Last Monday we were up seriously early to join the
Guell crew and a few thousand other cyclists as they competed in the
Suzuka 8 Hour Enduro. We departed Nara at 4am and drove through some really, really heavy rain to arrive at the
world famous Formula 1 circuit just before sunrise...
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| The entrance to the circuit. |
After finding our place in the pits and taking part in an exhilarating test ride around the circuit the competitors lined up under cloudy skies at 8am...
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| The competitors start lining up... |
As the races got underway the skies cleared, drying out the track and making for near perfect conditions...
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| View from the pits... |
Team Guell got off to a great start, usually putting in sub-10 minute laps with each member doing three laps then changing rider...
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| Team Guell's Takeshi-san waiting to ride... |
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| The all important handover... |
The pits were full of riders and bikes...
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| Bikes in the pits. |
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| Panorama of the pits. |
Even on the other side of the track it was packed with cycles and their owners...
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| The other side of the pit area... |
While outside the track area some of the big cycling companies had set up shop...
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The Mavic Village..
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Mavic were giving tune ups and advice as well as showing off some of their new kit...
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| A chance for a pro tune up... |
Meanwhile the race continued under beautiful skies...
Some of the competitors were taking things very seriously...
Others were there to enjoy the experience and have some fun...
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| A family of ducks... |
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| ...And their little chicks! |
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| It's just Santa in a racing car, what's wrong with that?! |
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| There were riding bears... |
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| ...And, of course Thomas was there too! |
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| The fastest salaryman on two wheels! |
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| And an aubergine on a granny bike! |
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| Another bear... |
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| Cruising in style. |
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| Respect to the Bushi! |
An absolutely amazing day, thousands of cyclists riding around one of the most famous motor racing circuits in the world, what could be better? Team
Guell finished a very respectable 71st out of some 600 or so teams. Arigato to
Toshio-san and the whole
Guell crew for a truly memorable day. A special mention and thanks to Takeshi-san for his skillful driving to and from the circuit!
We took over 250 photos on the day and will be milking them for as many posts as we can in the coming weeks!
