Tamano, Okayama Pref. ¨C Despite a persistent rain off the Seto Inland Sea in early June, nine keirin bikers in brightly colored Lycra are lining up on a track in the coastal town of Tamano, their rear wheels held in a starting block so they¡¯re ready to take off as soon as the pistol fires. With the course banked to 30 degrees in places to accommodate speeds approaching 70 kilometers per hour, a wet track seems like a risky prospect.
¡°Nothing short of a major typhoon will make them cancel a race,¡± says Eiji Kosaka, reception manager of .
Opened in 2022, the hotel was the first in Japan to be integrated into a sports stadium ¡ª in this case, the Tamano Keirin velodrome. Most of its rooms look directly over the track, allowing guests to watch races from the comfort of a private balcony.
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