2 1/2 hours Freezing in Motegi

After the Ekiden ride on January 2nd, I enjoyed another another 100 km bicycle race at Motegi with some of the TCC guys two days later.

In preparation for this race I did two things: First, I rode up to Hakone on the Ekiden ride which made my legs feel like pudding and would gave me ample excuses for any bad performances on the track. Second, I spend the afternoon before the race at the house of my in-laws in Saitama which is extremely cold (it feels comparatively warm outside of the house) and which should prepare me for the winter hardships of the Japanese countryside.

As I have stayed there also in winter some years ago, I can assure that standing naked in the bathroom and waiting for hot water to come out of the tap can be the coldest experience you might ever have in your life time. The only thing that saved me then was the distraction provided by the set of false teeth of my mother in law in a glass of water (the teeth, not the mother) strategically placed on a cupboard at eye height.

I went straight to Omiya, then by Shinkansen to Oyama and the by Mito line to Shimodate within no time. From there I had to take the Mokaline to Motegi. Oh, you haven't heard of the Moka Line　（真岡鉄道) ? Well it a one-car train, powered by a diesel engine as the tracks are not electrified yet (and they will probably never will) which leave about once an hour from Shimodate station.So I had to wait almost an hour at the station there (amusement provided by a big pachinko parlour in front of it), nothing much else. Oh right, I went shopping for 45 minutes at a 7-Eleven.

Before I could take the train which took another hour to Motegi. The last 15 minutes I was alone in the train, even all country pumpkins have left some stations before.

Phil and Clay picked me up at the station, train stop would be more appropriate and after a quick stop at another 7-Eleven we drove to Hotel Pomodoro where also the other TCC guys had already checked in.

I shared a room with Keith and while watching "Die Hard 4.0" we all planned our race strategy., I didn't listened too carefully as I was constantly amazed by all the wonderful things Bruce Willis can do and how is able to survive in a movie. Although I could help to notice that the shape of his head resembles very much the head of the water turtle we have some bought some months ago.

But I heard constantly the words "try to survive" and "wheelsucking" repeated all over again.

When I woke up the next morning at 6.00 AM it was cold. Outside it was even colder, definitely less than zero degrees. We rode up to Motegi and assembled our gear. And in no time we were lined up at the start line. Phil, Keith, Jessie and Yeap were all there and we took some photos of us shivering. Clay was already leading the race by this time.
Then the race started and I never felt cold again for the reminder of the day. We were not in the front line, but at last within the first 200 riders I guess. And the first two laps were behind a pacmaker and that was crazy as everybody was trying to get to the front and there were a lot of dangerous situations. For the first time I didn't noticed exactly when the pace making car pulled away as the field was still packed and it took time to accelerate and get faster.

Opposed to the seven hour enduro race, one lap is only about 5 km long as the speed oval is not integrated (so no 180 degree hairpins luckily) and in addition the direction is the other way round. So one doesn't have to ride up this steep hill (although the track is basically flat). In the opposite direction the climb is much longer and more gradual. It consists of a (relatively) steep first part, a flatter part in a S curve and a very gradual part until a wide 180 degree hairpin curve.
Now with the speed picking up I stayed within the first group of about 100+ riders for the next 4 laps. I also saw Phil again, first I overtook him, that he overtook me again on a downhill portion of the track. Then we were running up that hill and of course the thing happens that happens every time on hills, which is that a group of about 100 riders went ahead, a gap was created and I found myself in the second fastest group. And of course I felt miserable and I thought to myself, why I am doing this, getting up early in the morning, visiting my in-laws, freezing in the cold, exhausting myself for the rest of the week and and and. So in short, the typical thoughts that run to my head before more endomorhine kicks in, erase the pain, make logical thinking impossible.

So I was in a group with about 20 other riders and after some more laps I recognized the jerseys and we stayed together for the next 5-6 laps when we were overtaken on our lap 11 or 12 by the fast group. That group was still very big.
The speed of my group was not that fast, I could easily keep up and here I made the mistake not to jump on the fast group again. So perhaps I wouldn't have been able to keep their speed but I should have tried at least.

So I continued with my 20 rider group, sometimes taking turns in the front. Amazingly I was faster up the hill then the other guys. I had more momentum on the bottom part, then I was slow at the S surve but had more power on the gradual climb up to the hair needle. So I always lost some places downhill but I made them up on the hill - quite extraordinary given the fact that I have to carry more than 100 kgs up the hill (heavy bike, lead frame with steel wheels) while the average Japanese competitor weights about half of that with his bike.

Then we were overtaken by another fast group which I thought in the beginning was the second fastest group (so we were only the third fastest) but this group couldn't get away from us. So then I realized that they were actually the third fastest group and we were only too slow so that they have caught up with us.

And in this group we stayed until the end. I was feeling much better know and the last six laps I was taking it rather easy on the flat and downhills parts, going no risk while making places good on the hills. Also I saw Keith and Jessie again.

At the final hill I made up some places again, the went fast on the straight and down and sprinted up to the finishing straight. But I have somehow missed the info that the last part was divided into two lanes, the left one for the riders which were still continuing while the right one was for the finishers. So I ended up on the left lane and had to cross over to the right one. Later, when reading the results I realized that I have lost some time there and I came in about 30th in a group of 50 riders. At least I was able to catch the 2nd placed MTB rider shortly before the finish.

Well it could be expected that the competition would be hard as riding out in Motegi in the cold on January 4th is not exactly what people do if they are not really desperate for bike racing.

Interesting enough, Jessie, Yeap, Keith and me came in all more or less at 2:45 hr despite not staying together as group during the race. The complete race results are here.

It is interesting to note that there was a fast group with about 80 riders, all finishing in the 2:29 to 2:31 hr bracket (including Clay), followed by smaller groups of about 40 riders, all together and then another big group of 50 riders finishing at 2:45 very close to each other again.

As usual, you have to stay in a good group matching your speed, otherwise there will not be a good result.

I rode back to the pit where I saw Phil fully dressed, assuming that he had finished in the 2:30 hr group and now wanted to impress us with his fast change- clothing abilities. But in fast he had punctured and was forced to abandon the race which I guess is the maximum penalty life has to offer on a cold day in Motegi.

It was a nice race and I enjoyed the nice company on Keith and the others. Also I would ike to thank Phil for organizing everything and taking me back to a huge train station wher Clay and me rode the train home to Nippori and further.

I was pretty tired and very hungry as the contrast between the usual holiday meal and the scare food on the racing day was too much. So I visited a McD on the ay home - that shows how desperate I was.
Anyway, only four days in the year and already 250 km of riding done.
And good rides they were.

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.

Impressive

Can somebody remember a more cycle-intense Positivo Espresso weekend, than the one which has just passed? I must say that I am mighty impresses by the achievements of Sunday.

James is hanging out in Kyushu with the guys from WSA I know only to well. It seems that they are covering kilometer after kilometer will reducing the wildlife in wild dinner courses.

David, Jerome and Ludwig made some pretty impressive rides with many kilometers and elevation meters, supporting Tom to achieve eternal stardom in the Itoigawa race. He came in sixth overall according to his blog, which is very, very, very impressive. I am also happy that he survived the madness in the tunnels between Hakuba and Itoigawa.

Tom [left] taking a sharp turn down from Otarumi.

In the meantime I finished on Sunday morning in forth place of the 2A race in the Tour of Japan Tokyo stage. Well actually not me, but my alter ego Thomas Flindt who raced instead of me and even told the organizers that he is not me. But they didn't change the name anyway. I am lucky that this race does not promote me to C class ranking.

And in the afternoon I finished even better with the TCC Team of Phil, Alan and Naomi: 10th place overall and 2nd place in the mixed category at the Bike Navi Hitachi Naka 7 hour endurance race. Wow - cool guys. At least I was the investing hand behind the team's success.

Hm, I should really do more rides on the hometrainer to fulfill future expectations. But it is just too boring. I am totally envious of what you have done, guys.

Thanks also to Ryoko and Stephen who faced a sport challenge of a different kind; attending my marketing lecture at the ICU for hours. You were too kind.

The two pensinsulars

Some ideas stick in one's head forever before they are realized or finally abandoned. I wanted to travel to Chichijima for eight or nine years before I finally did it. I wanted to ride in Chiba for eight or nine days - then I called Phil and we did it.I have to admit that I have many prejudices about Chiba. It is the prefecture which is all industry and social housing complexes in the North, followed by petrochemical plants on the coast (funny enough, the Japanese word for large petrochemical complexes is コンビナート, which comes from the (East-)German word "Kombinat", only being used in the GDR for large state-owner industrial complexes in general), followed by an endless supply of golf courses in the backyard.

One of the biggest foreign affairs blunders of the Japanese government ever, was the decision to move the Tokyo international airport from Haneda to Narita in the Seventies. Sure enough, the developing fight of left-radicals and farmers against the construction of the airport produced many beautiful photos and videos (some can be seen at the police museum in Ginza) of beautiful aesthetics.

And in case you don't know, for the first 9 month in 2008 the number of passengers passed through Haneda airport was close to 56 million, making it by far the busiest airport in Asia, while Narita was trailing in 7th place with roughly half the pax.

So, when the average normal traveller, full of Japan and it's romantic image of Japan (Geisha, Bonsai, Samurai, Maid Cafes, Visual Kei and Anime) arrives in the morning after a long international flight in bad mood, what is he subjected to? Another endless bus or train ride into town, passing emulations of crammed, boring "mansions" and apartment blocks, warehouses in dull grey with corrugated steel roofs, production plants of unknown purpose and worse of all, Funabashi, commuter's hell.

This is the first impression one gets leaving the relatively international grounds of Narita airport and I believe that this has done more damage to the image of Japan then anything else. It's a kind of ongoing Pearl Habour publicity disaster.

So far, concerning Chiba.

But hey, one has to be open minded and I just loved the idea to ride in Chiba first, then take the ferry from Southern Boso to Miura Hanto and continue the ride on the other side of Tokyo bay. Phil from TCC, also member of the failed Tsukuba team, also member of the soon to be very successful Hitachi Naka team has kindly offered to guide me through the labyrinth of Chiba back roads.

We met at 9 at Honda station, me after a 2 hour long rain ride from Yokohama. Off we are to Lake Takataki and continue to go South on smaller roads. All the roads we ride are small and consist of a constant up and down. Riding in Chiba is definitely different from riding in the Western mountains of Tokyo. There is less climbing, the longest one is perhaps 100 to 150 m of elevation difference. So one goes anaerobic by trying to do the climbs fast and rests while doing the fast descents. It is like some kind of interval training. Phil knows the area very well with a lot of shortcuts and scenic views. Sometimes we talk while riding, but he is also a fast guy and a fast decenter so I need to concentrate to keep up with him. We concentrate of riding fast and I don't have the time to take photos.

Then suddenly the landscape opens and we have reached the cost in Southern Boso. Phil is heading back to the North and I continue along the coast road which is clogged with cars. But soon I turn to road #89 and another splendid ride through rice paddies and hills open up. I reach the coast at the end of the road and check my watch: Only 30 minutes left to reach the 14:35 ferry to Kurihama on Miura and more than 12 km to go - I need to hurry up. Luckily this coast road is not that crowded and I make good speed. The ferry is in the port and waiting for me. My bike is fixed by pros against the effects of heavy seas.It's now time to say good-bye to Chiba.As I had no time to east so far, I visit the ferry's kiosk and check for some food. Hm, here they have all kind of good food on sticks: dark brown croquettes on a stick, light brown eat balls on a stick, an older mobile phone on a stick - I ask if they can warm it up for me.
After 40 minutes the ferry arrives at Kurihama. I line up in the car deck and wait for the front gate to be opened.And I continue my ride in Miura, first going South along the coast, then cutting over to the West coast and heading in direction Kamakura. The pace is good, but the traffic is just terrible.For a moment I think about having coffee at the restaurant German Seacastle, but when I come close to the place I reconsider. I am just too afraid to enter the place alone. This is a restaurant as no other in Japan, a typical German restaurant where one is served unfriendly and rude and an atmosphere of fear and terror let all guest stare at their plates, silently east their meal and try to avoid to attract any attention.

So I continue to Ofuna where I pack my bike again and take the train home to Shinyokohama as I really hate riding the last 20 km or so through Yokohama city.

Home the day turned out to be a mid distance ride with surprisingly lots of climbing meters. It was a good training for the forthcoming endurance events and I would like to thank Phil for his good companionship.