The muddy waters of FSCX

The annual Nagoya City FSCX, sponsored by Circles bike shop was held yesterday along the Shonai river just before route 41. We had a decent draw, considering it was a Monday (national holiday). Heavy rain the night before guaranteed us a very muddy and challenging course along the riverbank. The mud was almost a foot deep in some places, and I sure as hell was not going to ride my Surly Steamroller through that muck. Luckily Sal loan me his Surly Karate Monkey with super fat tires. Still I managed to muck up my pants and shoes. The day's winner was some cat from Osaka. Nothing like the good clean fun of free style cyclo-cross.

Sal...before the race

Gay

Fun FSCX style!

Hopping the course

You think they look hot now, you should have seen them after the race. Dirty girls.

Spicy Kebabs, 300 YEN. Señor Crankee never passes up a chance to capitalize on a cycling event

Pedaling my Surly along the riverside road,

cherry blossoms stick to my rims

and I swerve left nearly hitting a 200 year old woman.

Bent like like an upside down L

she glances and sneers at my ride,

"Poser" she spits, loud enough for me to hear,

and continues down the path,

counting the cracks on the pavement for the next 200 years.

Pedaling my Surly along the bumpy path,

I imagine time slows down as I hit warp 10.

The cherry blossoms stop mid-flight,

and I ride through the pink cloud mouth open,

tasting the high pitch laughter of Japanese girls.

Vintage Mizutani Moped

Came across this vintage motorized bicycle yesterday outside a small antique shop. The maker (Mizutani Bicycles) has been around since 1924 and judging from the condition of the bike, I'd say it has to be over 50 years old. Wonder if she still runs...

Still in pretty decent condition

"Mizutani Ringyo" label on saddle

Motor case reads "Diamond Free Patent Motor"

Miniature guard dog

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!

A Valentines Caffine fix

Wild gal Riebo celebrated Valentines day by setting up a little coffee shop on her bike. Rie has been studying proper coffee making techniques at a local café and thought it would be a good time to show off some of her skills. With beans roasted by a small company in Chita, the coffee was actually very good and kicked Starbuck's ass (not a difficult feat).

Coffee-Meister, Rie in action

Slow brewed and good

Little Emi & Friend trying the coffee

She set up her bike café at Circles bike shop and sold lot's of hand brewed coffee to friends and customers. We even got to sample some delicious chocolate treats made by Izumi and a few other local girls. Rie thinks she might make this a weekly event starting sometime in March. I plan to bring my BBQ bike the next time so we can have a little coffee and hot dogs action.

Hand made chocolate treats

Cycling Scenes in the City: Feb 13, 2009

Cycling scenes from my hometown Nagoya, Japan

Not a "death" bike. Just a Japanese knockoff

Bike parking area by Matsuzakaya department store

Small urban bike with a hint of Penny-farthing

Canadian foot fetish

A Canadian custom

There's only one thing I enjoy more than cycling, and that is getting free cycling stuff. The cultured and highly advanced Canadians running the PezCycling News site were kind enough to send me a pair of their branded cycling socks (unused, odor-free). The socks are a Canadian way of saying thanks for allowing them to use some photos from my Love Wheels Nagoya Calendar. I like Canadians, in fact, I have quite a few Canadian friends here in Japan. They can always be counted on for helping you move furniture or when you're in need of a quick self deprecating humor fix. The custom of gifting socks in exchange for sexy girlie photos has its origins in the long harsh winters of the Saskatchewan plains. Early settlers and beaver hunters would pass the long winters stuffing their wool socks with pages from the bloomers & pantaloons sections of the Sears Roebuck catalog. In addition to preventing frostbite, the pages were thawed out in the summer and exchanged for new socks at the local general store. I love history. And Canadians.