Tokyo - Itoigawa 2011

I awoke in a dark, cramped hotel room in Hachioji and stumbled to turn off my alarm. I felt terrible, only 2 1/2 hours' sleep, still dehydrated from too much beer and not enough food despite some glasses of water before sleeping, still tired from way too late a train ride out to Hachioji -- on the 11:45PM train from Shinjuku, arriving around 12:30AM, then wandering in the dark through a "gauntlet" of questionable entertainment joints to find my business hotel. Guys in suits standing in the street wearing sun glasses at midnight, pairs of girls in the shadows.

Anyway, at 3:40AM I needed to scramble, try to consume and keep down some convenience store sandwiches, two small yogurts, plus a cold Seattle's Best Double Espresso I had bought on the way into the hotel a few hours earlier, dress, shave, pack my bags, assemble my bike in the hallway (not enough room in the room!) and hit the road. It took longer than it should have, and was after 4:10AM by the time I left the hotel, 10+ minutes behind schedule and not a moment to lose. Our start was 4:40AM, and I first needed to get to Takaosan-guchi, check-in, deliver my rucksack and drop-bag, find my teammates, and get ready to actually, well, race a bicycle.

About 15 minutes later, passing the Positivo Espresso recommended 7-11 on Rte 20 in front of Takao station, after riding much too hard for a warm up, I heard a woman's voice say "Litt-san!" It was the-nice-woman-whose-name-I-did-not-get from the staff at the May 7 Saitama Brevet. She was riding with a man in "Pedal Far" bib shorts (her husband, perhaps?) up toward the start. She asked "do you remember me, from the Saitama Brevet?" "Yes of course," I said. "What time is your start." She responded "I did not ride I was on the staff." My Japanese must have been as garbled as my mind. "I said, "no, not the Brevet, your start today". She said "I'm not riding, I'm "o-en-dan" (support for a participant -- support, fan club or cheerleader, maybe). I just mumbled "excuse me, I'm late, I've got a 4:40AM start" and pushed ahead. So I still did not get her name, or learn any more about her (or the man riding with her, who looked like a strong rider). I guess if I keep up these endurance rides, I'll probably see them again.

I arrived at the start area at 4:33AM, just as Travis was trying to call my mobile phone and he, Gunnar, Steve and Yair were talking about a revised 4-man team race strategy. I checked in, dropped off my bags, tried (not very successfully) to catch my breath, and had the foresight to pull out my camera and ask someone to take our team photo.

Yair, David, Gunnar, Steve and Travis -- P.E. 2011 TOITO team, in TCC jerseys (except for Yair "Sufferfest" Bauer)

Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to clean the fog off of the lens, or to hand the camera to someone with a steady hand -- so the photo gives a remarkably accurate idea of how I was perceiving the world at this time.

And then we were off! We started with 4 of the riders from Team Cuore -- a Japanese group of very enthusiastic riders based around a shop in Taito-ku, Tokyo -- and several others.

As feared, I lost the back of our group on the first climb, to Otarumi, and cleared the pass in just over 16 minutes -- 90-100 seconds slower than a week earlier despite my best efforts to stay with the team. Was it really a smart idea for me to ride (race) with these guys, whose average age is 12 years' younger?

But on the descent, I passed several of the Cuore riders and Yair (who really needs to add some weight if he wants to "drop like a rock" on the descents. He is looking slimmer than Alberto Contador and with just as spindly arms). I caught the rest of the team just as they were starting up at the traffic light in front of Sagami-ko station. I felt semi-human again.

On the 60-70 meter elevation climb up to Uenohara, I again lost the back, but on the next downhill, I timed (luck) the light at the bottom perfectly and, going 60 kph, passed my 4 teammates plus another 5-6 riders onto the next climb, then rode generally with (or within hailing distance of) the team to Otsuki. I lagged again on the climb to Sasago, but passed various groups of other riders and arrived only 5 minutes back of the team, with an average speed of 26.74 kph for the leg. Not that bad a start after all -- 75th fastest time on that leg out of 359 finishers (and also an unstated number of "DNFs" -- we saw some riders struggling and other resting who surely did not make it all the way by the cut off time).

Anyway, a 292 km ride is too long for a "blow by blow" account, ... and I've got some work and then want to catch a bit of the Giro, so let me give a few highlights.

First the results:

1. Andy Wood won for the Nth straight year, with a time of 8:44:43. He passed me near Chino and shouted out a greeting, recognizing my TCC jersey. I was about to say something back ... but he was gone. I think I did see TT bar extensions, but I did not get a chance to measure whether they exceeded the permitted limits under the TOITO rules.

2. Tom S. put in another very strong performance, with a time of 9:43:09 for 11th place overall, 5th in the 40-49 age group. Chapeau!

3. In 3rd place at 9:12:43 was Kondo-san, the fabled Brevet rider (see my 600 km May 7 Brevet report), riding for Nalshima.

4. Our team had some excellent results.

Travis finished 52nd in 10:57:45. Double Chapeau!

Gunnar outsprinted Steve to the line for 71st place, in 11:19:18. Steve took 72nd in 11:19:21. They rode very well together as a pair -- really ought to aim for Transalp at some point.

Yair, still recovering from an injury this winter and only 2 months back on the (beautiful new) bike, suffered through the middle/late segments but still managed to equal last year's P.E. group time, at 12:28:59, for 165th. With this ride under his belt, Yair is back.

5. The wind shifted throughout the day -- we had a headwind coming down into Kofu, tailwind between Shiojiri and Matsumoto, and then a cross wind, then a headwind from just before the lakes South of Hakuba until the finish. The last was at times a very stiff headwind, offsetting the speed of the descent. We all suffered in the heat during the 78 km stage between Shiojiri and Hakuba ... many of us taking an unscheduled convenience store break early in the long climb, and me deciding I was in danger of serious consequences if I pushed too hard, and so taking it easy for awhile.

When it came, the headwind was cool and, thus, a real relief. I kept repeating to myself, "the wind is keeping me cool, be thankful for the breeze, ... and tuck low enough so it runs over along your back, inside and down your jersey". Overheated, I was happy to sacrifice a bit of speed for the longer term relief from the cooling effect. As I emerged from the last of the tunnels on Route 148, into a noticeably cooler area, I welcomed the cloud cover, threatening skies and wind, the heat a distant memory.

6. I did not ride any of the "no bicycles allowed" overpasses in Kofu. I went with the Japanese riders along the side street, and waited, and waited, and waited, at the lights. At one of these, there were about 15 riders and a truck and few cars ahead of me. The light finally turned green, the truck, cars and maybe 3 riders went through before it turned red again, 10 riders ahead and so no chance to sprint the light on yellow-changing-to-red ... another 4-5 minutes wait, it seemed, during which all the lights I could see at the intersection were red, cars just sitting and nothing moving in any direction. Aaaaargh! Also, this time, I did much less running of red signals than in 2008 with Juliane, DJ and MOB. Hard to argue that I don't know better this time. ... but I did get alone for a good part of the Shiojiri-Matsumoto stretch, and was able to time the lights very well, move to the front of waiting traffic, pass through when no cars were approaching and the light had changed to a "right turn only" arrow -- the usual tricks, without doing anything dangerous or attention-getting. How much of the difference among the top riders is really just a question of how many rules they break?

Later, I was able to persuade a Japanese rider to join me in going through some "T" intersections (along the top side of the "T"), and to make a left turn on red (remember, this is Japan - riding on the left, slinking around the corner, and continuing along the left), against some useless red lights. He eventually went ahead of me and I could see him, at the next "T" intersection, go up onto the sidewalk, around the intersection, and back into the street again, avoiding the red light -- all perfectly safe. He learned quickly.

I had very bad luck with road construction on the Hakuba-Itoigawa stretch, with several lengthy waits for one-way traffic the other way.

7. Travis, Gunnar and Steve did try at least one Kofu overpass, but one of the other riders yelled at them from the side street, causing Steve to look over to see who was yelling, and why, ... and he ran straight onto the dividers/chevrons between the overpass and side road, flatting both front and rear tires, with some rim damage and a big jolt and big scare ... but not enough of a scare to keep him from continuing on. I was a few minutes back and missed the excitement, and just passed a smiling Steve who was walking his bike back ... I thought looking for something he had dropped. Anyway, Travis and Gunnar went back to help, I went on slowly, and we regrouped at Nirasaki ... only for them to go on ahead of me up the hill.

8. The route was noticeably better than I had remembered. No big trucks coming down the tunnels this Saturday afternoon ... though I did see a few going the other way. And there was an improved road surface and wider shoulder, I think for a good part of the stretch around Matsumoto. And reverted from a 2008 detour to the "usual" route again North of Matsumoto. Also, the checkpoints were far better stocked with bananas, rice balls and drinks -- water, mugi-cha and pokari sweat -- when riding with a 4:40 AM start than with our 2008 6:25 AM start.

And we saw many more team cars and supporters on the side of the road, cheering us on up the climb after Nirasaki and again later on. There were two young, attractive ladies dressed up in "maid" costumes, standing by their car on several of the climbs cheering us on, jumping up and down.

I blew them a kiss as I passed the second time, but meanwhile I could only think ... of this past week's news of Arnold the Governator and his child by a former housekeeper leading to his separation from Maria Shriver, that news from California following just a few days after Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest for his alleged brutal attack on a chambermaid at the Hotel Sofitel in Manhattan ... what is it with these guys and the maid costumes?

9. With my long explanation of the Kofu red lights, the road construction, miserable afternoon heat and the headwinds, I've just about run out of excuses.

Anyway, my time was 12:06:42, which placed me 137 out of 359 finishers. This was 20 minutes better than in 2008, though I was really hoping to get somewhere comfortably under 12 hours. Still, not bad, all things considered.

And when I reached the hotel driveway entrance, I was surprised -- done so soon? I thought I still had a few more kilometers to go. Why did I leave so much in the tank at the end? Sunday morning, but for the rain and the press of work, I would definitely have headed up the coast on my bike. The only aches or pains during the ride were some numbness in my feet -- I need to check my right cleat alignment. So even if my time was not so much better than 2008, the Brevets have definitely helped my endurance. Now, over the next 3 weeks, I just need to try to do more climbing practice, then I'll be ready for Transalp.

By the time I finished, Travis was gone, headed to the station then back to Tokyo. Tom was waiting and offered his congratulations before heading into Itoigawa with his Vlaams teammates. We unwound, soaked in the onsen, enjoyed our bento boxes out front of the hotel, with some extras (tonjiru udon, cucumbers w/ salt, beer), added 2 pizzas later -- ordered and delivered to our hotel room -- chatted with Saito-san, a neighbor from the Cuore team in the room next door, who offered me a taste of a nice Burgundy Pinot Noir. We all slept early and very soundly.

After breakfast, we braved the pounding rain on Sunday morning to the station and hopped the train back to Tokyo.

Another successful event. Will we go back next year? Too soon to say.

Our team at the start -- second try at a photo, after cleaning the camera lens.
Look at those faces-- is that a unified expression of determination to ride to victory, or what?

Gunnar models the hotel yukata -- and seems to be having some trouble straightening his back and unclasping his hands after the new experience of riding 300 km in a day. One of the older, male riders complimented Gunnar on his yukata ("ni-aimasu") and no one reproached him for wearing the hotel slippers outside. ... the guy who yelled at Steve in Kofu must have been DNF, or maybe still on the road at this point.

Tom S. prepares to ride into Itoigawa to his lodgings.

The Sea of Japan and wet roads, from our train.

Travis' report: http://www.tokyocycle.com/bbs/blog.php?b=91

Tom's report: http://vlaamsewielrenner.blogspot.com/2011/05/40th-classic-300km-endurance-race.html

Andy's report: http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time/2011/05/tokyo-itoigawa-2011-race-repor.html

JCRC Series: Stage1 - Kawagoe

Sunday morning was an early start for everyone as we wanted to get to Kawagoe early to ride the course and check for potential danger zones, places to attack and see if my wheel selection was going to work in the extremely strong and gusting wind.

We left the house at 5am and took the express way all the way rather than run the risk of getting caught in traffic along Route 16. Kaori as usual was driving and told me that it would be ok for me to sleep and conserve energy for the race. With an elevated heart rate, adrenalin as thick as custard coursing through my veins and the serious lack of leg space for my 188cm frame made it impossible.

We arrived with good time to spare and I was able to ride 4 laps of the course before they closed it down for the race preparations. I’m seriously glad I did as Ludwig who raced here last year warned me about the white bands going across the road, I’m not sure what they were covering but they were slightly elevated and when I hit one on the straight at 45kph I got air off it and almost lost control as it took me by surprise. The practice laps also showed me where the race would be won which was obviously the long straight that finished in a tight, narrow turn with a 200-300 meter straight to the finish.

The plan therefore was to position myself just before the second to last corner so that I would be in the 1st, 10 riders of the Peloton giving me the advantage of being slipped streamed by the front riders and seeing where the attack on the final corner would come from and thus launch my own attack.

With all this new found knowledge floating around in my head I went to work as a domestique for Kaori and Tsukino who were also racing today.

Kaori sporting her new gear looked awesome out on the track but the lack of training and the ferocious headwind quickly drained her and several other riders that got dropped by the peloton. She continued at her pace and started to catch other riders that had dropped off the back of the main group, whom were setting an impressive pace and with as is such with criterium races the leaders quickly lapped the stragglers.

Kaori knowing what would happen if lapped put in a valiant effort and managed to keep them at bay till the final corner where they swallowed her and 3 other riders whom for all their efforts received what many felt an unfair a DNF result, but hey rules are rules!

Tsukino was next up in her 3km race for Primary School 1st - 3rd Grade category and was chomping at the bit to get going. This was the biggest group she has ridden in with 21 riders and the fact that she has recently taken the plunge to SPD pedals and shoes made her a little cautious and nervous.

On the off,Tsukino not 100% used to her SPD’s panicked and had a little trouble inserting her left foot. But fortunately didn’t crash and found the sweet spot to engage and she was off dead last with 400 meters between her and the next rider and as she disappeared around the first corner we were very anxious to how she would do out there alone.

We had to wait in bated breath for her to complete the first lap an come out of the final straight before we knew if she had made any ground. We counted the riders as they came through and started to worry after rider 12 had gone through. Then head down teeth gritted Tsukino shot out of the final corner bearing down on the next rider, with a bellow from me to change gear (Some thought Mt. Fuji had erupted and proceeded to the local emergency relocation zone) she shot out of view and we had to wait for her to complete the final lap before we knew where she was.

The older boys impressively flew down the finishing straight and we counted them in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th in quick succession, 6th, 7th the first girl, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Where was she?

As soon as 11th had fully cleared the corner Tsukino came gunning though head down again chasing hard, she quickly caught 11th and 10th drawing on her last reserves caught 9th place and taking a top 10 position overall and 2nd in the girls.

Amazing effort by her and we were all very proud of her performance!

Next up was our latest recruit Yair Bauer, whom only started riding last year. Again Yair had to battle against a very strong headwind and managed to find his groove with 3 other riders who grouped together taking pulls at the front to keep the peloton from gaining any ground on them. Having watched Yair race last year at Saiko, I must say I’m very impressed with how far he has come in such a short time and the winter rides seem to have paid off.

The sprint finish was pretty exciting with Yair pulling out wide to prevent anyone from drafting his wheel and was just piped to the post by another rider coming in a very respectable 27th.

Next up was Idan, Yair's son who was racing in the Milky race... the pace was pretty impressive by these young riders and if they stick with it they'll go on to be serious contenders on the Pro Circuit!

The young lad raced his heart out sporting a shark helmet and placed 4th overall!
With my official domestique and cameraman duties officially over it was time to get myself prepared for the race at 12:30pm, although the time had been pushed back 15-20 minutes due to some very serious accidents. This was highlighted by the fact that the race officials asked us not to remove our hands from the bars upon finishing the race and doing so would result in disqualification. The reason why is because earlier in the day a rider who had finished and saluted his victory was hit by a side wind and created a rather nasty pileup on the finishing line.

At last year’s Saiko Stage in Yamanashi MOB and myself got a very good warm up ride by doing the 10km Time Trial. This really warmed up the muscles and helped me when actually racing so one of the strategies this year is to take my parabolic rollers with me to every event to get a good warm up ride before each race. Using the 2hours spare before my start time I had a light lunch and also did a 40km warm up ride just spinning a long with a few sprints to see how my legs were.

At 12:15 I headed to the assembly point to make sure I was able to get a good position at the front of the peloton, as the further back you go the more inexperienced the rider. The warm up lap was very good natured with the riders complaining about the cold and the blustery winds.Positioned at the start line the officials went over the rules again, reinforcing that they would disqualify any riders taking their hands off the bars to call home, shot cameramen, point to god or pretend to be an American Indian shooting arrows. They also explained the sprint point system and what laps would be for points… I couldn’t work out if it was when the buzzer sounded or if it didn’t so I decided to attack every lap just to be safe!

The first 300m was a very gentle pace to negotiate a narrow chicane that then opened up on to a wide section of the course that looped around the back with some minor curves, this is where the pace quickened and we were soon at race pace humming along at 43kph with the riders of Bex Isox and Whirlwind setting the pace.

The first sprint lap arrived and the pace quickened and I entered the final curve at 50kph and taking 2nd in the first sprint followed by 3rd, 1st, 4th and the win on the final lap placing me at 37 points for the race with the closest rival taking 25 points.

All in all it was a great day for everyone who attended from Positivo Espresso and I’m excited to see how everyone does at Shuzenji this weekend, especially Tsukino.]

Also a BIG thank you to Hiroshi-san for shouting encouragement and advice to me throughout the race and for taking some excellent photos!

I will add more photos later

THE BARA BARA RIDE

from right to left : Deej, Clay, Yair, Jules, two unrelated riders, Setsuko (perhaps)
No Davids in sight. Also no slot machines.

When we planned to organize a classic ride on Sunday, we didn't know that this would draw the biggest group in team history. And for some reason it comprised of only one David, actually the original one, now with beard. And, of course it became an undisciplined, unorganized "recovery" ride in the typical fashion of our team.

I woke up early in the morning still with very heavy knees as a result of the 200 km trip the day before with Ludwig where we circumferenced the Hakone mountains. Already on the way to the meeting point at the Tamagawa I noticed that I could barely ride 30 km/hr in the flat, neither force my heart rate to go over 155 BPM. But not to worry, as this was an official Positivo Espresso "recovery ride". So I expected some fast pace along the Tamagawa until everybody burned out and then a leisurely ride up to Otarumi and Tsukui.
Well I arrived on time at Tamagawahara bridge and already a large crowd has gathered, not only the usual Positivo suspects such as David, Jerome, Dominic (David), Bryon, Yair, James (David) and Michael on his Cervelo with new Shimano Di-3 (this is an upgrade from Di-2 which includes a small electrical assistance motor, invisble to the human eyes), but also Fumiki and his friends "Ko" and "Sho" (together they ride under the name 故障) and Deej and Jules from the TCC. I was tempted to collect participation fees and ride home (150 Yen for PE members, 15 million Yen for first timers) as a free and rich man.

And while I was talking with Fumiki as he casually mentioned "Everybody's riding already" and I turned my head just to see our group taking the first bend at the horizon. So we had to hurry up and chase behind the peloton. It was impossible to catch up as everybody in the front group pedalled as fast as they could and there was a strong headwind that we had to overcome. Finally at the bridge after Sekidobashi we caught up but at this point we have lost already Bryon and either Ko or Sho, not sure. The tempo was just murderous for me and I was looking forward to the point where everybody would relax; this was supposed to be a "recovery" ride.

We then rode the usual road along the Asagawa where we encountered a dispatchment of stormtroopers or perhaps baseball kids and where we left a mildly negative impression on the local population. Little girls were graping there teddy bears tightly and small boys looked up to there mothers, saying "Mama, when I am big I want to become a foreign bicycle rider." "Rather I will set fire to the house and kill the whole family."

We somehow made it to the Takao 7-Eleven where we re-grouped and linked up with Tom, Hiroshi, Nishibe and Clay from TCC. To the neutral outside observer we must have looked like a very fast group thanks to the strong additions from other teams.

I spoke with Jules and he asked me "Are you the guy with scars all over your leg?" How did he know? Where my lovely deadhead-diapers lurking out from the bib trousers? But I agree, scars on the legs are even cooler than shaved legs. And they hurt more. But the part of my body that hurts the most was my behind, as I did more than 400 km of cycle riding the last five days. I will refrain from posting pictures here.

Then we started the Otarumi TT and even before the official starting point Tom, James, Deej, Clay, Hiroshi, Fumiki and Jules went off like rockets while I stayed with Nishibe, Yair and David in a second group, followed by Dominic, Ko, Michael, Jerome.

On the top of Otarumi we took a group shot to document this historic event (more riders then average blogviews per day in 2008).

From there on we continued downhill and then took the classic turn to Tsukui lake. All of this still at very high speeds. Things became a little chaotic. I guess all of us took the left turn at the Circle K that leads to the Tsukui North road, but then not all of us went along the North side and definitely many lost track when we rode into Hashimoto. David proposed to ride his favourite backroad shortcut and I was hanging on for dear life, as I had no idea where I was and in case I got lost, it would have taken me days to find the way back to Onekan.

Somehow we managed to re-group at the Starbucks 7-Eleven at Onekan, but in the process we had lost Tom, Michael and Dominic who rode home on their own.

Deej, Clay and Jules started first on the Onekan, followed by Jerome, me and the rest of the pack. Just a few hundred meters behind the tunnel we saw Deej who was screwed. No, I don't mean that he was bonking, I mean, to be precise, that his tire got screwed by a app. 20 mm wooden screw, NiCr plated, judging from the look, probably made in China. After making sure that he was OK and had everything he needs for repair we continued along the Onekan and at one point I met David and Fumiki again while finally continuing leisurely with James along the Tsurumigawa home. Fumiki said that he enjoyed the ride-out but that he would now ride into the mountains to do some more serious things.

At least the last 20 km or so I had the feeling of a "recovery" ride.
So I guess it is time to propose two or three things here to "avoid confusion in the market place" (the most favourite quote by Japanese business executives when a company/competitor starts to do things differently than before):

RENAME THE POSITIVO ESPRESSO TEAM INTO POSITIVO ESPRESSO TEST TEAM

Well, the Cervelo Test Team is called so because in addition to racing, it also fulfils the role of testing the Cervelo bikes under severe conditions. We do not belong to a bicycler maker (well, Prolite, perhaps), and therefore we are not testing any bikes. But we constantly test the well being, patience, nerves and physical composure of all team members and therefore we rightfully deserve the name "test team".

DEFINE "RECOVERY RIDE"

Recovery Ride - As opposed to the common understanding of a recovery ride in standard cycling, a Positivo Espresso recovery ride is defined by the fact that most of the riders attending, will be recovered sooner or later from the roads by firefighters, ambulances or archaeologists eventually ("Hm, high BMI index and DuraAce 7800 group set - probably an investment banker from the early 21st century I would guess."). The average speed will be ridiculous high and climbs can be long and painful. However, regardless of distance and elevation, a recovery ride must include a statement in the official announcement that it will be finished in the early hours of the afternoon.

RIDE ORGANISATION

Again, if it comes to organisation of rides and freedom of individual members to do what they please, Positivo Espresso is second only to Bakunin. I understand that some of us are not happy with this and I can understand their point of view. On the other hand, the quest to get our unorganized, undisciplined team changed, i.e. to ride organized, perhaps even in a paceline (!) and stay together has been undertaken by many brave souls and not led to any success so far. I also feel that I am lacking the divine powers to change this. So perhaps it is more important to change expectations. An organized rides, in Positivo Espresso fashions means, that we meet in a somewhat organized fashion.

PE Half-day Otarumi Classic a.k.a. BARABARA JITENSHA JIKEN !!

Thanks everyone for joining this morning's ride & thanks MOB for having organized/coordinated this !


Screwed up the self-timer...apologies!! MOB, hope yours turned out OK....
("Framed version" of this pic here)