Fujimi Panorama MTB Sunday 23rd September

[AlanW]

Hi All,
I'm planning a trip to Fujimi Panorama at the weekend. Fujimi is a downhill MTB park; there are 3 long downhill courses (A, B and C) and a couple of short ones, plus a loop at the top of the mountain. There's a gondola to get to the top
There will be a competition running on 'A' course, but 'B' and 'C' courses will be open, so my plan is to ride B & C, and the new 4-cross course, then watch the downhillers between my runs.

A day pass including unlimited uplifts costs around 5,000 Yen, and there is a rental shop on site for bikes, pads, helmets etc.

www.fujimipanorama.com

AW.

 

[AlanW]

Fujimi

I created this video of my last trip to Fujimi - looking forward to going again!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ee-CLYbEO2Q

 

[Philip]

Sssssssssssooooooooooo . . .

CCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL That is brilliant! Naomi is an accomplished rider. Nice video Alan. It reminds me of my trials motorbike days and skiing

I have a marathon race this weekend otherwise I would have joined you

Cheers,

Philip

 

[Pete]

Great video. I feel like buying a mountain bike after watching that. Awesome stuff. :thumb:

 

[thomas]

Excellent video, Alan!

I feel like buying a mountain bike after watching that. Awesome stuff.

Exactly my thoughts. I have just checked the Trek MTB website, I guess it's time to start saving money.

 

[dpercyk]

Hi

Just gtot back riding from Kobe to Fukuoka with my friend. She is going back to Canada tomorrow and I have to drop her to airport so depend on time I will like to come along. Can somepne tell me logistical details. Since Monday is a holiday what are the possibilities of doing the ride on Monday?

 

[AlanW]

Punishment!

A quick ride report from yesterday....

After being confined in Tokyo all Saturday by giant traffic jams stretching in all directions, we eventually left in the late afternoon heading for a pension near Suwa. The pension itself was fantastic, in a nice quiet area off the main roads. The hostess cooked us a great four-course dinner which we completed with a beer :beer:

Rolling up to the car park at Fujimi, we saw hundreds of cars & vans with various downhill bikes scattered around them. These people really had all the gear: big vans for carrying multiple bikes, easy-up shelters to keep the sun off, workstands, spare everything, chairs, hammocks, coolers, you name it. I felt quite ill-equipped pulling our bikes out of the car

So we paid our fees for the day pass and took the gondola up the hill for the first run of the day. After a month without any mountainbiking, we both took it fairly easy, getting the feel of the course. The ground was mostly dry but the rocky surfaces showed a greasy gleam in some shady areas, which we treated with the required respect.
For the second run I rode 'A' course before the competition got underway, while Naomi-san had another go at 'C' course. The top section of 'A' was still damp, making for hard going on my bike. A proper downhill bike will plough through rough slippery ground and barely be knocked off line, but my XC/Trail bike really needs the tyres to hook up and grip the ground, allowing me to thread a smooth(ish) course through the rocks and roots.
After fighting my way through the slippery section, I popped out of the trees to the open section, which was dry, and started to wind up the speed. Just after the halfway point the course was closed and tapes directed riders onto 'B' course so I entered the next section. 'B' course is much more technical and slower speed that the other courses, and tends to stay wetter. So I cut my speed and started down the technical section, my tyres smearing off the rocky surface while the bumps punched through all the suspension travel. But after a few hundred metres, my front tyre lost grip and the wheel locked. As fast as I could I released the front brake to try to get the wheel turning again and generate some grip, but it was too late and down I went I landed fairly heavily on my right side, my forearm, elbow and hip taking the brunt of the impact before my (helmeted) head smacked into the ground. I picked myself up, my head was actually buzzing due to the crash, and I had a nice collection of scratches all down my right side.
The rest of 'B' course was pretty hard after that crash, and just as I had started to get up to speed again BANG - down went my back tyre. It was just before the finish so I carried on and fixed it at the bottom.
While all this was going on Naomi-san was speeding down 'C' course, learning the best lines and pushing up her speed.
We both did C course again, and I was seriously impressed at how much faster Naomi was going than our first run. I think she gave a few of the downhill boys a fright!
Next run I got 2 km down the course with 5 km to go when BANG - down went my front tyre with a huge split where it had been mashed against the rim. But I had already used my spare tube and had forgotted to get my second spare from the car. D'oh! So that led to a 2km run straight down the hill to pick up the spare. I won't make that mistake again!
We had time for a couple more runs. On the sixth run the clouds came down and the top of the course was misty, but the course was still riding nicely. So we headed up for our last run of the day. The mist was even thicker; we could not see the cablecars in front or behind. About 1 km into the run, I felt a drop of rain. Then one more. And then the skies opened, unleashing a downpour like a monsoon. The trees that shade 'C' course were no match for the rain, and soon a small river was running down the course as we splashed through at much-reduced speed, slithering over the mud, roots and rocks. By the time we arrived at the bottom we were soaked through! The rain showed no sign of easing so we had to load up the bikes and get changed while it still poured down.
Lucky for us there was an onsen nearby which we took advantage of - just the ticket after 7 hard runs down the hill. Even so, today our arms and legs are stiff & sore, we are walking like penguins and in no shpae to do any biking for a few days!