Adventure ride in Japan

[mikanada]

I’m went to Japan, I need to ride. Gravity is great, but I wanted something that was a little more of an adventure than straight downhill. I found that in Hakuba.

I am in Japan; I want to see more than just the same trail and gondola multiple times. I’m not young – I don’t do downhill – but I’m in ok shape and can do some climbing when needed.

https://spicymtb.com/spicymtb-en/

I called Hori-san from Canada before heading to Japan, and described what I was looking for. Fortunately Hori-san’s English is better than my Japanese and I was able to confirm a date + what I was looking for. The tours are run out of the below location in Nagano Prefecture:

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Remember the 1998 Winter Olympics? They were held in Nagano. The area is gorgeous and about as green (at least in summer) as you can get.

It was a bit hotter than I am used to in Canada, but nothing excessive. The ride was broken up into four parts.

Ride 1 was up to the top by Gondola, then down the mountain. There were some features up at the top – berms and tabletops. I’m not used to this, but they seemed well done to me.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="800"] From the Gondola[/caption]

The rest of the way down was a mix of singletrack and a little bit of access road. Before we reached the base of the gondola, we did a brief climb to follow some more singletrack. Part of this climb was up a disused road that the jungle was in the process of reclaiming.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Ride 1 – I forgot to turn it on for the first part[/caption]

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="800"] Ride 1 elevation profile[/caption]

Just before the last downhill section of the first ride, we passed part of an abandoned lift for what used to be a ski hill for novices.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="800"] Abandoned ski lift[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Hori-san waves hello[/caption]

Hopefully I’ll have a chance to post more over the next few days.

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