【Shinji】 I think you should just smile.
Nice to meet you all. My name is Kazumichi Shibuya, and I joined the Circles staff at the end of March!
I currently work in our e-commerce department, dealing with products daily and ensuring they reach all of you.
I have a wide variety of nicknames available, such as Shibu-chan, Shibuya, Kazumichi, Kazu, or "Maru-kyu" (only Makoto-san calls me this for now), so please feel free to call me whatever is easiest for you!
I was born in Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, and lived there until I was 19.
When I entered university, I moved to Kyoto, then worked at a company there. After that, I was transferred to Fukuoka, and now I am here in Nagoya.
How I first got hooked on cycling
The story goes back to when I was 4 years old.
While I was playing on a bike with training wheels, a friend (?) pushed me and I fell off a curb. One of the training wheels broke, leaving me forced to ride without them.
However, the sense of freedom I felt when riding without those training wheels was what truly pulled me into the world of cycling.
Encountering track bikes
After graduating from high school, Instagram really started to take off, and I became obsessed with it. While looking at various bike shops (Circles being one of them), I noticed they were selling these incredibly simple bikes. I learned they were called track bikes, so, being a Gen Z kid, I searched for "track bike" and "fixed gear bike" on YouTube.
That’s when I found the footage of "MASH SF INTRO 2007." In the video, countless people on track bikes were racing through the streets of San Francisco at incredible speeds. The BGM, "The Mall" by Friends and Family, matched the footage perfectly—it was just too cool.
Having been exposed to MASH, the god-like figures of the track bike world, I bought a track bike without hesitation. My first was a DURCUS ONE MASTER, which I still own today. Later, I added an ANCHOR NJS, and before I knew it, I had become a fixed-gear nut.
Currently, I am in the middle of building an AFFINITY CYCLES Metropolitan. I hope to upload it to the blog once it's finished!
I also love music🎧
I love music just as much as I love cycling.
I’ve been DJing here and there since my university days and collecting records and CDs (I’m a physical media person 🖐️), so music is another big part of my life.
There’s a clear moment when I fell in love with music: when I heard BUMP OF CHICKEN's "Tentai Kansoku" (Star Observation) on a TV show, and felt an electric shock go through my body. That was the beginning of everything. (I think I was about 10 years old.)
Nowadays, I enjoy the genres I play as a DJ (UK Garage/Dubstep) and a genre called Emo, which evolved from punk.
Future Plans 🚵♀️
My passion for cycling and music is irreversible. Even though the level of my obsession fluctuates, I have never lost interest in either.
Moving forward, I want to plan plenty of rides and events that pack in music and the things I love!
There is a ride event I planned coming up during Golden Week!
🔗 Click here for ride information 🔗
I’m sorry for the short notice to those of you just learning about this from this blog (tears).
Next Time Preview
As a customary ritual (?) before joining Circles, I spent a week touring the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture on my fixed-gear bike!
I hope to share the details of that tour in my next post 🚲
I look forward to working with you all!