Japow | A Lesson In Loam

We Went Loam Hunting in Japan 🇯🇵🚵

There's nothing quite like loam — that soft, dark, sponge like dirt that makes every corner feel effortless. So we set out to find the best of it, in a place whispered about for years as the promised land of powder riding: Japan.

Joined by Ben Deakin, Kerenza Scott and Nathan Bennett, we packed our FOCUS EMTBs and headed from the chaos of Tokyo to the mountains of Minakami, hosted by the legendary Benny of MTB Japan — the man who hand-built the trails we came to ride. We got a real scientist to analyse the soil (yes, really), rode century-old charcoal sled runs carved through the forest, hit jumps at a hidden bike park called IRJP with the crew out there, and even used a paragliding winch lift to reach trails most people never see.

Is Japan's "Japow" the best loam in the world? Watch "Japow - A Lesson in Loam" and find out.