Archiv der Kategorie: James
Saiko Race TV Review
Just watched the Asahi TV program about the Saiko race this afternoon. As expected the program focuses on the adventures of the two attending „talentos“, Yoshizawa/Morning Musume in the W class and „forgot his name“ in C1. The performance of both is also something to be forgotten soon; both of them were dropped within the first lap, both of them finished in the forties out of less than 50 riders.
Basically I disliked the program as it was promoting bicycle riding in a strange way. Sure, it is nice to have a lot more people riding bikes than to see them in cars and trains, but I am not sure if I want to meet them in races when, among other things, my health is at stake.
I also found it somehow unfair that both of them had a (non-competing) helper at their side to support them throughout their races.
OK, perhaps I am to strict with them.
No shots from our races. But we could see James in full profile with Tiger and a little bit in the back Tsukino and Henri at one point. I recorded the program on our HDD and I hope I can manage some DVD copies if somebody is interested.
西湖は最高と最後 – Ending the season (and my racing career) with a triple championship
Today was the best day in my short racing career – in fact too good not to make it my last…
First place in the Tour du Japan/JCRC race around Saiko (D1 class)
First place in the Tour du Japan 2009 series (D class)
First place in the JCRC 2009 series (D class)
Actually, JCRC was already won with the previous race as nobody had sufficient points to catch me today. The Tour du Japan was a harder win – I was only second before today’s race with a big gap to the first, and because of the different point system stood the danger of being easily overtaken by others if I did not do very well. Alas I was lucky to be able to apply my sprint strategy into undisturbed practice. I still cannot believe it all worked out so beautifully.
This is a very proud day for me first of all because I have never won any prize for any kind of sports before starting road race cycling a year ago; in fact, my worst grades at school were always in sports/physical education. And I did it without any elaborate training gear, joining a disciplined cycling club/team; in fact, I went to all races on my own by public transport and on my bicycle… Which all goes to show that if I could do it, really anyone could.
Well, maybe not quite. My greatest thanks go to MOB for all the advice and coaching that prepared me so well for each race (and in fact, for starting road race cycling at all!), and to my assistant for helping to clear my calendar when a mid-week training was in order.
A more detailed report on the racing season to follow later.
Congratulations also to James for coming in third in E class today and therefore starting next season in pole position for the third Positivo Espresso D-class championship in a row. Now the pressure is on you!
Look who is doing all the work
Two Positivistas pulling at least seven Neutralicos through the rain and through the typhoon … so who is in the bloody A-Team ?
Eingeordnet unter 2009, Cervelo Soloist, James, Mob
The Ducks of Endurance
Dear Mob of 2010,
This is the Mob of 2009 writing a letter to you on the evening of the Yokohama endurance race. I just would like to remind you that before you coax yourself and your friends into riding in the 2010 Yokohama endurance race you read this one. I am sorry for the shortness of the letter, this is due that every single of my bones seems brittle, my major muscle groups are still shivering in cramps and my tendons are squeaking and aching every time I try to get them moving. Yes, mob of 2009, I would like to remind you that this was not an easy race. Perhaps you forgot your experience from 2008 when you applied in 2009, but make sure to think about it when you consider of riding it again in 2010.
Yours sincerely
mob of 2009
If I would have known (or remembered) how hard this race is, I wouldn’t have registered in the first place. James has kindly written about all the racing aspects and our share of suffering and there is little to add but some personal observations:
When we registered, we met Fujikawa-San and his friend from Catteni Positivo; this being the other team supported by Nagai San’s Positivo shop. I met Fujikawa-San also last year at the race and we talked about the experience. These are nice guys and they also have their own blog where it seems that they are focusing more on brevet style rides.
Without wanting to appear to arrogantly I shall nevertheless remark that during the race we made it abundantly clear which is the Positivo A- and which the Positivo B-Team.
The next thing I remember was that James and me were standing in the starting field when the cheerleader performance began. I am not sure why, but endurance races in Japan do always field cheerleaders (Tsukuba, Yokohama) or at least Weider girls (Motegi) although the connection is not so clear for me.
„How was your last endurance race?“
„Great – we had a fantastic cheerleader performance“
Would probably be a perfectly normal conversation in Japan. Actually the ones which were performing in Yokohama were so bad, that even the rain stopped for a while. They also held posters with the words „Care“, „Fun“, „Joy“ and some others up (Not sure, I think the other ones were „lung cancer“ and „non-linear depreciation“) to inspire us.
The the race started. I tried to get into the first or second fast group, but had to give up after the third lap and from then onwards James and me stayed with the third fastest group. The first hour is always the hardest for me and when it started to rain really, really hard I was considering to throw the towel. I couldn’t see very much through my sun glasses as in the cavity between the sunglasses and the optical glasses inserts humidity was gathering, slowly obscuring any vision left. Luckily James rode in front of me and I could see his bright orange Positivo jersey, but some of the black clad („anti-globalization dress“, as David said) riders where hardly contrasting with the road surface at this point. I was very lucky that the rain stopped and I could regain some vision.
Next thing was, that I was leading the group and riding down the tight flyover from the stadium to the park. The rims were still wet and I braked too late and too hard: so suddenly my rear wheel blocked and I was fast going in direction of the barriers. But luckily I got the bike under control and could avoid a crash, but at the cost of stopping and getting out of the cleats.
„Daijobu ?“ I heard from someone of the Japanese riders in our group…. „Matte!“ I shouted in despair, clipped in and went in pursuit of our group. Luckily I could manage to hang on.
There were quite a few crashes, but not as manya and as hard as in Shuzenji in August. The amount of human suffering one sees at the ramp leading steeply (I guess 15%) up from the park to the stadium level is just amazing. Many riders were so exhausted that they pushed up their bikes; others took the initial swing to capitulate them up about a third and then they just stopped there and couldn’t go further on their own power.
My strategy was to stay in the outer front and shift down to my 27 teeth cog on the rear. That worked pretty well and I wasn’t so bad in sprinting up the ramp. But once I was up it was hard to accelerate from 20 km/hr again and than there is this ugly right curve leading into the stadium which takes the momentum out of the ride again.
This is not an easy course, unlike Hitachi Naka where you stay in the peloton all the time and go virtually straight for about 160 km. Yokohama requires constant acceleration and braking – add some attacks from the group – that takes it’s toll on the body.
One of my of legs after my semi-crash was cramping and I had a hard time to ignore that. Later on I was not able to let my leg rest in the highest pedal position when manouvering a corner. Cramps only stopped when I was pedaling.
So in the end I had no reserves and although we managed to decimate our group to only four or five riders over time, I couldn’t follow James when he sprinted away at the very end.
Nevertheless I was very pleased with our performance and I was sure that we had a good finish even before the results were released.
At the start to the two hour race in the afternoon I was so tired, I could have slept on my bike. I was also incredibly dirty but luckily I brought some equipment for exchange. And at least the weather was getting better and the rain stopped.
The two hour race was not as good as the morning one. In fact I was even a little bit slower than last year. All the fresh new riders were overtaking me to the left and to the right and I couldn’t found a good group to draft with after I have lost contact with James.
I was so tired and so slow. I was cursing that I shouldn’t do this kind of stupid races any longer. Really, I was so exhausted. Nevertheless I made it to the finish and in the end we had a splendid result.
As the Prince Figure Skate Center – the location in town where my daughter and my wife spend more time than at home – was just around a corner and I knew that there was also a 7-Eleven, we went there and had some food and drinks. Looking at the girls coming from the figure skate center and comparing them to what we have seen in the Yokohama stadium, we were wondering if we shouldn’t‘ put a different focus in our sport activities. OK, at this poin tim time we weren’t looking exactly attractive. I would say the only thing that looked more dirty that us were our bikes.
James asked if we should lock them. I thought that he made a joke, nobody at the figure skate center knows want I bike is and what it is good for.
By the way, we were noticed. My wife told me some days later that at least one ugly-duck-becomes-olympic-hero-educating-mother has noticed us and described as later as „dirty, foreign perverts handing around at the entrance to the centre“. My wife wisely decided not to disclose her relationship.
„Dirty, foreign pervert“
So after getting back to the stadium and checking the final results (Complete surprise that TCCs Naomi and Alan and their teammate were also riding in the event, I haven’t seen them at all) we rode home.
I asked one a the reception if James would be eligible for a price with his 6th place finish, but I was told that only the 1st place will get something in the King of endurance category. Naturally, there can be only one king. So we have to be conten with the title of dukes, or, as Laurent remarked, ducks of endurance.
Riding home after the event was a 5 km monster brevet-like trip along long roads and high mountains. So it seemed. Which completely exhausted me. And after having a business meeting and entertaining my family with heroic stories at the local Yakitori restaurant I felt asleep, dreaming and cramping until the early morning light.
The next day I went hiking with a group of German friends. We started at Mitake station on the Ome-Ouktama line an walked up the road to the cable station. This road is well known as „The mother of all pointless rides“ by James, Graham and Michael. From Mitake we took a hiking trail to Hinode mountain and then further on to Tsuru tsuru Onsen (on the road from Itsukaichi to Umenoki pass leading to Ikusabata at the Tamagawa West of Ome). Quite nice and very painful. Perhaps a new trail to be explored by Tom and his new bike?
Anyway, after a good soak in the water and some good food and beers later at the Ishikawa brewery (= Tama Jiman, Positivo approved) I was ready for my bed and didn’t woke up until late on Monday morning.
My muscles are still hurting and I am not completely unthankful that the rain is stopping all biking activities for the time being. I wanted to tell our heroic deeds to the students at university but decided later that history of the Japanese zaibatsu would be equally interesting for them.
Eingeordnet unter 2009, Cervelo Soloist, James, Mob
True Love
Guys,
Just thought I would let you know that I recently received my Minorua Workman Pro Truing kit. I have some experience building and repairing wheels. so I thought I would let you know that if you need any of your wheels redishing or truing let me know.
Previous arrangements is that I work for beer… although from experience I have learnt it’s best to give me it once I have completed the wheel and not before.
Seven Eleven and a Twenty Two Eleven
Big racing day at Shuzenji today. James in X class (3 laps), Ludwig in D (5 laps) and me in Z class (2 hour endurance) plus James daughter Tsukino in the kids race and some other riders we know (Greg, Sky Blue and Goro) racing as well. Good and bad news.
James, his daughter and me started Saturday afternoon, we had a big rented van and we sat all in the front row while behind us our bikes were suspended from the ceiling. Some congestion in Mishima led to a late arrival at the CSC Shuzenji but we could somehow convince the shopkeepers to let as do a trial ride on the race track.
After that we retired at the ryokan, the wonderful NANSANSO, with the staircase
just right out of a Miyasaki animation movie and rooms as large as gymnasiums.
And the best thing is that you can stay there for about 6.000 Yen per person outside of the holiday season. We had a Sashimi dinner at a local restaurant which was accompanied by some Origami show from the old ladies serving us there.
Next morning the big day. We left for the race track early but arrived just in time to do some warm up laps. I was first to start in the Z class two hour endurance race, followed by Ludwig in the D class 4 minutes later.
Of course the pace was fast at the start and I hardly managed to stay in the field on the first climb (clockwise racing direction) and hang on on the downhill. Then the long climb starts and I was left behind with some other weak riders. The first lap is of course the hardest and I was wondering how I would survive this day. But I had a very good lap time of 10:15 min, probably the best I ever did at Shuzenji.
In the second lap I was in a group of three riders and we rode together for most of the time. Somehow I had found my rhythm now and I from there on I had quite steady lap times between 11 and 12 minutes. I was starting to battle it out with a guy from the Fast Lane club. 
On the third long climb I was overtaken by Ludwigs D class field. And after 33:40 min I completed the third lap. Much better than last year, where it took me more than 38 min in the D class race, but this was also at the start of the season and the race was hold in the opposite direction which I do not prefer.
So I continue my battle with the Fast Lane guy and after completion of 5 laps I clocked 57:05 min, also faster than my last year result in the D class of 58:38 min. But, to put all this good results in perspective, with the 3 laps time I would have made second last place in this years D class race and with the 5 laps time I would have ended up second last as well in the D class race yesterday, in both cases not making the 10% time cut. There is still a long way to go.
If I want to go this way at all.
After the first five laps the Fast Lane guy gave up the battle with me and I moved ahead of him and being almost alone on the track I started to slow down a little bit. While the first 5 lap average was 11:25 min, the next 5 laps took 12:33 min in average. This is the price one has to pay there.
Also I started to lap some of the other Z class competitors. There is one guy I see quite often at races, long colored hairs, looks like the killer in Silence of the Lambs (not Anthony Hopkins), lapped him as well.
Lapped some of the women rider for the second time.
On the 9th lap I overtook the last rider from the O class field, which meant that I could do another lap as the race was supposed to be stopped when the last O class rider crosses the finish line. Also the Z class field was hot on my heels, and I was afraid to be lapped a second time by them. But they didn’t, so I entered the tenth lap, now completely on my own and then I did the last climb up to the finish line. There was one rider 50 meters in front and I gave everything to catch him before the line – which I did, I was just 0.061 seconds in front of him. Later I found out that I have lapped him already one time.
Overall 22nd place out of 35, not bad for a field full of S and A class riders.
Ludwig had finished by now his D class race and I also made a very good 11th place. As well as James who run in the X class field and made an eleventh place as well in his first race in Japan.
After our races we sat down in the grass and watched some of the other races. Goro san was putting up a good show in the A class, leading the field and then he was suddenly gone. One rider approached me and asked if I am a teammate of him, he has crashed on the downhill and was in the emergency room. I went there and there he was with some flesh wounds here and there but looking quite OK. If compared to the other guy who crashed with him and had bandages all over his body. Nevertheless, Goro San broke his collarbone as I could read later on his blog. Hope he will recover soon.
As usual there were quite some crashes also this year and I saw some riders with graze wounds and torn jerseys and shorts hanging around at the track.
At noon Tsukino made her debut in the kids race and James and me were getting very excited. She started from the bottom of the field but then made her way up. On the last lap she almost crashed with another boy she wanted to overtake and then was a little bit afraid to ride fast, but she could hold her place and finished in seventh position. James was all the very proud father.
We packed up our things in drove home in the rented super big racing van, all of us sitting in the front row enjoying snacks (bought at the 7-Eleven if you want to know). A good day at the races.
Positivo Espresso C Squad Report
The C squad, consisting of David, Jerome and me reassembled at the shores of lake Okutama and decided in view of the time to cancel all plans to climb Yanagisawa or even Odarumi. Instead we opted for the Tsuru + Tawa road back to route 20. I did not recall that the climb from this side as so steep, but all of us were creeping up at less than 10 km/hr despite hard training in the alps of Europe and Japan.
The descent that follows is very rewarding, a nice road indeed. And also fast, maximum speed of 72 km/hr is something I don’t reach too often.
We were taking a break between Tsuru und Tawa when two things happened: First a group of foreign cyclists rode up the Tsuru hill with the first rider leaned over the handle and going at a fast pace but essentially riding free handed (either this or he had no hands). I thought that they would be from the TCC but David called and they didn’t respond.
Secondly a Japanese car driver stopped as he thought that the small hut at the rest place would contain a toilet. He was going around the hut and looked for the door when Jerome noticed him and pointed at a point in the woods and said „there it is“. Well there was no toilet there, but all the authority in Jerome’s voice strongly suggested, that this precisely is the designated toilet point … until David took pity on him and pointed out that the small building nearby was, in fact, a restroom.
We skipped the golf course hills and had a long lunch at Uenohara’s famous Narita Shokudo, a place where even the emperor drove by as witnessed by a photo inside. It took years until we got finally our food but it was good to catch up with all Transalp news.
David and Jerome then rode home along route 20 while I had some more time left and took road 76 over to Doshi Michi, then rode to Miyagase lake and as I still had time and power mounted an attack on Yabitsu.
This was the first time since the accident that I felt I had sufficient power in my legs to make faster climbs. All the previous tours I was climbing at the edge but yesterday I felt that I had some reserved and could go faster if required. And I was fast, despite the 1.500 meters of climbing I had already in my legs.
But I am still lacking the stamina to go fast for a longer period. I was running out of gas on the last part of the climb between the teahouse and the top and was 18 seconds slower than my best time.
A fast descent brought me to Hadano station where I took the train home and made it to our doors one minute before the deadline imposed by my wife.
Total 120 km only in 11 hours (including 3 hours of train rides), but 2.000 meters up and again no wasted distance on unpleasant roads.
It was a bit difficult to combine the speeds of all riders and go as a group. In order to compensate, I convinced James, michael and Graham to ride up to the Mitake cable car station as some kind of preparation for the Kazahari climb. That seems to have been very much appreciated and will be referred to as „the spike“ in future posts.
[Some minor additional edits by David L.]
A fine day out [continued]
James, Dominic and me took the Shinkansen out to Mishima on Thursday where we wanted to start to explore some more roads of the Izu peninsular and show off our new Positivo Espresso team wear.
Actually that was the first time for a ride in the new 2009 kits so we wanted to make it a memorable one. The weather was OK when we arrived at Mishima station at about 8:30, assembled our bikes, made final adjustments to man and machine and tried to ride out from Mishima as fast as possible.
Somehow and with the help of James, his iphone and Google maps we arrived at route 414 along the West coast which is at least as boring as riding out through the suburbs of Tokyo. But once we were on road 17 the traffic became lighter and with a good tailwind we also made good speed. My god, I thought, we will be in Shimoda by noon.
But we had ambitious plans. So instead of continue to ride along the coast, what we have did so many time, we forked off to the left on route 127.
A long climb was waiting there for us. I had problems withe the rear derailleur despite that Nagai-San had adjusted everything only two days before. Dominic and James were gone and I creeped up the hill at 8 km/hr or so – it was really steep and I felt that I was in really bad shape. So we moved to 真城峠 and then further and unfortunately down and up again on to heda (戸田) Pass which was the start of a climb which brought us almost to 900 meter elevation.
And into the mist.
And finally to the famous Hayakaze Toge and even higher to Nishina Toge where we completely ran out of water after this very exhausting series of long and steep climbs.
We asked a peeing Japanese along the road if we can take the small road down to Matsuzaki and he said that it would be OK for cycles. There were some construction sites along the way and our bikes got really dirty, but we made it down and we could hear the sound of water and finally we stopped at a small stream to refill our throats and bottles. That felt good.
Along the way down we passed a group of construction workers that were sleeping on the asphalt next to their cars with a huge banner reading „作業中“, literally „Man at work“. Too late to make a photo now.
There was still a lot of debris on the road and it was also still wet from the rain of the previous day so we took a rather cautious approach down. Luckily there was a guy with a portable vacuum cleaner (or blower?) who started to clean up the mess so we can expect better road conditions any time soon. In which countries of the world to you meet a guy in the middle of a forest trying to clean with hoover?
Next stop at a family mart in Matsuzaki. This is a traditional stop in case you want to know why we stopped there. After 4 and a half hours of riding without major breaks we were also desperate for some food.
We then continued to ride towards Jaishi Toge, another traditional Positivo Espresso climb where Jerome always strips naked and we all take a nap on the bare asphalt.
Riding up to Jaishi Toge followed by the long descent in direction of the coast is one of the most beautiful stretches in Izu. Nice fast roads and some smaller hills which can be sprinted over. The last part to Shimoda was easy and I was feeling stronger with every minute.
We then had a good meal at the Sunny Side Cafe and took the train back to Tokyo from Shimoda. A very nice training trip which provided me with the right amount of stamina for the Hitachi Naka Race. Thanks to James and Dominic for the good company.
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.
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there is no "I" in cyclyng 