Paul Chetwynd - Quitting his job to become a professional mountain biker and moving to Japan

Paul Chetwynd is a mountain bike and road bike guide in Japan. He started his career as a professional mountain biker in the ’80. He raced all over North America, and then he moved to Japan to race for Rocky Mountain.

He was born in the UK. His family then moved to Canada. When he was in high school, his family moved from Toronto to Vancouver. At that time, mountain biking was very new, and the north shore was becoming the stage of the first professional riders. It was then that he discovered the sport and felt in love with it. He quit his “secure” job that was paying him a good salary for a dream: becoming a professional mountain biker. Back then, professional mountain biking wasn’t a real thing.

Around 1999 and 2000, he used his name to open his shop, Yatsugatake cycling. He started by teaching Japanese to get better riders. He now guides people from all over the world, from professional mountain bikers to people like me. That’s when I met him.

What we talked in this episode

• The early stage of mountain biking
• Skiing and snowboarding in Japan when wasn’t yet discovered.
• Racing and training
• Japanese culture and respect
• Mountain biking in Japan
• Discrimination

Links we discussed in this episode:

• YouTube Channel
• Freeride adventure Japan
• Yatsugatake cycling
• Yatsugateke cycling facebook
• Instagram
• Matt Hunter Japan Video

If you want to be on this show, you can email me at stories@emigrantslife.com or visit emigrantslife.com

Thanks for listening.

Daniel De Biasi

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:16 Greetings
• 1:34 26" and 27.5"
• 2:27 New Bike
• 3:42 Mountain Biking in Japan & Matt Hunter
• 6:10 Mountain Biking in British Columbia
• 9:16 Move to Vancouver
• 10:55 Cove bikes
• 15:54 Races and e-bikes
• 18:29 The reason to go to Japan
• 19:12 Skiing and snowboarding in Japan
• 27:43 Start his bike shop
• 28:50 Racing before opening the shop
• 30:36 Climb & Shuttles
• 34:45 Respect
• 39:49 Mountain Biking for Turism
• 39:55 Food quality and sushi
• 41:47 Documentary of Japan and culture merge
• 43:40 Learning discrimination
• 45:22 The support of the locals
• 47:26 Tattoos and hot springs
• 48:08 The benefits of being in Japan
• 49:34 Become a better athlete
• 51:52 The beginning of mountain biking
• 54:06 Training with the pros
• 56:21 The regrets of leaving Vancouver
• 58:12 Happy to be in Japan
• 59:14 Time machine
• 1:00:12 Regrets of selling old bikes
• 1:02:10 Stealing bikes
• 1:03:49 Treat me right