Positivo B Squad Sunday Tour de Okutama

NB. above, the Mob 'it's just 500m' spike of folly...



Click either of the above for more interactive detail.



Aurore Bakery, Ome Station, Positivo approved.

The 'B' Squad (James, Graham & Little 'M') conquered Kazuhari and completed 140km with 1400m climbing, on the day. An excellent day out.

'A' Squad ride report to follow...

Disoriented

Lately I was thinking about riding a cycling guide for the greater Kanto area. I thought about it, when I was in a train riding home and it seems to took forever. This is a commonly observed phenomena, in particular when one is travelling in the opposite direction of where one wants to go.

After changing the trains I thought if I would really by the appropriate person to write such a book? More doubts came yesterday. The weather was as good as it can be during the rainy season and after arriving relatively late at Nakayama station I took the train out to Hachioji, this time in the right direction. After a few junk miles within Hachioji I found myself behind a Japanese rider with an ugly OAKLEY jersey who was going fast on the flat in direction Takaoguchi. He even rode free handed so I thought, if this is the competition it might be interesting to race up to Otarumi.

With fresh legs I stayed behind the guy and watched his leg muscles at work. They didn't seem sooooo impressive. And right, just when the road started to have a little bit of a slope he started to struggle at 25 km/hr, going slower to 23 km/hr. Strategically it is better to wait longer behind him until he is complete exhausted by my presence, but I felt confident enough to go ahead. So I accelerated to 30 km/hr, flew by and within seconds I had laid quite some distance between us.

Now the bad thing about doing this kind of manly, competitive riding is that if you do not have the self confidence that you are really, really superior, you are getting really, really worried and start to look over your shoulder, which is very, very uncool.

I am still lacking stamina and when my speed dropped to 15 km/hr at the higher part I got worried. But in the end I made it up in 14:25 min which is not such a bad time for me and which deserved a toge baka entry. Done.

I immediately descended on route 20 which was awful as usual and then took a turn at Fujino station in direction Wada, Tawa, Tsuru and Kobu. My plan at this point in time was to do a re-run of a terrible ride I did with Tom, Laurent and Nishibe during a time of extreme summer heat last year.

Last year the idea was to leisurely ride out to Ensan on Saturday, play with snowwhite at her bar, take a good nap and tackle Odarumi Toge the following day.

It was the idea of Tom to avoid some of the busy streets and add some more spice to the ride out, so that's why we went over Wada, Tawa, Tsuru und Imagawa Toge before arriving at the climb for Yanagizawa Toge. On which point I returned home, completely exhausted. I never went to Odarumi, something I still have to make up for.

Anyway, so I was planing to do Tawa and Tsuru first, also because David is constantly telling that this is such a nice ride. I have been there only in winter and my memories are somewhat different, so I wanted to check it out again.

So I was climbing up through the bloody golf course hills of Uenohara, a climb I doesn't like at all and then the landscape got nicer and I thought, "Hm, David is right after all". And then I arrived at Kobu Tunnel.

Which is very, very wrong, because this is the way to Kazahari Toge or the return to Itsukaichi. I have missed a crossing further down and I was pondering whether I should ride back or if I should just continue my trip but substitute Tawa and Tsuru with Kazahari. This would add some more climbing meters to the plan but would surely be the manly thing to do. So I went for this option and slowly I made my way up to Tomin no Mori.

Where I had a nice conversation with an elderly motorcycle rider who has ridden on his bike all the roads we want to go : Odarumi, Mikuni, 76 to Tanzawa-Ko, Kami Hikawa, Sasago ... we could exchange some information.

The ride down from Kazahari was perfect, on weekdays there is not that much traffic on the road and the road itself is now in perfect shape. It was easy to go beyond the magic 60 km/hr mark.

Then I continued along road 411 to climb up to Yanagizawa. And I arrived at the entrance to Matsuhime Toge. Again I have missed a turn and took the wrong road. Surely it was now time to abandon the original plan and return home either via Matsuhime or Ome. But I could not get used to the thought so I decided to climb up to Imagawa Toge and take the "shortcut" back to route 411.

Imagawa Toge is hard, especially if you have a speedy Otarumi, Kobu Tunnel and Kazahari already in your legs. Some stretches are really steep. Still in my memory from the ride last year I remember Laurent who didn't wanted to demount his bike and was desperately clinching to a lamp post along the road with both hands.

But I made it somehow up to the final elevation of almost 1.000 m although I was awfully slow (I would require a lighter speed vest with one digit). And when I returned to road 411 it was already late and I had no food as I didn't bought anything since Otarumi but I thought, OK, now up Yanagizawa because otherwise you can not write something on the blog.

So I rode up Yanagizawa which is long, long, long and long. Also on this road to nowhere there are some new tunnel constructions or abandoned constructions. And after a very long ride I finally arrived at the top after 5 PM. Somehow My stomach was empty and I also ran out of water but the last 300 meters I was climbing faster than up on Kazahari. Strange.

The restaurant or shop at the top of Yanagizawa was closed. That was very bad news, because I needed food and water. And also the weather was completely different on the other side of the pass: Thick mist, maximum visibility perhaps 50 meters, bridges leading to nowhere in the clouds. A surrealistic run down.

i also checked out the entrance to the Kamihikawa Toge road but I was not stupid enough to add this one to my list of achievements.

And so I arrived at Enzan.Almost 2.900 meters of climbing but only 120 km of distance as I cut out all the junk miles at the start and at the end. Six hours on the bike, almost no longer breaks.

Still a mystery to my why I was so confused with the directions. Was the train trip the day before some kind of divine hint that I should be more careful. That was, what I was thinking going back on the train to Yokohama. Next to me was a blond gaijin woman sitting. I am pretty sure I saw her at the Russian embassy when I was visiting Thierry there.

Speed Vest

Interesting. Is it also available with three digits?

http://speedvest.com/

TCC - Positivo Espresso training

Teamed up with Philip of the TCC to complete a 222km loop taking me to known destinations but in a combination which was new to me: the Tsuru valley up from Uenohara, Suzugane up from Sarubashi (and without walking through endless snow), a pretty hilly link between 35 and 412. We went at relatively fast pace - average of just over 25km/h plus a total of two hours of stops in altogether 11 hours away from home.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/jp/kanto/658124680172362409

Kawasaki Pista Track

Hiroshi kindly invited me over to the Keirin Track Training today in Kawasaki. I was late and the start was rather unusual.

As I left home in a hurry I had no time to take a look at a map and find out the precise location of the Kawasaki Keirin Track called URBAN BANK. I have been there in January and I thought that I would find it easily, but I found myself wandering aimlessly around before I could find a map. Ah, there it was, the characteristic oval on the map, just a couple of corners away .... and there I was at the entrance and between the track and me was only an older guard man. Who refused to let me in. I insisted. I explained that the club of my friends was training inside. I strongly pointed out that I need to go in now. He didn't budged. I said:

"Look, I have been riding with the club there on my bike already in January!" "On the horse track?"

Oh. One look at the signpost at the gate and I had to admit that he was right, I didn't rode to the Keirin track but to the nearby horse racing (keiba) track.

So I was very late for the training.

Hiroshi was already there and in good mood. We rode some laps at low speed, then went up and down the banks until we gathered a group of five riders and started to draft around the track. The speed was picking up and after a while we have lost almost all riders. There was a group of three left and Hiroshi was already pulling his third lap in the front when I had to give up as well.

There were some obvious reasons for this:

a) a strong headwind on the finishing straight
b) my legs were still tired from
1) The Hitachi Naka Four Hour Endurance Race
2) My venture up Dosaka some days ago
3) Playing squash the day before
c) neither Hiroshi nor anyone of his friends provides adequate draft for me while
d) I provide draft for a line of riders which would stretch almost over one lap.


After that we took some more slow laps, I tried some more high banks and fast runs and then we did some other fast laps but I couldn't outdo Hiroshi today. But I will train hard.

I did maybe 80 km on the track today but my legs are extremely tired afterwards. When I went on the scale at home afterwards I was finally below 90 kg for the first time since ...I don't know....and as a non-smoker perhaps for a first time since 1994 (When I was working in China. There were no cigarettes available except for some very nasty varieties and there was almost no edible food there as well.)

I like the track riding very much. I really have to make an effort to follow Hiroshi and I feel that I am getting stronger by riding hard. This has probably a better effect on my body than some of the longer trips.

Thank you Hiroshi for taking me there. we also spoke about a road which branches off from the (Sagamiko) descent of Otarumi Toge and goes first to a place called Bijotani (Valley of the beautiful women) and then further on to the backside of Wada Toge. Must go there.

So I am now very tempted to apply for the JCRC "Try the bank" event in Omiya in August. Anybody interested to join me?

Photos courtesy of Hiroshi. I tried to rotate them into correct position but in vain. Please note that my new Positivo Espresso bib shorts are still in the washing machine. I have to speak a serious word with my better half.


UPDATE. I rotated them for you.. Jimmy Shin.

Sunday training

130km, 1000m, 25km/h, overcast but muggy, not too shabby at all.

• 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: