Power file: HERE
(note, 2 second record rate. Actual max wattage on the PT shows 1123 while ride file says high 900's)
Ride profile and maps are down below. For non-local readers, don't mind all the highway and location names - but a handful of folks know these roads well enough to follow along. I'll also reference the ride profile for most of these.
I got down to Yanai around 5 am this morning to get the bike assembled and get in a warm up. I hadn't planned on doing much of a warm up until I saw the 18-20% climb 3 kilometers into the course. It didn't end up being nearly that hard.
When I got to Hiroshige, I noticed that a large portion of the Hiroshige riders have formed what appears to be a new team called Lampre (not just wearing the pro kits, the sponsors are all different and the "Lampre" name has a local corporation name). They looked particularly well organized with a support vehicle and all the trimmings. Uh-oh.
A handful of other riders were there I knew and a few new faces. I started to feel like a marked man when two riders (one I know and one I don't) approached me in broken English to mention my win at Mominoki last week - neither rider was in my race, and one wasn't even at the event. By the time today was finished, two other riders had approached me and congratulated me mentioning every race placing I've had so far this year. I didn't know either of these riders. Kinda creepy in a bike racing sorta way, but gotta admit it felt kinda cool.
Ride started promptly at 6 am. It wasn't long and we were climbing the first big climb on the profile. We climbed steady but not particulary hard (~360 watts for 7 1/2 minutes). One rider (heretofore called "Green Hiroshige", or Grn Hiro for short) crested first and me second. The descent was steady and we regrouped about 5 minutes down the hill and started pacelining. We got a couple jumps of speed in to help everyone warm there legs it seemed and got to Kuga.
After the stop light we started climbing over "Chicken Shack Hill" (Rte 2 Sanzoku), the second short climb of the day. I did a little slip-sliding to let the pack keep pace and not get crazy, but the Lampre train (4 riders) put the heat on at the top of the hill and took off down the other side in team time trial mode. Their support vehicle was passing by and taking video and it seemed pretty much like it was all for show, but the pace was pretty hot and heavy @ 20-25 km into a 250 km day.
We hit the "flats" heading up the Nishiki River valley to the "big climb" up ahead and the Lampre train was content to drive the pace hard. We were already down to 8 strong riders: 4 Lampre, Grn Hiro, Assos dude, and Specialized Tri-dude. The pace line was a good solid rhythym mixing all 8 of us. Lampre guys launched an attack about 10km from the base of the climb, but Assos dude and Grn Hiro chased and dragged the rest of us in.
Climbing to the top of the central ridge was pretty tame. There were two spots of road work that we were forced to stop for. It worked out in our favor as we had a minute and a half wait at one of them so we took our "natural break" there. The second one gave me a chance to pound some food. We left the second one and I pushed the pace a little more through the first crest when Lampre attacked again. They didn't attack with much gusto as the rest of us pretty much tempo paced to close the gap before cresting the ridgeline.
We pulled through the ridge and Grn Hiro was over the top first with me in trail. He had a couple hundred meters so I kept it at a tempo pace to close the gap. No one stuck with me and before I knew it we were together with no one in sight behind us.
We stayed off the front for just over 45 minutes, averaging 41.4 kph. We still had 180 km to go so my pulls I was keeping @ a low L3 pace. We got caught and hopped back on the Lampre train. A couple kilometers after we got caught, the Lampre train started to attack like mad. Me, I'm still thinking "140 kilometers to go folks!" Specialized dude and Grn Hiro broke away once and got a good size gap on us and I thought... hmm... 3 might be able to take on their four. So I jumped hard to close the gap only to find them sitting up when I got to them. Drat.
Lampre dudes were playing the group pretty weird. Finally when I realized they were attacking crazy with about 5 km to the turn around/food stop I just let them go and the other three non-affiliateds took up the chasing.
We hit the turn around of 121 kilometers (on the map, 125) in 3 hrs 21 minutes ride time, average speed of 36.2 kph on the powertap.
Grn Hiro and I made the fastest food stop and stuffed the pockets to get on the road. I took this as an opportunity to get some space on the guys with the support vehicle in case I needed to stop for water on the way back. I'd finished off 4 bottles on the way over, and it was creeping into the mid-80's F for the return trip.
Grn Hiro wasn't pulling through, so finally I waved him through. We immediately slowed to a crawl so I hopped on front and grabbed back to tempo pace. The next hill we hit he dropped back a hundred meters or so, closing the gap on the descent. I figured, no sense dragging him along for the next 110 kilometers so the next climb I just kept it steady and pushed it a little bit harder and he was gone. Now, off the front alone.
I was feeling good as I crossed the 160-170km mark, but by the time I hit 180, I was pretty toast. I stopped to grab a Coke and a sports drink from a vending machine before cresting the hill before descending to Nishiki again. When I crested the ridge line, I filled the water bottles from a spring (which seemed to run particularly slow). I was taking on water like made and pouring the other half over the body to keep cool. No shade or cool breeze in the river valley today.
I stopped again to grab more water and Grn Hiro passed me, so I finished the water fill and made chase by now at my best attempt at high L2 pace. Closed the gap in a couple kilometers before we made the turn to head back onto Rte 2 and make the climbs home.
As we made the turn with 25 kilometers to go, we got word that the "chase group" of sorts was now 25 minutes back. This meant that they would basically have to double our speed over some of the steepest climbing of the day to completely close the gap. In his best broken English, Grn Hiro and I made the deal to take it easy the rest of the way and come across together as both first place.
I'd like to say with confidence that I coulda dropped him on the climbs regardless and taken first alone (I did in fact gap him pretty sizeably on the last climb - mostly because I couldn't shift lower and was grinding it out to get over the top to prevent my leg from cramping again). All in all though, what's the point? I wasn't racing for points, placings, prize money or category. We had a victory in the bag, so why prolong the suffering over some pretty stiff climbing toward the end?
When we got to Kuga valley and started to head to the 1 kilometer stretch of 6-10% climbing at the end, we dropped all the way down to recovery pace and just kinda cruised along. We dropped over our last climb and I waited for him at the bottom (crested the hill first and my weight advantage helps me descend a tad quicker). We cruised into Yanai together and dropped our names on the desk to finish the 250 km race in 7hrs 38min total time, powertap shows 7 hrs 15 min ride time, 15 of the stopped minutes were me refilling waters on the way back.
First Lampre Train rider came in @ 7 hrs 55 minutesish. Closed the gap a little, but not by much for the abysmally slow pace we were setting. If I knew Japanese I would told him something like "That's what ya'll get for setting the blistering pace on the way out!"
Things learned today:
The one and only..... my body felt good out to it's normal training limits. Beyond that I wasn't prepared for the nutritional or hydration requirements of the ride. I got through the first 160 km in 4 hrs 35 min ride time very comfortably, both pacelining and off the front time. By the time I was at 200 kilometers, endurance pace felt like threshold pace and my stomach was in knots. It didn't want to take food, and I couldn't get water fast enough - yet I constantly felt like my stomach was cramped with too much water.
If I ever did a ride of this length again, I'd enlist someone - wife, friend, anyone - to drive a support vehicle with the foods I'm used to and water on the go.
I'm calling this win #2 of the season! This week, recovery, then following week of testing, then reset the training for fall peaking.
VW
(note, 2 second record rate. Actual max wattage on the PT shows 1123 while ride file says high 900's)
Ride profile and maps are down below. For non-local readers, don't mind all the highway and location names - but a handful of folks know these roads well enough to follow along. I'll also reference the ride profile for most of these.
I got down to Yanai around 5 am this morning to get the bike assembled and get in a warm up. I hadn't planned on doing much of a warm up until I saw the 18-20% climb 3 kilometers into the course. It didn't end up being nearly that hard.
When I got to Hiroshige, I noticed that a large portion of the Hiroshige riders have formed what appears to be a new team called Lampre (not just wearing the pro kits, the sponsors are all different and the "Lampre" name has a local corporation name). They looked particularly well organized with a support vehicle and all the trimmings. Uh-oh.
A handful of other riders were there I knew and a few new faces. I started to feel like a marked man when two riders (one I know and one I don't) approached me in broken English to mention my win at Mominoki last week - neither rider was in my race, and one wasn't even at the event. By the time today was finished, two other riders had approached me and congratulated me mentioning every race placing I've had so far this year. I didn't know either of these riders. Kinda creepy in a bike racing sorta way, but gotta admit it felt kinda cool.
Ride started promptly at 6 am. It wasn't long and we were climbing the first big climb on the profile. We climbed steady but not particulary hard (~360 watts for 7 1/2 minutes). One rider (heretofore called "Green Hiroshige", or Grn Hiro for short) crested first and me second. The descent was steady and we regrouped about 5 minutes down the hill and started pacelining. We got a couple jumps of speed in to help everyone warm there legs it seemed and got to Kuga.
After the stop light we started climbing over "Chicken Shack Hill" (Rte 2 Sanzoku), the second short climb of the day. I did a little slip-sliding to let the pack keep pace and not get crazy, but the Lampre train (4 riders) put the heat on at the top of the hill and took off down the other side in team time trial mode. Their support vehicle was passing by and taking video and it seemed pretty much like it was all for show, but the pace was pretty hot and heavy @ 20-25 km into a 250 km day.
We hit the "flats" heading up the Nishiki River valley to the "big climb" up ahead and the Lampre train was content to drive the pace hard. We were already down to 8 strong riders: 4 Lampre, Grn Hiro, Assos dude, and Specialized Tri-dude. The pace line was a good solid rhythym mixing all 8 of us. Lampre guys launched an attack about 10km from the base of the climb, but Assos dude and Grn Hiro chased and dragged the rest of us in.
Climbing to the top of the central ridge was pretty tame. There were two spots of road work that we were forced to stop for. It worked out in our favor as we had a minute and a half wait at one of them so we took our "natural break" there. The second one gave me a chance to pound some food. We left the second one and I pushed the pace a little more through the first crest when Lampre attacked again. They didn't attack with much gusto as the rest of us pretty much tempo paced to close the gap before cresting the ridgeline.
We pulled through the ridge and Grn Hiro was over the top first with me in trail. He had a couple hundred meters so I kept it at a tempo pace to close the gap. No one stuck with me and before I knew it we were together with no one in sight behind us.
We stayed off the front for just over 45 minutes, averaging 41.4 kph. We still had 180 km to go so my pulls I was keeping @ a low L3 pace. We got caught and hopped back on the Lampre train. A couple kilometers after we got caught, the Lampre train started to attack like mad. Me, I'm still thinking "140 kilometers to go folks!" Specialized dude and Grn Hiro broke away once and got a good size gap on us and I thought... hmm... 3 might be able to take on their four. So I jumped hard to close the gap only to find them sitting up when I got to them. Drat.
Lampre dudes were playing the group pretty weird. Finally when I realized they were attacking crazy with about 5 km to the turn around/food stop I just let them go and the other three non-affiliateds took up the chasing.
We hit the turn around of 121 kilometers (on the map, 125) in 3 hrs 21 minutes ride time, average speed of 36.2 kph on the powertap.
Grn Hiro and I made the fastest food stop and stuffed the pockets to get on the road. I took this as an opportunity to get some space on the guys with the support vehicle in case I needed to stop for water on the way back. I'd finished off 4 bottles on the way over, and it was creeping into the mid-80's F for the return trip.
Grn Hiro wasn't pulling through, so finally I waved him through. We immediately slowed to a crawl so I hopped on front and grabbed back to tempo pace. The next hill we hit he dropped back a hundred meters or so, closing the gap on the descent. I figured, no sense dragging him along for the next 110 kilometers so the next climb I just kept it steady and pushed it a little bit harder and he was gone. Now, off the front alone.
I was feeling good as I crossed the 160-170km mark, but by the time I hit 180, I was pretty toast. I stopped to grab a Coke and a sports drink from a vending machine before cresting the hill before descending to Nishiki again. When I crested the ridge line, I filled the water bottles from a spring (which seemed to run particularly slow). I was taking on water like made and pouring the other half over the body to keep cool. No shade or cool breeze in the river valley today.
I stopped again to grab more water and Grn Hiro passed me, so I finished the water fill and made chase by now at my best attempt at high L2 pace. Closed the gap in a couple kilometers before we made the turn to head back onto Rte 2 and make the climbs home.
As we made the turn with 25 kilometers to go, we got word that the "chase group" of sorts was now 25 minutes back. This meant that they would basically have to double our speed over some of the steepest climbing of the day to completely close the gap. In his best broken English, Grn Hiro and I made the deal to take it easy the rest of the way and come across together as both first place.
I'd like to say with confidence that I coulda dropped him on the climbs regardless and taken first alone (I did in fact gap him pretty sizeably on the last climb - mostly because I couldn't shift lower and was grinding it out to get over the top to prevent my leg from cramping again). All in all though, what's the point? I wasn't racing for points, placings, prize money or category. We had a victory in the bag, so why prolong the suffering over some pretty stiff climbing toward the end?
When we got to Kuga valley and started to head to the 1 kilometer stretch of 6-10% climbing at the end, we dropped all the way down to recovery pace and just kinda cruised along. We dropped over our last climb and I waited for him at the bottom (crested the hill first and my weight advantage helps me descend a tad quicker). We cruised into Yanai together and dropped our names on the desk to finish the 250 km race in 7hrs 38min total time, powertap shows 7 hrs 15 min ride time, 15 of the stopped minutes were me refilling waters on the way back.
First Lampre Train rider came in @ 7 hrs 55 minutesish. Closed the gap a little, but not by much for the abysmally slow pace we were setting. If I knew Japanese I would told him something like "That's what ya'll get for setting the blistering pace on the way out!"
Things learned today:
The one and only..... my body felt good out to it's normal training limits. Beyond that I wasn't prepared for the nutritional or hydration requirements of the ride. I got through the first 160 km in 4 hrs 35 min ride time very comfortably, both pacelining and off the front time. By the time I was at 200 kilometers, endurance pace felt like threshold pace and my stomach was in knots. It didn't want to take food, and I couldn't get water fast enough - yet I constantly felt like my stomach was cramped with too much water.
If I ever did a ride of this length again, I'd enlist someone - wife, friend, anyone - to drive a support vehicle with the foods I'm used to and water on the go.
I'm calling this win #2 of the season! This week, recovery, then following week of testing, then reset the training for fall peaking.
VW
on June 6, 2007, 8:09 am
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