We went to Fujimi Panorama Resort MTB Park ("Panorama" below) in Fujimi, Nagano Prefecture!
In the ski resort's off-season, you can ride it as a downhill course.
Looking through old Circles blog posts, it seems there used to be events that went to Panorama. (I found an article from ten years ago.) Some kind of school story called Tomoda Gakuen...?
It seems the principal couldn't join ten years ago because of a broken bone, but this time the principal came along too.
At about 200 km from Nagoya it's quite a long way, but we loaded the bikes into the car and I took turns driving with Dora.
By the way, Fujimi, the town where Fujimi Panorama is located, is where "Evil Does Not Exist" was shot, a film by director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who shot to fame with "Drive My Car." The scenery in the film is really beautiful.
I was looking forward to the downhill, of course, but just getting out into Nagano's beautiful nature is enough to make me happy.
Installing a suspension fork for this day
I fitted a suspension fork (ROCKSHOX Sektor RL, 130mm travel) to my Dark Star. At last, it's a hardtail!
The Dark Star is designed to take a suspension fork with 120mm or 130mm of travel. I went with a 130mm fork so I could attack rougher terrain.
All-City's MTB, the "Electric Queen," is designed for 120mm of travel, so I think the Dark Star is built to be more trail-oriented. For tire clearance too, the Electric Queen takes 29 x 2.25″, while the Dark Star fits up to 29 x 2.6″.
The American band the Grateful Dead have a song called Dark Star. Could that be where this bike got its name? Incidentally, a decal that samples (or pays homage to?) the Grateful Dead logo is sold by PAUL.
Also, the pants I'm wearing are Yamatomichi's 5-Pocket Wide Pants. I had assumed Yamatomichi mostly made relatively slim-fitting products, but when I asked Baki, Circles' resident style boss, whether there were any wide pants, he told me about these.
I've known about Panorama since around high school, and today was finally my long-awaited downhill day. I was happy to find more courses than I expected.
Put your bike on the gondola, and then all that's left is to descend. Normally you can't go down unless you climb first, so thank goodness for the gondola.
The surface was muddy in many places and the mud spray was fierce, so my sunglasses (SMITH Sliders) came in handy. I love the 90s feel of the Sliders. I matched my helmet to SMITH too, using the Payroll.
The all-important suspension did great work too.
It soaks up the bumps, so you can carry speed on the descents and it feels great. I even conquered a drop where I'd probably have crashed on a rigid fork. On the gentle trails of the local hills I think a rigid fork is more fun because you feel the ground directly, so I'd like to switch between the two depending on the setting.
The muddy ground grabbed my handlebars and I tumbled about three times as I went down. (Less a case of the suspension not working than of my own lack of skill.)
My helmet visor flipped up and the front of the helmet got dented. It reminded me all over again how important a helmet is.
More speed than I'd imagined, twitchy courses: all in all, it was thrilling. You don't need TikTok or short videos; downhill gives you more than enough dopamine. Get out of your room and onto the trails!
This time, Da-san and Chan-Mai didn't ride downhill, but went hiking on Mt. Nyukasa, at the top of the gondola. Mt. Nyukasa has a wetland, and apparently you can see all sorts of plants there.
Everyone did about three to five runs and was thoroughly satisfied. The mud-covered bikes tell you how sloppy the courses were. Some people got punctures, but they managed to fix them and finish. I hit my rim riding a drop and dented it. Everything is a lesson.
"Yutoron Suijin no Yu," a day-use hot spring right near Panorama. 100% free-flowing spring water straight from the source. Being so close to Panorama already makes it the best. Having an open-air bath makes it even better. There's something out of the ordinary about a hot spring in the evening, isn't there?
After the hot spring, we headed to Sumibi Yakiniku Shinshutei. Hot spring, then yakiniku: the full satisfaction course. It was so delicious that, like Shin-chan in The Glorious Yakiniku Road, our faces practically changed.
We also got to visit "Tsuruya," a supermarket chain based mainly in Nagano, which made me very happy. Even the enormous store felt very Nagano.
Pushing our tired bodies, we drove home to Nagoya. One thing I learned this time: the small parking areas are nearly full of trucks, so you're better off heading for a larger service area. The Chuo Expressway is pretty dark at night, so drive carefully!
Trail riding is fun too, but the exhilaration of an MTB course where you can descend flat out was something else. Next year I'd like to go once each in spring and autumn ⛰️
See you next time.
