Grown men playing in the dirt.

The weekend has seen an escape from work and packing (mostly) and a return to bikecentric hedonism.

James was in town, riding was planned, and we even had visitors from east and west. Aki assembled the troops and riding was done.

Fun in the dirt.

Sadly, James was a bit under the weather, and so was his bike, but he still had fun.

Not too much time for words tonight, so just a few pictures to fill in the blanks.

Whatever....

...doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.

Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.

Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.
Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.
Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.


Whatever.

Now with less junk.

Today stuff was given away, stuff was thrown away. Stuff has been sold. Stuff has been almost sold.

Progress. A long way to go, but the homecoming is feeling more achievable than it was yesterday (thus hoping that the insomnia will abate for a night or two...).

Yes, my life is so exciting.

Oh yeah, I rode 60km on the road yesterday - it was nice. Been too busy/tired/unmotivated to take photos lately so you're all stuck with nothing more than my lame ramblings.

We must learn patience...

The days slip by so fast, yet it feels like running high-speed on a treadmill...

Last weekend bikes were ridden, sliding was done, beer was inhaled. Things were decided, some things were sold. Progress, of a sort, is being made. Funny too how some decisions go...I decided the current workload was untenable, so let my Wednesday private class go. I just need the time for packing/Uni/rest etc. but... Less than 24hours after sending the email to stop that class I got asked to reschedule my second gig - the big-buck business class...and was able to do so as I now had (HAD!) a free night...I am not sure if this was a reward or a punishment for canceling the private! So now I'll be even busier for the next month, but in a way it's good as I'll also be finished work sooner.

Just gotta hang on. Does anyone else feel like they live in the eye of a whirlwind? Patience.

By the way, 47 to go. Shyte!

More changes

to the super-mosheen.

This thing is like the Swiss-Army knife of MTB.

BnW image just coz I can.

Home James, and don't spare the horses!

Ticket booked.

As of April 5, 2011, I no longer live in Japan.

After the weekend NON-effort...

...this makes me happy.

Very happy.

Fail.

Here I sit at home, NOT having raced my bike today.

Kicking myself for not getting more sleep last week; for not taking better care of myself.

For having too many beers last night.

For making the same WRONG choices day in-day out.

I had to make the hard choice at about 2:30 this morning, the hard choice which turned out to be the right one, albeit not the fun one.

Having not been able to sleep AT ALL last night (and not having slept properly for over a week), I knew that driving even further from home, subjecting my body to an hour of intense effort in the cold and then trying to drive 3-4 hours home in heavy traffic was going to be biting off way more than I could chew (in fact, I think my body was telling me I'd already done that...).

So I started my car, and drove home. I think it was the right choice, as the intense headache and sore throat I had last night hasn't worsened. I do wish though I'd heeded the warning signs of hot flushes and sore throat yesterday when I was still close to home...idiot.

sigh.

Oh well, I'll race more in Japan next lifetime.