Gone will be the balmy, unseasonable temperatures of late but still tomorrow should be fine cycling weather! Anyone care for a little half-day ride? How about a visit to Aurore, Ome and further up to Yamabushi-toge and beyond?Hope the fresh bakery bait posted above is attractive enough to lure at least a few PE riders...already got Froggy I think...Nishibe-san looks like joining as well...
I was thinking of a get-together at Sekidobashi @ 8:00 and go as far as the top of Yamabushi-toge and then double back. This would make for a short half-day ride with plenty of time left to date the wife and/or do other little family service things.
UPDATE: TOMORROW'S BIRTHDAY RIDE CANCELLED DUE TO...very slippery road conditions...this is what weathernews has for tomorrow in the Okutama area..
Great day to ride, although 5C when I left my house at 7am and 17C returning at midday.. how on earth do you dress for that? David L. and Chris D. many thanks for a great ride.. details on my blog.. Michael, Tom, how did you fair today?
There is a famous old rock ’n’ roll song, which was also performed by the Rolling Stones at the beginning of their career just before the French Revolution:
Last week Thursday, on a perfect Japan winter day, Ludwig and me meet somewhere along the Tamagawa and we headed out for a new destination to be explored: The Tanzawa Lake, between Mount Fuji and Sagamiko, South of Doshimichi. The TanzawaLake is relatively easy accessible from Southern direction out of Gotemba, however we wanted to ride there from the North. Coincidentally the road leading there is route 76 – and that is where we wanted to get our December kicks.
We were already late due to the fact that I tried for the first time to cycle through Yokohama in the morning to the Keio Keirin track at the Tamagawa and we hurried up to reduce the distance between us and our goal. At Otarumi / Takao, Ludwig went on to try his best on the time trial and in fact he set a new record with 13:50 minutes. I was feeling not too well this day, perhaps it was a cold, perhaps still the last symptoms of a very unpleasant food poisoning, perhaps it was not my day. Perhaps Ludwig is just faster.
We then went further along route 20 until the crossing with route 76 where we turned South towards Doshimichi. Route 20 is not my favorite one, but there is little traffic on route 76, some nice dams and bridges and a lot of meaningless up and down. Finally we came to the small village of Aone, which is located at the crossing of route 76 and Doshimichi.
Our last food supply dated from the Takao 7-Eleven, the traditional purchase spot of Positivo Espresso, so we were quite in need to get something into our stomachs. There were some unattractive local supermarkets, some of them guarded by wild beasts (dogs, in fact), so we choose one of them. It is interesting to note that the things they sell in villages like Aone is quite different from the things in Tokyo. This might have to do with the fact, that people living in Aone actually cook their meals, while the busy townsfolk of Tokyo just would like to have something in their mouths – immediately. So, whereas one can buy cheese burritos and ampan donuts in Tokyo, one has to live with flour, sugar and yeast in Aone.
We sat outside of the store, away from the wild beast, and as our tradition stipulates, I took a plastic sake crate from a nearby snack to sit on. Yes, even in places like Aone, snack bars exist. Once we had a German financial manager at Schindler, first time in Japan, who went out for dinner with his wife and, because they were looking for something light, entered a snack bar. After an hour or so they left still hungry, as the only food served were peanuts und octopus on a stick, but also with much less money. Mental note: They don’t serve light snacks at snack bars in Japan. You also don’t meet Turks at the Turkish baths here.
The snacks in case of villages like Aone consist of sixty year old country maams, with about the same consistency and charm as octopus on sticks.
One of them came out of the bar, saw us sitting there and immediately started to play Enka music at extreme levels. Hey, I got my Enka vaccination a long, long time ago and I react almost neutral to this threat today.
We then went back to the supermarket to try to find out about the conditions on route 76 with the local population. The following conversation unfolded:
“Is it possible to ride on the bikes from here along route 76 to TanzawaLake?”
”Impossible, there is a signboard saying that traffic cannot go through.”
”Hm, but, just as an example, if one would ignore the signboard [not that WE would ever do that], would it be possible to ride through?”
”It is impossible; there is a locked gate which closes the road.”
”Hm, yes, but, just assuming there would be some crazy foreigners (不良外人) [Definitely completely different from US] and they would not care about the gate and climb over it, would it be possible to ride through?”
“Impossible, it is very far away [Note that we have traveled already 90 km to the village from Tokyo].”
So with these bits of extremely helpful information, we tried to find route 76. After ending up on Doshimichi and a dead end, we finally found a promising road leading deep into the forest. We climbed up quite a bit and then Ludwig suggested to go back, because it looked like the wrong road. So we went back, tried some more dead ends, than we rode up again as we had no better alternative. Just by chance there was a guy working there and we asked him if this would be route 76. No, it wasn’t.
“All you bikers come here and think that’s the right road, but it’s not. This is a 登山 road which ends after the next corner.”
But luckily he knew where the entry to road 76 was and he showed as the way.
"Can we go there up to Tansawa lake?” we asked.
“Well I guess so, there are some parts of gravel roads and I guess it is impossible for a car to pass there, but you should be able to go through on a bike.”
No mentioning of signboards, gates and distances.
So we rode back one more time and finally we found the entry to road 76. It was then when I made my plea: “Ludwig, it’s almost 3 PM and I am feeling miserable, let’s ride back.” Ludwig finally concluded but now, one trip later I can reveal that this was only a dirty trick. Fully knowing that Ludwig would be on a business trip the following week, I wanted then to go there on my own and claim all honor for myself, not like in case of the Mitsumine exploration some weeks ago where I had to share with Ludwig.
The rest of the trip wasn’t so interesting. We went back Doshimichi, then crossed to road 64 to Miyagaseko where we had a short break and then we took the fast road down to Hon Atsugi, where we hopped the train back to Tokyo or Yokohama respectively. Actually the way home from these rides is now much shorter compared to ride back to Tokyo.
So on Thursday this week I tried again. I slept too long. Then, just when I was ready to leave, I got a phone call which required some urgent actions. Finally I was out of the house at 10 AM. Now I fairly well know the road to the Tamagawa and I made good progress. Within almost an hour I was a Sekidobashi (compared to 45 minutes from home, or one hour 10 if I meet with others at David’s house first). In a break from tradition which was required due to the late time, I didn’t stop at the Takao 7-Eleven, flew up Otarumi (not that I was fast, but I was feeling much better than one week ago) and made the first break of the day after 2:30 hrs at the 7-Eleven just outside Sagamiko on route 20.
Then I proceed the same way as the week before to Aone, 76 still being a beautiful road.
Again no break as I was terrible afraid of snack maams, Enkas and wild beasts. And it was late. I found the entry to route 76, the trick is to look for signboards leading to a camp ground called 神之川. The road was in good shape, flat and led to the said camp ground. This must be a beautiful place in summer, now it was a little bit deserted and an old wrecked right-wing bus was left to rot on the roadside there. I always wanted to know where these things end up.
From there onwards, the road moves up the hill slowly. Within no time one find’s oneself in deep valleys. One still can see clearly the top of the trees on the ridges, as they are only perhaps 500 meters away, but the elevation difference is easily 200 meters or more. The road is still in very good shape and leading along the river. Then there is a final river crossing and there is the gate. It’s the typical hypocritical “Traffic Closure Gate”: Tom would laugh at it, it’s easily possible to climb over it and there is even a little way around it. Just to be sure I left an empty jelly bag with my finger prints and some DNA materials on it at the gate in case I get lost.
The road is still in good shape at the beginning, but after 200 meters there is a stretch of gravel road. But only for 20 meters or so. Despite the fact that the road is not maintained, the surface is good. However there are a lot of stones and rocks on the road and one hears the sound of the rolling stones from the slopes:
“Get your kicks / on route 76.”
Actually it is more like “rumble, rumble, plick-a-block, rumble, crash, krawummmmm.” Then the first tunnels are coming. One would naturally assume that these are very rough tunnels, excavated into the hard rock with bare fists by bold and rough men a century ago, given the fact that this is such a goddamn deserted place at the edge of civilization leading from nowhere (Aone snacks) to nothing at all (Tanzawa lake grounds). Yet, this is Japan and while as a tax payer I hate the former Ministry of Construction, as a bicycle riders I can only stammer “Thank you, thank you for all these wonderful roads in the middle of nowhere.”, get down on my knees and kiss the feet of their officials. The first two tunnels where built in 1991 and 1993, both of them wide enough to accommodate Hato buses with retired MoC officials on a day trip.
Then there is another stretch of gravel road followed by some asphalt stretches. But the relation between asphalt and gravel stretches is then heavily leaning towards the later. At elevation 600 meters there was only gravel road left, I still had at least 400 meter elevation difference between me and the top of the mountain where a perhaps 2.000 m long tunnel was waiting for me and I had no idea if one could pass through or not. And it was already 14.30hr, so I decided to ride back. I am not a crazy foreigner.
Finally I took the same road back to Hon-atsugi as I did one week ago. After precisely 140 km and 6:30 hours, I was back on the train heading home. As I made almost no breaks, almost 6 hours of that was spending riding on the bike. Coming home, I had the next surprise before jumping into the bath: Less than 93 kg of body weight, a first for this year.
Which brings me at the end to three interesting questions:
First, suppose you are 60 kg of weight and you have no muscles at all. You can subsequently not move, not survive and definitely not climb hills on your bike. All of this will improve substantially with 5, 10 or 15kg of muscles. Finally you have the preconditions to become a good hill climber. But from a point onwards, the more muscles you get, the more your performance on the hill will detoriate again. Despite all the power from your muscles you are getting too heavy. Your muscles will not be able to move up all their mass up the hills. A Sumo wrestler will not become a good hill climber, neither a heavy body builder. So where is that optimal point? Or, what percentage of muscle weight on your total body weight is the optimum (not considering the all decisive factor for most of us: the weight of body fat). Anybody any idea?
The second question is, who has been up route 76 or rode at Tanzawa lake? Graham said that he ran at TanzawaLake, but he tried biking there? We need more information if we successfully what to conquer that road. Although I guess that should wait until next spring.
The third and last question is, what happened at Juliane’s farewell party tonight? I don’t have the answer yet, but I will let you know.
David forwarded this article from the New York Times this morning which is related to a previous post. And just by chance we spoke about the incident at Juliane's and david's Dinner at Davis on Sunday night.
Christopher Long, a cyclist, took part in a Critical Mass ride over the summer. (Photo: John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times)
Updated, 6:30 p.m. | A police officer who was caught knocking a man off his bicycle in Times Square over the summer in a video that was distributed widely on YouTube has been indicted by a grand jury, according to lawyers involved in the case.
The officer, Patrick Pogan, has been instructed to report to State Supreme Court in Manhattan for the unsealing of the indictment, his lawyer, Stuart London, said.
David Rankin, a lawyer for the bicyclist, Christopher Long, said the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, informed him around 3 p.m. that a grand jury had voted to indict Officer Pogan. Mr. London and Mr. Rankin both said they did not know the specific charges, and Mr. Morgenthau’s office declined to comment.
It is believed that prosecutors were seeking felony charges of filing false records in connection with the police report that Officer Pogan filed after arresting Mr. Long. Officer Pogan, who was stripped of his gun and badge in July after the video emerged, also could be charged with a misdemeanor count of assault.
“My client denies any wrongdoing in this matter,” Mr. London said in an interview Monday afternoon. “I would have people withhold judgment until all the evidence comes out about the bicyclist’s actions prior to my client taking action.”
Mr. Long was taking part in a monthly ride, called Critical Mass, that often draws hundreds of riders. In a criminal complaint against Mr. Long, Officer Pogan said that the cyclist rode straight into him. But the video, which was shot by a tourist and posted on YouTube and on the blog Gothamist.com, showed Officer Pogan lunging toward Mr. Long.
Officer Pogan arrested Mr. Long on charges of attempted assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, but the charges against Mr. Long were dropped in September.
The monthly rides have been a source of tension for the police since shortly before the Republican National Convention in 2004, when a large number of officers arrested more than 250 riders on charges that included parading without a permit.
I woke up this morning at 6 AM and when I looked out of the window the rain had already started to pour down. Now it is almost 12 and it is still raining outside. No way to enjoy the Tokyo Enduro Race today at TachikawaKinenKoen, so I informed Tom, David and Ludwig per e-mail this morning that I would not go and all agreed to go back to bed or do other more meaningful things.This is the third time I wanted to attend the race and the third time I couldn't. I became sick some days before the race in 2005 and in 2007 I applied to late and missed the deadline. This race is jinxed.The location is actually the one where I saw the first cycle race of my life ever, in September1990 a German friend of mine was racing there.
What a bummer that was! Still, when I look at the TCC picture below, I don't regret the decision to go back to bed. For me too, there has been a jinx on enduro-type races and this would have been the third one in a row after Shuzenji and Motegi last year. It is simply no fun to ride with muddy water spurting right into your face from the backwheels of riders ahead. I admire those TCC cyclists though who decided to brave the elements!
It was my birthday last Sunday and time to do something special with my wife, yet without neglecting the fact that it was about time to hit the road again. So we settled on a combination of biking and hiking: bhiking.
Maybe this will become a new Positive Espresso tradition. Maybe not.
Here is how it works. Ask your partner/family to take the train to Takaosanguchi. In the meantime, ride there on your own by bike. Upon arrival, switch from biking shoes into hiking shoes and do a big hike together. Ideally, ride back by bike while she takes the train - but this may only work in summer when the days are long enough.
In the event, I was racing to Takaosanguchi at record speed and without break: 1h40, at 28km/h on average - not bad, espeically considering the wind was not exactly blowing in my favour.
We then hiked up to Takaosan over the main route through the shrine, enjoying beautiful views of the shrine and autumn leaves, as well as over Tokyo.
Down to our beloved Otarumi Toge where we promptedly spotted a lonely biker fighting up the last meters to the top. Then up again to Daiyosan and Nakazawayama, and via Nishiyamatoge and Mizawatoge eventually back to Takaosanguchi. Something like 25km in total, for which we took six hours with a modest amount of breaks.
It has been a while since I posted about David Hasselhoff. However this fantastic music video from him gave me ample reason to make it available on the Positivo Espresso website. There is a very well written article on Spiegel Online [in German] about this and other remarkable extremes from the Eighties.
Twenty years from now, when most people are asked what they remember about the Fall of 2008, they will answer with some story about the greatest financial crisis since 1929, the election of Barack Obama, or maybe a international political crisis set in motion by Pakistani militants' attack in Mumbai on luxury hotels, train stations, restaurants and a synagogue. But for Positivo Espresso members and fans, the dominant events will be, first, David J. and Juliane Prechtl's relocation to London, and (a distant) second, the discovery and expansion of our riding territory into Chichibu, in addition to Yamanashi, Kanagawa and the far western reaches of Tokyo-to.
Tom led the way, Michael followed, and now Jerome, Juliane and I are catching up. Even David J. managed one sortie before leaving the country to help save the European financial system. But we owe a special debt of gratitude to Ludwig, who actually discovered Chichibu in 2108(?) and mapped many of its passes, before leading the only road building crews ever seen in Chichibu that did not place unnecessary barriers in places that were likely to cause a cyclist to crash, or at least flat his/her tire.
Sunday November 30 it was Jerome's, Juliane's and my turn.
Jerome and I rode up the river with James Knott and his group of merry men, who were headed toward Takao/Sagami-ko on their fast pace/early curfew trip. James was on his spectacular 2008 Cervelo SLC-SC, and stayed with us as Jerome took off. ... something like 5 km later we noticed that the three of us had ridden away and the rest of James' group was nowhere to be seen (flat tires caused the delay). Jerome and I said our goodbyes and pushed ahead to meet Juliane at Aurore Bakery in Oume just after 9AM.
The road was quiet, the air crisp, and the fall colors were spectacular after we left Oume.
On the descent after Shomaru Toge, despite explicit warning signs ...
Someone wanted to go faster than everyone else:
Fortunately, a cyclist had left a spare road bike nearby, so the driver could become a rider, and join us for the rest of the day.
Jerome and I celebrated our victory about 2/3 of the way up the hill to Karibazaka-toge, after stopping to change a flat tube and enjoy the view.
We did get to the top without other problems, and the vista to the NE was spectacular.
After riding along the ridge and climbing some to Shiraishi Toge vicinity, we turned left past the Ken-min no Mori parking lot (Saitama's version of Tokyo's To-min no Mori) and then took the Maruyama Rindo ("forest road") all the way down the hill into Yokoze/ Chichibu-Shi, a route that allowed us to get to the Seibu Chichibu train station with only 150 meters or so riding along the crowded stretch of Rte. 299, then had an almost civilized lunch and hopped the 2:25PM express train to Ikebukuro.
*The title to this entry, "More Chichibu!" is to be said loudly, in the tone of Christopher Walken addressing Will Ferrell in the 2000 SNL sketch "More Cowbell".
I would like to ride this Sunday, proposing Takao and back on the following route. Ebisu stn. 7am, 120km, back by midday. Any takers? Obv. can add or subtract to this as you see fit.
I promised my family to be back from cycling by 1 PM. And I was back at 1:15 PM, which is unprecedented and breaking every existing Positivo Espresso tradition. So what went terribly wrong - how could this possibly happen?Well it started with all the ingredients of a typical Positivo Espresso tour at David's home at 7 AM. I needed to devour my 7/11 breakfast and delayed our start. Juliane didn't show up at all and couldn't be reached by phone. Jerome was assuming that she might be on her way to Ome, so we even didn't had a clear plan where to go. I had previously discussed with David, that we will ride to Wada and then return through route 76 to Doshi and back into town through one of the amazing maze roads David was able to identify in the mess of Western Tokyo.
We started to ride along the Tamagawa and immediately tried to make up for the lost time. Three quarters of the members of our superior Saiko race time trial team were present and we rode a fast pace line which went exceptionally well. At Seikobashi we made a last phone call to Juliane, finally giving up on her and then deciding to do the original plan in reverse: First riding out to Tsukui, then travelling along the Doshimichi road 413 until the crossing with road 76, which then leads back to the notorious route 20.
The roads selected by David were very good, it was still early in the morning and even the traffic on the big roads was light. He led a through all the shortcuts with sherpa-like qualities. There were some fast downhills and a lot of climbs.
I have done some of this roads before with David, but always in the opposite direction. Now going there it felt less than going downhill, but more like "reverse-climbing".
We continued to pull each other through at a fast pace; David also has improved compared to the last Chichibu trip. And finally we took a break a a Daily Yamazaki Conbini where not only us, but also other customers of the shop could witness a highlight of the day:
It was cold outside and we were sweaty, naturally we rested inside the Combini at the adult magazine corner and ate our replenishments. All three of us were wearing high quality, overpriced Assos jackets in the colors of the German flag, but what was hidden beyond that jackets was quite different.
When Jerome peeled off his jacket, his space-technology grade high-tec underwear was revealed. As he explained, this garment was originally developed for the Usbekistan army as a full body condom for contraception of male army members. One cannot see this on the photo, but it fully encloses every possible boundary of the human body, starting from the toes on the neck. It also provides labour to the rural knitting community of Usbekistan, having much free time during long winter hours.Unfortunately after extensive testing by the army, for unknown reasons, it failed to shown the expected contraception functionalities, upon which it was sold to France as cycling gear. Jerome swears that it keeps him warm and the amount of sweat emitted by his body should proves him right.
We then continued along road 413 and finally to road 76. Beautiful ups and downs in the autumn scenery. When we reached route 20, Jerome decided that he would try to ride over Wada as originally planned (again, clearly against the Positivo Espresso tradition as we never ride as planned), whereas David and me decided to go home along road 20 and make it back home by lunch.
With a nice tail wind in the back we went fast to Sagamiko station where a big truck lorry, coming up the hill, wanted to turn left and almost crashed with a minicar. I stayed on the scene to watch the whole tragedy unfold, while David moved on to climb Otarumi. This was the second time in three days that I encountered a crazy truck driver.
On Saturday when David, Ludwig and me rode into Chichibu, we made a fast downhill ride at 40 km/hr + on road 299 where we were overtaken by a very long speeding truck. He left ample clearance with us, but by doing so he occupied more than half of the opposite lane and as the road was winding along the valley, there was no way to tell if cars would come up or not. A motorcycle coming in our direction was barely able to squeeze in between the truck and the guiderail, and another white family van could just do the same. I remember all the details, as I was expecting to hear the sound of a crash any moment.
So David was ahead which gave me the motivation to start the reverse Otarumi time trial. The first part is mostly flat which even some descents, but I got blocked by traffic congestion three or four times. But I was feeling good and when the real climb started, a tried to stay at 20 km/hr spinning at a high cadence. Finally I saw David in front of me and overtaking him at elevation 300 meters. He was shouting encourageously:
"Come on Michael, keep going, PUSH IT!"
which gave me the neccessary extra motivation. The last thing I heard of David was:
"Ahem, I am keeping it easy, don't wait for me!"
I arrived at the top at 17:17 minutes, which is fast, but not my best time. But it is OK I guess.
I nevertheless waited for David on the top and together we made the fast downhill from Otarumi, which was blocked by traffic at the entrance to Takao. But after that the roads were OK and we continued at 35 km/hr towards Sekidobashi, first along road 20 and then later along the Asakawa. Where we went into pace line again.
After a last break at the Y park 7-eleven we started another fast pace line at 35 km/hr along the Tamagawa. Clearly it was starting to rain any minute and there were less people on the pathway as usual. We were really fast and that brought as home so early.
Much earlier as expected. Of course my family has given up all expectations that I would be back on time after many disappointments and subsequently no lunch was prepared. The Saturday trip to Chichibu must have been the last nail in the coffin, I guess. Everybody was out and they came home at 4 PM only, much surprised seeing me showered and neatly dressed.
Jerome made it over Wada, as usually excelling late in the ride. He was also home by 1:30 PM, so on his own he rode on the last stretch very fast as well.
Last 30 minutes are cut off, as the Ciclo stops after 6 hours recording.
A very enjoyable mid-length trip, just the right ride for autumn.
I want to scribble down this thought before I forget it and as there is no new Chichibu post in view for the immediate future, I rather do it right now:Imagine that you were born as a piece of rock millions of years ago in Southern Chichibu. As you are embedded in a gigantic puzzle with billions of other pieces of rock in the inside of a mountain, you feel safe and you have no idea what is going on in the world. However, chances are big, that you will end up tomorrow in concrete as part of a residential tower in central Tokyo. The amount of dumper trucks, transporting to Tokyo what has been blasted, excavated and scraped away from the landscape of Chichibu is just amazing. Every time one rides out from Ome over the hill parallel to the Ome - Okutama railway line and enters into greater Nariki, one is overtaken by many dumper trucks and one can see the quarries lining up on the left side of the road to Ikusabata. This is just crazy, because otherwise Southern Chichibu would be the perfect place. It is like travelling in time, or changing the set of mind by taking special medication. Ome still has the sounds, smells and the general feel of hectic of Tokyo, but once the hills are crossed one feels like entering a different part of the country, many miles away from the big city. The contrast is just mind-boggling. Sure, this is still Japan, but one rides through it very much like through rural Japan of, say, Noto peninsular and not like on the dog & Obasan infested pathways along the Tamagawa. The impression of the time travel is just distorted by the dumper trucks. So one has to travel some more kilometers along road 53, before one has finally left allTokyoisms behind.
On the holiday Monday before the Saiko race, I did an exploratory tour of the area. By train to Kawaguchiko, then by bike around all five lakes, and on by bike down Doshimichi back to Tokyo (up to Hashimoto where darkness forced me onto the train).
138km in total, only modest climbing here and there and quite a bit of descending down Doshimichi where I reached a new top speed of 67km/h. If only the weather had been a bit nicer - it was overcast all day, but at least the clouds where hanging to high that Mount Fuji was always fully visible, as the below photos from all the five lakes show.
MOB has already written about the Tour du Japon/JCRC race around Lake Sai at the foot of Mount Fuji: D as in "Done" and Championship Reflections. Let me add a few short impressions of my own.
The best thing about the race is probably the scenary. Where else do you get such a beautiful view from your hotel room on the evening before the race?
My goal in the actual race was to survive: most importantly by not crashing (which is a distinct possibility when racing at 40km/h in the middle of a large pack of riders, mostly less than half a meter apart), secondly by not losing the peleton and thus the benefit of the windstream created by others, and thirdly by not doing anything else embarrassing in what was only my second race (MOB wrote on the first one in Gunma a few weeks earlier).
At the start - I'm in fifth row at the outer left.
I'm happy to report I did not crash and felt surprisingly comfortable in the tightness of the pack. Even better, I managed to stay among the top group of riders throughout, and arrived in the finish only 6.5 seconds behind the winner.
The final sprint in my E-class.
Unfortunately, another 20 riders managed to do even slightly better and I ended up only 22nd. (That's why I can't be seen in the above picture.) Still good enough to earn me the official qualififcationto race in the E-class in future. Strictly speaking I had qualified only for F-class with my performance at Gunma, but somehow I managed to convince JCRC to let me race nonetheless in E-class (which I chose upon MOB's recommendation as being probably slightly safer than F-class).
The race itself are two rounds around Saiko, 20km in total. At an average speed of 39.33km/h, the race was over after just over half an hour.
One of the rather wider bends (photo is of another class). Some curves are nastily narrow.
At a heartrate of just over 160, the 7 degrees Celsius didn't feel that cold, despite relatively light dress.
After the race, in increasingly miserable weather.
Poteau Mtn Launch Party & Ride
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Colorado-based Rene Herse ambassador Hailey Moore here! For the last four
years, I’ve relied on RH rubber for everything from my daily training
rides, to t...
OBKM
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Jedes Jahr werden von April bis August vier bis fünf Rennen im Rahmen der
Offenen Bremer Kriteriumsmeisterschaften (OBKM) veranstaltet die meistens
auf dem...
Hope the fresh bakery bait posted above is attractive enough to lure at least a few PE riders...already got Froggy I think...Nishibe-san looks like joining as well... 
Propose to meet at Sekidobashi at 9:00 
