• Carbon fiber reinforced frame
  
  
• Kevlar track wheel
  
  
• UCI compliant center cut out
  
  
• 30% less weight than conventional design
  
  
• 50% less aerodynamic resistance
  
  
• 90 % less rolling resistance on average terrain
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Of course in Orange. My mouse.

Transalp - The Finish

We are done! A great last stage on the 4th of July. Crossing the finish line:

... we actually had a relaxed evening strolling the shores of Lago di Garda, eating ice cream (for protein), attending the award ceremony (where jerome enjoyed much time with champions Roux and Mestre) and we got our coveted 2009 finisher jerseys. We even got to meet Siegfried and Brunhilda (whose mother's name, as it would happen, is Brunhilda) - photos to come with the full report.

Links:
Before the Start
More before the Start
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6

The press release:

PM_Lueckentext Positivo Espresso

The final photos:

Celebration by the Lake:


The traditional Positivo Espresso ice cream shop/cafe in Riva di Garda (do not dare stop anywhere else):


Jerome's version of the road racing cyclist's gaunt cheeks:


The Closing Ceremony/Presentation/Dinner (PLEASE click on this photo to see a larger image -- much more impressive):

Jerome explains his "turtle" climbing style to the Masters champion Messr. Roux and the French Connection team:

David, via Juliane, gets to meet Siegfried (aka Jorg Ludewig) and Brunhilda (aka Claudia Frank). ... who took second place in the Mixed category.

... and a second photo as they share an intimate moment ...

The French champions rest their caps on top of the Masters trophies:

... and we pose for the adoring fans after collecting our coveted "Finisher" jerseys:

An idea

Flipping through the back pages of the Positivo Espresso blog, I believe that we have now a quite impressive collection of roads and climbs in the greater Tokyo area and I wonder if it would be possible to publish them as a book. Clearly, Tokyo is not exactly first choice when it comes to the target selection for the next cycle holidays but still I feel that there are many people out who want to escape from the city on the bike and make day trips without too much hassle.

I thought about a structure with some general introduction to Japan, some information about Tokyo, cycling in Japan and general tips and hints, followed by a selection of routes we have taken in the past with maps or mapmyride links. The idea is to have them as connected modules, so you can add modules together and devise your own ride.

This is what I was doing when I rode out yesterday :

Module : Hashimoto Station - Tsukui Ko North road - Doshi Michi Entry at Mikabi

Module : Doshi Michi entry Mikabi - Doshi Route 76 Crossing at Aone

Module : Route 76 Aone - Route 35/76 Crossing

Module : Route 35 / 76 Crossing to Road 139

Module : Route 130 - Dosaka Pass - Doshi Michi

.... and so on.

Any idea how to tackle such a project and who would be interested in publishing this? Of course for me alone that would be too much of a task, any interest to join?

Dictionary of contemporary cycling phrases

From the TCC site adapted from http://amateurtrigirl.blogspot.com/

I'm out of shape"

Translation: I ride 400 miles a week and haven't missed a day since the Meiji period. I replace my 11-tooth cog more often than you wash your shorts. My body fat percentage is lower than your mortgage rate.

"I'm not into competition. I'm just riding to stay in shape"

Translation: I will attack until you collapse in the gutter, babbling and whimpering. I will win the line sprint if I have to force you into oncoming traffic. I will crest this hill first if I have to grab your seat post and spray Pocari Sweat in your eyes.

"I'm on my beater bike"

Translation: I had this baby custom-made in Tuscany using composites blessed by the Pope. I took it to a wind tunnel and it disappeared. It weighs less than a fart and costs more than a divorce.

"It's not that hilly"

Translation: This climb lasts longer than a tea ceremony. Be careful on the steep sections or you'll fall over -- backward. You have a 39x23 low gear? Here's the name of my knee surgeon.

"This is a no-drop ride"

Translation: I'll need an article of your clothing for the search-and- rescue dogs.

"It's not that far"

Translation: Bring your passport

"We should be back before it gets dark"

Translation: Check on your life insurance policy and leave a parting note to your loved ones。

Any typical Positivo Espresso phrases you would like to add?

"We are taking regular food supply breaks"

Translation: Don't even dare to stop at any other shop than a 7-eleven. Even when riding the Transalp.

"Sure it's OK for newcomers to join us on a ride out in the mountains."

Translation: You are lured into the moutains and left in a place from where you have no idea how to ride home. One of the newcomers, Paul Jason changed bis phone number and e-mail address after the ride. You might want to consider to do the same before.

"This is the last hill."

Translation: Expect at least five similar climbs on the remainder of the ride, although unless the speaker has a very short memory, is intentionally misleading you, or just has a warped sense of perception, each upward slope can be somehow distinguished from that "last hill", as follows:


--you do not actually go over a "pass" before heading downward again;
--the steep part is only a few kilometers long;
--it is not a hill, just a series of "steep rollers" stacked near each other, so even though you climb a thousand meters with a 10%+ average grade, you end up only 150 meters higher than you started, etc., etc.

But the most likely explanations are that the speaker is intentionally misleading you, if a racer, or suffering from warped perception, if a long or ultra-long distance cyclist.

Horrors of the Transalp - Day 6

This was the big day. Third and last of the "major" passes (Passo di Gavia - just over 2600 meters elevation) this trip, 3770 meters of climbing and 181 km distance. Our strategy was to attack from the beginning to end.

• Passo d'Eira
• Passo Foscagno
• Passo di Gavia
• Passo Tonale and
  
• Passo di Mendola ("Mendelpass" in German).

David J and Juliane were 69th place today in the mixed group. Siegfried and Brunhilda lost another 10 minutes.

Jerome and I had our best stage finish - 156th place. We are now 162 out of 179 in the Masters general classification, up from 166. Messrs Dupont and Dumond (actually Messrs. Roux and Mestre) retook the lead of the Masters category.

Highlights of the day's ride --

1. I was actually up the first two passes and Gavia with Juliana and David J and a few minutes ahead of Jerome ... a new experience for me this trip. Juliana says I am her hero, hauling 98 kgs up those hills! Maybe it was due to the leg stretching I did at the starting area:
   
   ... or maybe it was a result of raising my seatpost a few millimeters so that I could sit back and spin more smoothly on the steeper slopes?
   Rickard Lindkvist poses for a photo with the Positivo Espresso team, as the three chat about the day's upcoming "Queen Stage" of the race:
   
   Leaving Livigno:
   
   
2. Jerome the monster climber appeared on Passo Tonale.
   
   
3. Jerome and I pulled a train along a long flat stretch after Tonale. Eventually a tandem (not officially in the event but riding passed our group and motioned for riders to draft off of them. I jumped at the opportunity, as did a rider named Andre. We had a very fast ride the rest of the way down the valley.
   
   
4. Gavia was less spectacular to look at on the climb than Stelvio, but offered a 3-4 km flat section on top -- like another world. The descent was ridiculous -- narrow road, hairpins, -16% grade at spots, construction, potholes, and traffic coming up at us.

Mission ... almost accomplished.

P.S. Transalp camp in Kaltern, another gymnasium, has no hot water in the showers. The sleeping quarters, however, are very hot, and without apparent ventilation. So we took our camp to the graffiti-covered back porch. Jerome started to sleep out under some trees, until the ants came. Then he moved to the top of the concrete ping pong table (right side of photo), but was able to take over a spot from another sleeper next to David J. (left side of photo) when David J.'s snoring drove a stranger to seek indoor accommodations in the middle of the night. This is what it looked like at 6:30AM, when everyone else had already started to pack up for the day:

Daily Transalp DAY 5

Dinner in Livigno.

Today's report: Day 5 - 3550 meters of climbing, starting in the morning from 550 meters elevation and going up the Stelvio to 2758 meters over 60 km. We survived. David J and Juliane completed the stage in 7:11. Jerome and I were around 7:50, too close to the 8 hour cut off. My rear tubular tire sidewall started to separate on the approach to Stelvio, and there was no support vehicle or mechanic in sight, so I climbed with it, still rideable, figuring I would either find a support vehicle, change it at the pass before the dangerous descent, or earlier if it flatted. It went "pop" or more like a "boom" at 1900 meters, and I was able to change it and go again after losing 10-15 minutes. Jerome went ahead, hoping to find a support vehicle, and waited for me at the top. Stelvio was spectacular, breathtaking, even a bit vertigo inducing! Caught in the rain on Stelvio: I saw the intense German guy who criticized my cheap tubular that first evening in Sonthofen, told him my story and admitted that he was right! We had good discussion about tubulars. Of course, Continental (the German brand) is good. Juliane agrees. The tire episode put us deep into the back group of stragglers. We descended stelvio safely and arrived at the second rest area (still no mechanics) just as they were starting to take down the flags. The second group of passes (Foscagno and the d'Eira) was much easier, only 7-8% grade most of the way, 1000 meters elevation gain, so just a little more than matsuhime from the south side or hakone. A cool rain fell that, as usual, turned Jerome into a monster climber. I lost Jerome about 1/2 way and he climbed at 12-15 kph to the top, while I pushed on at 10-11 kph, both of us passing people and clawing our way back through the bottom of the rankings. He again waited at the top (of Foscagno), and after a little descent in the cold rain of 2300 meters elevation, we got the surprising pleasure of another climb of unknown height--just to add to the pressure of whether we would make the cutoff time or lose an hour. Jerome, still stronger, was 100+ meters ahead at the top and kept ahead on the descent to the finish. In livigno, the finish was set up oddly after a left turn onto a steep side street. I got stuck behind a car at a red light and then was waved onto the steep slope, and tried to shift into an appropriate gear. My chain got stuck, and I needed to dismount, fix it, then ride up the 50 meters to the finish line for my time. Fortunately very few people were waiting or watching, in the rain. Newsflash : Siegfried and Brunhilda are now 10 minutes back in the Mixed category GC. They lost a lot of time over the Stelvio. Stage 6 should be exciting! Looking down the valley from Livigno (a large ski town and duty free capital in a meadow at elevation 1850 meters): The new Positivo Espresso Slogan :

"Die Strasse bleibt die Strasse" "The road is the road." It takes us up. It takes is down. It has an end.

Transalp Chronicles - Day 4

On the Timmelsjoch:





Stage 4 in the books, and we went over our first BIG alpine pass - Timmelsjoch, at 2509 meters elevation - and into Italy/delightful Sud-Tirol with apple orchards and vineyards, ending up at the delightful town of Naturns. Why is everything written in German here? Is this where MOB's relatives live?

The Positivo Espresso UK team finished 71 out of 90 mixed teams in 4:13. The leading Mixed team, Lightweight Wheels' sponsored team #4 of Jorg Ludewig and Claudia Frank (known to their fans as Siegfried and Brunhilda) seems to be in some trouble, with the #2 team closing in. Some of you may remember Ludewig from his career with Team Telecom and many pro appearances.

The main Japan team finished 165 out of 179 "Masters" teams, and first among teams appearing from Japan in this year's Transalp. The French still lead the Masters category. As usual, Jerome started slow but passed David 85% of the way up the climb, and pulled the team (and other hangers on) on the flat stretch near the finish. One of the hangers on, a German woman, sat on our wheel for 3 km and then zipped around us to finish ahead. Jerome was not happy -- despite a "thank you" in our general direction.
Jerome cools off at the finish and one of the aid stations:



Tomorrow and Friday separate the men from the boys (and the women from the girls). Real mammoth stages -- we start 800 meters lower than this morning and climb 250 higher. Then down and up more passes.



By the way, the other couple in this photo are a brazilian man and his german wife. She was not happy the first day, said he was riding too fast ... but seems to have recovered. Their team time today was close to 3:30.

We had a very nice after dinner stroll up the hillside to the Falkenstein for "second dinner" -- or in my case a simple dessert of vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce (and some extra chocolate sauce also) ... that translates from the German as "hot love."

Greetings from Transalp Camp

Transalp camp -- as close as Jerome and I are ever going to get to the Olympic Village.

Another sports center in another Austrian ski town - Solden. Men and women, no privacy, changing clothes, applying cream to one's sensitive parts, giving each other massages, sleeping on camp mattresses. A guy near us has electrodes attached to his leg muscles, hooked up to a portable machine. His legs are twitching unnaturally as he lies on his back, eyes closed.

Yesterday, there was a guy near us whose crew cut/mullet style hair was dyed reddish orange, with a plaster cast on his right wrist. When we went out to dinner, he had been standing around in nothing but his thong underpants for at least 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure I saw his orange hair at dinner, but I thought it was amusing that when we got back from an after dinner ice cream and wine stop at a cafe, he was ... standing back in the same place, again in nothing but the thong.

Tonight it is hot in the camp -- people are sleeping on top of their sleeping bags/sheets, wearing only underpants.

We went out for dinner - skipped the "pasta party." Back after lights out so no time for a full report on the ride. There was a beautiful view of an Alp up the valley from Solden (we head out this way in the morning, bearing left at some point and up the Timmelsjoch):


At least we were climbing better, on ridiculously steep sections of the Pillerhohe -- lots of 12, 13, 15 and even 18-19% grade. Many got off and walked. I did not ... though I did stop briefly for some photos. (Walking was probably the smart way to save energy for later in the day). The Positivo Espresso "orange bullet train" is becoming well known in Europe as well as Asia.

Climbing the Pillerhohe:




Best, David

PS. At the finish of the race in Arco, Italy 4 days later, the family of orange hair/broken wrist/thong guy showed up. ... and they looked like an incredibly normal group of people. The thong guy embraced someone who is likely his wife, and this little kid, who I am guessing is probably his son ... was training for his own future Transalp:

This has nothing to do with cycling

But nevertheless an interesting viewpoint on Japan.

JCRC / TOJ HITACHI NAKA RACE REPORT

After riding for four hours in a peloton of 80 riders I came to the surprising conclusion that by now I must have seen every ass on the road from every possible angle.

Hitachi Naka - one of my favourite races in Japan. Why? It is almost flat (data shows 140 meter of climbing after 165 km or racing) and it has no difficult curves to maneuver. Brute power, good positioning and sprinting is all that counts. The track is an oval NASCAR like 5 km car testing track close to Mito. For the fine details and differences of racing on an oval as opposed to a circular track please check here.
Ludwig and me started early in the morning as he was attending the D class race together with Peter and Phil from the TCC. Early start and six laps in the peloton. Phil was most easy to spot as he was sticking out from the group like asparagus in a paddy field.In the second last lap Ludwig sprinted for first place across the line and made second place which nevertheless entitled him for some special JCRC sho.
In the last lap Peter was finally rewarded for all the hard training he did during the last years and made third place in the mass sprint. Ludwig and Phil opted to stay out of the mess, or started to sprint too early respectively. Anyway Ludwig didn't wanted to finish top six as this would have come with an unwelcome promotion into C class. Results are here (D2).
Where Peter is now. But hey, no problem, a written application for demotion to the JCRC can fix that problem if it ever becomes one.

Just by chance I was filming the finish sprint and kept the epic moment of Peter's triumph for the youtube generation.

Ludwig and Peter were leaving and Phil and me stayed on for the 2 hours (Phil) and four hours individual endurance race that started at noon. My feelings were a little bit mixed, it was the first race of this season, the first one with a barely healed left hand and there have been some crashes in the morning already. Just before the start there was a line of four ambulance cars bringing the wounded back from the front.
Then the start. I was a little bit worried about being dropped by the peloton and we all know too well what that means: A miserable time alone on the track without draft and an even more miserable looking result. So I was on virtually every attack in the front, plus I tried to keep on the right side to avoid crashes which had the negative effect that I got less draft but that was OK.
The pace was at 40 km/hr plus all the time but it was relatively easy to keep up and I could chat with Phil along the way. We pulled up to the front on the right and then slowly fell back until we did it one more time in order not to loose the contact. My pulse was partly in the 140 - 150 band so I thought I could continue to ride like this forever.

On the other hand the field was still nervous and I realised that I made a mistake to join the four hour endurance race rather than the D class. I thought that the enduro would be more Tsukuba style, where the riders are dispersed widely over the track and you need to find small groups of riders of the same speed, hang on to them and then be alone for a while again.

This race was more like being stucked in a high-speed traffic jam with a lot of other cars.
A lot of attention had to be paid to the wheel in front. Some riders were pretty steady in their style and it was easy to draft behind them, others were constantly moving from the left to the right and back again, braking and making other strange moves so I started to shout (in German of course, this is always my language of choice when I get excited and it doesn't add too much insult to my Japanese rider collegeas).

Some of the riders looked very strong and very young. Some of them had disc wheels mounted in the rear which I find an incredible stupid idea. Also I noticed that the noise of gear shifting is amplified by the reverberating surface of the disc wheels and I got shivers as I was thinking that somebody crashed close to me. Yes, I was very nervous.

As I had no particular goals except doing at least 120 km, I offered Phil to pull him to the front for the anticipated mass sprint in the 2 hours category. Actually we were not even sure if the race would stop just before or just after four hours of time - poor preparation as usual. And also we were not aware that the Field Marshall would shortly after our strategy meeting divide the field into two groups, the 2 hour individual and the 4 hour individual and team riders. This was to avoid crashes in the last two laps when everybody gets pretty nervous.

The two hours riders vanished in the distance as we had to follow a motorcycle at 35 km/hr or so for two laps and my pulse was going down in the 110 - 120 band.
Then I saw the mess that was going on in front of us. A big crash over the full width of the track in the 2 hours peloton with many dead and wounded cycles all over the place. Some riders unable to move laying down on the asphalt, the complete four hour peloton stopping in front of them.

I now saw what I have seen many times in Japan and what makes me really, really angry and what I call the "Daijobu excuse".

One teammate of a crashed driver saw his comrade bended down on the road, trying to prevent his guts from falling out of his body (OK, I am making this up to better illustrate my point) and then (naturally) asked: "Yamada-San, daijobu desu ka?". Well, if there was ever a guy farmost located from the center of "daijobu" it was this one. I mean if you see your friend crashing through the windshield of a car you are not going to ask "Oh, David, are you OK?" No, you are going to call an ambulance or try to free him or try whatever is possible to do something, but you do not start a conversation about the finer details of suffering.

So first of all this kind of question doesn't leave very much choice to the person asked but to state "Daijobu desu", even if his left leg is located 10 meters away from the rest of the body. And it is a pure hypocritical question which only serves to give the questioner the moral justification to do nothing and continue along his way.

No matter what, I would stop and do something for my team mate and I hope that the other riders would do the same for me.

And once the peloton starts to move again after the crash, everybody in the front is trying to sprint in order to create a gap and split the group. Disgusting tactics.

So now the two hour race was over and we still were normalized behind the motorcycle for another two laps until bulldozers have cleared the road from the debris of crashed bikes and dead cyclists. Amazingly, when we passed the crash site for the second time, there were still some riders sitting on the grass and trying to deliver encouragements to their teammates "Gambatte!" until they were shoved away by the dozers.

So after 2:30 hours the race was in full heat again and I was starting to feel tired. There were continued attacks to split the group but all of them were doomed except for one when two riders managed to get up to 500 meters in front of the field. I never saw them again, but looking at the results they must have been caught.

I was thinking of giving up after I have reached my 120 km goal already after 3 hours but I could manage to hang on.

By now I seemed to know every ass in the field from every possible angle and I knew all the slogans written on the back side of bib shorts by heart "Chibaponz!", "Alto Piano", "Nalsima fiends" and somehow cryptical "Can you ride for 30 years?".

More attacks were to follow but the field stayed together all in all. When I tried to get to the front again and I was going down the very short and shallow hill on the opposite side of the finish at almost 60 km/hr, I noticed the feeling of cramps in my legs starting. So I decided to play it safe and don't do something stupid.

In the last three laps there were two more crashes but I barely managed to escape them on the right,also thanks to my tactic to stay on the right and in front almost all the time. This took some more riders out of he field, but still there were about 50 riders in the front group.

Ludwig had won some JCRC prize in the D class race as he was second in the second last lap. Actually it looked like two pairs of white socks with JCRC written on it, but it can also have been four traditional Japanese condoms made out of cotton, I am not sure. Naturally I wanted to have them as well so in the second last lap I sprinted for the first place and made it. Great, I was leading the pack after 160 km of distance. Unfortunately there was no price attached to this effort.
And I had no power left in the tank and I was anxious about further crashes after the experience with the 2 hours enduro previously. I let some riders pass and stayed at the right side, with a little bit distance but not too much.

On the final straight I restricted myself to draft behind some other riders who started to sprint too early, then started myself at the Edogawakikomanbush, the point Peter has indicated as the ideal sprinting distance. That worked well and I could overtake some riders but with cramps in my legs the maximum sprinting speed of 48 km/hr was ridiculous. Nevertheless I overtook one of the bad front wheels, a guy with a disc wheel who was constantly going in and out from the group during the race and got on my nerves which gave me immense inner satisfaction.

Results are here, 36th place from 83 riders in the individual class and in a field of 48 riders in the mass sprint. I was pretty satisfied with myself. That was also probably the first time I rode 165 km in four hours.

What would I do better the next time?

I noticed that only 7 teams (as opposed to individual riders) were in front of me at the end. So either I would register as a team and nevertheless do the race on my own or, I would ride the whole race until about 6 laps to go and then I would pass over to a second rider. He would need one lap to catch up with the field, 3 or 4 laps to recover and would than have full power available to make a good fight for the sprint victory. That surely would be a good strategy for a podium.
I was very glad that I did this race. After rather disappointing times in the training I felt confident that I am gaining strength again and also I am now much less nervous about riding in a nervous field of nervous and inexperienced young riders.

Just after the race the ENKA SIRENS started to wail. Mika and Chiharu of the Kuroki Shimai, two female idol sisters who were selected by Nikkan Sports to become the curse of the Tour du Japon　this year and who were frockling around in the area on their mama chari before the race, radiating good mood and "nori ga ii" started their determinate approach to drastically increase acoustic pollution despite Kyoto protocols.
We Germans know all too well what happens if you are listening to female voices while trying to steer a vessel from the old Lorelei legend. "don't" - is our clear answer and I was glad that I didn't heard them during the race. Sometime I was wondering why guys took off their hands from the handle at the finish area, mistakenly I thought that they were celebrating victory, but I know now that it only served the purpose to cover their ears and make it safely through the impact zone of the ENKA SIRENS.

In order to stop the infernal noise heaven resorted to the only available option left; a heavy rain started and I started to drive home.

The Joban expressway to Tokyo was completely clogged and driving four hours and 158 km home in a traffic jam was actually very similar to the distance, time and general feeling I had during the four hour endurance race.

After a while I knew every ass on the road.