29 March 2010

Round and Round, Up and Down (x50)

Some time ago, Jim invited me to a 150km criterium race in his prefecture, Hyogo, quite close to Himeji and now the race was upon us. 50 laps of a 3km circuit, a small climb and close racing initially sounded like a recipe for tumbles and not ideal training for the forthcoming triathlon, but the distance was perfect and for that reason plus the adrenalin rush of crit racing and also a chance to see Jims family I took the shinkansen west to Aioi (with a stopover in Osaka, to see Diegos new setup and climb Osaka skytower)

The temperature was cool, 8-10 degrees but dry. We arrived in time to do a warm up lap, and immediately I realised that the small climb was significant. A steady 7-8% climb finishing with a hairpin bend before the track descended with a sharp chicane, into another climb which started off gentle but became progressively steeper, then a long curving descent back to the start/finish line. No real flat at all, so this course would suit a climber, or at least an attack built on the ascent/descent at some point. A testing circuit, and one I wouldn't go near in the rain.

We lined up at the start of the bunch, which was around 40 riders. On the first 3 laps, I made an effort to stay with one guy who looked like he was trying to win the race from the first lap. In fact, after 3 laps, he pulled aside and let his team mate pick up the baton! Yes, anyone with a number over 100 was in a team, so I my battle to stay with him merely opened up a gap for myself and 2 other riders, #8 and #9.

This mini breakaway worked well for many laps, and I was very happy to be away from the main group, out of danger as I never got the line perfect down the chicane and was always touching the brakes until the last lap. The minibreak would have been better if #8 hadnt kept trying to ride away from us, so after 51km he fell away, as did #9 and I was left on my own, building up a steady lead on the main group. Very soon #9 was lapped, he really blew at this early stage!

Yoshimi, Jims wife, did an amazing job by waiting at the top hairpin of the climb, handing us water bottles and relaying time gaps. At one point I was up to 2mins on the group, and was starting to dream of the podium. Alas, the main group reacted around 100km, and started to knock 15s off the gap each lap until they eventually caught me. I sat up and relaxed for a few laps, but unfortunately for me once the group had finally caught me, the race really warmed up.

After a few laps at increased speed, the decisive break was made at the bottom of the long climb and the pack disintegrated at this point. From here on, I was on my own again to cycle the final 40km, not really slowing down but unable to increase my speed to get near the leaders who had been resting until now. In the end I was lapped by the winner, I remember he was amazed he had caught me up, or else he was amazed that I was still cycling fast after the long breakaway, I couldnt tell which.

In the end, I covered the 150km in 4hr 56, and felt reasonably good after this event. Even better, I finished 5th place, 2 places behind Jim! Jim of course played a much more tactical race than me, sitting quietly in the pack all the way and finishing strong and not far off second place. Later, Jims GPS showed the ascent per lap to be 54-55m, so 50 laps makes a massive 2750m of ascent for the day!

An obligatory trip to an interesting onsen on the way home, perfect after a days exertion on the bike. This onsen had many different baths, from the usual relaxing type to ones to one with a low electric current and another had an outdoor TV screen in one bath, the bath was crowded with folk watching the baseball.
Cant beat a good onsen after a day on the slopes whether its snowboarding or today on the bike, so nice one Jim for finding this interesting (and very popular) onsen.

I'll be back for Chikusa hill climb after Golden week!

22 March 2010

Equinox Day

Equinox day was Sunday the 21st, and as this is normally a public holiday in Japan we get the Monday off instead. The fight between winter and spring has temporally subsided with the thunder and lightning early Sunday morning, and as usual the passing of a storm gives way to clear skies. About 9 degrees cooler than Saturday though, so back to the winter clothing for at least this ride.

There are 3 common entry points to the west / north western hills of Tokyo. Takao, Musashi itsukaichi and Ome. Today we start at Itsukaichi, 6 riders from Tokyo Cycling Club assemble however Sergey from Belarus is only playing a cameo role as hes off up Kazahari rindo, the steeper ascent of the same mountain we will climb. Lots of other riders starting from the same station today, even a couple Iron Ladies from the running club Namban rengo.

Tomin no mori is my favourite climb in the local area. Its a massive climb on a wide, smooth road which hairpins its way up and up to almost 1200m - the highest road in Tokyo! The descent down to Okutamako, the source of the Tamagawa is awesome as it is again a wide, fast smooth road but it has wide vistas over the lake below and distant mountains. Most of the other climbs around are within the forest and rarely have such large views as this mountain.

Only 5 degrees at the top, and the descent was cold. But the chill of the descent was just about negated by the rising temperature as we entered the valley, and neared the soba shop by the lake. Ive not been here since December, due to snow and cold temperatures and still the heater is welcome in this old shop. The lady recognises us all now and is happy to serve green tea, mountain vegetable soba and gives us all a bonus tangerine as a gift. We'll be back soon.

After the second mountain pass of the day, we head down Steves favourite rindo which is rock and debris strewn from the storms of the past days, and Keith must have hit a sharp rock at some point as his tyre explodes like a gunshot, and we have to stop to patch it up. Not a bad place to rest at all, warm and scenic.

We make it to Takao with depleted numbers due to punctures/tiredness and its 108km on the clock, 2000m of climbing so not a bad day. Bump into Peter at the Family Mart convenience store, hes been over Wada Touge starting at Hadano and now faces a long train journey home.
I still feel like I need some miles in my legs, it still feels like a holiday ride at this point so I have a hot chocolate, strange cheesey spam panini and snickers bar then power along past Hachioji and down the Tamagawa. Feels great, even after 150km!

21 March 2010

Yabitsu Pass -> Yamanakako -> Odawara

Short sleeves and shorts for the first time this year, and so the first tan / sunburn line of the year as well. The weather is still fighting between winter and spring, sending fierce swirling winds down the roads which were at best unbalancing and in one place brought me to a halt. (But this was on an unsurfaced road, uphill and round a corner) The battle of the weather gods passed away last night, the fierce thunder, lightning and heavy rain has passed by now and today should be a good relaxing day after a great ride yesterday, another one tomorrow!

I met up with Jim at Hadano, he has been working at Tokai Daigaku the past few days so it made sense to start here. Yabitsu Touge starts here, and is a very popular climb with Japanese cyclists. A very consistent gradient around 7-8 % over 8-9km, with the steeper section at the beginning, its a very comfortable climb. In the past, I've been overtaken by single speed bikes on this climb, its a popular training ground for all types of rider.
Halfway up the climb hosts my favourite view of Kanagawa, however today the view was hazy and Mt Fuji wasn't visible from this point. On a clear day the view extends from Enoshima along the coast to Atami then the Izu peninsula, out at sea Oshima and smaller islands are clearly visible and Mount Fuji completes the vista to the right.

After riding the 413 Doshi road to Yamanakako, we met up with Tokyo Cycling club riders outside a convenience store. Funny how we spend the day cycling through great scenery, Mount Fuji and the lake and blue skies above but end up sitting in the 7-11 car park munching carbohydrates and coffee.

Its a short climb away from the lake, but then the descent down to Gotemba is so fast, so long and with the views of Mount Fuji to the right, its an amazing experience. You still get some folk in cars who assume they have the right to overtake us, even though theres traffic in front of us and we're all going along at 70kph. There is always a lot of traffic on this road, but if you're going as fast or faster then its not so noticeable.

Descending close to Hakone, sulphurous fumes fill the air as we fly by, descending after the final major climb of the day from the Hakone tunnel, its 850m and we're going down to the sea from here. Alan takes us off to the left from the main Hakone road, and carrying our bikes over the "road closure" barriers is a great feeling as we know its traffic free from here virtually to Odawara train station.

4 March 2010

The Run Home


I start the new blog for 2010 after what is now the usual Thursday night run home from work, except tonight its a cold, wet night reminiscent of training around the dark streets of Wilmslow, south Manchester before I did my first marathon in 1997.
Whats the difference? Probably not much difference in speed, but tonight I could run past some teenagers sheltering in an underpass without any fear of eggs, stones or bricks being thrown in my direction.
The river banks of the Tsurumi river are dark, but the light from the Morinaga chocolate factory and the pachinko parlour absolutely massive display light up the night sky for miles around. The flats across the river are illuminated especially from the pachinko advertisements, the people living there will never see a starry night sky.

So Japan loves traffic lights, these are especially frequent when cycling in an urban area, but now that I'm timing my training runs they are equally annoying. Tonight I sailed through, and took another few minutes off my best time so far, so 1hr 17.59s for the 16km run home and feeling quite fresh afterwards is where I want to be right about now, with just 7 weeks before the big target event of 2010.