Michael was very kind enough to help me get sorted for the race on Sunday, getting me signed up, kitted up and picking me and Tsukino up on the Saturday for the race…. It all felt very nice to have a manager and driver and it must be how pro riders feel.

The van was an old beat up Toyota, but with a Lockheed Supersonic jet engine powering the thing we flew down the express way and too our horror through the mountain roads to CSC Shuzenji. As you can see from the speed blur and the look of horror on my face and Tsukino in shock we were traveling at about Mach 3 in an attempt to get to CSC Shuzenji before they closed.

To Michael’s credit we arrived before closing time and all in one piece and Michael was able to intimidate the staff in to letting us do a practice lap.

On the way to the hotel we discussed how drop bar style steering wheels and disc wheels could have shaved seconds off our time to the race venue the following morning. The hotel was a great place and I kicked myself for not bringing the rollers so we could do our own TT events in the room, we could easily fitted 10 riders in there!

The next morning with the Van kitted out with aero bars, disc wheels and an orange go faster strips we rocketed to the event with plenty of time to get the bikes ready and do some warm laps.

With the duty of official cameraman, phone watcher and baby sitter waited for the races to begin, along with the rising tension and apprehension of my race to come, slowly becoming worse as crash victims and DNF riders coming into the staging area.

I was starting to get worried!

Ludwig had kindly agreed to look after Tsukino while I was racing and kindly gave her his professional wisdom which she used to great extent and proceeded to fall of her bike…. But this saved her later on as a lesson well learned in her race, when a young lad decided that he wasn’t going to lose a placing to a girl and rammed her, shaken up by the attack she stayed on the bike .

The call for the X-class riders was called and they kindly allowed us to ride through the most technical part of the course that had claimed several riders already and many more through the course of the racing.

Finally we reassembled at the start line with the 3 minute call going out.

There were 58 people in my race and everyone was looking very professional and serious about doing their best in the X-Series and straight as the starting gun fired everyone one set off at a very fast pace up the first mountain climb of the race.

I managed to break away with the lead group of 10 riders as we crested the first climb and into a very fast and dangerous descent with a lot of tight turns. The lead rider was a little way ahead with 2 others, when all of a sudden his front tire exploded sending him crashing off his bike at what must have been 70kmph!

Because he crashed across my line I had to break hard and swerve to avoid crashing and lost valuable places and worst of all speed for the climb up the next mountain. By this time I must have dropped to about 20th place and the next descent down the mountain I was able to catch a couple more riders. It seemed that a lot of them were taking care on the downhill’s to avoid crashing and I knew If I risked everything I could make up some serious time and catch many of the riders that over took me.

Lap 2 was more of the same and there were several more crashes that I didn’t see and although my pace slowed down to just over 28kmph hour I was still catching riders on my Kamikaze runs down the hills.

Lap 3 I picked the pace up again to 30kmph for the lap and really went at the downhill’s hard…. the final climb is the hardest and by this time I had overtaken many riders and was trying to place in the top 10. I managed to catch another rider but he was proving hard to shake off and on the climb I was on his tail once more.

He was not happy and darted from left to right trying to shake me and make his break thus preventing me from taking his position. With 50 meters to go and me still on his tail, he made a critical mistake and darted infront of another rider.

Disaster!

He just touched the front wheel of the rider and although no crash occurred he did have to apologize and for the split second that he turned his head to look at the poor rider who he hit i took my chance. Exploding out of the saddle and rapidly changing gear, accelerating up the remaining part of the hill climb. The hapless rider tried to pursue but realized that I had out smarted him and the few seconds advantage cost him my tail.

Summiting the climb there was one last downhill and I took every chance I could. Tucked down low over the saddle I went wide on the final bend almost in the grass and then twitched the bike tight over into the apex of the bend rocketing into the final climb at over 75kmph.

The finish line is on a hill and after my speed from the downhill subsided I was back to pumping up the final climb to glory. I suddenly realized that I shouldn’t be too happy that I was almost at the line and took a look under my saddle to see if anyone had used the last hill as i did and as I predicted 2 other riders were sprinting hard to close me for the finish line.

So once more i gritted my teeth, got out of the saddle and thought of Cavendish pumping hard I felt like I was stomping down on jelly and my legs were screaming at me that there was no way in hell i was getting anymore out of them. But ignoring the pain I raised my speed back up to 30kmph.

Again peaking under the saddle and behind, I saw the gritted teeth and look of defeat on the two riders that had tried to deny me of my glory and slowly drawing back as know that their attack was futile.

Crossing the line in 11th position I punched the air for my own for the small battles I had won on the course and my own personal victory! Rolling in to the post race area and mechanic zone I realized that I had a manic grin on my face and was looking forward to doing it all over again and soon!

Many thanks to Michael for setting everything up for me and coaching me from entry to driving us home, without him this weekend probably wouldn’t have happened!

Also a big thank you to Ludwig who kindly looked after Tsukino during my race as I know he was eager to get out and adventure around Izu!

Glorious 5 hrs of riding of 120km and 900m vertical (UPDATED from 1400m via the Elevation Police) today.
Michael, Graham & I headed over Yabitsu, meeting Tom on his way down, whilst David & Dominic headed back to Tokyo along Route 20 after joining us along Tank Road first thing.
Took some video with my ContourHD camera throughout the ride, although using the bike mount there was far too much vibration. I took a 12min clip from the descent into Hadano and my Mac needed 2 hours to „Analyze for Stabilization“. You can see the results below. We returned via Shinkansen from Odawara which added a useful 20km along the coast to our ride plus was far more time efficient in getting home. Thanks guys, good day.

First ‚Tank Park‘
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6231912&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Second ‚Yabitsu Descent‘
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6232367&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Jerome and I had a very good ride this morning. We did the „Paul Jason ride“ as a counterclockwise loop — up the Tamagawa, then to Itsukaichi and up the Akigawa, with a left turn to the Kobu Tunnel, then through the „golf course hills“ of Uenohara, up the back side of Wada Pass, and home. We were home before 1PM, and even though the heat and humidity was very oppressive for the trip home along the Asagawa and Tamagawa, it was not that bad during the ride out or the climbs. We both felt strong and lucky to be able to get in this ride (145 km+ and plenty of hills) done in a half day.

Jerome did not show for our 6AM start time at my house, and I thought if he overslept, I really should let him rest. After giving him the benefit of the „15 minute rule“, I headed out with my ipod on to fight the monotony of a solo ride up the Tamagawa … and so missed his call to my mobile phone until I checked messages at Sekidobashi. He said he was „one bridge behind me“ so I continued at a relaxed pace until we met at Rte 16. After another phone call to confirm location, I stopped to wait for him. I re-emerged from a conveniently located public rest room just in time to see the orange bullet disappear across the river, turning right at the far end of the bridge — leading to a frantic few minutes to chase him down.

We stopped at the traditional Itsukaichi 7-11 (last convenience store before the Akigawa climb), as usual resting on the pavement in front of the store, and confirmed we would „take it easy“ on the climb to Kobu Tunnel. Of course, it was not to be. At Honjuku crossing, we passed a Japanese rider who had left the 7-11 ahead of us, and he hopped on our tail. I pulled the group through the gradual slopes of the lower climb as fast as I’ve ever done that stretch. The Japanese rider (who we will call Mr. Aerobar Anchor) finally pulled ahead of us slightly on one of the last, steeper stretches before the Kobu turn off. Riding behind him, I saw that his leg muscles were a good clue that he would not be easy to stay with–plus his steady pace and lack of indicia of exertion. Mr. Anchor also turned off for Kobu Tunnel and we started the real climb. I quickly fell back, but Jerome managed to stay with him to the top.

We made it through the golf course hills (the road construction from earlier in the year is done) and took our second rest at the intersection for the Wada climb. Jerome found another comfortable place to rest–on concrete in the road.
We made it up Wada close together (I climbed without a stop, Jerome stopped mid-climb for some water, but caught and passed me again within 50-75 vertical meters of the top.) Then it was down the front of Wada and again we were together with a solo Japanese rider most of the way down the hill, until we finally pulled away about 5 minutes before Akigawa Kaido. We are definitely seeing more fast Japanese riders than a few years ago.

Once we got off the steep slope, we rode as fast (without tail wind–in fact some headwind along the Tamagawa) as I have ever done this 50+km stretch home, with the exception of a third rest stop, in Hachioji, again with a comfortable spot for Jerome to rest, complete with concrete pillow and mattress.

Yes, the astute observer may notice from the blue and green stripe on the glass that this is a Family Mart in Hachioji, rather than a P.E. Approved 7-11. In my defense, I would note that all of the 7-11’s on Jimba Kaido are on the wrong side of the street for a trip heading into town. Also I’ve been stopping at this convenience store since B.P.E. (before Positivo Espresso) and so invoke the grandfather clause exception. Lastly, as you also can see the adjacent store is a tire shop where, in a pinch, we could pick up a steel belted radial in the event of a flat.
The map:
Akigawa Kobu Tunnel Uenohara Wada Tamagawa
Find more Bike Rides in Tokyo, Japan
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/jp/tokyo/100125103147834001

Henry and I went out for a quick spin today, and who should we see but Laurent D., returning from his morning trip.

An hour and a half later, as we returned, it was Jerome and Oggie. All of us wearing appropriate attire.

We rule the Tamagawa route … even if it is a miserable, hot stretch of concrete.

Sunday Ride — Jerome and I will leave my house at 6AM. Laurent is riding with Tom — not sure their time or place but it would be great to coordinate. Let me know if you want to join Jerome and me at the start or en route.

Well, it is Friday night and the weather looks dry and hot for the weekend.

As mentioned previously to some of you, I've invited a Japanese friend (former colleague) and his girlfriend, both bengoshi (lawyers) and younger than me.  They do some triathlons, and this Spring did the Kuruma-zaka Touge hill climb and are riding at Norikura in Nagano next weekend ... so I think we should be a decent match.  I can pull on the flats and they will wait for me at the top of the hills.

We are planning a half-day ride -- similar to what Michael and I did today (otarumi - bijou tani - ura wada).  I would really like to get to (and into) a cool stream -- the river on the approach to Yabitsu, or the Akigawa or Doshi or elsewhere, to cool down mid-ride. 

I believe we are meeting Michael K. a little after 8AM at Tamagawaharabashi upriver.