“Let’s find a delicious soba place for lunch and grab some noodles! Soba!”
“How about we boil some water in a place with a nice view and have some coffee?”
This was three years ago.
It all started with conversations like this before the race for me and my buddy Inocchi as we participated in the first-ever “OMM LITE/BIKE” held in Japan. We heard similar things not just from us, but from other race participants as well.
Ride a bike to visit points marked on a map, use any bike you want, take any course you want, just make sure you make it to the finish on time. Those were the only rules of OMM BIKE. We headed into race day thinking of it as loosely as a stamp rally.
Little did we know back then that such a fun, yet grueling and white-hot battle would unfold.
This was the summer of 2016, at the Iwatake tournament in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture.
I don’t really care about on-road or climbing; I’m just looking forward to the trail descent. Suspension is definitely a must, right?
That was our bike selection mindset for the 2016 tournament. In any case, as long as the downhill is fun, it’s all good. Well, we’ll probably cover some distance, so maybe I should swap to a 29er with cross-country tires. I was even thinking about using a full-suspension bike until the day before we left for Nagano.
We stuffed our backpacks with the items specified by the regulations, of course, along with a cooker, burner, coffee beans, snacks, and plenty of water.
The results for the first year of OMM BIKE weren’t exactly… disastrous. Surprisingly.
“Wait, couldn’t we have aimed higher if we’d tried just a little harder?” “We actually beat that team!”
This sensation was truly addictive, and it fueled our competitive spirit: So, this is what OMM BIKE is all about! Inocchi and I, who probably wouldn’t have produced any results in a cyclocross or hill-climb race, had actually done okay.
You can’t win with just speed, technique, or physical strength alone. It takes map reading, route selection, handling mechanical trouble, and that intuition honed by riding around the city like an alleycat—and we (or rather, Inocchi) had it.
OMM BIKE was the only race where we could beat “those fast guys.”
“Oh-ho, I see. Can’t we aim for a higher spot next year? No, we *will* aim for it.” That thought lit a fire in the both of us and made us promise we’d definitely enter as a pair again next year. And we felt a burning desire within us to never lose to our rivals, and to defeat those “fast guys.”
Summer, 2017.
The second OMM LITE/BIKE was held in the same place as last year: Iwatake in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture.
That’s where we saw heaven and hell. You can understand if you read the blog I wrote last year.
Our OMM BIKE 2017 DAY1 “The Beginning of the Beginning.”
Our OMM BIKE 2017 DAY2 “THE Ecstasy!! Fatback Hell Riders!”
Our OMM BIKE 2017 DAY3 “The Fall from Ecstasy. Revenge and Challenge.”
That year, I focused only on learning from the previous year’s mistakes and became obsessed with “not wanting to lose to them.” Forget the fun downhill I imagined! That’s only 10% of the race; you can’t win by chasing that. Increase cruising speed on the road! Climb faster! A flat-bar cross bike is best! It doesn’t have to be a mountain bike! Bring only the minimum necessary gear. But carry plenty of water… that was the mindset I went in with, but it all backfired. Every bit of it. It was embarrassingly bad.
“Don’t get cocky. You guys aren’t fast. Know your true strength.” That was the lesson I learned that year.
Yes, realizing “We are… not strong!” was the greatest harvest of all.
It was also that year that our team name, “FAT BACK HELL RIDERS,” was coined by Jackie-san and Jerry-san of MPB (Mountain Poor Boys).
And then came our third OMM BIKE. The venue was Kaiyo Town in Tokushima Prefecture, held there for the first time. The stage was set in a field rich in nature, surrounded by sea and mountains.
“The third time’s the charm,” “Patience on a stone for three years,” “Things happen in threes,” “Forgive me for a third-year fling”—I am genuinely impressed by how ancestors managed to create such clever phrases around the number three. For us “FAT BACK HELL RIDERS,” this third year and third time also represented a major turning point.
I’ll tell you first: it’s been decided that “FAT BACK HELL RIDERS” will disband after this tournament.
We prepared thoroughly to end the “FAT BACK HELL RIDERS” on a high note.
While Inocchi stayed consistent with his 29er rigid mountain bike from 2016 until now, my bike choices were all over the place: a 29er mountain bike in 2016, a flat-bar cross bike for DAY1 of 2017, and a 650B mountain bike for DAY2. This time, to match Inocchi, I prepared a 2018 KONA UNIT-X. It was originally set up with 27.5+ wheels, but I up-sized them to 29er wheels. Now our bikes were both 29er mountain bikes with rigid forks; our conditions were matched. All that was left was to screen-print the “FAT BACK HELL RIDERS” logo by hand onto the Patagonia Nine Trails Bike Jersey we would wear on the day of the race.
Drawing on our past two experiences, our preparation was perfect, but the tension before the start never gets easier no matter how much you’ve gone through. If anything, because my desire to win this one was so strong, I was more nervous than usual. As always, the score sheet was distributed 30 minutes before the start, and Inocchi instantly mapped out our route. My job was to read out the points for each location while Inocchi filled them onto the map. Then, when Inocchi said, “We’ll go this way, loop around here, grab this, and do this. Okay?” I’d just say, “Yes, absolutely. Let’s do that. That sounds perfect!” to put him at ease, even if I didn’t entirely understand the route. Because I trust Inocchi’s sense of map reading completely. I don’t meddle. I don’t look at the map. Even if Inocchi were to make a mistake, I don’t want to think, “Wait? Isn’t that wrong?” That is my style.
Sometimes I lie awake at night wondering if Inocchi would be happier with a buddy who could plan routes together, debating this and that. But I believe Inocchi has no buddy but me, and there are things only I can do! I even have moments of anxiety, like a couple in a new relationship.
Now, as for the race on DAY1, we experienced both the kindness and the harshness of Tokushima’s nature, from on-road sections where climbing and descending felt great, to sections where we had to carry our bikes up walls that made us think, “What is this?” We kept running without paying any attention to the scenery that everyone else raved about being beautiful after the race. During the 5 hours of the DAY1 race, we stopped our bikes to rest for only about 10 minutes in total; we basically did our refueling and route checks while on our bikes.
We finished DAY1 in 8th place overall, landing us in the top 10. Yeah, not bad. Moreover, we were only 40 points behind Team Doppo led by Shige-chan, who were in 4th place on DAY1, and there was a fierce battle going on from the teams below the top 2 right down to 10th place.
“We can do this!!” Even Team Doppo was within range!!
My heart was pounding!! I hadn’t felt this way since back then!!
Yes, as I wrote in the previous section, we saw hell last year. We got cocky after doing well on DAY1, only to make a massive blunder and drop in the rankings on DAY2. Inocchi must know that DAY2 is the challenge.
“Don’t get cocky.” “Absolutely do not get cocky.” “Be humble!” “Stay humble at all costs!”
I told myself this and tried to stay quiet after the race. The main event is tomorrow! Let’s sleep early today and prepare for tomorrow… Inocchi must be thinking the same. Or so I thought…
“You guys aren’t getting enough back fat in your diet!!” “Ah, I’m so tired!” “How many points did you guys get?” “Got any brew? Beer!”
Here we go. He’s completely gotten cocky. Inocchi is completely cocky…
The bad memory from last year crossed my mind… and as the fun night went on and the venue gradually became quiet, the echoes of Inocchi’s and his friends’ laughter continued to ring out from outside the tent. “Gya-ha-ha-ha!” No way… but well, I guess this is also OMM BIKE, I thought, closing my eyes and covering my ears.
On DAY2, around 6 AM, you start to hear voices here and there. I wanted to sleep a little longer, but in contrast, the voices outside only increased. For some reason, Inocchi, who had been sleeping in the car, didn’t stir and remained in a deep slumber. It must have been about an hour and a half before the race start when Inocchi finally roused himself and croaked, “Mo’ning…”
While I was well-rested, Inocchi was groaning, “Damn, I’m totally hungover…” That’s to be expected, I thought. But once we got to the starting grid, the look on Inocchi’s face as he stared at the map was different from previous years. There was no panic; he was precise. Our strategy wasn’t to chase high points, but to think about our physical strength, condition, and speed, and to reliably grab points within our range without any wasted movement. That was the big difference from last year.
We went through the routes we’d covered yesterday, precisely, one by one. Because the routes were in our heads, we even had some room to enjoy the scenery. However, what was different from yesterday was that the time limit was one hour shorter. Naturally, our refueling took place on the saddle. The only times I stopped were when my tire went flat and I had to swap the tube, and when we stopped in front of a Dydo vending machine because I just *had* to have a Nectar.
My knees and lower back hurt; a 42-year-old guy and a 35-year-old guy, with a combined weight of over 150kg and plenty of back fat, pedaled with all our might. Part of it was because we didn’t want to lose to the many rivals we met through OMM BIKE and to “those fast guys,” but I think I was pedaling so desperately to rediscover why I love the bicycle as a vehicle—how fun and free it is—and how glad I am that I truly came to love cycling.
DAY2 finish. The two-day race was over. 7th place overall. I was very happy to have achieved my best ranking, but honestly, I didn’t really care about the result. It was a strange feeling, considering how much I had wanted to aim for a good ranking. It felt like I’d given everything I had; I didn’t really care if the ranking was good or bad. I was just fully satisfied with the sense of accomplishment that I had been able to be Inocchi’s buddy and keep running for these three years. Inocchi-san, thank you so much for being my buddy for these three years. I really learned a lot, and above all, it was absolutely the best time ever!! Let’s team up again someday and create another back-fat legend!
Photo by OMM JAPAN/Shinpei koseki
With this, the Inocchi and I team “FAT BACK HELL RIDERS” has come to an end. We are truly grateful to everyone who supported us. I hope we can form the round-backed “FAT BACK HELL RIDERS” again somewhere, carrying our WellDone yellow chip bags. Look forward to it until then. We’re going back to being normal chubby middle-aged guys. Thank you very much.
That said, this doesn’t mean OMM LITE/BIKE is over! The next one is already decided to be held on July 14th and 15th at Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture, and entries start on April 15th!
I believe our role from now on, having participated in the past, is to use the experience I gained over these three years to spread the word about how fun OMM LITE/BIKE is to as many people as possible. Let’s all go to Hakuba on July 14th and 15th! I’m hoping all the staff at Circles can go too! If you don’t have a buddy yet, or even if you don’t have a bike yet, leave it to us! We’ll figure something out! In any case, if you’re curious about OMM LITE/BIKE, please feel free to ask anything! Thank you!
3rd Year: JUS and Inocchi's "Our OMM BIKE" and Thoughts on What's Next.
