Alley cats, Cyclo Cross and Chari Fes

The cold skirts of winter are finally peeling away and showing us warm and fuzzy patches of days to come. Lots of bike crap going on this month. Here's what's on the calendar for March:


NUTs Alley Cat race
Date: March 20
Place: Shirakawa park, Nagoya City
Time: 9:00 PM
Entry fee: 600 YEN (After party at Cafe Palwr)



Annual FSCX Free Style Cyclo Cross Race
Date: March 22
Place: Shonai River Park Kansenjiki (near Fure ai bashi bridge) right along the river.
Time: 10:00 AM
Entry fee: 500 YEN



I had a lot of fun at last year's race. Bring any bike, a helmet and if you want to eat BBQ, a plate and chop sticks.


Nagoya Chari Fes (Bike festival)
Date: 27th 1:00 pm～7:00 pm／28th 10:00 am～5:00 pm
Place: At the Yabacho underpass, Downtown Nagoya (sakae)

Our resident freaky guy Date san (aka Dirty) is once again putting together a fun two days of cycling events for all to enjoy. Among the planned activities are:

• Flea market
• Bike tricks and fun
• Safety tips
• Curry rice festival and more!

Frozen cats

Last Saturday night's alley cat race went off well except for the slight cold weather. Turn out was about 30 strays. I'm noticing more new faces lately and quite a few young ones. One of the top winners that night was a high school kid. Good to see the young'ems getting some exercise.

Emi & Rie showing off their cap collection

Racing makes you hot

Yeah I know it's too damn cold for an Alley Cat Race, but do you think General Washington told his men he wasn't crossing no friggin frozen Delaware river just to fight some pansy-ass redcoats? No. He manned up, rowed that dingy across that cold river and the rest is grammar school history. And to honor those men who braved the cold to fight for your freedoms, the NUTs people will be holding their monthly alley cat thingamajig at Shirakawa park this Saturday at 9:00 PM. Bring a bike, a sweater and a dingy.

Alley Cat Surprise

Last Monday night the NUTs group held the monthly alley cat race in downtown Nagoya City. I expected to see the usual bike nuts eager to ride and drink afterward. Little did I know that we would be joined by about 100 fellow cyclist from around the world! To make a long story short, Izuru san organized a group ride of about 100 visiting cyclist in Japan for the CMWC event in Tokyo (Cycle Messenger World Championships). The group met in Kyoto and rode up to Nagoya Monday night in time for our Alley Cat race. I had never seen such a large group of smelly, tired and jet lagged cyclist in my life. I was immediately conscripted as an interpreter/organizer. Many of the guest cyclists joined in the evening's race and met at Cafe Palwr. We helped organize sleeping arrangements for those who needed it. I really enjoyed meeting so many fellow cyclist from just about every continent I can name. The next morning the group was off on their journey to Tokyo for the big event. I hope they made it all there safely. I won't be in Tokyo for the CMWC event, but we have a couple local guys racing and I'll be rooting for them.

Alleycat race this Saturday night

The monthly NUTs alleycat race will be held on April 18th. This time we'll be meeting at 8:30 PM by the water fountain entrance of Meijo Koen (Park). If you've ever attended a Walkathon event, you'll know the spot. Entry fee for the race is 300 YEN. Bring yer wheels and a set of groovy legs. Check out the calendar link to the right for more details.

Alley Cat Race tonight!

Quick reminder. Tonight's NUTs alley Cat Race will start at Shirakawa park at 9PM. Bring your bike and a warm jacket cause I think it's going to be friggin COLD! Click on the Calendar link to the right for more info.

Cold Alley Cats

The monthly NUTs alley cat race last night started out cold but soon heated up once the pedaling started. I did poorly but had a good time riding around the city. There was a last minute change of the starting location due to some other group meeting there. So if you plan to join the next race on Feb 21st, better confirm it will be at Yabacho and not Shirakawa park. Ride on.

NUTs Monthly Alley cat race

Quick reminder for those in the Nagoya area. Local cycling group NUTs will be holding their monthly alley cat race this Saturday at 8:30 PM at the Yabacho underpass in Sakae. As usual, we'll all meet at Palwr cafe afterwards for drinks and bragging.


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