If you follow my blog, this will be old news and if you don’t, be prepared for a long post!

The CMWC is the Cycle Messenger World Championships. This year it was held in Tokyo and while I’m not a messenger, I am involved a lot in the track bike / fixed gear / bike culture in NYC. Knowing that just about everyone who was into fixed gear freestyle in Japan was going to be in Tokyo for the CMWC, I really wanted to go.

Well, thanks to Milwaukee Bicycle Co., I was able to attend! Months earlier I got my ticket, along with a hardcase for traveling with my bike and other support items from Milwaukee. The time came and I was off to Tokyo.

SHIBA FRIDAY 9.18 from Fixy Life on Vimeo.

The first Friday night upon arrival was Shiba Friday, the weekly trick meet-up under Tokyo Tower in Shiba park. I showed up around 11pm when the event starts to be amazed at the number of people in attendance.

pic by Hardcore 100%

The guys built these two kickers a while back that they keep in the park and set them up every Friday. Everyone immediately began to ride them and within 30 minutes of me being there, I bruised my heel and ankle 180′ing over the second kicker.

pic by Starfuckers

It was nasty to say the least.

So there I was, hanging out with the people who I’ve been blogging about, been in Bootleg Sessions with and been waiting to meet, with a bag of ice on my foot and I still had a 45 minute ride to the place we were staying!

So the next few days, I took it easy. Hung out at Wbase with the crew (you guys rock!), went around the city looking at bike shops and took it easy.

Maybe it was a good thing though, because in the end, I got to hang out with a lot of rad people like Andy from Fyxomatosis.

We went on a nice ride around Tokyo, tearing through traffic (even backwards at times for me) and visiting various hot spots, including this massive flea market. Japanese flea markets are insane. So much crazy shit, including this guy with a lot of vintage Kaiju. Greg was pissed I didn’t pick him up this orange boss from Dic4! What’s a Dic4?

After a few days of taking it easy and hanging out with other Brooklynites like Joe from Brooklyn Machine Works and Jason from Affinity Cycles we decided to go check out some bike shops.

Damn.

Damn. Damn.

After I debated spending my rent money on a new bike, we headed back to Wbase, to find that our own Tak had just arrived from Brooklyn! Here he is with Yohei from Wbase, wearing a sample from the forthcoming DART line. Too bad the shirt won’t be printed!

pic by S. Simon

That night was the CMWC opening party where a Goldsprints competition went down. Alex from Affinity’s cycling team took first place and set a world messenger record! He annihilated the competition! To top it off, his girlfriend Hannan got 1st for the lady’s! A trend that was far from over.

flat fix komazawa park session from jun iwai on Vimeo.

On Monday we met up with the Flat Fix crew who took us to Komazawa park. Imagine the jankiest ramps ever. Holes in the deck, rusty edges everywhere. They sucked! We still had a blast though.

And Super Ted from Fixed Gear London and Shop 14 killed it with nasty table tops all day!

On the ride back, I got in a wreck with Joe from BMW and once again, I was injured! This time it was my right ankle and a huge knot on my leg to top it off.

So there I was in Tokyo with 2 fucked ankles and a huge busted blood vessel on my leg and it was the 100% Pure Fighter trick comp!

100% Pure Fighter 2009 from hassy on Vimeo.

Here’s a shorter video from the comp.

The Trick contest at Meiji Park of tokyo 9/21 2009 from -xxxPHOENIX.xxx- on Vimeo.

… and here’s a longer one – just watch the beginning. Everyone was gunning to shut me down! Unfortunately, the cops shut the party down and I went home, barely pedaling my bike back to Sada’s place.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to go to the CMWC events wayyyyyy out on the coast of Tokyo Bay. The main race was a brutal course, meant to simulate messenger work. Two days, the first being a qualifier and the second being the final.

Prolly gets Busted!! from candy cranks on Vimeo.

EDIT: I almost forgot. You weren’t supposed to ride your bike at the CMWC event, unless it was in the course. So I was messing around a little bit and got called out over the loud speaker by my friend Eisuke. The rest of the week, every time I rode up to a party or an event, everyone yelled “John Prorry get off the bike”.

pic by pommes king

On the second day sprints and distance skids were also held. Alex once again took 1st in the sprints and 3rd in the skids. Hannan also took 1st in the sprints.

I may mention, that the whole time this is going on, Super Ted is drinking, sleeping in parks, being plagued by a duck with bad breathe and showing us all a good time. Big ups to Ted. One of the gnarliest riders out there and also one of the biggest party animals I know!

Once all the CMWC events were over, we spent the rest of our time riding around Tokyo with Rip Zinger and going out at night.

Rip even set up a meeting at Nike in Tokyo, where they hooked me up with some shoes and let me take a stab at the vertical jump wall. I actually did pretty well.

If by chance you’re in Tokyo, go check out Rip’s exhibition for his new book, New York City!

He took me to some rad parties where I got to meet tons of Japanese groupies. (heh)

pic by Fyxomatosis

The week was winding down and the next Shiba Friday came about. I had a blast.

SHIBA FRIDAY 9.25 from Fixy Life on Vimeo.

I handed out some Mishka gear to the guys (thanks dudes!) and rode hard all night.

Then I broke my foot. Fuck!

After going to the ER, Yohei took us all out to dinner. He then used his artistic abilities to make us each a charactiture.

The next morning we left Tokyo for Narita airport. I was sad to leave, but I’m sure I’ll be back, all healed up and ready for Tokyo to destroy me all over again!

Thanks guys!

For more pics, check out my Flickr Set!