Yushou!
= victory. I won! I have a big, shiny medal now! I'm so happy but it hasn't really sunk in just yet. Unfortunately I left my card adapter at work, so photos will have to wait until tomorrow night.
I arrived in Nagano on Thursday night about 10pm, and bumped into some old friends from Nagoya who were also up for the race. My usual gang weren't coming, so I camped with the Nagoya crew, which was really nice as I hadn't seen them much for years.
Friday started well, with nice, hot coffee on a cool, sunny morning. Then Hisashi from Kato Cycle turned up, so I got a bit busy - he'd brought me spares to fix my bike, and a new spring for the rear suspension, so it was time to break open the toolbox. Things went downhill quickly - he brought the wrong size spring, there was no way it was going to work. I ran around asking all my friends (who finally asked all their friends) for help, with no luck.
For an agonizing hour there I thought I might not be able to make the race. In the end, though, a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless by request) loaned me a spring of the right weight and size, so I could turn the random pile of parts in the carpark back into my bike. Once built, and after a quick test ride I was feeling very happy, as the new spring was awesome - made the whole bike feel different and much better. Amazing what the correct parts can do.
So on to practice. Took it fairly easy the first few runs - getting used to the conditions and checking out the few little changes they made to the course for the race. Conditions were great, the bike was finally in the zone, and I was feeling good, so I took it easy and only did four runs on Friday. I wanted to keep some strength for Saturday.
This is getting pretty long now, so I think Saturday should go in its own, separate post.
I arrived in Nagano on Thursday night about 10pm, and bumped into some old friends from Nagoya who were also up for the race. My usual gang weren't coming, so I camped with the Nagoya crew, which was really nice as I hadn't seen them much for years.
Friday started well, with nice, hot coffee on a cool, sunny morning. Then Hisashi from Kato Cycle turned up, so I got a bit busy - he'd brought me spares to fix my bike, and a new spring for the rear suspension, so it was time to break open the toolbox. Things went downhill quickly - he brought the wrong size spring, there was no way it was going to work. I ran around asking all my friends (who finally asked all their friends) for help, with no luck.
For an agonizing hour there I thought I might not be able to make the race. In the end, though, a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless by request) loaned me a spring of the right weight and size, so I could turn the random pile of parts in the carpark back into my bike. Once built, and after a quick test ride I was feeling very happy, as the new spring was awesome - made the whole bike feel different and much better. Amazing what the correct parts can do.
So on to practice. Took it fairly easy the first few runs - getting used to the conditions and checking out the few little changes they made to the course for the race. Conditions were great, the bike was finally in the zone, and I was feeling good, so I took it easy and only did four runs on Friday. I wanted to keep some strength for Saturday.
This is getting pretty long now, so I think Saturday should go in its own, separate post.
posted by kurisu at 9:28 AM
1 Comments:
Hey there! Thanks! It's a nice surprise to get a comment from you! Ok, I'll bring the medal next time - it's a better thing to "jiman" than my cell-phone!
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