Ya-Chan and I in Holland!! ..... Just kidding, but it felt like it anyway. This tulip garden is on one of our road bike routes and right now it is the perfect time for viewing!!! This week has been filled some great rides!!!! We have been training hard this past week for the upcoming season opening race next weekend in Shiga Prefecture (which is located 4.5 hours away)!! Since it is officially "Golden Week" in Japan, we will leave next Thursday morning and do some "official" holiday camping at the race site. Let's hope the weather holds out. I will race in the DH on Saturday, then with Kouji and Ya-Chan in the XC on Saturday. Pretty insane???? Yes, but I am determined to do both races, wish me luck! More pictures here!!

This is from yesterday's Ikeda rain ride, officially the ride was cancelled early morning due to the rain, then put back on again after it cleared up two hours later. Then, finally upon everyones arrival, it started to rain again, but by this time we were psyched to ride RAIN or SHINE!! So off we went and it turned out to be an epic fun ride!!! The single-track in Ikeda was rad!! Thanks to Randall and his helpers, for the new network of trails and the great trail cleaning!! It was just an overall fantastic ride with some great climbs, and swooping fast banked turns on the way down. To top it all off, Randall's expecting wife (Congratulations!!!) Midori, had whipped up a fantastic lunch which was served upon our return!! Couldn't ask for a better way to end an epic ride!! What a day!!!! View more pictures here.