When the teenagers at the Japan Bicycle Racing School in Shuzenji, Shizuoka Prefecture, rise at 6.30 a.m. each day, they always have an appetite. The training here is tough, a regimen of cycling, studying, chores and more cycling, so a big breakfast is a must.
After fueling up on fish, rice and miso soup, the budding professionals head out on their bicycles to train in the mountains of the Izu Peninsula for about 100 km. There's friendly banter out on the road, but also the knowledge that at this school it's every young man for himself.
Toshihiko Tomita, better known as Tomity, graduated in 1982 from the school, which opened in 1968.
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