing obstacles and after a few hills and some amazingly beautiful views, we came out into a road at the north of Sengari lake. It was around 2:30 already. I was doing fine until we started going up hill on the road. I did fine until I was about 50 meters from the top, when I started having the first signs of dehydration and carbohydrates deficiency. I got a terrible cramp on my left leg ham muscles.



I was like nothing I have experienced before. After a few minutes Masa came to my rescue and knew exactly what to do and to my relief bent my knee all the way and the pain magically dissappeared. However, about 30 to 45 minutes later, I got it again. This time I was prepared and had Yuka, who was the closest person help me to bend my knee. After that I took it easy, but I was very slow and became a meiwaku and ashidematoi rider. We finished the ride about 5:30pm, almost 7 hours after we started. I was the last one to come out of the trail. I was very exhauted and hungry. Here is a picture at the end of the ride:



Yeap, I am the fat one in front!

After this, I just went home, ate a great meal of Salmon sashimi and lots of sweets, took a bath and went to sleep after experiencing a few more cramps in bed.

Lessons learned:

1. Always take food on rides, just in case.


2. Exercise always, no matter how many things get on the way. I must always take good care of my body and therefore I must loose weight.


3. Bring the right bike for the right occassion. The Sugar 293 is a good bike for long cross country rides. But a terrible bike for Japanese single trails. For this you need much lighter 26" bike, preferrably a hardtail.

It was a great ride. I met with my new friends at the trail head near Dojo station. They had been already there since the morning and had completed one of the trails. I wish I had been there earlier, but we had a small misscommunication. So I met them around 12:30pm and we went to the trail South of the station. It was quite a nice trail, but I don't think I would had been able to find it if I had gone by myself. The first part of the trail was kind of rocky with lots of loose dirt and leaves. But the temperature was just right. I struggled most of the way up to keep up with the bunch. I am ashamed to admit that was having a hard time trying to keep up with the only female in the bunch. Once on the tope the trail kind of laveled and then when down hill. I was also surprised to find that we ended up at Ikuno Kougen, where my good friend Steven Mason lives, just a few houses down the road. I actually saw his car pass us as we were making our way up hil to to get on the second half of the trail.



On the way down almost at the end of the trail there was a frozen lagoon and we saw some firefighters practicing rescue operations by the bank of the lagoon on a helicopter. These are two pictures of the helicopter taking off. Just before that I went over my bike and landed on my chest with the bike on my back. Fortunately, I was fine.

Here is a picture of the bunch. From the left on the foreground, Mister, Bra, Masa and Iku. I am the one on the background.

Today I finally found the ellusive Dojo Trail. I decided that after putting on at least 10 pounds since I broke my ankle last June, it was time to start loosing some. I just feel like a pig since I have been idle most of the time. I thought that taking my dog, Maestro, for a walk for long periods of time everyday (1-2 hours) of time would help, but I guess not. It seems that everytime I eat anything at all, it just goes direcly to the fat in my belly and around my face and neck. So, I went on a 4 hour ride. It really felt very difficult. I guess all the extra weight was really getting to me. Anyway, I decided that it was time to find the Dojo trail. So, I made a copy of a map of the area and put on some extra clothes and went on the road with my Sugar 293. I went from my Home in Akashiadai along the Kansen in Sanda all the way down to the Mukogawa river. Then I went along the bank of the river as far as I could and on the smaller streets until I hit Dojo station. There I went across the tracks and to the NE side and immediately into a small road on the left that takes you to the Sengari Dam. I went for about 1~2 Kms, but then the road to the dam was closed, but as I was looking at a map on the gates I met three mountain bikers that were just coming down from the trail. They spoke to me in English, and although I do speak Japanese fluently I chatted with them for a while. They showed me the way to the head of the trail, but it was around 3pm so I decided to to venture into it because I thought it was too late. It starts getting dark in Japan around 5pm and they told me the trail takes about 2 hours. I spoke with them for a while and exchanged cards with one of them who happens to be a medical doctor. He said he would send me an email and let me know if he was coming on Monday (Jan 9, 2006) because I mentioned that I might come too. After that, I decided to go back home and it took me about 45 minutes to get there. I just went along the bank of the Mukugawa river to Shinsanda station and then from there up the hill to Akashiadai. I am really looking forwards to go mountain biking on Monday.

I finally got to take the new Gary Fisher 293 moutain bike out for a ride on Saturday. It was a perfect weather and I took it out for about 4 hours. First I took my dog Maestro, a german short haired pointer, for an easy ride of the Boneville trail north of Orem. But he was too tired to continue and I had turn back to drop him home. He actually drank most of my 2 liters of water, leaving me only a little for myself, so I had to refill. [Read More!]

I finally got to go out on a MTB trip in Japan. I went out on April 9th around Sanda-City. It was perfect day with the temperature around 20C, with a little wind, but no clouds. I started by going from Akashiadai towards Shin-Sanda station. It is a long down hill about 3km that becomes a long up hill about 2km before reaching [Read More!]

今年から、日本に引っ越してきます。以前、大阪大学で留学しましたが、あわせて10年くらい日本に住んでいたのに、あまり日本の田舎は知らない。だから、今回はマウンテンバイクを買って、北海道から沖縄まで全部ツーリングしたい。そして、中国、モンゴル、東南アジアなどにも生きたい、是非一緒に行きたいならここでコメントを書いてください。

I am an avid mountain biker during the Summer. Living in Utah, I have had the opportunity to visit Moab's Slik Rock Trail several times. I also bike on the Wasatch Mountains in Northen Utah quite often. I love doing this sport and sometimes take my dog on day expeditions.

I am planning an adventure moutain biking trip to either China or Mongolia during the Summer of 2005. This is going to be the adventure of my life time.

Here are some tours I am considering seriously on going. I just can't wait till next year!

1. China Mountain Bike Tour


2. Mongolia Mountain Bike Tour


3. Another Mongolia Mountain Bike Tour


4. Several Southeast Asia Mountain Bike Tours

I am already getting ready to go to mountain biking to China or Mongolia and recently purchased a Gary Fisher Sugar 293. I'll be bringing it with me to Japan this Summer to do a lot of touring throughout the islands. [Read More!]