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"After a tradition Japanese breakfast composed of rice, salad, and fruit we went to put our keirin bikes together at the shop. It was quiet an impressive sight of bikes, neatly organized tools and a pro shop with all the keirin goodies available at a discounted price. I tried to control myself as much as possible but ended with a bill over $600 full of goodies. There was an older gentleman named Mr Nagasawa there to assist us with preparing our bikes. He is a very famous frame builder and mechanic in Japan. While we were putting our bikes together, the mdeia was there in full force watching our every move. We were also issued our keirin helmets, which more resemle motorbike helmets than bicycle helmets. One of the things that I bought was a long sleeve undershirt body armor with leather patches all over it. The guys who had races kokusai keirin before said that if you hit the deck and didn't have any extra protection that you wouldn't have any skin left. This is because keirin tracks are totally different from normal tracks. They are made of super gritty surface, which even allows for racing in the rain."
"After lunch we had bike inspection. The keirin association has strict rules for everything. That includes the highest quality control of our equipment. We took our bikes to a room equipped with a funny looking hydraulic machine which tests the strength of the steel tubes on our keirin bikes. First they took a picture of our bikes. Then they strapped it in the hydraulic jig and measured the strength of our frames in every possible angle and dimension. I was relieved that my bike passed."
Mordecai Silver
NYC