2012 TOITO -- On the Most Beautiful Day of the Year

We are now well into 2012's peak bicycle racing season.


Saturday saw the 14th stage of this year's Giro d'Italia -- the first high mountain stage into the Alps, near Aosta.  There are some incredible days ahead next week in the Dolomites and Sud Tirol, including the 20th stage that goes over Passo del Tonale, then the Mortirolo and the Stelvio (Bormio side climb).


In this week's Tour of California, Rabobank's Robert Gesink capped his recovery from last year's broken femur with a victory on Mt. Baldy that also put him 45 seconds ahead in the overall leader's jersey, with only Sunday's Stage 8 Los Angeles circuit remaining.


And Japan also witnesses two major events this weekend -- the start of the 15th annual Tour of Japan, in Sakai on Sunday (today), and Saturday (yesterday)'s running of the 41st annual Tokyo-Itoigawa Fastrun Classic ("TOITO").


Of course, it is typical Positivo Espresso braggadocio to compare TOITO with these other events.  Admittedly, TOITO is not quite in the same league, even if it has been around longer than the Tour of California or the Tour de Japon.  And just as important, it is not really a race.


It is more like a timed 308 kilometer one-day ride -- a "fast run" on open roads, some with heavy traffic and street lights.  The term "fast run" is a pretty good description of what it is getting at.  Unlike a Brevet, where the goal is to finish within a specified time limit, the goal for TOITO is to finish within a specified time limit, and to do so as quickly as you can.  There is no lunch break -- just the food at the rest areas and, in my case, a few minutes to vacuum down some microwaved spaghetti at a 7-11 en route.  There is not a lot of time to stop for photos -- a shame on what must have been the most beautiful day of the year, on a route that traveled by snow capped peaks, green valleys and roaring rivers much of the way.  TOITO is a kind of right of passage.  Any serious road cyclist in Japan needs to complete it once, just to show that it can be done.  Only a few are foolish enough to repeat the experience.


This year the organizers made a major change of the route, and as a result the length increased from 291 to 308 kms.  The start moved from Takao in Tokyo, to Manriki Park in Yamanashi-shi (Yamanashi City), in the middle of Yamanashi Prefecture.


It would be more accurately named the "1st annual Yamanashi-shi-Itoigawa Fastrun Classic".  But anywhere except in Japanese English usage the term "classic" would be dubious if it were really the first run of an event.   And Yamanashi-shi is not really significant to the event, and the word is difficult placed in mid-title, with its double "shi".  Maybe they should just call this event the "41st Annual Itoigawa Fastrun Classic", since it at least does go to Itoigawa?


Some key consequences of the route change:

• The start area seemed to have more room for team cars, overnight camping, etc.  There are cheaper business hotels and then are only 7 kms away, instead of 8 or 9 kms.  And now there is no way to do the event from Tokyo without leaving home the night before -- forcing one to actually try to get some sleep the night before the ride.
• There is no traffic whatsoever as one takes National Route 20 through Kofu around 5AM, in contrast to 9AM or later when going on the old route.  At 5AM, it hardly matters whether one takes the surface streets or overpasses on Route 20 through Kofu, and Kofu becomes a much more pleasant experience.  Also, traffic was lighter than in prior years through Shiojiri/Matsumoto, at 9AM instead of 1PM-ish.  And it was really nice to ease into the event over a stretch that gradually descends about 75 meters over 10 kilometers from the start, instead of launching into the Otarumi Pass climb right out of the gate at Takao.
• The new route avoids the harrowing tunnels on the descent from Hakuba to Itoigawa, and instead swings far to the East, through Nagano-shi, then over a climb to Shinano-machi, past Lake Nejiri, and then swiftly descends to the coast at Joetsu, before taking the coast road the final 50 kms to Itoigawa.  Parts of the descent to Joetsu were in heavy traffic, with plenty of big rigs, even log trucks and tanker trucks, but at least there was a good shoulder on the road almost the entire way.

As in past years, some people did their own creative routing -- taking a steep shortcut on the climb to Shiojiri Pass to shave off about 1 km, even though it is NOT the official route this year as construction is long past complete on the "usual" route; some go the wrong (longer) way around the East side of Lake Suwa; intentionally or not, some took a Route 19 bypass to go around the center of Nagano City and miss some of its many traffic lights; and some riders were seen taking a major short-cut near Joetsu to join the coastal road a few kilometers to the west of where Route 18 does.  I stuck to the "official" route the entire way.


Looking at a random selection of riders, the change in route and additional 17 kilometers distance seemed to increase average times 30-50 minutes from last year.  This year, the temperatures were ideal.  Even at mid-day, I did not see any roadside thermometer showing more than 24 degrees celsius, and after a morning chill -- helpful on the first long climb, it was 15-20 degrees celsius for almost the entire remainder.  The wind was an obstacle, but no worse than in past years, and it actually in our favor the last 35 kilometers.





On Friday afternoon, I rode out almost 120 kms from my home to Yamanashi with Pete W.  Pete is a very strong rider, who said he often logs 400-500 kms a week, except when he is coaching seasonal sports at one of the international schools where his wife Glenda (who he said also rides) is an administrator.   Pete is the type of rider who can and has placed top 10 or 20 at the annual Norikura hill climb.  Did I mention that he is Australian, is handy enough to have built a house for their family in Australia, and likes beer -- with preference for microbrews, or maybe Asahi or Ebisu?  Kirin is accepted only in the absence of any other available choice, such as at the Itoigawa finish area.  He also had some good advice for me regarding my riding position and persuaded me that it is past time to get a longer stem for my Canyon bike so I can move the seat forward from its current extreme set-back.

The Fuefuki River in Yamanashi, runs through the heart of Takeda Shingen's former domain.  "Fue" is a Japanese type of wooden flute, and "Fuefuki" roughly means "playing the flute".

In front of  the Hotel Sun Plaza along the Fuefuki River.  Single rooms were 3150 yen as advertised on the sign.  And there was even a Daily Yamazaki store on the premises.

Pete enjoys post-ride refreshment (Asahi Super Dry 350mm) in front of the hotel's former Italian restaurant, now closed, as we wait for Douglas and Steve to check in.

Douglas (who made it to the podium in the 75kg+ class at Yatsugatake hill climb in April) and Steve T. (who will always be known to me as the man who rode his bike from England to Japan) came out later in the afternoon by train.  I probably should have taken the train myself, since the Friday afternoon ride made clear to me that my legs had not yet returned to "fresh" condition after the Tohoku 1700 rides over Golden Week, and also that my overall cycling training this year has been very scattershot, especially compared with last year when I was focused on TOITO as part of my methodical preparation for Transalp.


Michael R. rode his Neil Pryde bike out from Tokyo after the rain showers had passed and made it in time to join us during dinner.  Gunnar, harried at work this week, ended up catching a train that got him to Yamanashi and Manriki Park well after 11PM.  He set up his camping hammock there, and tells me that it was quite cold outside over night.


The Sun Plaza hotel, where I had reserved rooms for all of us but Gunnar, offered spacious single rooms for 3150 yen each, and a large onsen style bath as well.  It had a Daily Yamazaki convenience store on the 1st floor which served cold beer by the can.  We quenched our thirst and watched the mountains visible from the front of the hotel, and then headed for a stroll through the Isawa Onsen area of Fuefuki City, looking for an appropriate restaurant and eventually finding a place that served large cast iron bowls of "houtou" -- a Yamanashi delicacy of thick flat noodles in miso soup with "the works" on top -- all kinds of vegetables and, for me, prawns, scallops and other seafood.  Perfect pre-race food.


I was relieved that the hotel worked out okay this year, after all the ribbing I took from MOB for the tiny, cubicles they called rooms at the R and B Hotel in Hachioji back in 2008 during our first Positivo Expresso appearance at TOITO.  Of course, the Sun Plaza does not seem to be part of a chain, and it is a bit worn around the edges.  They even let us bring our bikes to our rooms, without taking the wheels off -- a battle fought and won by a group of Japanese TOITO competitors who checked in at the same time as Pete and me.


If we had any major complaint, it had to do with the wake-up calls.  The four of us with 4:25/4:35AM starts asked for 3:15 automated wake-up calls.  Mine (and the others) came at 2:57AM.  Michael R., whose start was not until 6:20AM, asked for a later call.  His call did not come; or if it did, it came late.  Or maybe (doubtful) it came on time, and he dozed off again.  In any event, Michael did not get to the start on time and lost precious minutes because of it.  He was riding entirely alone for the early stretches, because of his late start time.

4:15AM, assembled at the start, after an early wake up call.

__________________

As for the ride itself, I liked the new course somewhat better than the old, and was quite happy in that at least I felt that I got, if anything, stronger as the ride went on, and did not suffer too much from my unsystematic training in the year's first quarter (January to March).

Douglas and Pete en route

Douglas, Pete and Steve started 10 minutes after me, and passed me about 40 kilometers into the event.  I could not hold onto the back of their train, and ended up pulling off the road within 10 minutes after they passed in order to use the public facilities in a rest area, after which my digestive system largely ceased its complaints.  Steve T. dropped off their back not too much further than I up the climb to Fujimi. Pete and Douglas rode together the entire ride, and finished in a great time, an excellent performance slowed only by one flat tire/change (and then a slow leak in Pete's replacement tube as they approached the finish).  Gunnar passed me when I was resting at a 7-11 in Nagano-shi, and seemed to be riding solo the entire way.  Tom S. passed me just as I was slowly getting up to speed a few minutes later on ... and I missed the next traffic signal and did not see him again until the finish, where he was already looking relaxed and cleaned up, post-onsen.


I rode mostly alone, after escaping off the front of the group I started with.  On the climb through Nirasaki, however, I joined the rear of a group of about 8 Japanese riders from two teams, all sucking the wheel of the guy in front.  After about 5-10 minutes of this, the strong rider in the front started to slow, tiring in the headwinds.  No one stepped up, so I rode up the line, loudly chastising them for not rotating and sharing the work, and urging every one to take a pull, however short.  I took my turn and did about 1 km on the front, then drifted off back ... and we had a real pace line for a few kilometers, until one of the two teams dropped out, leaving me with 2 other riders (one of whom had a nice bike with beautiful Enve carbon wheels, aero bars, etc., an awful clicking noise coming from a loose rear spoke).  We did cooperate for awhile and the 3 of us were still together when Douglas, Pete and Steve passed me.


There were some other stretches of the ride when I pulled for others, especially into the headwinds while we traveled north from Nagano on route 18.  On the shallow, early stages of the climb, I pulled a Jyunnobi (Niigata-based team) rider who was a couple years older than me and said he weighted 56 kgs (to my 95).  He was very appreciative of having someone big to block the headwind.  I did not mind, but finally waved him ahead when the climb got steeper.  And I rode with a "Charirin RC" club member taking turns at the front on the stretch ahead of checkpoint 2.


As I pulled into the third and final checkpoint, a small lady in a black polo shirt was directing me and other riders not to pull into the 7-11 parking lot, but to go to an adjacent lot where there was a blue banner waving in the breeze.  Only I must have not understood, as I got quite close up (and into a stand-off with a little farmer's truck that was turning in nearby me) before I figured out what was going on.  Who was the staffer?  It was Midori Shiroki, Chair of Japan Audax.  I had last seen her as we suffered up the long hill at Tappi Misaki a few weeks back in Tsugaru Peninsula, Aomori.  There were a number of other Saitama Audax PBP 2007 and 2011 jerseys in the field, including the #8 finisher.  And I saw Maya Ide just before and at the first checkpoint.  Maya, who rode PBP last year, and joined a number of the Tohoku 1700 rides, will also do the Cascade 1200 in late June.  Another Tohoku rider had told me to watch for him -- and shown me what his team jersey looked like -- but either I did not pass him or I completely missed him.


I did get to serve as "domestique" for Michael R. on the long descent from Nejiri-ko to the coast at Joetsu.  Mikey rolled into the 3rd and last checkpoint (213 kms) just as I was about to leave.  He caught me and zoomed by at around 223 kms.  But I was just getting a second (or eighth?) wind, and descending into a stiff headwind I started to really enjoy the benefits of my aerodynamic HED Jet 6 wheels, my Vision mini-TT aero bars, and my sturdy 95 kg frame.  I caught Mikey at kilometer 229 and suggested I would try to give him a pull.  I did so, as fast as I could, for the next 15 kms or more.  When I started to flag a bit as the descent neared its end, he handed me one of his spare gels, which I quickly downed and gave me enough apricot flavored sugar to continue a bit more.  This was fun.


It was also fun riding along the long semi-downhill stretch between Shiojiri Pass and Nagano-shi.  This stretch of 90 kilometers went from a high of over 1000 meters elevation to a low of 330 meters, with no climb of more than 50 meters anywhere in between.  Even riding solo, I could make excellent time with my aero tuck.  Likewise, the 40-plus kilometers along the coast road from Joetsu to Itoigawa was also fun.  The sea was beautiful, and the headwind that had dogged us from Nagano-shi shifted around and became a mild tail wind, helping to push us home.  I also was able to ride a good bit of the last 20 kms with some Japanese riders, including reappearances by the guy with the noisy, clicking spoke and the "Charirin RC" member.  As we neared Itoigawa, we stopped at a red light.  As is often the case, Japanese road racers accelerate faster than I do ... though I often top out at a higher speed once I do get going.  They took off after the light and I found myself off the back, and decided I would just finish alone, going into my aero tuck again and eventually losing a few hundred meters.  But as the course turned off the coast for the short ride inland to the finish, I saw them again, just starting up at a light that turned green.  I put on "full gas" and did my best Fabian Cancellara imitation, and passed them at about 45kph just as they approached their normal cruising speed.  When I looked back a minute or two later just before the finish, no one had followed, or was even visible around the last curve in the road.


My 20 km time splits, visible at the "metrics" tab on RidewithGPS, show that I had long stretches spread evenly throughout the day with an average moving speed comfortably over 30kph.

That said, my average total speed, including rest times and checkpoints, was no better than last year.


My main complaint as the day wore on was the soles my feet.  From a short ride a week ago, I knew that my cleats on my shoes had slipped and the placement was problematic.  So I had remounted and realigned the cleats to make sure they were well centered under the balls of my feet.  One of the cleat bolts had been stripped by the hex wrench, so I replaced it Thursday and checked them again.  The shoes were comfortable on the trip out from Tokyo to Yamanashi ... but by the time I was 150 kms into TOITO, I was getting intermittent numbing in the right foot, with the kind of tingling and searing pain you might get from going ice skating and tying the skates too tightly, as the blood flow cuts off and returns to the foot.  I tried to compensate by pulling up more on the pedals instead of pushing, and then by pushing more with the left foot than right ... which, of course, also caused the left foot to also become a bit numb and start to hurt.  I took a couple of extra 5 or 10 minute rests in between the checkpoints to let my feet recover, losing precious time (but also eating and/or lying down and closing my eyes, to get the most from the break).  I got out the bike multi-tool and tried to adjust the right cleat, ... but the tool's hex wrench promptly stripped the new bolt.  The bolt would not loosen without a large screwdriver, which I did not have.  And even if I could have loosened it, the cleat placement looked okay to my eye, so I am not sure what I would have done.  In any event, according to my Garmin my riding time this year was 11:08, but my total time was 12:51, so almost as long off the bike as when we did TOITO back in 2008, and much longer than last year.


Once I had pulled Michael R. down the long descent after Nejiri-ko and realized that I was not going to make it to the finish under 12 hours, I took a nice, relaxed break outside a 7-11 just south of Joetsu.  There was shade around the side of the store, which was set well back from the highway, by a little flowing canal, and I could eat, rest, and look up at a tree moving in the breeze and completely blue sky.  It looked like this:

I felt that this must be what Prince Andrei saw when he lay wounded at the Battle of Austerlitz, in War and Peace, and realized that all his former ambitions were pointless.  Of course, the 7-11 roof overhang should be cropped out of the picture.


I was a bit surprised, after resting for a few minutes and even closing my eyes, to come around the front of the store and see at least 7-8 road bikes on the front of the store, riders collapsed outside, and in lines at the rest room and register.  Maybe I had closed my eyes for longer than I thought?  I remounted my bike and did not stop again until the finish.


TCC finishing times were:


Michael R. in 10:20:56.  Good enough for 13th place overall.  


Pete W. and Douglas E., 10:35:54. Tied for 19th.


Gunnar H. at 11:06:56. 28th place.


Steve T. 11:52:55. 45th place.


David L. 12:51:45. 97th place ... my first "top 100" finish, despite the rests.


Riding for the Jyunnobi team, Andy W. is listed at 9:34:21, in 7th place.

And Tom S. came in at 10:30:37 for 17th place and 2nd in his age group.  


Kondo-san of Nalshima Frend, a perennial top-5 finisher and former champion, won the event in 9:22:11.  He is the fastest Brevet rider in Japan, and this is in line with his prior efforts.  Respect.

Looking at the incredible efforts by the other TCC members, I would fear that I might lose my starting position in next year's team, except that, as usual, just about everyone participating in our group has declared they will NOT DO IT AGAIN next year.  We shall see.


Andy W's trip report (English and 日本語) can be found HERE.


The GS Astuto report can be found HERE.

Tokyo - Itoigawa 2011

I awoke in a dark, cramped hotel room in Hachioji and stumbled to turn off my alarm. I felt terrible, only 2 1/2 hours' sleep, still dehydrated from too much beer and not enough food despite some glasses of water before sleeping, still tired from way too late a train ride out to Hachioji -- on the 11:45PM train from Shinjuku, arriving around 12:30AM, then wandering in the dark through a "gauntlet" of questionable entertainment joints to find my business hotel. Guys in suits standing in the street wearing sun glasses at midnight, pairs of girls in the shadows.

Anyway, at 3:40AM I needed to scramble, try to consume and keep down some convenience store sandwiches, two small yogurts, plus a cold Seattle's Best Double Espresso I had bought on the way into the hotel a few hours earlier, dress, shave, pack my bags, assemble my bike in the hallway (not enough room in the room!) and hit the road. It took longer than it should have, and was after 4:10AM by the time I left the hotel, 10+ minutes behind schedule and not a moment to lose. Our start was 4:40AM, and I first needed to get to Takaosan-guchi, check-in, deliver my rucksack and drop-bag, find my teammates, and get ready to actually, well, race a bicycle.

About 15 minutes later, passing the Positivo Espresso recommended 7-11 on Rte 20 in front of Takao station, after riding much too hard for a warm up, I heard a woman's voice say "Litt-san!" It was the-nice-woman-whose-name-I-did-not-get from the staff at the May 7 Saitama Brevet. She was riding with a man in "Pedal Far" bib shorts (her husband, perhaps?) up toward the start. She asked "do you remember me, from the Saitama Brevet?" "Yes of course," I said. "What time is your start." She responded "I did not ride I was on the staff." My Japanese must have been as garbled as my mind. "I said, "no, not the Brevet, your start today". She said "I'm not riding, I'm "o-en-dan" (support for a participant -- support, fan club or cheerleader, maybe). I just mumbled "excuse me, I'm late, I've got a 4:40AM start" and pushed ahead. So I still did not get her name, or learn any more about her (or the man riding with her, who looked like a strong rider). I guess if I keep up these endurance rides, I'll probably see them again.

I arrived at the start area at 4:33AM, just as Travis was trying to call my mobile phone and he, Gunnar, Steve and Yair were talking about a revised 4-man team race strategy. I checked in, dropped off my bags, tried (not very successfully) to catch my breath, and had the foresight to pull out my camera and ask someone to take our team photo.

Yair, David, Gunnar, Steve and Travis -- P.E. 2011 TOITO team, in TCC jerseys (except for Yair "Sufferfest" Bauer)

Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to clean the fog off of the lens, or to hand the camera to someone with a steady hand -- so the photo gives a remarkably accurate idea of how I was perceiving the world at this time.

And then we were off! We started with 4 of the riders from Team Cuore -- a Japanese group of very enthusiastic riders based around a shop in Taito-ku, Tokyo -- and several others.

As feared, I lost the back of our group on the first climb, to Otarumi, and cleared the pass in just over 16 minutes -- 90-100 seconds slower than a week earlier despite my best efforts to stay with the team. Was it really a smart idea for me to ride (race) with these guys, whose average age is 12 years' younger?

But on the descent, I passed several of the Cuore riders and Yair (who really needs to add some weight if he wants to "drop like a rock" on the descents. He is looking slimmer than Alberto Contador and with just as spindly arms). I caught the rest of the team just as they were starting up at the traffic light in front of Sagami-ko station. I felt semi-human again.

On the 60-70 meter elevation climb up to Uenohara, I again lost the back, but on the next downhill, I timed (luck) the light at the bottom perfectly and, going 60 kph, passed my 4 teammates plus another 5-6 riders onto the next climb, then rode generally with (or within hailing distance of) the team to Otsuki. I lagged again on the climb to Sasago, but passed various groups of other riders and arrived only 5 minutes back of the team, with an average speed of 26.74 kph for the leg. Not that bad a start after all -- 75th fastest time on that leg out of 359 finishers (and also an unstated number of "DNFs" -- we saw some riders struggling and other resting who surely did not make it all the way by the cut off time).

Anyway, a 292 km ride is too long for a "blow by blow" account, ... and I've got some work and then want to catch a bit of the Giro, so let me give a few highlights.

First the results:

1. Andy Wood won for the Nth straight year, with a time of 8:44:43. He passed me near Chino and shouted out a greeting, recognizing my TCC jersey. I was about to say something back ... but he was gone. I think I did see TT bar extensions, but I did not get a chance to measure whether they exceeded the permitted limits under the TOITO rules.

2. Tom S. put in another very strong performance, with a time of 9:43:09 for 11th place overall, 5th in the 40-49 age group. Chapeau!

3. In 3rd place at 9:12:43 was Kondo-san, the fabled Brevet rider (see my 600 km May 7 Brevet report), riding for Nalshima.

4. Our team had some excellent results.

Travis finished 52nd in 10:57:45. Double Chapeau!

Gunnar outsprinted Steve to the line for 71st place, in 11:19:18. Steve took 72nd in 11:19:21. They rode very well together as a pair -- really ought to aim for Transalp at some point.

Yair, still recovering from an injury this winter and only 2 months back on the (beautiful new) bike, suffered through the middle/late segments but still managed to equal last year's P.E. group time, at 12:28:59, for 165th. With this ride under his belt, Yair is back.

5. The wind shifted throughout the day -- we had a headwind coming down into Kofu, tailwind between Shiojiri and Matsumoto, and then a cross wind, then a headwind from just before the lakes South of Hakuba until the finish. The last was at times a very stiff headwind, offsetting the speed of the descent. We all suffered in the heat during the 78 km stage between Shiojiri and Hakuba ... many of us taking an unscheduled convenience store break early in the long climb, and me deciding I was in danger of serious consequences if I pushed too hard, and so taking it easy for awhile.

When it came, the headwind was cool and, thus, a real relief. I kept repeating to myself, "the wind is keeping me cool, be thankful for the breeze, ... and tuck low enough so it runs over along your back, inside and down your jersey". Overheated, I was happy to sacrifice a bit of speed for the longer term relief from the cooling effect. As I emerged from the last of the tunnels on Route 148, into a noticeably cooler area, I welcomed the cloud cover, threatening skies and wind, the heat a distant memory.

6. I did not ride any of the "no bicycles allowed" overpasses in Kofu. I went with the Japanese riders along the side street, and waited, and waited, and waited, at the lights. At one of these, there were about 15 riders and a truck and few cars ahead of me. The light finally turned green, the truck, cars and maybe 3 riders went through before it turned red again, 10 riders ahead and so no chance to sprint the light on yellow-changing-to-red ... another 4-5 minutes wait, it seemed, during which all the lights I could see at the intersection were red, cars just sitting and nothing moving in any direction. Aaaaargh! Also, this time, I did much less running of red signals than in 2008 with Juliane, DJ and MOB. Hard to argue that I don't know better this time. ... but I did get alone for a good part of the Shiojiri-Matsumoto stretch, and was able to time the lights very well, move to the front of waiting traffic, pass through when no cars were approaching and the light had changed to a "right turn only" arrow -- the usual tricks, without doing anything dangerous or attention-getting. How much of the difference among the top riders is really just a question of how many rules they break?

Later, I was able to persuade a Japanese rider to join me in going through some "T" intersections (along the top side of the "T"), and to make a left turn on red (remember, this is Japan - riding on the left, slinking around the corner, and continuing along the left), against some useless red lights. He eventually went ahead of me and I could see him, at the next "T" intersection, go up onto the sidewalk, around the intersection, and back into the street again, avoiding the red light -- all perfectly safe. He learned quickly.

I had very bad luck with road construction on the Hakuba-Itoigawa stretch, with several lengthy waits for one-way traffic the other way.

7. Travis, Gunnar and Steve did try at least one Kofu overpass, but one of the other riders yelled at them from the side street, causing Steve to look over to see who was yelling, and why, ... and he ran straight onto the dividers/chevrons between the overpass and side road, flatting both front and rear tires, with some rim damage and a big jolt and big scare ... but not enough of a scare to keep him from continuing on. I was a few minutes back and missed the excitement, and just passed a smiling Steve who was walking his bike back ... I thought looking for something he had dropped. Anyway, Travis and Gunnar went back to help, I went on slowly, and we regrouped at Nirasaki ... only for them to go on ahead of me up the hill.

8. The route was noticeably better than I had remembered. No big trucks coming down the tunnels this Saturday afternoon ... though I did see a few going the other way. And there was an improved road surface and wider shoulder, I think for a good part of the stretch around Matsumoto. And reverted from a 2008 detour to the "usual" route again North of Matsumoto. Also, the checkpoints were far better stocked with bananas, rice balls and drinks -- water, mugi-cha and pokari sweat -- when riding with a 4:40 AM start than with our 2008 6:25 AM start.

And we saw many more team cars and supporters on the side of the road, cheering us on up the climb after Nirasaki and again later on. There were two young, attractive ladies dressed up in "maid" costumes, standing by their car on several of the climbs cheering us on, jumping up and down.

I blew them a kiss as I passed the second time, but meanwhile I could only think ... of this past week's news of Arnold the Governator and his child by a former housekeeper leading to his separation from Maria Shriver, that news from California following just a few days after Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest for his alleged brutal attack on a chambermaid at the Hotel Sofitel in Manhattan ... what is it with these guys and the maid costumes?

9. With my long explanation of the Kofu red lights, the road construction, miserable afternoon heat and the headwinds, I've just about run out of excuses.

Anyway, my time was 12:06:42, which placed me 137 out of 359 finishers. This was 20 minutes better than in 2008, though I was really hoping to get somewhere comfortably under 12 hours. Still, not bad, all things considered.

And when I reached the hotel driveway entrance, I was surprised -- done so soon? I thought I still had a few more kilometers to go. Why did I leave so much in the tank at the end? Sunday morning, but for the rain and the press of work, I would definitely have headed up the coast on my bike. The only aches or pains during the ride were some numbness in my feet -- I need to check my right cleat alignment. So even if my time was not so much better than 2008, the Brevets have definitely helped my endurance. Now, over the next 3 weeks, I just need to try to do more climbing practice, then I'll be ready for Transalp.

By the time I finished, Travis was gone, headed to the station then back to Tokyo. Tom was waiting and offered his congratulations before heading into Itoigawa with his Vlaams teammates. We unwound, soaked in the onsen, enjoyed our bento boxes out front of the hotel, with some extras (tonjiru udon, cucumbers w/ salt, beer), added 2 pizzas later -- ordered and delivered to our hotel room -- chatted with Saito-san, a neighbor from the Cuore team in the room next door, who offered me a taste of a nice Burgundy Pinot Noir. We all slept early and very soundly.

After breakfast, we braved the pounding rain on Sunday morning to the station and hopped the train back to Tokyo.

Another successful event. Will we go back next year? Too soon to say.

Our team at the start -- second try at a photo, after cleaning the camera lens.
Look at those faces-- is that a unified expression of determination to ride to victory, or what?

Gunnar models the hotel yukata -- and seems to be having some trouble straightening his back and unclasping his hands after the new experience of riding 300 km in a day. One of the older, male riders complimented Gunnar on his yukata ("ni-aimasu") and no one reproached him for wearing the hotel slippers outside. ... the guy who yelled at Steve in Kofu must have been DNF, or maybe still on the road at this point.

Tom S. prepares to ride into Itoigawa to his lodgings.

The Sea of Japan and wet roads, from our train.

Travis' report: http://www.tokyocycle.com/bbs/blog.php?b=91

Tom's report: http://vlaamsewielrenner.blogspot.com/2011/05/40th-classic-300km-endurance-race.html

Andy's report: http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time/2011/05/tokyo-itoigawa-2011-race-repor.html

Tokyo Itoigawa 2011 -- Indications of Interest Now, Applications at Beginning of February

The 40th annual Tokyo-Itoigawa Fast Run is scheduled for Saturday May 21, 2011 (with return to Tokyo for most the following morning, Sunday May 22, though as this year proved, it is possible to hop a train back on Saturday night).

This epic ride inspired more blog posts than any other last year (see here, here, here, here, here, here and other links here), and the build-up was a bit intense.  2010 reports suggest that the actual event proved almost a let down after all that, and many who joined for the first time decided it is a "once is enough" experience, especially after fighting with the trucks in the tunnels from Hakuba downhill toward Itoigawa -- or Dominic fighting with a car that was trying to run him off the shoulder in the sprawl near Matsumoto. (I guess I found the tunnels exhilarating back in 2008 with MOB, DJ and Juliane, though maybe we had fewer trucks since we were on a later schedule, and Juliane handled all the fighting with drivers earlier in the ride).  Two of my younger colleagues tried it last year on way-too-little sleep, not just the previous night but the previous week.  That I do not recommend, especially for those of us over the age of 35 (well, also over the age of 45).

Yair and I are interested in a repeat.  This can be his recovery and training goal as he gets back on the bike and into shape in the Spring.  I want to get a time noticeably faster than in 2008, and use this as part of my ramp-up to Transalp, which begins 36 days later.
James M. will again ride for the victory, I believe, trying to give Andy Wood a run for his money (Andy is rumored to spend the entire winter chained to a trainer, on the balcony of his home somewhere in Niigata, riding in place into the snow and sleet, just to prepare for this event). 
Tom S. will ride with another team, as usual, and also push for a victory, at least in his (mine also) age group.
Jerome?  Steve T?
Team applications and fees are due the week of February 7, so we need to start organizing now.  There is supposed to be a lottery for teams, but I hope since we had good representation last year that will not be an issue.  The organizers do provide refunds (minus a service fee) if you need to cancel later or decide you do not want the hotel/bus options you requested. 
If you MIGHT want to participate or have questions, let me know by email, a comment on this post, or otherwise, and I will be sure you are included in follow up communications. 
I'll also start a TCC thread if there is not one already, since this will likely be a combined event.

Itoigawa Tactics (for the competitive ones)

Following is a (slightly) censored version of some pieces of advice I have shared with some fellow TOITO riders:

~ Remember the tactics ~

(1) Stop only to get your card stamped, fill up your bottle/grab a banana - resist the temptation to linger on at the checkpoints (or to make a conbini stop!)

(2) When you see an elevated intersection ("fly over") ahead, go for it (but at your own risk -cyclists are not permitted).

(3) Do not trespass on traffic rules/lights especially not in a blatant way in front of the organizers near the checkpoints.

(4) Toilet breaks to be taken on the road (use a tree)!

(5) Do not eat the inarizushi distributed at the checkpoints...the fried bean curd will cause your stomach to severely cramp (remember we don't have the same intestines as Japanese)

(6) Be not afraid of the insanely long tunnels towards the end of the ride- wear sunglasses with clear, non-tinted glasses.

(7) Do not pump your tires to the max. - go for SOFT whatever pressure that is depending on your weight.

(8) Try to keep your average moving speed at least above 30km/h.

(9) Ride as defensively as you can - crazy car drivers out there in the countryside!

(10) Remember this is not a race (never mention the word "race" during the ride!!) but only a fast run so better make it a real fast one and enjoy yourself!

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.

Madness on Route 20

Complementing David's earlier post, here is my own story about yesterday. I too started from home at 4:15am but that was five minutes later than planned and as a result I was not on time at the appointed place on Tamagawa. Checking voice messages lost me a few more minutes. The headwind was such that I could never catch up two riders drafting each other without exhausting myself, which I was keen to avoid. I was amazed how many people were already out and about at 4:30am!

I must have caught up almost with David and Jerome as I reached Tom at the starting line at something like 5:54 - without any stop at the Seven-Eleven and taking the short-cut through Hachioji.

So off I went with Tom at 6:00. Tom had declared he would attack Otarumi at a brisk pace to break away from the crowd (of 20 starting a time). So he did, and very soon it was only Tom, two Japanese riders and myself heading up Otarumi. Thanks to drafting Tom I had no difficulty keeping up, but I was worried Tom was exhausting himself a little too much as my pulse was getting slightly over 160 and I was wondering what his was like.

As we got close to the top and everybody seemed to get slower I broke away to go under the bridge a few seconds before the rest. 13:17 - not my best time (13:00), but quite close, even though I felt far less stretched than usual - the power of drafting I guess.

Now the real madness started. Tom was obviously keen to win at any price, including his own life. We had caught up with two trucks that had passed us on the way up, and while they were not particularly slow (which trucks are in Japan?), they weren't fast enough for Tom. So he decided to overtake one of them in a relatively sharp left-turn curve, getting onto the opposite lane even though he could not see whether there was any traffic coming up, nor could he have returned to the downhill lane as the two were separated by these killer blocks on the centre line. Complete madness!! The remaining three of us refrained from such or similar manoeuvers and as Tom isn't the fastest downhill racer caught up with him soon, and at the traffic lights in front of the Sagamiko station the four of us were again one group.

From there on, Tom and a young guy from the Fuji Heavy Industries racing team kept taking turns in leading the group. I would have loved to take my turn, but even drafting my pulse varied between 150 and the low 160s and I deemed it unwise to exhaust myself beyond that. The fourth rider must have thought the same as he stayed stubbornly on my back wheel.

We went on like this at fast speed to Otsuki, on the way passing Jerome and David. Just before Otsuki, the Fuji Heavy rider had his front wheel punctured. He managed to keep riding (must have had a special kind of wheel) but complained about the high friction. After a few kilometers he gave up to fix the wheel.

So it was only Tom, the other guy and me left. I started taking my turns in leading the group, and eventually also the third guy did. Tom was getting exhausted and the other guy showed no such signs. My back started to hurt increasingly, but as we started to do steeper climbs I had the chance of getting out of the saddle to relax my back which kept things under control.

On the final ascent to Sasago Tunnel, the third guy broke away from Tom when I was last. I followed in measured pace, and by the time I realised he was trying to make a best time to Sasago he was too far ahead for me to catch him without getting my pulse into anaerobic territory. I was still second and I think Tom wasn't that far behind. I did not stop and kept going right into the tunnel, and never saw Tom again. Because he must have passed me as I went into the Seven-Eleven down in Kaiyamato.

The time we took from Takaosanguchi to Sasago was 1:50 (and maybe a few seconds). Only the winner of the entire Itoigawa race last year was faster than that! Wow - what a pace. I had averaged 29.6km/h from home to Takaosanguchi (excluding the stops for checking my phone messages) - not bad considering the headwind. At Sasago the average was  slightly above 30km/h, despite all the climbing!

As I hadn't had a drop of water and nothing to eat since leaving home and had gone 105km at record speed, it was time to get reasonable and take a break. So relaxed a bit in front of the convenience store and let some of the slower riders pass. We had overtaken almost the entire group of 20 that started 15 minutes ahead of us by the time we reached Sasago.

I rode down down towards Kofu, overtaking again a few even though I wasn't killing myself to go fast. As I was taking a short toilet break, the Fuji Heavy guy caught up with me. What a pleasant surprise. We decided to ride together. I pulled him through all of central Kofu, claiming I knew a short cut. Well, looking at the GPS trail (see below) I realised later that I had taken one turn too many (mislead by a sign that indicated the way to route 20) and thus it wasn't really a short cut (though at least didn't make the route longer either).

Outside Kofu, we took turns as we seemed to run out of steam in turns. That allowed us to keep a steady pace, and at the next check-point my cycling computer still showed the same average of slightly above 30. I took a longer break at the nearby convenience store than he wanted and so he took off without me.

By that time, we had encountered countless situations where trucks overtook us without leaving more than a few centimeters between them and us. At a traffic light, I shouted at one of them, though he had been one of the lesser evils - the trucks with long trailers were the worst as they seemed to forget that they had a trailer. Truck traffic was getting increasingly dense, and legs, arms and even trickot became quite black! It became clear to me that all these cyclists on the road were annoying the truckers so much that they decided not to care much any more.

I dreaded the thought of another 75km of nightmare with potential fatal consequences to Matsumoto, and potentially more of it beyond. Besides the scenery wasn't even that great and I was asking myself what I was trying to achieve. So in a town called Hakushucho I decided to abandon the idea of making it to Itoigawa and to instead head for the mountains.

Nearby was the beautiful Yatsugadake range (literally eight peaks), with all the nice kougens on the foot of it. I climbed up into these kougens and travelled through them in the same direction as route 20. Quite some up and down at an altitude of 1,200 to 1,400m. Eventually, the road was closed for repairs and I had to head down for Chino. By that time the headwind had developed increasing strength, and it wasn't particularly pleasant fighting my way towards Lake Suwa, the last sight I wanted to see for the day. Still, better than fighting the same wind all the way to Itoigawa, as the forecast had said.

Suwako with the Yatsudake range in the background,

seen from Shimo-Suwa towards Kami-Suwa/Chino

I cycled once around the pretty large lake, then was lucky that I went into Kami-Suwa station just as a Super-Asuza back to Shinjuku was about to pull in. But "super" is all relative - despite stopping only at Chino, Kofu, Hachioji and Tachikawa, it still takes 2.5 hours to Shinjuku! I had come a long way.

I decided to get off at Tachikawa to drop by Y's Road in Fuchu to get my chain exchanged. After 7,200km, it was very worn and shifting gears had become quite fickle. Lucky move, for when I got onto the bike outside Tachikawa station I noticed that the derailer had been badly bent and I was hardly able to ride. On the train, the trolley lady had pushed her heavy trolley with full force into the backside of my bike sticking out from behind the last row of seats in the car.

By the time I got back home, I had covered 260km in all, and with the first 150km ridden at racing speed - a new record.

All that remains to hope is that everybody made it savely to Itoigawa and that Tom broke his own records and came in first!

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/jp/kanto/223124314607069984

POSITIVO ESPRESSO 2009 SEASON TEAM OUTFIT

Since some some weeks I have this strange idea to start the creation of a new team outfit for this year's season and since some weeks less I am in contact with F2P in Singapore to find out about possible options. And all that despite all the considerable time and effort I had last years which brought nothing but blood, Swiss and tears. And of course a lot of colors to our otherwise boring and meaningless, gray existence. Well, it was mainly orange I have to admit.

There are three major reasons why I thought about having new team outfits:

1. The 2008 short sleeve jerseys were nice, but a little bit tight for some (most) of the team members. This is because they are based on so called "pro-cut" specifications, i.e. these jerseys are made for guys and girls who do not only ride like pros [just as we do], but also look like cycling pros [which most of us don't]. I send F2P some photos of typical Positivo Espresso riders [I will mention no names, but my one was included] and, well, they didn't said it that clearly, but, how can I explain .... well I also had to swallow .... but basically they recommended something called "fun-cut".
   But better to own a jersey which can be used than one to hang in a frame on the wall.
   
   
2. As the 2008 jerseys were the first design we made, there were certain strategic mistakes incorporated which are closely interlinked with the problems outlined above under (1). To cut a long story short, I was many times mistaken for Sydney Greenstreet and Tom was asked to sign autographs with "Akebono". Even Ludwig would have looked like previous German Kanzler Helmut Kohl. So I got some strategic hints from F2P this time how to do a design that makes as look, smarter, faster and slimmer.
   
   
3. Finally we had no matching bib shorts for our fantastic team jerseys. In 2008 I rode a lot of times with the Positivo Jersey and the NFCC bib shorts - the best shorts I ever had and coincidentally manufactured by F2P. So I thought it would be nice to have some comfortable, good looking bib shorts as well.
   
   
4. And we didn't had a long sleeve jersey as well, which meant that we could not sport the Positivo Espresso logo during the cold season. Yes, we could also use wind stopper jackets, rain vests, team socks and condoms imprinted with our logos but at some point one has to draw a line and say: Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish.

So, I had some discussion about possible designs, minimum lot sizes and options and I came up with the following ideas for 2009:

2009 POSITIVO ESPRESSO SHORT SLEEVE TEAM JERSEY

Well I didn't want to change the overall theme so drastically so I stayed with the same colors as last year as a principle theme: orange, light and dark gray. I also left the "flag bands" at the sleeves as they are very good looking and can be used handily to explain the international background of the team. I added the Haiku from Beat Takeshi on the back side, please check here for the explanation.

In order to make as look faster, smarter and slimmer I put the flamboyant orange of the front and back and the grey on the side panels and shoulders.

The joke on the side panels about dogs, pedestrians, cars and bikes was nice for 2008 but should not be extended in to this year.

And we can also easily make a long sleeve jersey out of this as well.

2009 POSITIVO ESPRESSO TEAM BIB SHORTS

A continuation of the same theme as on the short sleeve jerseys to have a unified outlook. Please note that the so called base panels are all uniform dark grey (so called "carbon grey"), they come only in eight base colors and cannot be imprinted with logos or patterns. At least not at a reasonable cost and also not without loosing durability.

The design emphasis our mights legs and people we will pass along the road will be terrified in awe and respect. Please also note that the long awaited "Traffic light bug" sticker is now integrated on the back side for everyone to see. From behind, of course. These are extremely comfortable bib shorts - I wrote that already I know, but I would like to emphasize this again.

I still need to work on the long sleeve jersey design which I will do within the next days.

Please let me have your honest feedback, we can still work very much on the design. We need to place an order of 20 items of each of the basic types (so either SS jersey, LS jersey or bib shorts) and then we can have a minimum lot size of 5 or 10 or the other two basic types. Obviously, the more we take, the cheaper it will get. So please let me also know which types would be of interest to you.

To give you an idea of the cost involved :

- Short Sleeve Jersey app. 8.000 Yen
- Long Sleeve Jersey app. 9.500 Yen
- Bib Shorts app. 8.500 Yen

The last time I have paid upfront the complete order of 20 jerseys, however this time I would expect some help in this regard from the Positivo Espresso Hard Core Team members.

It would be nice to have the jerseys ready for the Fuji Hill Climb event at the start of June. Or Itoigawa? Hurry up guys.

The true Tokyo (- Itoigawa) Monogatari

It took me some time until I could fully recover from the ordeal of this race but finally I an now able to move my limbs again and write some lines about the event we had last weekend.

THE NIGHT BEFORE

Of course I was delayed in the office and couldn't leave on time. And once I was home my son showed me a note from his teacher who was less than pleased with his recent performance which required additional time. And of course I forgot to print out all necessary infos for the race and pack my gear probably. And then I als went to Nagai-Sans shop to show him the new POSITIVO ESPRESSO shirts which have just arrived in time. So when I finally rode along the Tamagawa in direction Hachioji it was already 19.15hr. This was the first time for me to ride during the night along the river, there were still a lot of people and even more people with dogs on the road. And one had to go slow and remember where the potholes and other obstacles are. But it was definitely interesting. The opposite side (Kawasaki etc.) of the Tamagawa is not fully civilized yet - there are parts without light and I never noticed this during the daytime. An almost surreal experience.

I finally arrived in Hachioji and immediately found the Rhythm & Blues (R&B) Hotel. I avoided any discussion with the clerk and took my bike as it was to my room. As the room was barely bigger than my bike, I had some difficulties to enter. Yes, the R&B Hotel belongs to the Washington Hotel group which is famous for their small rooms. They own more than 10.000 hotel rooms all over Japan, however all together their size is only slightly bigger than the typical expatriate living room in Denenchofu.

This is a business hotel and business hotel means that the hotel is doing brisk business, whereas the customers are doing not - otherwise they wouldn't stay there. I cannot understand why they have smoking rooms. I mean it is anyway forbidden to smoke in the bed - but where else can you sit, if not on the edge of the bed. But it was cheap and David made some efforts to organize the accommodation so I shouldn't complain. But the next time, if there is a next time, I am going to stay in the Vanilla something love hotel on the opposite side of the Takao-guchi station. I am ready to share a double bed with whomsoever.

We had a very nice dinner in the gold room of a very nice restaurant in Hachioji. We would have stayed longer, but all of us were nervous and wanted to go to bed early.

Unfortunately what looked like a bed in the first instance, turned out to be a massive steel mattress with a brick-like cushion on top. Everything in this bed was as soft as Stalin and I could barely sleep. But perhaps I should stop here writing about the hotel and focus more on the race. Which actually started the next day.

THE START AT TAKAO-GUCHI

So basically we left poorly prepared in the morning, but we had our team jerseys on and we really looked like a team. Juliane and david had forgotten their invitation postcards, only Tom and David had a description of the roads with them. Later it turned out that Juliane was supposed to start at 6:00 AM and not at 6:30 AM as all other Positivi riders. We had however plenty of food from a bakery raid the night before.

I think the new jerseys are pretty nice and I noticed three things about them which I didn't realized during the design phase:

1. The jersey design emphasizes the shape of big bellies
2. When filled with stuff, the orange bag pockets look like a life jacket.
3. We need to add a slogan, either 信号虫 or 東京警察信号無視許可７５６B-1

So we looked like a group of non-swimmers on the way to the pool. We made our way to the start area quickly, Tom was already there since April 19th or so. Then we started.

PART 1 : TAKAO TO SASAGO TUNNEL

We were in the last starting group departing at 06.30hr, about 20 riders I would guess. Among them Greg, a guy I did not remember when I saw him, but when I saw his BMC bike I remembered that I talked to him in 2007 at the 7-Eleven at the Honjuku - Kazahari approach. So we started and rode already at a brisk speed. When I later checked my CICLO data, I found out that it took us only 16 minutes up to the Otarumi Pass - so already a pretty fast attack time. This would have guaranteed an entry in the TOGE BAKA list on this website. Nevertheless a lot of the Japanese riders rode away already on the ascent. David provided a lot of draft for the peloton and Tom in particular. I guess Tom could spend about 2 of the total 294 km of the race in the draft of his fellow Positivo Espresso team members and I am sure that this laid the foundation for his excellent result. On the top of Otarumi I felt already like puking and seriously considered to give up. The weather didn't look good. There was some strange pain in my left ankle.

Anyway I continued and began to feel better. Even the ride through Uenohara on route 20 was without any incidents. This city I despise so much. Also the weather became better.

We had a fight with a big dumper truck who was constantly blowing his horn. By the way, if you want to file a complain, his number plate was 八王子１００は9-16. Still remember this one.

So we reached the first checkpoint after the modest ascent to Sasago tunnel after 57 km and 2:07 hrs with an average speed (all inclusive) of 27.0 km/hr.

I have no idea why we stopped at the checkpoint. There was really nothing, in particular no food, except for some chocolates. And so we made a photo and vanished into the Sasago tunnel.

PART 2 : SASAGO TUNNEL TO NIRASAKI CHECKPOINT 2

We had heard a lot of bad things about Sasago Tunnel, the new one. In contrast to the new tunnel, the haunted old one on top of the mountain looked like a bikers paradise. So we carefully vanished into the black hole. But the traffic was light and the tunnel well lit and not as long as we thought iｔ woube be. In particular when compared to what was waiting for us between Hakuba and Itoigawa later on.

Then we had a fast descent into Kofu town. Kofu - why had we never been there before, this gem of a city! Well, the first reason is, that this bloody town is too far away from Tokyo. But it is a beauty indeed. When coming down on route 20 from Otsuki, one is overwhelmed by a sudden feeling of love. Love is in the air .... somehow. I guess that this feeling derived from the huge, round love hotel on the left side, which is appropriately named LOVE. But also Kofu is very international. And it even becomes more and more international. There is already a pachinko parlour called PACHINKO KOKUSAI MORE AND MORE which is appropriately flanked by a booth of the NO LOAN credit shark company. In my head I was rearranging the signboards to form new sentences:

"He gave me NO LOAN to play MORE AND MORE PACHINKO at KOKUSAI"

was the best I could came up with. And Kofu also has the CLUB RUDE. This is a very famous hiphop club and it seems that they have even a video on You Tube. Actually people line up for this club in long lines which reach until CLUB WOMB in Shibuya.

And then Kofu has all this wonderful steel girder structures which used to look like abandoned gas stations and reminded me of this famous quote of William Gibson, "of a future that never became one" when he commented on the SF designs of American gas stations in the fifties. But in fact these structures are used to cultivate grapes which in turn are made to wine ??? from Japan ????

Sorry, I was distracted from the race again. Otherwise Kofu was ugly and the traffic was messy. We were forced to ignore some red lights and as a result we pretty soon overtook some other riders. Then we arrived at the second Check Point after 49 more km and at an average speed of 30 km/hr (for the second stretch only, all inclusive).

At least there was something to eat there and david used the occasion to rearrange the mess in his bib shorts.

PART 3 CHECKPOINT NIRASAKI TO CHECKPOINT ODASAKA

After this checkpoint the long climb to Fujimigaoka or so started. We stayed pretty much together as a group on the approach; however I was afraid that I would run out of carbs and bonk; Juliane was so kind to give me some of her maple syrup soaked pastry. There must have been something wonderful inside - my hands were almost glued to my handle bars and I started to pedal constantly up the slope. In fact my hands WERE glued to the handle bar due to the adhesive superpower of the maple syrup. It took me considerable time to clean up the mess the next Sunday. So I was on top at elevation 950 very fast and overtook a lot of riders, among them a girl from the ASPEN team and a guy in a blue ASSOS jersey (hello David Marx!).

I felt a little bit bad about leaving my team mates alone on the ascent and anyway I needed something to eat. So I stopped at the next Lawson bought some food and a big bottle of water which I intended to distribute to all of my team mates. When they came down from the top, I waved with the water bottle and signalled in sign language "Hey guys, I bought some water for 210 Yen to make up for all my previous sins. Stop and refill your water bottles."

But they were not very much interested and I could barely motivate them to stop for me. On the other hand, we made a stop at a convenience store only 11 km later and before the next checkpoint. Before we arrived there we overtook the Aspen girl and the Assos guy. And after the stop we overtook them again. Then we finally arrived at the next checkpoint after another climb which brought us to elevation 1.020m . 64km distance in 21.8 km/hr average speed. The average dropped a lot because we had one long break and we need to do a lot of climbing. At this point we have already climbed almost 2.000 meter up.

PART 4 CHECKPOINT ODASAKA TO CHECKPOINT HAKUBA

The weather was still good and we started the decent into the Matsumoto valley. First we overtook the Aspen girl and the Assos guy. Then David and me waited for Juliane and david to catch up as we have left a little bit earlier and we needed to turn right at a crossing. We started again as a 4-team and within no time we had overtaken the Aspen girl and the Assos guy. The ride through Matsumoto was very boring. I have never been to Matsumoto before, but my image has been that of a city with a huge castle on top of a mountain and some very large temple. But there was nothing, only boring suburban streets clogged with cars and trucks. In addition we now faced a severe headwind and could proceed only at a 20 - 26 km/hr speed. And I realized that I am completely frustrated when I can see the road ahead for miles to no end. I just don't like to see where I am going; this is also why I do not like to ride the last stretch of the Noto 400; it is not because I have to ride against a full fledged taifun coming up from the South (2006) or because I have more alcohol in my body the other body fluids (2007). No, it is the view of these endless roads in front that is frustrating me. I thought about what makes me go faster and what makes me go slower in more detail:

FASTER

1. The view of small red LED lights attached to cycles in tunnels in front of me.
2. The [usually wrong] idea that the mountain pass is just around the next bend of the road
3. The royal milk pastry at the shop in front of Ome station
4. If I can stay on Toms wheel for more than 3 seconds on a slope

SLOWER

1. Long straight roads through boring Japan suburbia

So Matsumoto is unfortunately like any other town in Japan. Long roads from the center fanning out with pachinko parlours, car dealers and other facilities I do not frequently visited. Boring. I thought about when I travelled the first time to Shikoku and arrived at a construction site in Tokushima where one of my previous company elevator was being installed. So how to roads in Shikoku, this backyard of Japan look like? Just like in Tokyo, Saitama and Matsumoto is the answer. Pachinko parlours. Car dealers. Yamada Denki. You know it - you name it.

But we also had here one of our best performance as a team, everyone was willing to share a portion of the drafting work in the front and we frequently rotated. We also frequently lost our way. That led to the interesting fact that we overtook at least three more times the Aspen girl and the Assos guy (from now on, shortcuted to Assos GAG). Then the ascent to the Hakuba valley started. We were all looking forward to the next checkpoint and some fresh food which was supposed to be at km 225 or so, just outside the town of Omachi. So we passed happily through Omachi, ignored all 7-Eleven and Lawsons on the way and were anticipating a nice break. Then someone of us asked one of the Japanese riders who was with us for quite some stretch and who attended the race for the 12th time, how far it would be to the next checkpoint. And to our dismay we found out , that the Omachi checkpoint had been reallocated for some unknown reasons some 22 km further down the road to Hakuba station.

We were pretty desperate for food at this point and afraid that as we have almost crossed Omachi completely, we would not find any convenience store on the open land between Omachi and Hakuba. Of course in Japan these fears are irrational. In average there are more conbis on Japanese roads than cars. Sometimes they are even piling up on the left and the right side of the road, trying to overtake each other and blowing there horns. OK, I am exaggerating. But some of them have flags with slogans like "ODEN TO THE PEOPLE" (see below) - which is equally stupid.

Of course we found a nice LAWSON on the outskirts of Omachi. When I was young, I used to complain about McDonalds and similar establishments where you can find the same food all over the world - how boring. I wanted to mix with the locals, have local food and I hated to become recognized as a German tourist. In fact one time in South Italy, I felt confident enough to state that I am from Liverpool, as anyway nobody would speak English there. It was only unfortunate that this was just a few weeks after the Heysel stadium tragedy where many Italian soccer supporter were killed when they were attacked by (liverpolian) hooligans. The Italian knew that, I didn't and the atmosphere became rather frosty - perhaps I would have fared better if he would have said that I am from the East German Stasi. Anyway, I am so happy that in Japan I can go to any Lawson or 7-Eleven just everywhere in the country and buy Weider Energy Gel, a raisin bread, shoecream pastry and I do not have to rely on local specialities such as jelly fish ingestines.

Sorry, I became distracted again. But this is how one's thoughts are going when one is riding long stretches on a bike. So we took a long and nice break in front of the Lawson. We all looked pretty deranged. Juliane and david in particular looked like Amy Whinehouse and Pete Doherty after a big party night.

We then started the last stretch to Hakuba. David and me were riding alone in front and we arrived first at the Hakuba checkpoint. As usual we overtook Assos GAG. We had discussed previously that we would make only a short break there as it was slowly getting dark. And cold. But then it took much more time. Again, we were getting slower, for the last 79 km since the 3. checkpoint we had an average speed of 21.6 km/hr only, mainly due to the long break at Lawson. I was afraid that we would not make it before dark and also not within 13 hours.

PART 5 CHECKPOINT HAKUBA TO ITOIGAWA FINISH

David asked a more experienced rider at the Hakuba CP how many climbs would be still in front of us. He answered that there would be only one - but one should never ever believe such statements.

Indeed there were no long climbs waiting for us but several small ones. And we entered the land of the long tunnels almost immediately. Tunnel after tunnel, it became really scary. Of course we overtook Assos GAG again. So we were moving at a very fast pace, first in order to catch all the red LED lights that were riding in front of us in the tunnels and second and most important, because we were terribly afraid to get killed by one of the big trucks that were overtaking us in the tunnels. The pure terror and fear of getting overrun was giving as incredible superpowers.

I was really, really afraid. At one point I was trailing about 30 m behind my teammates when a long car transporter truck overtook me with minimum clearence and I was first moved towards the tunnel walls and then I swung back into his line and the truck was so long that I could barely keep a paralell line to him. Also I forgot to stuff away my racing sunglasses and wore my normal glasses. It was very dark in the tunnel already and sunglasses do not help to get a better vision and more confidence.

So once we were out of one tunnel I asked my team mates to stop, so that I could exchange my glases and all of them gracefully complied.

We then had a very fast run towards Itoigawa, two other riders tried to jump on our back. I guess at the last stretch of 45 km we overtook more riders than we did the previous 250 km. Ok, if we count them single, because in the meanwhile I personally had overtaken Assos GAG about 56 times.
Anyway, the last stretch then saved the day. We were running fast at 37.7 km/hr average and I still felt that I had some reserves.

And then suddenly it was over, we arrived at the goal after 12 hours and 27 minutes - so very close to our time goal of 12 hours. Tom was already waiting for us for a long time. He had grown a long beard and was accompagnied by a guy he used to call "Friday". Perhaps we were not so happy that he already speeded off at the approach to Otarumi, but in the end he officially finished in 6th place within less than 10 hours. The best rider, actually a foreigner, finished in 8:34 hr. Even more interesting is the fact that he (the winner) was off the bike only for 20 minutes all together. Now look at our team : 12:27 total, off the bike:1:51, on the bike : 10:36. So if we skip all breaks next time (we need a support car !) and do a little bit more training and effort we can keep up with Tom. On the bike we had a speed average of 27.9 km/hr, which is not bad at all for this distance (plus traffic conditions). We finished all around place 130. Juliane became unofficially the 5th fast women. If she had only started at 6 AM.

Ok, so after a beer we retired to our minshuku hotel in front of Itoigawa Station. We were really tired and drank some sake in the onsen pool before we had some o-bento and assembled for a last round of alcohol in our room. The people from the minshuku were very nice and gave us a big room.

I was not as tired as I was after the Sado Long Ride race last year - only 210 km but all the time in the cold rain. But I was tired and I was also proud that all of us made it in the end. The sad part about all this is that just now, when we have equally strong team members, a good intiutive understanding between all of us, yes, even team jerseys and an idea how to rotate, that this will most likely be the last season that we will ride together. We had a lot of fun and we got used to this and while some of us will move on to more exciting parts of the world and interact in new adventures, some of us will continue to stay in Tokyo and have to find new riding mates.
Anyway, it is as it is and I should not amy whine about.

I rode home the next day with David and Tom. On the train - in order to avoid any misunderstandings. I got a haircut finally. This is another funny story which I will tell another time. I made a photo of Tom on the way home in the train which very well displays how we felt after the race: marked by desitution and happy that this one in over. And somewhat proud of oursleves and the silly achivements we made with no real purpose whatsoever: "NO EXITS THIS WAY" A good slogan we should add to our jerseys.

And today my behind has finally recovered so that I jumped on the bike again and commuted to work.
The 1:05 hr for the 31 km stretch was probably the fastest I ever did, 68 km/hr down the country club road was also not bad. So I should be in good shape for the Tokyo Oifuto race on Sunday. Hope it will not rain. And on Thursday I went up to Kazahari, achieving a respectable time. But I felt sooo tired afterwards. I really rode to much this week, I counted all in all 600 kms in 7 days.

I also felt strong during the race. It finally pays off that I was riding through the winter and that I changed my riding style with less emphasis on power and more on cadence. Last year it was a personal defeat for me to change into inner on a ascent. Now I can pedal faster and more constant up the slopes.

In the end I would like to thank all of my team members for this perfect event. Tom did a lot of footwork to get all of us organized; he and David convinced the rest to attend this race. david was the most photogenic guy on this tour as can be seen in the photos. Juliane, a friend now for 10 almost 10 years is a real friend. Thank You.


Example of Oden to the People!


Bokutachi, Oden Ou-endan!
We are the Oden fan club!