get the complete book here! {Or here (US)}
 
 
*Chapter 6*

Osaka Bound

 
 
We didn’t miss dinner, well we were eating in the hotel restaurant tonight so the fact that the others had already ordered before we got there was just a technicality. The restaurant menu was pretty much all western fare, certainly nothing very exciting, I went for the steak and chips, pizza and pasta making up much of the rest of the menu.
 
 
Over the meal we regaled everyone with the details of our Tokyo expedition.
“She’ll be one of the Goodwill Guides,” Dad suggested when I regaled them with the tale of the woman who helped us with directions.
“Come to think of it she was wearing some sort of badge,” Jules noted.
“So what did you guys get up to?” I enquired.
“Just relaxing,” Mum offered.
“In a bath house,” Tina added.
“A bath house,” I exclaimed, “I wouldn’t have minded doing that.”
“There’ll be other opportunities,“ Dad told us.
 
 
We’d got to coffee before George got our attention.
“So tomorrow, we leave at nine for Osaka, so bags in reception for eight forty five. It’s about five hundred kilometres, Vincenzo reckons we should arrive about three, we’ll go directly to the event venue. It’s around a public park according to what I’ve been told, they are running the three events as a competition with points each day. I’m also told that the Japanese national team including their own wonder woman Mayuko Hagiwara is riding, so perhaps there will be a bit more competition.

As a reminder we stay in Osaka for two nights Mittwoch you race in Kyoto and Donnerstag we go to Hiroshima. No racing Freitag but the seniors have the Japan Cup event on Saturday. Everyone okay with that?”
“What are we doing on Friday?” Anja queried.
A question on my mind too.
“For those racing Samstag it’s four hours as usual, for Amanda and Gaby it is optional to join.”
“What about us Saturday?” I mentioned.
“Ach it is so far away, we will discuss this when we are in Hiroshima.”
“’Kay,” I agreed.
“I suggest an early night, tomorrow will be a long day for everyone.”
 
 
We might have gone to bed earlyish, well ten thirty, but it was after midnight when I turned the anime channel off, I got hooked watching a ‘Remote’ double bill then one of those vampire series came on and despite not understanding a word I sat in bed my eyes glued to the screen. Mand stole a march on me next morning, beating the alarm and me to the shower, sneaky cow. Saying that I did get most of my stuff back in the case before she emerged so I was actually ready with my case before her.
“Come on, slow coach,” I chivvied.
Mand blew a raspberry at me, “Makes a change for it not to be you.”
“I’m not always late,” I defended.
“Hmm.”
 
 
We went down for breakfast, everyone else was already tucking into their coffee and food, I really do need to get mornings sorted. The menu was slightly different this morning; they had some of my favourite stuff on offer, scrambled egg and red salmon – yum.
“You both packed?” Mum asked.
“Just gotta collect the bags,” I informed her.
“Amanda, can you check that dozy hasn’t left anything,” Mum asked.
“Hey!”
“You do have a bit of history, Gab,” Dad noted.
“Huh!”
This exchange had the other girls chortling; maybe Mum’s been spreading stories.
 
 
Ken and his bus were waiting when we assembled at reception with our bags so while George checked us out the rest of us headed outside. It was looking a bit more autumnal today, a bit cooler too; my legs were covered in goose bumps.
“I should’ve put my jeans on,” I moaned.
“Not comfortable sat on the bus,” Mand observed.
“Wassup, sis?” Jules enquired.
“Someone’s got cold legs,” Manda supplied.
“Why didn’t you put tights on?” Goth Gurl asked.
“Erm.”

To be truthful it had never occurred to me, I was warm enough yesterday bare legged after all.
“Mum?”
“That’ll be me,” Mum answered breaking her conversation with Erika.
“You got any hose in your bag, dumbo here’s cold,” Jules told her.
“One day young lady. No I’ve not but I’m sure one of those machines in reception had stuff like that.”
“Come on, Gab,” Mand prompted, “can’t have Wonder Girl getting cold.”
She grabbed my arm and just about dragged me back inside.
 
 
There were several vending machines stocked with food, drink and yes, toiletries!
“Geez, they even have knickers in here.” I noted.
“I hope you’ve got those on,” Mand grinned.
My turn for raspberry blowing.
“¥500 for a pair of tights!”
“Just get on with it,” Mand suggested.
“Okay already, let’s see, B6,” I punched the buttons then waited for the package to drop into the bin.
Pluummp!
I reached in and retrieved my purchase.
“Come on, you can put them on on the bus,” Amanda told me.
 
 
George had beaten us to the bus; once again we were last to climb aboard which had our driver chuckling and George doing the eye-rolling bit.
“I’ll go put these on,” I advised my seating companion.
“’Kay, you want the window?”
“Pretty please.”
I headed to the relative privacy of the back seat of the bus, pausing to twitch the curtains closed. I squirmed out of my shorts and opened the packet of hosiery, relieved to find they were of a reasonable denier. When I opened them out though they weren’t tights at all.
I felt a right plonker, so okay my legs were certainly warmer but whilst shorts over hose kind of works in a fashion way. With over knee socks I wasn’t so sure and my thighs were of course still exposed. Mand just gave me a look as I clambered into my seat, whatever.
 
 
We soon picked up the southbound motorway that we’d be following for next couple of hours. I recognised the Hadano turn and through the murky morning managed to pick out Tanzawa Oyama, the mountain we circumnavigated yesterday. Not long after that Mount Fuji burst into view above the clouds, we seemed headed directly to it then the motorway turned away prolonging our view.

Another, closer peak loomed above us, according to the signs, Ashitake-yama, the motorway swinging around its base. Then suddenly we were following the coast and the murk was clearing quickly, this is well cool.

“Over there, kiddo,” Dad pointed to the landward side of the road, a streak of white flashed by, one of the famous Shinkansen trains. I guess they are just like our ICE trains back home but faster. It wasn’t much further on that Ken pulled the bus into Makinohara services for a comfort break, I checked my watch, we’ve been on the road for two hours.
 
 
“Interesting look, sis,” the Dark One noted as I descended from the bus, “I thought you were buying tights?”
“So did I,” I sighed.
“Thirty minutes, girls,” Dad called after us.
“We heard, Dad,” I confirmed.
 
 
“If I was twenty years younger,” Dave offered watching Amanda and his daughters walk across the parking area.
“She’d still be too young for you,” Jen noted.
“I saw it in Switzerland when she did that modelling, she really is turning into a looker, not that her mother and sister aren’t,” Dave covered.
“Yup, cute just doesn’t come into it, so, Herr Bond, are you buying Frau Bond a coffee or what?”
 
 
On one level I was glad I’d not managed to buy tights, I didn’t need to strip off as much in the toilet that were thankfully western style. The services were more UK style than what we have at home in Germany, ablutions, shops and eateries.
“We getting a drink?” I asked the others.
“I’m hungry too,” Mand admitted.
“Takeaway or sit down,” my sister asked scanning the mini mall for options.
“Sit down definitely,” Mand affirmed.
“Yeah we can get some snacks for on the bus after.”
“Okay, let’s do it,” Jules led the way to the coffee shop.
 
 
“Latte o kudasai,” Jules asked the barista in faltering Japanese.
“Free?” the girl queried.
“Um yes I mean hai,” Jules confirmed.
“Get us a muffin please Jules,” Mand requested.
“I suppose you want one too, hollow legs?”
“Please,” I beamed back.

With the coffee brewing the barista returned to the counter, “Sono subete ga arimasu ka?”
“Um,” Jules language skills had obviously run out.
“Subete?”
Jules recognised that at least, “um muffin?”
“Mafin? Choko?”
“Hai.”
“One?” the girl indicated with a finger.
“Er three please, ikuradesu ka?”
 
 
“I’m impressed,” I admitted before taking a sip of my coffee, hmm not bad but I make it better.
“Yeah, I’m useless at languages,” Mand allowed.
“Thought I’d give it a go, Dad got one of those phrase books so I’ve been swatting on the way this morning.”
“Well I’m still impressed.”
“There’s some cool stuff to see in Kyoto tomorrow,” Jules went on, “shrines and stuff.”
“Hope we get time to look,” Mand opined.
“I think we will, George was talking about us all going on a bit of sightseeing trip before the race at breakfast.”
“Talking of which, I wonder what tonight’s hotel will be like?” I posited.
“I thought we’d see Vincenzo this morning,” Mand noted.
“Him and Genji came down yesterday, he was visiting some shops today according to Dad.”
 
 
We finished our caffeine and chocolate shot before heading to the shop that thankfully was self-service and self scan for payment. My armful of snacks came to over ¥1000 but I was keen to give as much of the stuff as possible a try and I wouldn’t be eating it all myself would I? We weren’t last back to the bus, that was actually our driver but we departed only a minute or two later than planned.

Everyone was a bit more awake than before the stop that meant more chatter and less watching the scenery. We picked up signs for Kyoto and Osaka at Toyota and although the motorway was busy we made good progress. It seemed like barely five minutes after the Kyoto turn that we were turning off ourselves into the Osaka conurbation.

It was only two thirty; we’d covered the five hundred kilometres in five and a half hours, not bad considering we were in a mini coach. The park wasn’t in central Osaka but at a place called Toyonaka near the airport, it was more in the country park style with a restaurant by the car park but not much else – except Vincenzo and Genji with the bike van. To be honest I couldn’t see where they could hold a race here, it was more like a nature reserve.
 
 
George stepped down to talk to our host then came back on the bus.
“Okay people, Vincenzo has organised food for us here then we’ll drive around to the race headquarters.”
It’s not that I’m starving, I have been sampling my Japanese snack hoard on the way down but I need real food too if I’m going to wup this lot later! The restaurant was very much traditional Japanese, shoes off at the door and sit on the floor, poor old George wasn’t enjoying that part at all. It wasn’t just the restaurant that was traditional, the staff were kitted out in kimonos and stuff making me feel just a little under dressed.
We started with some sort of clear broth with noodles, it was surprisingly filling but you were left wanting to eat more. And more is what arrived, rice with fish and vegetables that had us practicing our chopstick skills once more. Dad and Genji had slipped away while the rest of us finished up; an hour had passed by the time we returned to the bus.
 
 
The drive to the actual race circuit only took ten minutes and turned out to be on the university campus. Our support team already had camp Bianchi erected and were just getting the bikes out.

Much like Sunday Vincenzo took charge of things and led the girls and me to the actual HQ in the campus sports hall, real changing rooms, showers but Japanese toilets – well two out of three. The officials were just setting up the signing area when we emerged in our bike gear so we hung about so we could get that out of the way. It was quite funny watching other riders come through seeing first the gaijin Valkyries and then spot that one was wearing the rainbow stripes.
 
 
I forgot to mention that on Sunday didn’t I, yeah, whilst I’m world champion it’s for the time trial so I can only wear the stripey shirt for time trials. Mum on the other hand is road champion so she gets to wear the stripes pretty much every race so whilst the rest of us have Bianchi green jerseys, Mum’s is white with the stripes adorned with the sponsors names. It’s a badge of honour of course but it’s often considered a curse too, some riders never manage a win whilst wearing it.

We finally got the officialdom out of the way and headed to our waiting steeds like six gladiators.

Maddy Bell 03.10.15