Saw some beautiful leaves today in Hakuba check them out here!

Wonder Woman!!!

Happy Halloween.......from Wonder Woman......

I made a very local newspaper, picture kind of sucks but the explanation is good!!! Thank you Chunichi Shunbun, especially Akemi Yamamoto for doing this article on me!!! Cheers! A closer look here Chunichi HomeService038

Which do you see first? The car or the babe???? Both are pretty sweeeet!! This Monday evening found out suddenly that my cousin Rolf was in Tokyo. He was on a business trip working for Mercedes Benz and I just happened to be able to jump on the train and meet him on Wednesday. He was leaving on Thursday. Got to see his show and then check out all of these great cars!!! It was a first time experience for me. It was so much fun, and now I can say I have been inside a Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Lotus, Porsche, Jaguar, Audi and so many more!!! Anybody who wants to buy me a Christmas present, any of these will do!!!!! Had a great time, unfortunately, don't have pictures of Rolf and I yet, they are on his camera. When I get them I will put them up!!! Enjoy the rest of the pictures here!!

MMMMM, loving it

For those of you who have been missing my old Kareyw.com site, I have decided to rebuild it and get it going again. You can find it here www.kareyw.com Any comments or advice would be appreciated!! Enjoy, K.

Nogunen & Raita, we salute you both!! Both of your careers have inspired us over the years! Thank you so much for all that you have given to the sport! I can't think of two better ambassadors for our sport! You will be deeply missed on the race circuit! We look forward to your future developments in the mountain bike world! All the best and happy retirement!!!!! Love Sweet Riders, Karey and Kouji Watanabe!!

I am happy to report that I have taken my 3rd Japan Cycling Federation Downhill Series Title!!!! In the fifteen years of racing I have won the series 3 times, but this last one has definitely been the best for me. At 40 years young, it feels pretty good!!!


This last race in Sena, Ishikawa was a real tough one. I knew from the beginning it would take everything I had because I wasn't in top form. I hadn't ridden my DH machine since the last race in August. Not a good thing, it was super tough to find my race groove in only one day. Being too busy is no excuse so I just bit the bullet and gave it my best shot! Unfortunately, in the qualifier I had a huge superwoman crash with my bike flying over me down an embankment. I rushed to pull my bike back on the course after shaking my head and was off with crooked handle bars to take 4th place in the qualifier????

After checking the bod, I had to ice my right knee, it swelled up real nice. After downing some painkillers I was determined to finish well in the final. Could barely bend my knee to spin on the pedals but it is amazing what painkillers can do!!! I was doing really well until I hit the lower technical single track and missed my line which caused me to hit a pole with course tape which ended up wrapping around my handle bars, arrrrrggggggggg!!! I knew this was gonna cost me the race but I untangled myself and gave it 110 percent and I had another small crash. I finished fifth with a huge feeling of disappointment.............

After getting my emotions under control, I congratulated all of my fellow racers and decided to chalk this race up as being just not my day. You win some and you lose some. However, I was so stoked to find out I didn't lose my title!!!! This season I was 3rd, 1st, 1st and 5th in all of this seasons races respectively. I end the season as THE 2007 JCF DH SERIES CHAMPION!! It doesn't get any better than this!!!!! Thank you to all of my sponsors and supporters, without you, none of this would be possible. LOVE YOU ALL, K. MORE PICTURES HERE!

After our clinic, the next day was just as beautiful so we headed out on a training ride. Kouji took us to two new trails. The first trail started with a long pavement climb leading to a great flowing switchback downhill, wheeee!! Then, the second trail was up a shorter, but steeper climb near the olympic cross country ski track in Hakuba called Snow Harp. This track lead us to a wonderful view and ridge trail. The scenery really looked a bit like the Canadian Mountains. It was a great ride. I was pretty wiped but Kouji and Ya-Chan convinced me to come with them to the local outdoor shop to check out the fall sale. I ended up buying some great wool socks for the winter. The next event for the day was to get ready for the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner put on by Tracks Pub. Thanks Troy and Sakiko for putting on a great dinner, the turkey was delicious!!! About 35 people came for the dinner, then we had some live entertainment by Sabunyuma Drummers and Dancers, local guitar players Will and Martin, and even a belly dancing show!! Happy belated Thanksgiving to all!! MORE PICTURES HERE!

Next weekend we will head to Sena Park Ski Hill in Ishikawa Prefecture for the big season finale race. Wish us all luck!! Until then, take care, K.

Sweet Riders one-day co-ed clinic in Aokiko Ski Hill, Nagano Prefecture. Today we had three fantastic participants who came out from Tokyo and Nagoya join us for a great sunny day clinic. We spent the morning working on skills, which saw the riders improve greatly. After a lunch break, we reviewed some skills added some new ones and hit the trails. Bert, Dirk and Mika, you did a great job, thanks for coming out!! It was a great day, enjoy all of the pictures here!

October misty spider webs, cooooooool!! Just in time for Halloween!!!!!!

Ouch, let this be a warning to all those who keep wine glasses on the counter while washing the dishes! Ha ha, Kouji warned me several times that one of these days, this would happen. I was washing some dishes, bumped the drying rack and boom, next thing I know a wine glass is smashed on the floor and I am bleeding.....

A trip to the emergency, first gave me two stitches, then in the afternoon, one came out. Had to go back and then I got four stitches????? What's up with that??? Anyway, beware of flying wine glasses!!!!!

Well here I am with Mom and Dad! We had a great short 10 day visit to the homeland! Kouji and I arrived pretty exhausted after having just finished the Sweet Riders MTB Jamboree 48 hours prior and then were on a plane headed to Canada. Needless to say, we needed some chill time. We were jet-lagged and had to delay our planned visit down to the Crowsnest Pass. We had a great couple of days with Mom and Dad, went for a great walk with them down in the valley and just caught the fall colors at the right time!

Spent a great day with my brother and family visiting a corn maze field with the kids. Was super fun and I recommend it for anyone!! Took us an hour to find our way through the maze, then we were tired and hungry and head for some Boston Pizza!! Later we even hit a bowling alley, was so strange to bowl 5 pin again!!

Then, we finally decided to take a short trip down to Calgary to visit the Hawkings. We went to a bar that had a huge selection of different beers and we went wild!! MMMM, Canadian beer tasted soooooo gooood!!! It was great to see all of the Hawkings, unfortunately, we didn't get to see papa Hawkings but heard he was off to play some golf! Brian and Sarah, great times!!!! Thanks again! Our last couple of days were spent shopping, relaxing, riding along the river, chilling with the family and a quick visit with Tasha!

We had a great lunch with some long lost cousins which was a great surprise!! Was so great to see you guys, unfortunately we didn't take any pictures! Thanks so much Elli, it meant a lot to us!!! The last day we visited a kid wonderland called Chucky Cheeses. If we ever have kids we will definitely have to take them there! Our trip had come to an end and we found ourselves back on the plane back to Japan. Short, but so sweet!

Once again I am reminded of how blessed I am to have such a great country, family and friends,,,,,love all of you!! Take care and VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS HERE!!!