Monday, Day 4 of the Catalonia Cup

Monday, the day after the tournament. This day is an extra practice day. This is also a custom that I can’t say that we have in Japan.
Today is also a weekday even in here Europe, but I feel like there are almost the same number of people as there were yesterday.

Some of the athletes have traveled hundreds or even thousands of kilometers to get here, so if they’re going to go to all this trouble, they want to do one more day! That’s why they decided to hold this extra event day so I hear.
The fact that the majority of people can stay this long even on a weekday is perhaps a reflection of the difference between the working environment between Japan and Europe.

Bonus practice day start

The grouping was almost the same as that of Saturday’s practice.

The time schedule was also the same, with two runs in the morning and four in the afternoon.

 

The CBR125R we were allowed to use during Saturday’s practice and at the competition was great, but today I decided to borrow other rider’s bikes and have fun!
First, I had a go on Rolf’s DRZ400…

Then Richard’s Husqvarna, and…

pm Ondre’s black CBR600RR…

Andre from Switzerland, a SSB customer, on his Hornet 600…
(Liked the matching colors!)

Jan from Team NL also had us ride on his CBR600F3, which has a larger rear disc than the front disc and has been further modified to be even more… how do you say…. magical?? (Note the position of the stand…)

It’s almost a piece of art to go this far. The rear brake worked very well though!

The video of this ride:

Also had a ride on Marie’s GSXR1000.
It had a lot of power but surprisingly also very nice and easy to ride. SSB bars were also installed which made a better experience.

End of practice & souvenir photos

After playing for the full running time slots, we took souvenir photos with our friends who we spent our 4 days together.

With Mr. Rolf Circus, who loaned me his wonderful CBR125R↓

With Jan from Czech Republic ↓

 

with Jiri and Ondre also from Czech Republic↓

 

Cleaning up

Then it was time to clean up.
The way of storing the bikes on the way back was also unique to Europe.

First connect a flatbed trailer behind a cargo van….

then roll bike on…

x3 times

and all aboard

All 3 bikes on board and tie down the rear tire and also the SSB bars down onto the trailor

By the way… there is one more bike in the cargo van… (^^;
This make the total of 4 motorcycles in transport

They are going to leave Spain, cross France and Belgium, and go on towards the direction of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
It’s about a 1500 km long trip. In Japan, this is about the same distance between Aomori to Shimonoseki.
In the USA its around the same distance between Los Angeles to Denver.

That quite impressive….

When the cleanup is over, it’s all over.

But at the very end, we all had dinner together again at the restaurant!

 

The Last Supper

It was refreshing to have lunch and dinner together every day for the past 3 or 4 days!

If you speak English, you can have a smooth conversation with other English speakers, but there were a few people here and there who did not speak English.
However, even though we speak different languages and live in different environments, I found that we all share the same passion for motorcycles and the sport of Moto Gymkhana!

Whether or not we could understand each other in our own language, when we communicated with each other over the meal, it felt as if we could share the same feeling.

I guess it is like the saying we have in Japan “To eat out of the same pot”
Meal time was a time when the competitors naturally developed a sense of camaraderie with one another.

I will stay one more night at the hotel and fly back to Oslo from Barcelona the next day.
Everyone from Team NL will also be leaving for Holland in the morning after staying overnight tonight.

Once again, thanks to everyone on Team NL who helped me on this journey.
Thank you so much! (Oh god, they are all so tall…)

Final impression

This was my first time to participate in a European tournament, and it was a great experience.
European competitions are different from Japanese ones in many ways, but I felt that this is also a great form of gymkhana.
I received a lot of good stimulation from the exchange with a wide variety of competitors from all over Europe during the four days.

And it was just a lot of fun!

I would like to participate someday with my own bike.
I wonder if I can send a fully modified one by boat from Japan one day..?

During the trip I often heard people say, “I really wish more Japanese athletes could participate…”
Yes, it would be really fun if someday a structure could be put in place to allow casual participation from the Japanese athletes as well. (^^)

It would be really great if there was a possibility of a “Moto Gymkhana World Championship” could be held in the future.

With such dreams in mind started my journey back home to the winterly land of Norway…

 

Jan

最後までお読みいただきありがとうございました。