More PR for Sweet Riders, everywhere I go I try to get a poster in there, this one is up on the door to the bathrooms at the Old Rock Pub in Matsumoto!!!! Make sure you read it when you are there!!!

We made it. After riding hard yesterday on the road, Ya-Chan and I were very happy to make it up the big climb today. Both of us had heavy legs from yesterday and did our best to keep it going up the 1hour 20 minute climb today!!! Here we are posing to our triumph!!

Here we are enjoying ORGANIC SHARKIES that I brought from Canada last trip over. What are Sharkies you ask?? Organic little sharks made of natural fruits. MMMM, they taste sooo good!!! Thanks Kouji for taking the picture!! By the way, any one know how we can get a Sharkies Sponsor???

Today, I was the Snow Climbing Queen!! Kouji, Ya-Chan and I rode up our favorite trail for the first time this season and there was still tons of snow!!! However, I rode through it all and cleared it!!!! Must have been due to my new custom Shimano Shoes. They were fantastic. So comfortable and gave me great centralized power on each pedal stroke!! Thanks Shimano, love my new shoes!!

Here we are the four of us, can you guess who is who as far as the Sex in the City characters go??? If you guess them right, you will get a big hug from all of us!!! Karey, Sarah, Alex and Liza, come on take a guess!! Saturday brought me out to Hakuba after the big wine and cheese, Karey Watanabe Disco night on Friday. Wasn't going to go but thanks to Sarah's coaxing, I went and had a great time with the girls. We had a blast doing and talking girl things!!! We are going to plan our own girls camping trip in May, any females wanting to join, just drop us a mail!! Sorry guys, only girls this time!! We ended the weekend with a night at QTips Bar in Hakuba listening to Kya Bamba Sound Live. Even got a personal CD, yeah lucked out. Check them out here! Hope you all had a great weekend as well!! More later....

Here is the view of our 3 hour road ride today to Ikeda/Omachi. It was the perfect day for riding!! We decided to make it a double mission day. Our first mission was to hit the delicious Oyaki Stand on the way home from our ride.

mmmmm, I had pumpkin and Ya-Chan had eggplant. They were so delicious!!! We started talking about what we were going to do that evening and we decided on wine and cheese. Then, I remembered about the new KURA Wine and Cheese restuarant so we decided to also hit that on the way home.....for some great cheese!!

かった！！Well we got some mild blue, parmesan and a brie/camembert, now we have to find the right wines!! We were disappointed to find out that we couldn't get any wine here. Oh well, it was a great double mission today!! Can't wait to sample the cheese!! More sooon!

One of the great sponsors that I have is Shimano. They supply me with great shoes and pedals every season! This year they have come out with a top of the line custom fit shoe. Let me explain the process. First of all, they have this new heating machine that heats up the insole and the shoe separately. The insole is done first. It is heated up, then placed in the shoe with your foot for about 1.5 minutes. Then, waaaallllla, your insole has been shaped to your instep!!!

Step number two is when the actual shoe is heated up and then contoured to your foot. You put your foot into the heated shoe, then a plastic bag is wrapped around your foot and lower leg, a suction tube then sucks all of the air out and you must sit and wait about 2.5 minutes for the shoe to take shape to your foot. It feels pretty weird at first, but you get used to the feeling.

Step three is to let them cool down and harden to the shape they have just formed. Here you can see the perfect fit!!! They fit like socks, and feel so comfortable. I can't wait to give them a try!!! I highly recommend these shoes, they are a bit pricey, but hey, aren't your feet worth it?????

Day two saw us teaching a demo clinic to a mother-daughter team. They were fantastic participants and progressed all the way up to the see-saw after only one hour of instruction!! Way to go guys!!!! Shio will hopefully join the sweet riders team in the future, she improved so quickly....look forward to seeing her ride in a couple of years. We had a great day, got to see my team mate Arizono do his show, and again, it was so impressive!!! Hope you had a great weekend too!! Enjoy more pictures here!!

Here we are the Sweet Riders PR Girls doing our thing in Sweet Riders Pink Hair!!! We were working the Sagamiko Picnic Land Bicycle Club Demo, trying to get bike companies to come out for our upcoming Sweet Riders Event in Aokiko May 12-13th. The hair was a hit, and we made a few sandwiches along the way!!! By the end of the day we hit every booth and we were pretty tired that evening. More pictures here!
Day one was done, day two was soon to begin....

Dead after a hard road ride with Ya-Chan. We were going out for an easy one, but the wind came up and brought on a stong head wind as we were heading home. It turned out to be a hard one and after returning to the house, I had to just crash........so here I am!!! It's been a rough week, with trying to get taxes done, grade exams, plan sweetriders..... etc!!! However, on the brightside, I am getting stronger and stronger, so all you fellow cross-country riders, look out, ha ha.....

I am off to the Opening Bike Demo Event this weekend. I have been invited to do a demo Sweet Riders Clinic on Sunday. Lots of companies coming out, as well as people. Should be a good one. Especially doing PR for Sweet Riders and our upcoming event!!! Ya-chan will be my assistant. Kouji, unfortunately has to work and can't attend, so it will be us two girls for the weekend. Hope to see you there!!!
Later, K.

Wow, what a weekend!! After hosting a small dance party at the house on Friday night, which went a bit late, and working all day Saturday on the computers, Ya-Chan and I were off to the Gold Cup Race later Saturday afternoon. It took us 5 hours to get there and when we did, it was dark and pouring rain. Not to mention the wind that almost blew us over, we thought, oh man, do we really have to race in this tomorrow??? We tried to sleep but couldn't. All we could hear was the wind howling all night long, 6 am came too early and Ya-Chan had to help with the registration. I was able to lounge out in the van a bit longer and actually dozed off from 7-742AM. Thank goodness I was awoken by Kouji's email, and realized I have 30 minutes to get to the start line, arrrrgggg!! I made it to the start line with pillow lines on my face and raced as best as I could. I didn't even know how many laps, and had to ask the organizer while I was racing. I was pretty out of it, still sleeping I think and I missed a good sprint off the start. As a result, I couldn't make up that lost time because the race was only two laps. I came in third, close behind Ya-Chan who was 2nd. All in all, it was a terrific effort considering all we had been through. We both gave it our best in the afternoon enduro race, as well. Got some excellent training in and had fun!!! Now, it is back to work and catching up on lost sleep!! Hope you all had a good weekend!!! ENJOY MORE PICTURES HERE!

Here are my two favorite girls, Estelle and Nola!!! Was so great to hang out with the Honeywells again, was pretty tired this day and we spent the afternoon just chilling out. I really needed it. My head was spinning the whole trip because I had so much to think about. I am still considering whether to move back to Canada since Alberta and B.C. are just taking off. I have a bit more on my personal and professional plates as well. For those I missed, didn't call I apologize, but the time just goes by sooo quickly and it becomes too stressful trying to fit everything in!!! Hopefully next time when I have more time! Dave it was great you dropped by, Sue great chat!!! Marsanne so bummed that I missed you!! Lisa, no contact sorry....more pictures here!!
Anyways back in Japan and didn't even get time to think about jet-lag, the phone was ringing off the hook the next morning and the plans for Sweet Riders Events are in the works!!! Anyone want to volunteer as my secretary???? Ha, ha, I am going to be racing next weekend, Hah, with no training over the last three weeks, should be very interesting. Then on March 18-19th we have our Sweet Riders Demo clinics happening in Sagamiko, come out and give us a try, you won't regret it!!!

Got one night out with Tasha and her boys from Fire Station 2. Went out to a local pub and drank some beers with Tasha and her boys. Very fun indeed, met some great people and had a lot of laughs, by the way, which one of you boys put all the junk in my purse, I am still finding it!!! Ha, Ha, next time, was great to meet you all.... more pictures here!