Hughes Family in Japan: Japan Cup Cycle Race, Night out, Leaves changing, etc.

Before coming to Japan I made a list of things I wanted to do while here. I had heard about the Japan Cup Cycle race from some co-workers, but at that time I had not ridden a bicycle seriously in about 15 years, so I did not even put it on my list. After arriving I started to ride my bicycle to work (shortest route is about 5 miles). Just riding that far was difficult for me. Once I could prove to myself that I could commit to riding to work I spent some money to purchase the Gios Panto (little wheel bike). It was just for commuting and I had no intentions of racing so I started to plan to sell my old Cannondale (1993). About that time I was invited to go on a ride with a few Japanese co-workers. First I confirmed that they were riding for fun and not serious then I agreed to go. Our first outing was at Shinring Koen, the Japan Cup course. I got my behind handed to me on the big climb on the course. I think it took about 5 min 35 sec and I may have breathed up most of the oxygen in the park. Then about 3 weeks later my friends from work talked about doing the Japan Cup (amateur race). That day we all agreed we would participate in the race. The decision started in motion a string of events that lead to the purchase of my new Cannondale and riding 14 miles to work and 14 miles home in the dark to train. I was doing intervals 2 times a week and time trials 2 times per week then 1 day on the weekend I would go on a long challenging ride or ride the Japan Cup course. This past weekend was the race.

Here is the course:

The start is at 1 and from 3 to 5 is the major hill climb. (1 kilometer at 9% grade)

The next critical point was 10 which is a short steep climb I was expecting riders to attack on this hill leading in to the second lap and another go at the major hill climb.

The first critical point of the race was the start. There were 420 people registered and if I started at the back I knew I had no chance at the race. Maeshima san, Ito san, Kanegae san, and myself warmed up before the free run (people that wanted to ride the course to understand its difficulty) immediately after they left we staged. Maeshima san and I could attain positions at the front of the field so that was check one off of the list.. When the race finally started many of the riders jumped off to a fast start. I was able to sit back and monitor the riders and kept myself in about 20th position. I knew the big climb was coming and there was no reason for me to move farther forward in the pack. As we started the climb some of the riders at the front started to fade. I was climbing at about 80% power. I could see the leader and there was no reason to push faster. In training my fastest time up the hill was 3 min 34 sec, I still have to check the data, but I think we were climbing just under 4 min pace. Kate, Claire, Greg, and the children were about 2/3 up the hill. By the time I reached them a number of the riders had already faded and I was in 5th position. In the picture the motorcycles are at the front of the race. For a where is Waldo activity if you look hard enough you can see me in the picture below.

Here you can see as I pass. I have the red jersey and black shorts with white stitching on the black bike sitting in 5th place. Already we had opened up a gap on the main field and I was watching the other riders. They looked strong so I knew I should stick with them.

When we crested the hill I was in 3rd place. As we started the decent I immediately noticed that the roads were damp and that my bike felt really loose. I was loosing pace and the 2 riders I had passed to take 3 position on the climb were able to overtake me. I continued to push because I knew it was important to keep with them. The corner before my last the bike really slid. I stayed in the corner but my line for the next was not good and I knew I had too much speed to make the corner. I put the brakes on and the tire slid a little. I still had time so I let off and tried again. Immediately the tire broke loose again and at this point it was too late to make the corner so I held the brake. I heard the loud pop of my tire exploding and then just tried to land as soft as possible. I went off the pavement and was able to ride it out too the ditch with mud. When the front tire sunk I went over the bars and landed softly in the weeds. Immediately I got back up, checked the bike, and tried to convince myself that the noise I heard wasn't actually my tire exploding, but some other strange noise. I put my bike on the road and the rear tire made a clunk noise from the rim hitting the pavement. At that point I resigned to the fact that my 15 year comeback was officially over.

I ended up in the sag wagon with 3 other riders that went down. I was lucky, I came away with no scratches, but the other guys went down on the street and were mangled and bleeding. On the way down I saw 5 other guys on the street and two being picked up by ambulances, all on various corners throughout the course. I also got to see how the riders that timed out were kicked off of the course. The chase cars had GPS with the course and time displayed. The car would ride along side the cyclist and when it became apparent that there was no way they could complete the race within the hour the marshal would tell the riders that they were finished and they should exit the course.

As I was riding in the support car I had no way to tell my family or friends what had happened and the race of course continued on. They waited on the top of the hill and after about half the riders had passed they realized that something was wrong. Chris told me that when he saw the guy with a belly ride by and tongue hanging out that he knew something had gone wrong. I saw some of them as I got out of the car at the start line and ended up meeting the rest a short way from the finish line. They were happy to see I was unharmed. While waiting they took a few pictures and some video of the other riders before they realized I was not there. I watched the video of the first group and the same riders I was descending with were in it....daaang...

Pictured below you can see the riders winding up the mountain road and my family looking for me.

Here I am at the end with some my friends from work that participated in the race. Each had a different goal for the race. All did well and set personal best times for the course and finished safely. Of course the result for me was not what I had hoped, but it has been an amazing experience getting in to shape and enjoying the camaraderie. Finally that is what it is all about. I look forward to continuing riding with them and the Fuji hill climb in the spring. Currently I don't think I will still be in Japan next year for the Japan Cup race, but if it works out and I am, I will give it another try. Definitely with a different set of tires....

With Kate's family coming, the race day winding up, and our year anniversary (in Japan) approaching Kate set up an evening of dinner, drinks, and karaoke. Dinner was great and we were able to sample a wide variety of different foods and enjoy time with friends. It has been a long time since Kate and I have gone out for the evening, but Claire's oldest son is old enough so he was able to keep tabs on the little ones while we were out. The pictures below are from dinner leading up to the karaoke.

Annie watched the Dundon children and after dinner Chris headed home so Annie could meet us out later in the evening.

At the karaoke building there were Halloween decorations for photo opportunities. I snagged this one of Kate and Claire.

Normally my job is to poke fun at everyone else and not so much myself, but I was told that I should post the video of my wicked moroccos skills. Apparently this is funny (I am told) I think it is a hint of jealousy personally...

We were also successful in shaming both Claire and Greg into at least one karaoke song. Claire won't admit it but I think she really got into it and the picture below is my back up for that statement...

Unfortunately the next day was our only day to go to Nikko as Claire and Greg are only here for 2 weekends. Now is the peak season for the leaves changing in the mountains. As a result the same road that takes me 30 minutes to ride up by bike can take 3 hours by car if you don't leave early enough. We got home at 1:30 and set the alarms for 6 am. Everyone was able to get up and we were out the door by 6:39. It worked out well as we had little traffic on the way up the mountain. The way home got pretty backed up, but I could navigate back routes once we got back down Irohazaka. We stopped to take in the view, but our first stop in the morning was the foot onsen at the top of the mountain. It was a little crowed, but very relaxing to sit in the hot water in the morning.

I think Greg was able to work in a short nap.

The spot Kate was sitting was unbelievably hot today. It was almost impossible to keep your feet in it. Everyone (Japanese included) enjoyed watching peoples expressions as they stepped into the water and then quickly exited after saying the water was ridiculously hot (sugoii atsuii).

The leaf change really is beautiful, I could snag this tree just outside the foot onsen.

On the way back from the foot onsen we stopped and walked around a lake at the top. There was a nice walking path and a waterfall at the end we could enjoy viewing.

Kate took this picture of the lake from the path.

The children all really enjoyed exploring and running around. Greg stopped them to get this shot and I jumped in to take the same picture for our records.

We walked down approximately 3 million steps to get to the bottom of the falls to view it. Of course that also meant we had to walk up approximately 3 million steps to get back to the car.

Normally we don't have anyone to take pictures of all of us and so one of the family members are missing. This time we had support so I can post a picture of all of us together.