Tom: Right and Wrong

Ok, where shall I start? Well I did the first ride on my new home trainer on Friday evening for about 30 minutes. And I noticed two things: I use to much energy to make my bike move from right to left, i am just not pedaling smooth enough. What can be done, any ideas guys are similar experience when you are riding on a home trainer?

Then, when I went after the training to take a shower I noticed that something seems strange with my ellbow. Hm, all violet and yellow. Probably something has built up inside after the crash in Saiko in November and now suddenly bursted, can't think of any other accident I had with my ellbow recently.
This is really the disadvantage of getting older, it just takes so much longer until wounds heal and one recovers from this and that. And the other disadvantage is that one constantly would like to talk about one health problem and share them with other people. I know this from my grand parents, my parents and finally I have also reached the age to start the same thing.
My apologies.

So I started late this morning and left the house at 11 AM. Tom is right here. Instead of going fast along the Tamagawa I tried to stay concentrated and stay in a 150er pulse range with 80 rpm cadence. This went very well until I met a fast guy at the Tamagawa who overtook me. I just couldn' hold myself back and I chased after him. He was really fast - but I knew all the shortcuts along the road so we made it together until shortly after Y park where he made a stop. I crossed over the Tamagawa some bridges later and continued on the velosoph country road to Itsukaichi. I saw Tom coming back on the other side shouting "Michael", so I stopped. But he didn't, so I went on as well.

I was checking out my new Assos gear: Robocap was pretty warm and is well fixed, also the new shoe covers and the early winter gloves. I had one undershirt, one thick full arm jersey and over that another Assos Windblocker. I was feeling pretty warm. Also I bought a new Giro Atmos helmet at Friends last week. Really lost my trust in the old one.

I came to Itsukaichi station and instead of going right to Jerome hill what Tom was suspecting, I went left and made a break at the 7-Eleven because I was finally running out of energy. I got one sweet and one chocolate as service and then I continue to go along the road until I came to the Honjuku crossing. I started my timer and then to attack the Tominnomura TT. Almost immediately after Honjuku, still at elevation 250m or so, the first patches of snow appeared on the sides of the road. I continued to go and tried to restrain myself not to use all power in the lower reaches of the approach. It was getting colder and colder and there was more and more snow to see. At elevation 700 m the first patches of ice where visible on the road and it was now only 1 degree plus. I would have turned back, but I was even more afraid of going down on the icy road so I kept going up. At the deserted tollstation at elevation 900 m I took a break as I was really pumped out. To early in the season to go up in one stretch I thought.

So after a short break I continued to go up and the next curves very really full of icy patches, even the cars where going slow. Didn't saw a single bicycle going up and down all the way from Itsukaichi and even only a few bikes. Luckily not so many cars as well, but there were some Mazda and BMW roadsters with removed tops.

Basically it was just me, "Mutterseelenallein" or "moi tout seule". I write this for my new teammates from the NFCC.
So I passed another construction site just before Tominomura. There were at least three I recall, perhaps even four but it is coming close to the end of the fiscal year and allocated budgets must be spend. It is really crazy, close to the Honjuku intersection there is this huge new bridge construction which is completely useless. Unless it make sense to cut 100 - 200 m on a road which is leading anywhere to nowhere and where the living population is anyway in average 60 years plus and will be completely vanished in 20 years to come.

And close to Tominnomura another slope work construction site. Really, I hate three things from the construction industry in Japan: a) slopeworks b) costal defenses c) river dykes. Ok, and basically everything what Mori Building did. Why can things not be let in their natural shape, even if there is a slight risk that some minor disaster happens in some super remote part of the country.

As you can already understand from this I was not in the best of all moods and I just tried to reach Tominnomura. I took one more break to make a nice picture of me with all the snow in the background

I tried to pretend that I am having fun, hope that I could fool all of you. And then finally I was there. I looked at my watch: 1:27:01 hm, not good but at least a first time for the toge no baka. So Tom, this is where you were wrong.

A lot of cars, but no motorcycles and no bicycles. Bought a cafe and looked around but I was getting cold. The Assos gloves are not warm for 0 degrees and alsomy feets were freezing cold. But who I am to complain! Just as I was freezing I saw a young women with skintight high heels and miniskirt going hiking with her boyfriend. Only those of us who spend 12 winters in mini skirted school uniforms can do this kind of things without complains. I am not one of them.
Then after having a hot coffee I decided to go back to Itsukaichi. No way that I would make it in time before the darkness to Ome and there were all this warnings about ice on the road on the Okutama side of the Kazahari. So I descended. Very slowly. This must have been the slowest descent ever from Kazahari I did. David Litt would have probably died laughing if he would have seen me. I was so slow and it was so cold.

Anyway, I somehow made it to Itsukaichi where I backed my bike in the bag and took the train home. I was really done and I am just waiting to finish this blog to take a hot shower.

I guess I must intensify training nevertheless, the first JCRC race for this year is already scheduled for March 16th in Kawagoe.　Anybody interested to join me?