Bitterness is best first thing in the morning.
Bitterness felt after you are fully awake can even become a source of misery.
It is a strange city.
The coffee is good.
Every kind of beer imaginable is available, too. And it’s delicious.
People here are used to working with their hands.
And their feet, of course.
I think there’s a fairly biased image of America.
You’ll understand once you go.
You won’t understand until you go.
That’s true of everywhere.
Cielo
The city I visited again is, of course, Portland.
That famous bike town.
I came back to try and make up for my own lackluster performance.
The fourth one from the left is Max’s.
As expected, they are well-prepared with larger frame sizes.
To be honest, I was quite nervous about how I could get our slightly delayed production schedule back on track, but I told him exactly what I was thinking, what I needed to convey, and what we required.
Despite the situation:
He has a bit of an aura about him.
Some have said they don’t believe in auras, but I thought I should believe in this one.
Especially after meeting him.
It may be unrefined of me to share this here, but I believe 2012 will go much, much better.
When I told them how many Japanese riders have shown interest in their first year, the first thing they said was, “We are truly happy.”
They also told me that Japan is the country that best understands “quality.”
However, they acknowledged the reality that they weren’t prepared for such a response (they lacked the preparation to produce smaller sizes). Beyond just admitting that, they proposed what needed to be done, and we were able to begin discussing the next steps.
And so, we move forward.
Onward to the next stage.