Saturday Ride - Wada Pass

Saturday offered some of the best weather since Spring, and so Jerome and I headed out for a half-day ride.  I tend to have an advantage over Jerome when we ride on Saturday morning instead of Sunday, and today was no exception.

Bright sun and dark shadows at Wada Pass

I pulled most of the way out to the base of the climb.  Riding the Canyon with mini aero bars, I feel as if I can ride for quite awhile at a sustained pace at least a few kph faster than normal.  The aero bars force my arms and shoulders inward, my torso more horizontal, and my rear end up in the air.  The result is speed.

Jerome did pull ahead on the climb up the forest road (Daigo Rindo) approach to Wada Pass, but he was still breathing heavily when I arrived at the pass, so he cannot have gotten too far ahead.  The Canyon still has the "granny gear" 11-32 cassette on the wheel I added for the SR 600 attempt 2 weeks ago, plus compact 50-34 cranks, so I could spin up even the 15-16% grades of the Wada forest road. (UPDATE:  Jerome tells me he reached Wada Pass 10 minutes ahead of me ... so I guess even if I was pulling him on the flats he still has a big lead on any climbs.)

Jerome spent last weekend with Positivista Stephen C., at his Oume training base, and they discussed the idea of perhaps a team training week in Japan next summer. ... Indeed, it would be great to get other members of the team back to Japan, as long as we can find someplace cooler -- the high passes of Nagano, or cooler, drier northern island of Hokkaido?