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Half Fast NORIKURA 27/28 July 2013

Half-Fast Mike

Lanterne Rouge-et-vert
May 22, 2007
4,644
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Well - I have been guilt-tripped into (dis)organising...

...the fifth annual...

Shine On! Cycle Challenge In Norikura (SOCCIN2013)

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Two days of riding, camaraderie, sweat and tears in the beautiful mountains of Nagano and maybe Gifu too.

All to raise money for Shine On! Kids, the charity formerly known as The Tyler Foundation, supporting children with cancer in Japan and their families. They do wonderful work and it's an honour to do something on two wheels to help.

It will be a blast.

It will be on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 July, 2013.

Details, web site, FAQ, times, how to join - all that stuff and more to follow once I've made them up.

Meanwhile, SOCCIN alumni are welcome to post their memories of previous events below.

And we have a Facebook Event, as that seems to be the thing to do now. (Who knew?)
 
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When I first heard about last year's event and was told it was the chance to cycle on the highest paved road in Japan (higher than even the roads leading to the 5th stages of Mt Fuji), I knew I had to do it.

And I did, and had a lot of fun the whole weekend.

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I loved the scenic group ride from the station to the Northstar Lodge, where they had great food and I enjoyed the company of other nice and interesting cyclists:

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Is this run every year - would love to do it. :)
 
It's happened for the last five years. Whether it happens again this year is not yet decided. It depends how nice people are to me and how many beers they buy me while persuading me to do it. I would love for the event to happen again. I would love for someone else to organise it.
 
I was planning on doing a ride there around that time anyway, so willing to help you out Mike. Also, I'm headed to Northstar Lodge this weekend for snowboarding. Can start talking with Dan about it if you want. Let me know.
 
That's kind. The actual weekend more-or-less runs itself, thanks to the wonderful Northstar team. The hard bit is the lead up - taking names, collecting money, chasing money, chasing people who haven't provided information for the insurance, answering questions, getting people to believe that yes they really do need to buy train tickets early, etc.
 
I so wanted to do this... but this year it is not in the cards. July is already booked.
 
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It's happened for the last five years. Whether it happens again this year is not yet decided. It depends how nice people are to me and how many beers they buy me while persuading me to do it. I would love for the event to happen again. I would love for someone else to organise it.

I will organize it. I am also organizing the Norikura Century ride. I can handle every aspect of the event.
 
Looking forward to it Mike. I will be planning many events like this this year. I really enjoy doing it and I want to keep it running.
 
A big Thank You!, Chuck!

It's a lot of effort to organise an event like this. I am grateful for what Mike has done in the past and glad you are taking it on this year. Having climbed Norikura with Half-Fast two years in a row, I am looking forward to the third time :)
 
Thanks Chuck! Looking forward to both events. Any word on the next cycling camp?
 
Feb 9th is a casual free get together. I will always post here information about the large scale camps I am running this season. Things are going to start March. I want to go to south and near Hiroshima, but I have to see if people are willing to take the Shinkansen that far.
 
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