Favourite You Tube Cycle Clips

On the TCC website there is a good post about the favorite youtube clips of its member. The idea is so good and being in Japan and getting used to local customs, I copied it immediately. So here is a selection of the clips from TTC, please feel free to add more.

TOUR DE FRANCE HORSE RACING



TOUR OF CALIFORNIA TIME TRIAL



JAPANESE CYCLING BLUES SONG
[note : mute volume]

Remembrance of Things Past

My commute today brought to mind a special ride that I enjoyed with Jerome almost exactly 3 years ago in the summer of 2005.

We had each returned triumphant from our respective major cycling events of the year. Jerome had completed the Transalp Tour with Juliane, along with hundreds (thousands?) of other two-person teams. I had survived the less-well-known "Matt Tour," going from Knoxville Tennessee, over the Smokey Mountains and then along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive back toward its terminus in Front Royal, Virginia with two vans and about 15 riders, led by Dr. Matt Parker.

We were both in peak condition, and the heat of Tokyo summer seemed no barrier as we headed out Yaen-Kaido (Local Rte 20) to get out of town as quickly as possible toward Doshi Michi, Yabitsu and scenic country in the hills.

What, you might ask, brought the 2005 ride to mind as I commuted to work this morning? It was not the heat, but an aroma. A very ripe, sweet, rich and complex aroma, perhaps better described as a stench.

Yes, back in 2005, as we headed out to the country we repeatedly got stuck behind, passed, were passed by, and then got stuck again behind, a sky blue colored truck with a familiar shape to Tokyo residents, a garbage truck full of "nama" (raw, ripe) garbage. The stench made Jerome pretty nauseous, and we eventually pulled off for an unscheduled stop at a 7/11 store to recover. As usual, Jerome's recovery was fast and the rest of the ride went fine, but the memory of the garbage truck lingered (maybe it was in our clothes?).

This morning (Tuesday), the trucks must have been picking up some very ripe garbage that had been sitting in a very hot garbage bins since late last week. Maybe the truck we saw in 2005 had been driving around and around for the past 3 years, as the same load of garbage grew more and more ripe? Except today I passed MANY of these trucks. I must have been going through an area where Tuesday is scheduled for burnable, raw garbage removal. The smell was, memorable, even unforgetable.

And now for something completely different, a report from the Onion News Network on President Bush's latest disaster relief effort:


Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Saturday Ride Profile

This Heat

In the eighties there was an experimental new wave band called "This Heat". Some of their live performances are even preserved on YouTube. Hearing the music today, looking at their complete uncool aspire on the video, one cannot imagine why somebody would have considered them to be the sharp edge of music advantgarde in 1980. But they were and so it was considered uncool to dislike this heat when I was 18. Now I am 45 and it is hard to imagine why I should venture out on a bike when people have to be collected by ambulance cars on the Tamagawa river just because they engaged in a little bit of sport in this heat on this weekend.

But I rode out which gave occasion to many comments after I almost collapsed on the top of Dozaka Toge. Right so, I have wrote less nice things about Jerome, David and everybody else so I deserved this. Here is the second part of this "this heat" story about the Sunday ride.

I woke up at 6 AM, and got ready to greet Ludwig who was heading for my house. We then spend some time together to setup my trusted Cannondale R1000 bike for him, including the old SPD pedal set. It was Ludwig`s first longer ride and I wanted to make sure that he has all the right gear ready. We then rode to David where we met him and the other members of the ride. Juliane came relatively on time (I should mention that) and also two guys Tim and CJ from his office. We were late already to meet Tom at the Sekidobashi, so it was left to me to tell him so. Tom then decided to go on his own which was probably the right decision, taking the varying and at this time unknown performance levels of our group in consideration.

It is always difficult to ride with new riders when you don`t know how good they are. If they are fast you are looking stupid and you have to exhaust yourself to keep on. If they are slow you either a) bitch about that because they were invited by other members from the group or b) you wait for them impatiently because you have brought them with you and everybody else is bitching.

We started the usual ride along Tamagawa and Asagawa which brought as to the 7-Eleven at Takao station. It was already getting very hot and a lot of riders where on the road. We saw a large group of Nalsima Friends riders with surprisingly many girls. This must have been the group that Tom later met. As everybody was ok so far, we decided that we will head on further to Yabitsu as planned. Otarumi was the first hill to pass. David, CJ and Tim went ahead in the flats, Juliane and me overtaking them when it became steeper. I pushed hard at the last part and managed to come up first, but my time was only around 21:30 min, by far too slow. But Juliane and me took it very easy in the beginning and also she told me that the POSITIVO ESPRESSO JERSEY has become her favourite jersey. A statement which made me so proud that I was still under shock when I reached the top of Otarumi. It certainly adds to my self esteem as well, when I see riders wearing the Positivo jersey on the road.

Juliane came up second, followed by David, CJ, Tim and Ludwig. But there was not much of a gap, everybody looked sharp so we continued towards Yabitsu. At the downhill David was superfast as usual, and then the long up and down road to Miyagase reservoir started. We were not fast, but considering the heat we were doing ok. We then took a long break at Miyagase, ate, drank, cooled down her feet in the stream. The we left for Yabitsu.

Yabitsu is my favourite route, I don't know how many times I have wrote this. But I never saw so many cars and bikes on the road as this Sunday. Luckily they were getting fewer once we were past the camping grounds. While the others decide to check out the river, Ludwig and me headed on as I had a mongen deadline at home (which I missed of course). We had one more break at elv. 440m. then pressed on for the climb. I stayed with Ludwig until the teahouse at elv. 620m, the sprinted through the nasty steep part, overtook another rider and waited for Ludwig at the top. 1:18 hr - pretty slow time, but good enough during this heat and also some chances to see the landscape for the first time.

On the top I saw a father on his scooter with his perhaps eight year old daughter. They have ridden to Yabistu together to get away from their daily life and to talk and relax. They were both siting on the scooter, the daughter in front, the father behind curled int each other. He was smoking and she talked about her friends and about school. It was such a peaceful scenery.

Ludwig arrived and we started the long descent towards Hadano. Ludwig was rather slow on the Otarumi descent but here he overtook me easily and speeded ahead. Another candidate for the revered red-dot polka jersey? I had this suspicion since I was driving in a car with Ludwig a long time ago in Fukuroi. His blood donation ASB car driver skills developed into a dangerous weapon and he might apply this also on his bike.

Arrived in Hadano, tried to buy garbage bags to pack our bike. Could not. Ludwig went to a far away supermarket to buy them. In the meantime David, Juliane and the others arrived, including garbage bags. Packed our bikes, waited for Ludwig went home by train to Noborito.

Nice trip, all in all I covered perhaps 270 km during the weekend. Good training for the forthcoming races in Tsukuba on July 19th and in Gunma 20th. Despite the fact that we rode out together for the first time, the coordination and atmosphere was good.

I wish however that the summer will be over soon.

Sunday in the heat

[Michael to add post details]


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FROGGY WENT BELLY UP !

Strangely flat...

A SEVERELY DEHYDRATED MICHAEL ON DOZAKA-TOGE

It just had to happen...






















It was of course complete insanity to go out cycling in this kind of scorching weather in the first place. Yes POSITIVO ESPRESSO suffered its very first fatality...well nearly that is! Michael was on the brink of disintegration following an excruciating climb of Dozaka-toge and he would have surely gone belly up if a tender-hearted Jerome had not supported him all the way to the top. On top of Dozaka-toge (Yamanashi Pref) is where Michael fell apart at the seams...

Up to Dozaka, the ride was piping hot but all four us, Michael, Jerome, Nishibe-san and I managed to cool ourselves down making stops here and there for manju and drinks, lunch, bucket-full of ice cold water...we were actually going at a very decent pace. Road 35 through Akiyama-mura is quite peaceful, little traffic and moving gently more up than down to the Hinazuru-toge tunnel. Fortunately for Michael, the long refreshing Doshimichi downhill was waiting for us. Somewhere midway, we filled up our bottles and cooled off our heads under a huge faucet with cold water forcefully pouring out...we had no idea that we would be in a real Turkish bath half an hour later...at one section the road was completely wet and steaming after a passing rain must have gone through the area. Later I found out that there had been an incredible downpour over Fuchu which even brought the Keio Line to a temporarily standstill. The Turkish bath felt so nice...especially when a dump truck would pass by and sprinkle you all over with misty water. Michael recovered litlle by bit but it was Jerome who got his second wind as usual late into the ride. Jerome even resolutely decided to continue riding all the way to Kamakura over Yabitsu! Crazy!! Michael decided to hop a train at Sagamiko Station and Nishibe felt by a hunger knock and I attacked the fourth and last climb of the day, Otarumi which felt so minor in comparison to Dozaka! Curious to see Michael's graphs of the ride with his analysis! We were lucky we did not lose Michael but all in all, it was a great day of cycling!

Riding Out the weekend July 12/13

My body is still in the office, but my brain is already firmly attached on the saddle of my bike somewhere out in the green. The weather forecast looks good for Saturday and Sunday as well, although it will be hot. Juliane, Jerome and david hopefully made it back safely from another volcanic island [I am still waiting for the tour report on this website]. There is no JCRC race planned for this weekend.
David rides out on Sunday with his MOF buddies, I might invite an old friend of mine for something leisurely on Sunday as well - perhaps we combine this one David?

But Saturday is still free, if there is any idea to go somewhere, please let me know.

I wouldn't mind to make the Enzan tour on the weekend August 2/3 - but after that my family will be back in Japan and it will be hard to negotiate a two day tour. So if Tom and David are fine, let's do it on this weekend.

Please also feel invited to come to my houseparty - I am home alone, my parents... ups....my family is in Germany. Two "technical university student in the 90ties style party nights" July 25, 26. Beer. Potato salad. Music. Not much else. Will advise details, if any, later.

Mama told me not to come

Last week by poor coincidence, I was able to make a registration for the Fuji Speedway race on this Sunday. Alain asked me if I wanted to go and with my son being in Germany, my daughter on a figure skating trip to Nagano, I quickly calculated my chances: One nice Spanish dinner for my wife on Saturday evening, asking her over a glass of redwine, if it would be possible to get family free on Sunday? It was worth the risk. Registered, got a haircut, made a reservation at Cicada.

I never had to got up so many times so early as this year. First I attended a lot of JCRC races in places far away from Tokyo (Gunma CSC) so I needed to get up early. Then, the German soccer team proceeded to the final of the European Championship. Unfortunately the games started at 3:45 in the morning so I need to drive my son to the German School to watch them until the bitter end.

Alain picked me up at 5 AM on Sunday, as we need to register by 7:30 AM and the race started at 8 AM. He is a fast driver (just as me he oversped 52 km/hr when he was finally caught by the ever vigilant Japanese police) and as such he has now installed many technical gadgets in his car which should warn him of speed traps. That's why we were at the Fuji Speedway already at 6:30 hr and both of us wished we would have slept half an hour longer.

It became clear that it will be a very hot day. But I didn't mind, we were registered for the 2 riders 210 minutes race, so we could take turns and I had my comfortable camping chair with me for the relaxing parts between the stretches. As Alain is the better rider, my secret strategy was to convince him to do much more laps than I would do, thus extending the relaxing part on the camping chair.

Unfortunately then we found out some things which put both of us in a very bad mood: First, just by chance, when I checked the race results of last year in the booklet, I noticed that the winning team in the 2 riders category did 56 laps, in the 3 riders category 78 laps and in the four rider category more than 100 laps. This seemed strange, so I asked one of the officials and he told me that all riders need to be on the track all the time and that the combined lap numbers of all riders decides the wining team. Goodbye camping chair. Also it became hot. And I only brought a small water bottle the event. And when we checked the track we found out to our dismay, that it is very hilly. A long straight at the start is followed by a nice descent where one can reach easily 60 km/hr and more and over sprint the next hill, but then the climb starts in three stretches for a total of 40 meter elevation difference until one is at the final straight again.

So what I thought would be a nice and relaxing race, turned out to become a long, hellish and warm nightmare without water and not too much chances to win anything.

Anyway, we didn't complain further and Alain gave me some good training how to touch other riders while riding fast and get them out of the way. I immediately applied that at the start but as I am only a beginner at becoming rough around the edges, I could not follow Alain who ellbowed his way to the top. The race was started with a pace making bike and as there were about 500 riders on the track the first crashed already occured. I was OK so far, but then the climb began and I couldn't kept the fast space of the first group and fell back. A lot of faster rider overtook me then.

But I settled for my own pace and after 4 laps I overtook other riders and rode a steady pace. I was missing the warm-up though. The fast group overtook me already after 45 minutes for the first time - they were really fast. Also Alain overtook me after one hour as he was still riding with a good and fast group.

The climbs at 30 degrees plus were really the hard part. All in all I did more than 1.000 meter of climbing at this race. I really hated myself for being that fat; I must try harder to shed about 10 kg, as otherwise my climbing life is miserable. On the straights and on the descents I could easily go the same pace as the faster groups, even overtaking a lot of guys. But at the climbs I fall back and then I ended up again on the straights behind some slow guys creeping towards the finish line at 33 km/hr where I could go easily 40 km/hr without being drafted.

That kept on and on for the first 2 hours or 16 laps. I had steady lap times of less or around 8 minutes (4.56 km track) and I calculated that I could make 26 laps within the 210 minutes limit if I could keep that speed. But after the two hours I got really tired. I was running out of water and I had two normal 0.5 liter PET bottles in addition with me which took hours to open and close. My left hand was completely numb and I couldn't unscrew the cap any longer - simply no power left in my hand, everything drained by the legs. I opened one gel to get some more energy, miscalculated my hand pressure, the gel was all over my hands and handle bar, everything got sticky .... And it was so hot. My feets were getting extremely hot in my SIDI shoes.

Probably I would have made a break, retired or go slower if I would have been solo, but I knew that Alain was somewhere out there fighting so I kept going. One can see my dropping performance where nice on the average lap speed chart here.
After 2:30 hrs I really started to count the laps and the minutes. I didn't got overtaken by Alain again, which meant that he was experiencing the same problems as I did. I noticed than that my speed has dropped in such way, that I would do only 25 and not 26 laps anyway, so I took it a little bit slower. Actually my climbing became a little bit better compared to the other guys in the field: A saw a lot of riders standing on the trackside, massaging their legs or making a rest or really at the edge of their abilities and going up at 6 km/hr. I definitely didn't want to end up there, so I made some efforts at the climbs.

The last climb before the straights comprises of three climbs, interrupted by two flat curves. The first one is hard, but the other two ones I cut on the inside where the distance is shorter but the inclination higher and I regularly overtook some of the better guys there.

Hey, this is a genuine formula one track, why is it not flat ???? Formula one cars are fast enough, they do not need additional acceleration by going downhill!

In the end I was not thinking any longer, riding more or less on automatic. I made my 25th lap before the time limit of 210 minutes, then started another one at an easier pace. I asked another rider on the track when the race is over and he said the last lap before 210 minutes counts. So I took it even easier. I could not judge from the other riders, as the 5 hour team race and some of the 150 km distanc race was still ongoing.

So when arriving at the final straight before the finish line at my 26th lap, I opted for the pit lane, then I noticed that there was no time measurement there but didn't care as this lap was supposedly not to be counted. A mistake of course, I should have crossed the finish line one more time and then moved to the pit, so I missed one lap.

When coming to the pit Alain was already there. He overlapped me only one time and moreover I was happy to note that also he gave everything as well so we could expect a good result. I would have been really angry if he decided to quit the race or took a longer break in my caming chair.

Stephane and Kenichi from NFCC arrived as Kenichi was attending a BR-2 race in the afternoon.
We were really tired, then packed our stuff. I also briefly spoke to David Marx who had an Assos tent at the pit and sold his stuff. He made a good business, in particular selling water bottles.

Ok, then the results were posted, we made 4th place in our category, even if I would have done one more lap that wouldn't have made any difference. Excellent result, but really achieved by hard work and both of us fighting to the end.

Then we were called on stage and got our commendation and the prices. Hm, a nice big bag with the words SONY printed in big letters ... A play station portable perhaps? Maybe not, the first places got only a box of sport drinks. So I opened the bag. Inside : 2 bottles of sport drinks. Unbelievable ketchi prices !!! I got two bottles for free even before the race when I asked for them. Bloody capitalist oppressors, the wrath of the working riders will hit you some day !
Anyway, Alain drove me home, we had a good time, we were satisfied with our result and very, very tired. I slept for some hours at home. Before I woke up, showered and went to bed.
Really, I shouldn't do these things.

Bike Snob NYC : Floyd Landis

There was a (partly) very funny artcicle on the Bike Snob NYC blog recently which just comes in time for the start of the Tour de France 2008. I post here the most intersting excerpt.

By this time I think pretty much everybody knows that Floyd Landis has lost his appeal against the US Anti-Doping Agency, thus really, really losing the 2006 Tour de France. Landis says he is "saddened" by this decision, though he may take some consolation in the fact that Rowan Atkinson has signed on to play him in the Hollywood screen adaptation of his life:


Not only do they bear more than a passing resemblance, but Atkinson also has the experience in the peloton to bring some much-needed authenticity to the film. Here he is reenacting the epic break that brought Floyd fame, and then misfortune:

Hitachi Naka Race Review

Another weekend which needed to be spoiled to attend another JCRC race .... I skipped a perfect rideable Saturday to recover for the D class race in Hitachi Naka. When I woke up at 5 AM in the morning it was already raining hard. I thought to myself that the rain might move in from the South and that Hitachi-Naka in the North would still be unaffected. Human beings have this illogical commotions I guess.
Hitachi Naka is my favourite race track in Japan and probably the only one where I have a chance to achieve a decent finish. Last year I finished 6th in E class and got my prices handed over by P cup idol Fuko. Do not even think about opening this link at your workplace. It was one of the most beautiful moments in my life, I have to admit. Proudly I was standing for the first time ever in my life on a podium in my trendy German Democratic Republic training jersey and the sun darkened when two massive things moved towards me.

Hitachi Naka is my favourite track because there are no climbs and virtually no curves. It is very similar to a NASCAR track. Onion network reveals some good insights concerning the winning strategy on these kind of tracks. I follow them word by word. The track fully emphasize my strengths ("going straight") and has none of my weaknesses (taking corners, going up hills, thinking too much, need to concentrate, take care of left and right, orientation and so on).

So even in the rain, this race could not possibly missed. I arrived at 7:30 and registered. The usual American girl from Nikkan Sports was there as this was also the 3. race of the Tour du Japon this year. We recognised each other. I thought about doing some warm-up training but it was pouring so hard that I got in the car and slept for half an hour instead.

Then Alain and Jacques from NFCC arrived. Alain has won the E class race last year and used to be French university champion in the eighties according to common rumours. Jacques is more into triathlon so he came perfectly fitted out in his triathlon race suit. He used to be triathlon champion of the French Foreign Legion and is serving now as a terrorist countermeasure officer at the French embassy in Tokyo. One can still see the many tattoos from his assignments in Africa, Arabia, Montmartre and other locations I am not allowed to disclose and he may look a little bit scary to the average Japanese amateur rider. I think he should add a pirate-like eye patch and mount a diving knife to his lower leg to complete his looks.

But he is a nice guy. Some time ago we went up together with a group of NFCC mountain cracks the Shomaru Toge. We were the last two riders and we overtook two Japanese riders, a man a slightly overweight girl (about half of my weight perhaps). He was riding alongside the girl, looked at her and shouted very loudly: "DAIIIIJOOOOBUUUU ?????". The girl almost collapsed from her bike in fear and terror. Later I crashed on the descent and he helped me to scratch my body from the guide rail and asked: "DAIIIIJOOOOBUUUU ?????".

We did some warm-up laps and then it was already time to start.

It was cold and raining, similar to the Tokyo Tour of Japan race on May 25th. The difference is, that Hitachi Naka is a very simple course with no metal manhole covers, goodroad surface and no other surprises. However, there are 56 nervous guys just about to start.

Met Peter and Truck at the start, also another guy from the Miyake race and Ishii from the Space team. It is always a good bet to stay on Alains wheel the last kilometer.

Start. Completely soaked within seconds as could be expected. I tried to stay in the front group on the outside in order to avoid crashes. The pace is fast but varying, the track is pretty crowded. But I can keep easily the pace of 40+ in the peloton, preferring to stay on the outside even if there is no wheel in front of me.
After the 2. lap I come in in first place over the finishline. Then I let it go a little bit slower (checking my lap times later almost all are very similar, with the exception of the first and the last one). I fell back in the peloton but don't care so much as long as I stay clear of crashes and I am still in the main field. Despite the high speed all riders still stay together.

Jacques is making strange moves in the front. Sometimes he moves from the very left to the very right and everybody is following him, expecting to find some obstacles on the road, but there is nothing. This continues for the first 5 laps, then a bell rings for the last one, still 5 km to go. I feel no exhaustion at all. Just like with the Positivo Espresso team on the Tamagawa except for the old ladies with dogs.

Now the field is becoming nervous. Shouting and yelling. More and more riders overtake from behind because they are afraid to be dropped. The whole width of the wide road is now taken by the peloton. Still three km to the goal, but it seems like the sprint will start any minute. Then I hear the sound of a crash in front of mean. It starts on the very left but more and more riders are dropping also on the right and they come closer and closer. I can make a move to the right and ride on the grass, loosing speed, but at least I stay on the bike. The main field is gone but I start to accelerate and can close the gap. For some reason the speed is now a little bit slower and even have time to recover a little bit. I see Alain in front and think it is a good idea to move to his rear wheel which works out fine. I see another crazy guy from Hot Cross team who crashed at the NATS race early this month.

The speed is picking up now. I can easily follow and overtake some guys but Alain is moving in the middle of the road and it is getting very crowded there. In the end I even have to brake.

Later, when I printed out the results at the JCRC booth, I find out that Alain finished in 29th, me in 32nd, Peter in 38th and Jacques in 49th position. 47 of the 56 riders started finished within 10 seconds of the winner. It seems that about 7 riders crashed, but some of them were able to finish the race. Ishii from SPACE did not finish, hope he will make it to the next one.

I was happy to arrive without crashing under the circumstances. Again, just like in Tokyo somebody crashed right in front of me and I lost contact to the peloton for a while. A little bit disappointing after 6th place in E class last year, but anyway.

I decide not to test my luck and skipped the two hours endurance event at 12. Went home, reflected on what I am doing: Skipping a perfect Saturday for riding out in the mountains of Okutama because I wanted to stay fit for a 30 km rain race on a NASCAR track. I really should stop to this kind of stupid stuff.

My Favorite Japanese road sign

There is still a chance to join the Hachijojima tour - leaving this Friday evening, 10:30pm... and our intrepid reporter informs us that the Anchor pub is open! (that's him in the yellow shirt)

Google 'NFCC' and you get......

The Norwegian Forest Cat Club - what a lovely pussy!




British cycling on the other hand is much more serious.

Team GB targets TdF victory...somehow they seem to have overlooked me in the selection process :-(


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/7475579.stm

Tsukuba 8 Hours Endurance Race July 19th

Alain and Olivier from NFCC and me are attending the eight hours Tsukuba endurance race on July 19th. This is not only a great race where team Positivo Espresso used to achieve
outstanding results in the last years (hello jane!), but also it used to be the first race I ever attended in my succesful career as JCRC amateur rider. That was in 2003 with Juliane, Shindo, Kurata, Matsuda, Kikuchi and some other guys from the previous Veloz team.

I have registered a team of three riders, but as we know from previous experience, it is no problem to ride with four or more riders, just need to exchange the Seken from time to time. It would be great if we get a team together of four or five riders. I know that Tom has other commitments and that Juliane and david are out of town, but perhaps David and Jerome are interested? It would be perhaps even possible to let Jerome's son ride some laps?
Please let me know if somebody is interested.

Open edifice of raw, steaming talent that is David Hasselhoff

As we all know, David Hasselhoff, aka Knight Rider is not only a very talented actor and singer, but also an avid bike rider. No I am making that up. But I can find no other excuse to include these brilliant Amazon customer reviews about his "best-of" album. Every word that David H. sings [yet another brillant David by the way, how many are still out there we don't know yet about?] is true. Yes "Je t'aime means I love you". This is true, I can vouch for this. And "Hot Shot City" is particulary good in case you don't noticed yet.

I want to leave the office now and buy it. Or I do zero wedding with no loan.
So many choices. Anyway, god save the turks.

Swiss Military Bike

An interesting article from Spiegel Online [in German] about the Swiss military bicycle. 22,5 kg of high precision built without major design modifications in more than 68.000 numbers between
1904 and 1988. The Ordonanzrad 05.

le grimpeur

Really good blog.. le grimpeur lots of good reading.

Saturday?

In a triumph of optimism over satellite weather forecasting technology... does anyone fancy a ride Saturday morning. Say 8.30 at FutakoTamagawa bridge... Ride out to a family restaurant in the vicinity of Mt. Takao??

Miyakejima [Ladies & Gentlemen, please wear your gas mask]

When you arrive at your destination at 5 AM after a sleepless night on the vinyl covered board of the second class E deck, including a nice hangover, your first impression of the new shores has a tendency to be rather negative. In case of Miyakejima, add a level 3 gas alarm, the penetrating smell of sulphur in the air and a completely deserted port with dilapidated house left and right. This feels like the morning after the night of the living dead.

Is this the Japan of "Uebergestern"? Did we see already what the country is facing, in thirty years from now when the population becomes less and less and older and older so that whole areas will be deserted and bare of human beings?

The Positivo Espresso Team checking in at the lobby of the Miyakejima hotel.

The arrival at our hotel room did little to dilute our first impression. This hotel has seen better days and there was little attention to the details. The rooms smelled of mould and the alternative would have been to open the windows - and let the sulphur gas in. But hey, after some hours of sleep, the distribution of gas masks and a trip to the beach everything looks different. The beach was full of black pebbles (resent research has calculated the number of pebbles as 8,601,767,493 in the top 10 cm layer). The water was just warm enough (for Brits and Germans) and we re-enacted a famous scene from a James Bond movie. Just wonderful.

And our impression of Miyakejima started to soften. The day then continued with the first race of the weekend, a 3.6 km 150 m elevation difference "hill climb". After successfully conquering Fuji, Wada Toge and Jerome's hill this year, that seemed to be a piece of cake. I met Stephen at the start who stayed and slept at the hotel. David and Juliane didn't make it back in time to the start (David because I told him a wrong starting time and Juliane wasn't interested too much) so we were the only Positivo members to attend.

The start was by class and race number and in 15 second intervals, so I was the first starter in the D class field and Stephen the last one. Miyakejima is somehow hilly. There are no big heights to conquer but there is constant up and down. The hill climb started with a flat piece of road, wonderful to accelerate and I almost made up the distance to the last starter of the C class field. I was soooo fast. Hey, that's how hill climbing is supposed to be, I said to myself. Unfortunately I got immediately very much slower once the slope started. I never saw the C class rider again. The next 1.6 km consisted of a 8 - 10% slope which brought me almost to my knees. I was never in danger of giving up, but my speed dropped to 10 - 15 km/hr. There was a flat part after that where I could accelerate and the remaining portion was 4 - 6% thereafter, so I could go faster. But I had no orientation where I was in relation to the goal, so I could not make an all-out attack towards the goal line on the last meters as the goal was behind a curve. One more D class rider overtook me.

At the goal I waited for Stephen to arrive and also Juliane and david just made it back from the beach to watch the last groups of riders coming up. In the end I made a respectable 77th place out of 110 riders in the overall standing and an excellent 8th place in the D class. There was even an Irish rider finishing behind me. Later I checked my CICLO data, I had an average speed of more than 20 km/hr, was running at constantly more than 300 Watt and rode up at 14 m/min. This is pretty good, compared to Fuji HC ad other tours, even faster than Jerome hill which is a similar ride.

Anyway, as usual, I could have done better but overall I wasn't too unhappy. Sometimes I feel like Mario Basler (aka as Mr. 85%), a German soccer player who constantly said over the full 15 years of his entire professional career and after virtually every game: "I am still only at 85% of my potential performance."
On top of the hill a group of unfriendly policemen, fully equipped with ceremonial riot sticks ("Gewabo" = Gewalt [German for brute force] + Bo [Stick]) rounded the unruly pack of riders and forced them to descent in one big group. Being the uncooperative foreigners, Juliane managed to have a mechanical on which grounds we successfully managed to escape.

Enjoying mechanical problems

It took four adults considerable time and effort to fix a front wheel flat. This time we had a) a pump b) spare cartridges c) offered prayers to the various deities of the roadside. But we manged to rip off a valve from the first exchange tube. And luckily d) we had another exchange tube.

We skipped all of the official entertainment program, although "Le girl" Enka singing and "360 degree monkeys" comedy shows are not only events which should definitely be missed but also to be listed in the appropriate annex of the Geneva convention. Instead we opted for the local Onsen which was still empty of riders, followed by a very tasty dinner at hotel mildew. David was excited all day long whether it would be possible to get some dishes of fish and rice and believe it or not, that was exactly what was being served.

While Juliane and David fought with giant anacondas and mothers in cars full of dogs in their sleep respectively, Stephen and me went to the local bar where the local misfits gathered and were being served by a girl having the approximate body shape of sponge bob plus half visible tattoos at various locations.

After a good night of sleep, all Positivo members went to the race track where we checked out the course and made some training laps. The track has not too many flat parts. There is an ascent after the start, followed by a long and more or less straight descent followed by a crazy ascent to the start line again, all in all 2.5 km long. We were pretty impressed that such course is possible, having expected something more nicely flat. So while we were previously discussing our race strategies, for example when to break away from the field, we were now quietly considering our options how to get out without loosing face. One proposal was to raise hands in victory one lap before the actual finish, getting congratulated by Juliane and quickly leaving the place before the real winners arrive.
Anyway, we didn't had to think too long, because before too long an announcement was made and the race was cancelled. Too much poison gas was coming from the volcano and we were kindly asked to wear our gas masks during training. Sad. Despite what we have thought previously we were all very disappointed not being able to race.

But the Positivo Espresso team is always good for new ideas. So we started immediately to compensate for the loss of cycling time by making one tour around the island. Actually this is a lot of nasty up and down and as we were going very fast, we were pretty exhausted when we arrived at the black pebble beach again. In total it took us 1:14 hr to make one full circle around the island, which is about 32 km.

After that we had another splash in the local Onsen, packed our bags and left for the port. I have to say I was quite moved by the departure ceremony as we threw long paper ribbons from the ship towards the pier which tangled up in a big colorful mess. Suddenly everybody seemed so friendly and warm-hearted. Even the policemen waved us good bye.
So when we arrived back in Tokyo after spending the whole ship journey on the upperdeck (meaning, no bulkheads in our way and no deckheads above our heads) looking at the seascape on star, after, port and foreboard, our opinion of Miyakejima has significantly changed.

When we arrived in the first place we were excepting a group of zombies trying to stop our bus or at least giant mutant mango turtles hunting after us. When we departed we all had respect for the island and its inhabitants facing the fate that has been dictated by natural forces. It's not an easy life down there, but nevertheless we encountered many friendly and helpful people. This memories will stay, while those of zombies, anacondas, mildew and cars full of dogs will vanish like the smell of sulphur is earased by the inshore winds of the sea.

david pointing in the direction of starport or so.
Julianes legs after sulphuric mutation.My shoes in the appropriate place.Checking for survivors.
David after his right leg has accidentially been exposed to sulphur gas.

NFCC Article on the website of the French Chamber of Trade and Commerce in Japan

For those of us who are able to understand French, an article about the NFCC team has been released on the website of the French Chamber, including a photo from the recent photo session at the Peugeot dealership in Meguro.

Mais aussi...
NFCC, l’équipe de cyclisme franco-japonaise
Team NFCC - Peugeot - Calyon

Le club NFCC joue la carte des relations franco-japonaises. Force est de constater que les équipiers enchaînent les places sur le podium. La structure se professionalise. Vous trouverez ci-dessous la carte d’identité de cette équipe soutenue par Peugeot Citroën Japon et Calyon Japan

Calyon Japan et Peugeot Citroën Japon suivent le projet avec intérêt :

Patrice Couvegnes
Senior Country Officer and General Manager
CALYON JAPAN

« En l’année du 150e anniversaire des relations Franco-japonaises, la filiale du Groupe Crédit Agricole au Japon CALYON a décidé de sponsoriser la jeune équipe franco-japonaise de cyclistes et de triathlètes du NFCC Peugeot-Calyon. Un certain nombre de collaborateurs Français et Japonais du groupe ont d’ailleurs participé ensemble à différents événements sportifs cette année et les résultats sont très déjà encourageants. En plus des médailles et podiums déjà remportés par l’équipe, il s’est crée une dynamique très positive autour de ce projet. »

Philippe-Jean Lafond,
Directeur Marketing de
PEUGEOT CITROEN JAPON

« Notre partenariat est dû au fait que la marque et les vélos Peugeot sont très connus au Japon. Il nous a donc semble naturel de soutenir une équipe cycliste franco-japonaise dont le projet coincide avec le 150e anniversaire des relations entre la France et le Japon. »

Le club est divisé en plusieurs sections :
Section Cyclistes Elite qui participe à la JBCF (All Japan Businessman Cycling Federation)
Section Cyclistes Hill Climb et autres courses
Section Triathlon

Les 3 meilleurs résultats engrangés par les équipiers :
Mai 2008 :
Course de montée de Aizu, Fukushima - Victoire en catégorie C
Course d’attente du Tour of Japan - Victoire et troisième place en catégorie B

Plusieurs places dans les 10 premiers ont été récoltées par dans l’ensemble des trois sections depuis le mois de février.

La répartition de l’effectif est de 65% de Francais - Francophone, 30% de Japonais et 5% d’autre nationalité.

[Note: "65% of the team members are French, 30% are Japanese and 5% are from other nationalities. I would like to point out however, that the town where I was born has been frequently occupied by French troops during the recent 1.000 years or so]

Présentation de 3 membres :

Coureur JBCF Elite :
Kenichi Akitsu, Japonais, 33 ans, postier A couru en Italie pendant 2 ans et en France pendant 4 ans au niveau national et régional.

Coureur Cycliste « Hill Climb » :
Goro Akiyama, Japonais, 31 ans, salarié Il est le premier Japonais à avoir rejoint l’équipe en Janvier 2007 et ses talents de grimpeur ont permis à l’équipe de décrocher trois podium depuis le début de la saison.

Coureur Triathlon : Eric Hermand, Français, 32 ans, instituteur Il est un des triathlètes disposant d’un potentiel de performance important. Actuellement, il prépare la course d’élite Ironman d’Allemagne qui se déroule en juillet.

Projet de l’équipe pour 2009

En 2009, une équipe élite de 8 - 10 coureurs va être mise en place avec l’arrivée de nouveaux coureurs francophones notamment un québécois déjà champion du Canada sur piste - 4 kms poursuite par équipe en 2002 et 2e au championnat du Canada sur route en classe Master, et de nouveaux coureurs Japonais, avec pour but de participer à toutes les manches de cuircuit japonais, de participer à deux courses UCI notamment le Tour de Kumano en mai 2009 et de présenter un coureur japonais au Championnat national du Japon sur route en 2009. Les autres sections de club représenteront le club dans l’ensemble des épreuves cycliste et triathlon au Japon.

SITE INTERNET : http://www.teamnfcc-peugeot-calyon.com Contact : Stephan FOREST, stef.forest@gmail.com