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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:39 pm 
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Okay for the last week or so I have been getting hammered at work. I’m doing lots of writing but it is not about Mountain Biking. Such is the nature of "work" sometimes. I have managed to get out and find some new stuff and experience some more of the culture of Sasebo. Here is a quick recap of the last week or so of my off-time in Sasebo.

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There is plenty of terrian to play with here....finding the goods is tricky, but it is "coming along". Sometimes coming along means clearing old trails yourself.

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When doing just that on one of the trails, I flipped over a rock and to my surprise this guy was there. I'm a good 3 miles and 1,000 feet above sea level so I have no idea how this guy got up here. I'm wondering if this guy has some "Finding Nemo" like story to tell. One this is for certain, he was quite a curmudgeon and was trying to get rid of me. Thumbs up for full-fingered riding gloves!

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I wonder how old Mr. Crabs would fair against this guy? Lucky for Mr. Crabs this is a Japanese Rat Snake.

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The food chain in action. It is family dinner time at Charlotte's house.

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I found a really old timber road up to the summit of Mt Syoukann. So far this is the longest bit of climbable dirt I have found that did not include some hike-a-bike.

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A really cool bonus was a pretty cool singletrack going down the other side of Mt Syoukann that combined with the old road makes for a nice bit of riding.

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Mount Eboshi is becoming a regular stomping ground for me but I'm still finding bits of trails here and there to add to the riding inventory.

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Mt Kaku is a bit bigger and west of Mt Eboshi. It was a bit of work to get over to and the final half a kilometer was a bit of beater hike-a-bike. A snack and a little basking in the sun were well earned when I got to the summit.

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This trail coming off of Mt Kaku was a real treat. This is a fairly new trail that shows some modern trail science applied to its design and construction.

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You don't have to get out on the trails to see cool stuff. The city has lots of interesting stuff to see. These Japanese carp are pretty fish and are plentiful in main river through town.

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I came across some folks praticing a "Dragon Dance". It is some pretty intricate stuff they do. There are 10 people working the dragon, conductor as well as about half a dozen kids playing various drums, gongs and bells to put it all together.

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I watched them practice for about a half hour in the small park/court yard before strolling back to the hotel.

The sun is up and I have a day off....It is time to ride.

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Last edited by MTBBill on Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:32 am, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:55 pm 
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Nice photos.
How is the remote triggering device working with the camera.

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:02 pm 
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I bet this section was fun on the rigid!

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 10:24 pm 
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TCB wrote:
Nice photos.
How is the remote triggering device working with the camera.


That thing is working like a charm. The rent-a-wreck I have has twist grip shifters so the trigger is out of postion if you change ring up front. No big deal.

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 10:32 pm 
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GP_pilot wrote:
I bet this section was fun on the rigid!


It was alright through there. There is a tempo for going down that stuff and you got to do some serious monkey motion. What really kills me on that bike is the steep stuff with a bit of chunky technical rocks as the brakes are pretty crappy (even cicra 1990) cantilevers. When you let off the brakes enough to clear some stuff with speed you have to really reef on the brakes to get the speed down. Two-finger braking? Ha!....Four white-knuckled fingers on both hands.

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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:42 am 
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fantastic pics! what kind of lens where you using - i've been looking for one to take with me when we bike.

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PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 2:42 pm 
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Dirty Boo wrote:
fantastic pics! what kind of lens where you using - i've been looking for one to take with me when we bike.


For the last couple of years I have been using a Tamron 18-200mm but just prior to this trip I got a Canon 18-200mm with Image Stablization. I love the wide range that lens give in a fairly small package. I found that in the forest shots on overcast days as ISO800 I was needeing 1/40 or 1/30 of second shutter speed and I could not keep thing blur free handheld. With the new lens it lets me get sharp images at 1/40th most of the time. Of course Tamron has recently added vibration compensation to thier series of lens. Thier 18-270mm with VC should be pretty good.

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