Michael "Mike S" Steingräber KOG Diary: I have a dream…
I went to Japan for all three times in 2006 to go to all the KOGs. I thought maybe I have a chance to be KOG champion for this year. I actually got two third place finishes in round one and two, and I was ranked third for the year before the finals. York was in first and Kotaro in second, and the points were still very close, so I had to get another good result at the finals and maybe I could be champion. I tend to get quite nervous at contests, so I did not really want to think about that situation before the comp. But I knew I had a dream…
Tuesday, oct.17:
16:00h, koblenz
frank lukas drives me to the train station.
have to run up the stairs to just catch the train i wanted to get to frankfurt airport.
17:00h arrive at the airport, check in my bike. t-shirts socks and underwear in my carry on to save some weight. always the same story! Flying s&@%s!
21:00h boarding: full flight, so there’s no space. of course!
Wednesday, oct.18:
15:00h arrive at narita airport, tokyo. immigration, wait for the luggage: phew, it made the flight! flying rules!
15:30h take the subway to asakusa, tokyo.
18:00h miss my stop, walk around aimlessly, have to catch a cab to the cheapes hotel i could find. About $us 30.-/night. i’m so tired!
22:00h fall asleep
Thursday, oct.19:
01:00h wake up, watch tv, sleeping is impossible.
04:30h finally fall asleep again.
09:00h wake up, can hardly open my eyes, but make myself get up. get some junkfood at the convini, check my mail, surf the net, go for a walk, buy more junkfood, walk around some more to watch life in japan. meet a friend and have dinner, then drinks: hot chocolate and a martini. what a combination!
Friday, oct 20:
01:00h back at the hotel. sooo sleepy, going to bed.
07:00h wake up too early, push myself to some workout, rice and tofu and salad for breakfast. seems strange, but feels okay. tastes healthy, know what i mean?
10:00h write emails, build my bike. the valve breaks of my tube while i pump my tires. where do i get a tube?
12:00h even more somewhat healthy food. feel crappy anyway! search for a bike shop that has a tube for me. not speaking much japanese at all does not help!
15:00h got the tube, head back to the hotel, fix my bike.
16:00h going for a ride at a spot i remember from last time i was in asakusa.
17:00h get kicked out. i’m lucky it took so long!
18:00h go to the contest venue, rox3 multicourt. meet some friends, not too many people there. get to ride a little more, cool! no riding tomorrow, novice and expert only!
19:30h head back to the hotel with matt and jun. matts bag is way too heavy!
21:00h dinner from the convini again…
23:00h off to bed
Saturday, oct 21:
02:00h wake up; bloody jetlag!
04:00h go back to sleep.
07:00h wake up, don’t feel like working out, don’t feel like having healthy breakfast. do it anyway.
10:00h arrive at the venue, watch some riding, eat some junkfood, get nervous. how will I do tomorrow?
14:00h get a session in at the practice spot from the day before. afraid to get kicked out! get a good session in anyway.
15:30h back to rox3, watch the novice final, sit around.
17:30h finally open practice, ride my bike
19:30h back to the hotel
20:30h get food at another convoni, because i need something different. still food from the convini
21:00h hang out in the lobby
22:00h back to the convini for snacks. am i nervous?
23:30h retire to my room
Sunday, oct.22
00:30h fall asleep
07:00h wake up
07:30h do my workout, get some food
09:00h arrive at the venue for some early practice and signing up
10:00h watch the expert final
11:00h more open practice
12:00h the prelims start, i have to wait for my group, the third
12:15h try to find something at the convini that i haven’t had yet: difficult!
13:15h practice for my group. only 15 minutes between 11 riders. no time to get nervous.
13:50h only three riders left, my turn to ride: mess up my first trick, then make it, then hit the only big bump on my second trick and fall of my bike again.. will i make the finals?
14:30h finalists and groups for the battles are anounced. made it!
15:00h first battle group with york. sure he will survive!
15:05h york is out. is that my chance?
15:10h my group: hiro, bram and me. i should make it! i mess up a little, hiro rides great, and so does bram. what’s the result?
15:15h i’m out. oh nooo! i can’t beleve it. will kotaro take the title?
15:20h kotaros group is up-he’s out, too! what the heck!
15:21h i think to myself: I qualified better than york and kotaro. how many more points did i get. did i overtake one of them? or both of them? have to wait! The contest goes on
16:30h contest is still going on, hiro is in the final four. where was he ranked before the comp? can’t remember! does he have a chance?
17:00h matt and raphael just battled for third and matt won. he had a strong day!
17:15h the final battle between hiro and vicky is on. they both seem to mess up a bit. it was a long day!
17:20h vicky is declared the winner of the day. what about the year end standing? guess i have to wait.
18:00h closing ceremony: the expert results have been anounced, and the ranking for them, and the pro class riders have been given their trophies for the day. what about the pro ranking? finally: the top ten are being counted down. when will i be called. did i overtake anyone with my good qualifying result. where does hiro fit in? they call kotaro in fourth. so i’ll be third at least and get a trophy. yes, i’m next. third for the year in japan is not bad, but i’m a little disapointed with my riding today. should have ridden better.
hiro gets second and york ist he champion for 2006. congratulations! he was very emotional about it, because it was his first title in japan and a lot of his friends were on the winners ribbons already. you can be proud, york! there is a ribbon with your name on it attached to the cup!
19:30h back to the hotel for a quick shower, then to another hotel for some real food, finally. A few drinks at the bar, then back to my hotel before they close the door at 01:00h
oh what a weekend!
So, my dream did not come true, the title stayed in Japan. Who know’s if I get a chance like that again. It will be a little while before I can be proud of getting that third place trophy for the year 2006 at the KOGs. Well, I will be proud at some point. And I will be back in Japan.
Thanks to everybody that made these events happen, and thanks to Eastpak for helping me fly to the Osaka KOG.
Statement of the winner: Viki Gomez
It's the 3rd time I win a KOG in Japan ! So it s just one more number to add to my contest victories list. It has been very important for me to win this contest and proof to myself that my new tricks are now ready for competitions. Because this year my most important goal has been come up with new tricks , cause even if I won many contest last year, my inside proud dont let me repeat myself over and over just to win a contest. I like to win making what I want to show. Some look for the fame and others for the money, but I just look for new tricks. And have Hiro as a competitor was a pleaure! The KOG is a good contest that promotes flatland and this important for all of us who loves this sport, even if there are still many black holes not solved. I look forward to come back to Japan very soon!
Some words from Bram Verhallen
This year Bram visited the KOG for the first time. Some impressions:
The kog is nothing like the contest we are used to in Europe. Everything is done its own way there and i liked it alot. The vibe was so good there that it makes me wanna go back every year.
During the riding i have done there i felt different from how i felt 100 times before. Probably because its all so far away from Eindhoven hehehe.. But it feels good to ride for hundreds of riders that know what's up but that have never seen you riding before..just in vids etc.
Results and Ranking
Pro round 3 Rank - Name - Points 1 - Viki Gomez - 151 2 - Hiroya Morizaki - 145 3 - Matt Whilhelm - 143 4 - Raphael Chiquet - 133 5 - Matti Kuoppa - 136 6 - Michel Staingraber - 118 7 - Takuma Kawamura - 117 7 - York Uno - 117 9 - Tsutomu Kitayama - 111 10 - Kotaro Tanaka - 110 11 - Bram Verhallen - 108 12 - Eiichiro Watanabe - 105 13 - Shintaro Misawa - 100 14 - Yoshihiro Nishikawa - 99 15 - Shinichi Kiba - 98 16 - Yoshiki Uchino - 96 17 - Yoshihiro Shinde - 88 18 - Moto Sasaki - 86 19 - Seiji Sakata - 81 20 - Fumiaki Okayama - 79 21 - Hirokazu Miura - 78 21 - Namito Watanabe - 78 23 - Hideki Kawai - 75 24 - Yousuke Yamaguchi - 71 24 - Keisuke Matsumoto - 71 26 - Yutaka Tamaki - 69 27 - Art Thomason - 68 27 - Shinichiro Hara - 68 27 - Tomoaki Nakatsuji - 68 27 - Takayuki Iwa - 68 31 - Keisuke Tanigawa - 67 32 - Akihiko Takahasi - 64 33 - Junichiro Sakamoto - 56
| Pro Ranking 2006 Rank - Name - Points 1 - York Uno - 377 2 - Hiroya Morizaki - 373 3 - Michel Staingraber - 371 4 - Kotaro Tanaka - 368 5 - Shintaro Misawa - 335 6 - Takuma Kawamura - 331 7 - Takahiro Nishikawa - 329 8 - Moto Sasaki - 325 9 - Shinichi Kiba - 322 10 - Hirokazu Miura - 319 11 - Yoshihiro Shinde - 299 12 - Hideki Kawai - 295 13 - Seiji Sakata - 285 14 - Fumiaki Okayama - 271 15 - Matti Kuoppa - 264 16 - Yutaka Tamaki - 258 17 - Shinichiro Hara - 255 18 - Tomoaki Nakatuji - 235 19 - Namito Watanabe - 228 20 - Junichiro Sakamoto - 223 21 - Yousuke Yamaguchi - 221 22 - Youhei Uchino - 217 23 - Takayuki Iwa - 215 24 - Eiichiro Watanabe - 201 25 - Viki Gomez - 151 26 - Matt Whilhelm - 143 27 - Raphael Chiquet - 133 28 - Tsutomu Kitayama - 111 29 - Bram Verhallen - 108 30 - Yoshiki Uchino - 96 31 - Yuki Maehata - 80 32 - Keisuke Matsumoto - 71 33 - Art Thomason - 68 34 - Keisuke Tanigawa - 67 35 - Akihiko Takahasi - 64
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Expert Round 3 Rank - Name - Points 1 - Keisuke Tanigawa - 123 2 - Akihiko Takahasi - 119 3 - Syuichi Osada - 113 4 - Yoshiki Uchino - 113 5 - Tomokazu Morinaga - 111 6 - Yorimitsu Miyata - 109 7 - Keisuke Matsumoto - 109 8 - Yosuke Sakuma - 104 9 - Makoto Sezaki - 104 10 - Hidekazu Kuga - 100 11 - Suzumu Morioka - 99 12 - Yousuke Shibuya - 98 13 - Go Takuno - 98 14 - Norihiko Kouno - 98 15 - Hironao Doukou - 97 16 - Takayuki Setouchi - 97 17 - Ikkou Tanaka - 95 18 - Tatsuya Hori - 95 19 - Jun Okayama - 90 20 - Ryousuke Kobayashi - 85 21 - Hiroki Iwata - 84 22 - Shinya Matsuura - 82 23 - Takumi Eto - 82 24 - Kazuma Sakou - 81 25 - Katushi Tanaka - 80 26 - Yuki Sakai - 79 27 - Taikou Kaneta - 79 28 - Tomoyasu Nozaki - 77 29 - Yuki Sugimoto - 76 30 - Kazuya Yamaguchi - 76 31 - Shinpei Hanawa - 74 32 - Nao Yoshida - 69 33 - Yoshiki Higuchi - 68 34 - Masato Ito - 68 35 - Yusuke Ochiai - 63 36 - Syusaku Ikegami - 62 37 - Yoshiaki Mukai - 60 38 - Masanori Takayama - 59 39 - Kouji Touyama - 59 40 - Naoto Tamaru - 58 41 - Kou Yoshida - 57 42 - Takahiro Abe - 57 Novice Round 3 Rank - Name - Points 1 - Yuki ito - 122 2 - Mitsuki Ito - 119 3 - Ryosuke Takgai - 115 4 - Yuya Morita - 114 5 - Keita Uchino - 113 6 - Masaru Shida - 111 7 - Koji Takahashi - 107 8 - Kazuya Fujisawa - 106 9 - Yurin Hidaka - 104 10 - Naoyuki Yoneyama - 100 11 - Sumito Urai - 98 12 - Kazuhiro Masuda - 98 13 - Brian Gavagan - 97 14 - Takeshi Matsunaga - 97 15 - Tomoyuki Hariya - 94 16 - Martin Biegunajms - 91 17 - Takeshi Okazaki - 91 18 - Yoshiyuki Konno - 91 19 - Yosuye Sano - 89 20 - Takahiro Kato - 87 21 - Katsuji Miura - 87 22 - Kei Takaishi - 87 23 - Masako Yamamoto - 84 24 - Shigeya Uekusa - 83 25 - Hideaki Suzuki - 83 26 - Ippei Momita - 82 27 - Ryousuke Sugiyama - 81 28 - Gun Hagiwara - 81 29 - Masanori Wada - 80 30 - Hiroki Tsujita - 78 31 - Tetuya Tukada - 76 32 - Yosuke Minami - 75 33 - Yorihiro Tachibana - 74 34 - Ryouhei Sakahara - 74 35 - Makoto Mizuochi - 70 36 - Emiko Fuya - 69 37 - Takeo Azuma - 67 38 - Yuki Watanabe - 64 39 - Naoko Watanabe - 62
| Expert Ranking 2006 Rank - Name - Points 1 - Keisuke Tanigawa - 354 2 - Yoshiki Uchino - 332 3 - Akihiko Takahasi - 327 4 - Keisuke Matsumoto - 315 5 - Hironao Doukou - 314 6 - Yorimitsu Miyata - 310 7 - Tomokazu Morinaga - 300 8 - Tomoyasu Nozaki - 272 9 - Yousuke Shibuya - 269 10 - Shinpei Hanawa - 261 11 - Kazuma Sakou - 258 12 - Tatsuya Hori - 255 13 - Ryousuke Kobayashi - 251 14 - Yoshiki Higuchi - 240 14 - Taikou Kaneta - 240 16 - Masato Ito - 229 17 - Makoto Sezaki - 218 18 - Syuichi Osada - 213 19 - Masanori Takayama - 202 20 - Hidekazu Kuga - 200 21 - Ikkou Tanaka - 199 22 - Keiji Nakamura - 197 23 - Yosuke Sakuma - 190 24 - Go Takuno - 187 25 - Hiroki Iwata - 186 26 - Suzumu Morioka - 179 27 - Norihiko Kouno - 174 28 - Katushi Tanaka - 163 29 - Takumi Eto - 158 30 - Yorihisa Shiota - 152 31 - Toshihiro Mitsuda - 151 32 - Yoshiaki Mukai - 150 33 - Kazuya Yamaguchi - 147 34 - Jun Okayama - 145 35 - Shinya Matsuura - 143 36 - Yuki Sakai - 142 36 - Takayuki Setouchi - 142 38 - Satoshi Ojima - 140 39 - Yuki Sugimoto - 133 40 - Takahiro Abe - 126 41 - Daiki Aono - 125 42 - Kotaro Arai - 122 43 - Moto Sasaki - 119 44 - Masatoshi Karino - 117 44 - Kouji Touyama - 117 46 - Syusaku Ikegami - 113 47 - Yasunori Nakano - 110 48 - Masataka Yamamoto - 109 49 - Yasushi Tanabe - 104 50 - Syunsuke Komatsu - 98 51 - Kazuma Nakajima - 97 52 - Akihiro Matuura - 95 53 - Naoki Imori - 93 54 - Fumiya Sasagawa - 90 55 - Kazuhiko Hamasaki - 89 55 - Yukinobu Kamura - 89 57 - Takeshi Hiraguri - 84 58 - Ryuki Hiraoka - 83 59 - Takuro Ogasawara - 82 59 - Yukihiro Kurashima - 82 61 - Takao Fukuda - 81 62 - Mitsuhiro Izumi - 77 63 - Yuji Ishii - 75 64 - Kohei Yamamoto - 74 65 - Keiji Sasaki - 71 66 - Nao Yoshida - 69 67 - Fumihisa Maeda - 66 67 - Kazunori Miyamoto - 66 67 - Kenshirou Hori - 66 70 - Brett Dighton - 65 71 - Michitarou Abe - 64 71 - Akira Muramatsu - 64 71 - Masataka Nakadai - 64 74 - Yusuke Ochiai - 63 75 - Shinya Yamane - 62 75 - Shouhei Okamoto - 62 75 - Kairi Funabiki - 62 78 - Takahisa Mitaki - 60 79 - Koji Higashida - 59 80 - Naoto Tamaru - 58 81 - Takashi Ishida - 57 81 - Kou Yoshida - 57 81 - Masumi Suga - 57 84 - Takahiro Matsuo - 56 85 - Takayuki Nakamura - 52 86 - Yoshihiro Obara - 48
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