Motegi 7 hour team enduro.

Today was my final bicycle event in Japan. It was the Motegi 7 hour team enduro. I did essentially the same event this spring as well. In the spring there were 160 teams we competed against, this event had just shy of 300. All week I was watching the weather forecast and it was horrible. A typhoon was coming through and todays weather was dictated by whether the typhoon would pass, or still be here during the race. Well we got lucky and the typhoon hit yesterday, and so today was a little overcast, but with the exception of a few sprinkles it was dry. The course was the same as the spring course incorporating both the oval and road course.

In the spring we competed with 3 members, this time only 2. The team size is limited to 5 members. After the spring event I planned to put together a 5 member team to try to win, but unfortunately everyone had other commitments, so Maeshima san and I decided to just form a 2 member team. There were 2 other teams of friends from work. We named the teams 3S1 Cycling A, B, and C teams. The other 2 teams originally had 3 members, but unfortunately 1 member could not make it, so they competed with 2 members as well. Maeshima san and I both rode wearing my old Ohio State jerseys. We figured it made us look like a real team (his is covered up in this photo).

For this event a number of pro riders came to ride the course. They were not competing against us, but many times they would push the pace. There were members from the Blitzen, Bridgestone Anchor, etc. Yukiya Arashiro, Japans #1 pro rider for Bbox came out as well. He competed in last years Tour de France and finished 3rd in one stage. The pro riders would rotate in and out of the race taking turns riding with the lead pack.

The family came out later this year, so I did not get any pictures from the beginning of the race. Maeshima san made me start again, and I was able to join the top group. As a result I was able to ride with many of the pro riders including Yukiya san (actually I drafted off of him for a bit..) My original plan was to try to stay out for up to 3 hours on the first round, but the pace was too high and I could only last about 1 hour 50 min.

Before the rider change I sped up and went around the main pack to give Maeshima san a chance. At the pit we quickly changed the leg band with chip and the Garmin and Maeshima san was off.

He actually caught the top group, but the pace was too high and so after 2 laps he was kicked out the back. Regardless he was able to keep a high pace during his turn and I was able to get a much needed rest.

Doing this event with 2 members is pretty tough. Both Maeshima san and I were both wiped out after each turn. My general training was about 1 hour to work in the morning and 1 back home. Really for this type of event it is not enough.

All three teams were able to finish safely. Because this event was about 2 times the size of the spring event there were a lot of people on the course at the same time, and as a result a number of accidents. Kate saw one in front of the pits that knocked the rider out. He was carried away in an ambulance. Hopefully he will be OK.

Here is all three of our teams 3S1 A, B, and C after the event.

and 3S1 Cycling A team only. I was trying out my 1 handed technique with the bike, but I do not yet have good confidence in it, so I had to keep my eye on the bike and hand ready.

Our final result........ 10th (out of about 300). We were the top 2 member team that competed in the event. The fastest team had 5 members, 4 teams above us had 4 members and the rest 3 members. I am actually really happy with the end result. Our overall average speed was 24.28 mph/39.07 kph. That is 1 mph faster than our 3 member spring team did. From our group the 3 member C team came in 169th avg speed of 19.6 mph and our other 2 member B team was 190th avg speed of 18.96 mph.

Since it was Halloween there were a handful of teams that participated in costume. This one is an eggplant team. Of course competing in costume makes it really tough to do well. Not sure were this team ended up, but most likely towards the bottom.

Kate and the children, along with the Shionome's, were able to make it out around lunch time. Everyone is a little sick now and so they got a slow start on the day.

The family was able to walk around a little, watch the event, as well as participate in a number of the activities that Motegi has to offer. Liam's favorite was the go-karts. He has said a number of times that when we return he wants to get one. I just keep saying, we will have to see..

Well I am really tired and it is late, so I am going to bring this post to a close.

Hope everyone has a good week..

Japan Cup 2010, drums, and dancing.

This weekend was the Japan Cup Cycle road race. It is the largest 1 day professional road race in Japan (maybe asia) and it just so happens to take place in our city.

The course this year was the same as the all the other years. The course is hilly and there are 2 major climbs per lap and 1 very technical descent..

Along with the pro race there are also amateur races. Of course last year I participated in one of those, but the results were not as I had hoped. While descending the backside of the first major climb, I slid and ended up popping my tire. Later my friends informed me that my tire was not recommended for wet roads and was mainly for time trials. This year I did a little research before the event and purchased a set of Michelin Pro3 Grip tires. These tires are good even on damp roads...

Kate and the children road with me to the event. My race was at 10 am, but registration was at 8:00. First I picked up my numbers and chip for the bicycle. All the times are recorded by a small chip that attaches to the front fork and so I also had to zip tie that to the bike.

After getting the numbers and chip on my bike I road to meet my friend Maeshima at his car so we could warm up. While going around a corner a woman stepped out in front of me and while swerving to miss her I went down. The wreck blew a hole in my leg warmer and left glove, scrapped my shoulder, hip, and leg pretty good, as well as the bicycle. Frustrated I got up and continued riding to meet Maeshima for the warm up. After stopping at his car I made sure the bike was in good working order and we went ahead and warmed up. Just like last year we headed to the starting line 1 hour before to guarantee a good starting position. Because there are so many entrants to the event they split the race into 2 groups. Our group started 3 minutes after the first. The start line is identical, but the staging location is not. Maeshima san confirmed we were in the correct location multiple times, but immediately after the first group started the second group rolled in behind them and not from our staging area. As a result at the start we ended up 2/3 of the way back in the pack. This is not a good place to be as the leaders start to ride off before you even start moving. As soon as the gun went off I made a move to the outside and was able to sprint around the group up to about 15th before the start of the climb. This can be a little dangerous as you elevate your heart rate before the climb, but I didn't have much choice. As we started climbing I kept pushing and midway up the hill I was sitting in 3rd. This year I somehow ended up riding for Jitensha No Mori and so I have the blue jersey in the middle of the picture below.

In this picture you will noctice 5 of the people are all riding for the same team in the pack. I am 2 or 3 from the left and one of the few that are not on that team. That information comes into play later.

Liam was able to take a little video of the first climb big climb. That is were Kate and the children stood to watch. Up further there were 2 other groups of friends from work cheering me and Maeshima on. I have to admit it did help a little to keep the motivation up.

While waiting for me to get back around Liam went looking for the guitar that Jake, Rachael, Liam, and Colleen found at last years event. Sure enough it was there..

I was able to survive the first downhill with little trouble. In fact this year I wanted to go faster, but the group I was with were a little tentative on the corners and so I just stayed with them. Maybe half way around the 1st lap we started catching the slower riders of the first group. The biggest challenge that created was in figuring out exactly who I was racing against. I really had to pay attention to who was where. Waku san, another friend from work, came out again this year to watch. Last year, due to my wreck, he never actually saw me. This year as I passed the corner he was at I was able to wave to him. I survived the second major climb (country club hill) with little trouble and that led to the second and last big hill. I felt pretty good at the bottom, but was climbing at about 100% of what I had left.

Midway up the climb the guy in front of me slowed a bit. I didn't have enough reserve to sprint around him and regain contact with the group, so I just kept trudging along. You can see it in the video below.. The first 2 riders that pass are riders from group 1 that are being caught. I got back in contact with 3 of the riders, but 2 had slipped ahead going over the top of the hill.

While descending, again I wanted to go faster, but was stuck behind 2 other riders. At the bottom of the hill I could see the 2 lead riders ahead in the distance. I fell behind one of the riders in my group and started the chase. When he got tired he moved over and it was my turn to chase. After I lost power I moved over for the next guy to make pace, but nobody came through. That was when me and the other guy chasing realized that all the members left with us were on the same team as the riders in front. Many people don't realize that cycling is actually very much a team sport, but it is. Without the help of the other 4 riders me and the other guy took turns chasing. About 3 kilometers from the finish we caught one of the riders. I actually thought we caught both, but was confused by all the group 1 riders that we were catching. 1 kilometer from the finish a rider attacked hard. I went with him figuring he was going to take it to the finish, well he didn't and that left me at the front. I gave a little acceleration thinking I could separate from the group, but when I turned around and checked there was a group of 4 riders right on me. I couldn't sprint from there (too far) so I slowed a little and the 4 went around. I gave one last sprint before the finish line and was able to get past 2 of them, but 2 just squeaked in before me. In fact if you look at the times on the internet results page you can see 5 of us received the same time. I ended up 4th in my race. I thought we caught everyone, but I guess one got away in the traffic. Since the groups race separately it is difficult to compare times from one race to the other as the overall speed is dependent upon the overall lead groups speed, but if you combine the results from both races I would end up 14th out of about 200. It is easy to find my name on the results page as it is the only American name (this page only shows top 10 places for each)..

Japan Cup Challenge Race results

As this was our last Japan cup, Maeshima san and I posed for a picture together in front of the start finish line.

After the race we went to the food court to get some lunch. While there we ran into a couple of the pro riders. Liam wanted their autograph so I took him over. They are Gerald Ciolek and Johannes Rrolinger from the German team Milram. There English was really good and they were friendly, we chatted for a few minutes and then let them alone.

After lunch we took the train down to Utsunomiya to watch the Pro criterium race. It is a new event this year. The main event is still on Sunday on the same course I competed on, but now they have a criterium the day before. We met Hiro, Makiko, and Tora to watch the race together. It took some time, but we were finally able to find a place along the 1 km course that the children could squeeze up to the fence and we could watch from. The race took a little less than 2 hours. It was fun to watch the riders fly up and down the main street. Thomas Palmer from team Porsche was the winner of the event. The local team Blitzen placed 9th. When the race was finished, Timothy Duggan (team Garmin slipstream) pulled up to Liam and gave him his arm warmers from the race. Liam was super excited, it made his day.

The next day we went to Utsunomiya in the morning to watch traditional Japanese dance. Kate had received tickets to the event from a friend and so we decided to go to it first and then out to watch the pro Japan cup race. While walking around before the event we stumbled on a food fair. There were a number of booths with fresh food for sale. There was also a Japanese drum squad playing for everyone to enjoy.

Next was the Japanese dancing. It was in a huge beautiful theatre. The motion of the dancers is really precise. I am glad we decided to go in the morning before the race to watch it.

After we enjoyed the dancing we hopped in the car and headed out to Shinrin Koen for the pro race. We got there with about 2 hours remaining. As we walked to the starting line we were able to see the riders pass a handful of times. I have seen many races on TV, but it was interesting to see how the team cars and riders all integrate into the race.

With all the gear on it is hard for me to tell, but I think this rider is Timothy, the one that gave Liam his arm warmers the day before.

Here a Blitzen member is climbing up the country club hill and attempting to regain contact with the pack. He was never able to get back in the main group. I am not sure where the to Blitzen member finished, but I always try to cheer for the local guys.

As we made our way up to the big hill to watch we saw the breakaway of Daniel Martin (Garmin) happen. I think it was with 3 laps to go when he went. With the help of his team he was able to make it stick and he later went on to win the event.

There are many crazy fans that show up at this event. This is an entire club of bikes with manga painted on the rear wheel.

After the race the children got signatures from many of the pro riders, including the winner. They were both happy to see them and get a chance to get their signatures. Along the crazy fans thing.. This guy wore a gyoza hat and tights to the event. Utsunomiya is know for gyoza so I am sure that is why he picked it, but I wouldn't want to wear that all day.

Thats all for this post, have a great week...

Fukushima trip, Sensei dinner, Happo hillclimb...

This past weekend we had a three day weekend. As a result we took a trip to Fukushima with our friends the Shionome sans. It takes about 3 hours by car to get where we were going and is basically north of where we live.

The first stop on the trip was the easternmost point on the above map. It is the Abukuma caverns.

These caverns were discovered in 1969 and opened to the public in 1973. It is actually a pretty big cave system. I believe there is much more to it than what we were able to explore. Anyway there was plenty to see. The first picture is of a formation nicknamed some kind of monster. I agree it does in fact look a bit like a monster.

We paid a few hundred yen for the explorer tour. That gave us access to some areas that the general route did not allow. Many were quite small, the children had no trouble, but us adults had to squeeze through a number of the areas.

In some places the small claustrophobic tunnels opened up into huge rooms filled with stalagmites and stalagmites. With the lighting in the rooms it was beautiful.

This area was nicknamed the lunar room as it looks a bit like it is from outer space.

After touring the caverns we then headed to Mt Bandai and to our stopping point for the night. In Japanese it was called a bungalo. It was basically a cabin. We all stayed in the same cabin together. To get to the cabin we had to take a boat across lake Bandai. At the time it was pouring rain, but we didn't let that dampen our fun.

The cabin had two floors and looked pretty new. There was an older kerosene heater to keep the rooms cozy, and with the rain it was cold enough to use it. The older style does not have the same heat shielding that the newer ones have. In fact water was heated on the top of them for making tea or coffee. Liam found out the hard way how hot they get by putting his foot on the top. He ended up with a pretty good burn as a result.

Once we had everything loaded into the cabin the children went fishing. Liam was the only one to successfully pull in a fish. He caught this blue gill. Since we already had food to cook we released it back into the lake for someone else to catch later.

For dinner we went to a big covered common area to hang out and cook. The owners of the camp ground were there as well preparing their dinner. They had caught a number of things from the lake to make for dinner including crawl fish. They claimed these were American crawl fish, but they looked like mini lobsters to me. I have never seen crawl fish this big in America..

Everyone worked together to get all the food cooked and ready to eat. We had a nice variety of meats and vegetables.

The next morning after first downing some coffee, Kate and Chizuko san made spaghetti for breakfast in front of the cabin, while the children gave fishing another go.

This time, even with the help of Taka san, they all came back empty handed.

From all the rain the night before the mountain was soaking wet. When the sun came out the next morning it started to warm the mountain. From the heat and water we could watch the clouds forming right off of the mountain. The clouds in this picture on the left side were formed by the moisture evaporating off of Mt Bandai.

After checking out we loaded back into the boat to ride to our parking area on the other side of the lake.

We were taken on a short trip around the lake and given a little history about the area. Apparently the lake and mountain were formed about 120 years ago from a volcanic eruption. At the time there was a village where the lake is now. The entire town was destroyed and everyone killed except 3 people that were away from town cutting wood. The owner of the camping area was a descendant of one of those survivors.

Next on our trip was Goshiki-numa. It is a group of lakes near Mt Bandai. There are five main ponds and each with a different color.

First was Bishamon-numa pond. It has a blueish color to it.

Next was the Midoro-numa pond with a bit of a rust color.

This was Aka-numa, which actually means red, but it was really green.

In one of the ponds there were giant koi. It is a good thing these things don't have teeth..

On our way to our Ryokan we stopped in a town to get some of the famous Fukushima ramen. After dropping everyone off I had to find a place to park the car. When I was walking back to the restaurant I saw a beer vending machine with a $10.80 party jug in it. It was the biggest drink I have ever seen in a vending machine so far.

The ramen shop is famous, but small. As a result the line stretches out the door onto the sidewalk. They must be busy all the time, because they were very efficient in getting people in and out during the lunch rush.

Here all the children are enjoying their meal. I was still not completely over the crazy spicy ramen so initially I was not much in the mood for it, but in the end it was actually very tasty.

When we left the restaurant we were greeted by a number of cars that were participating in the yearly Mille Miglia event. It is an event with old classic cars that drive over three days. They start in Harujuki (Tokyo), drive up to Fukushima, and then finish back at Harujuku. It just so happened that the route went right in front of the ramen shop we were eating at.

This link was from 09, but is of the same event.

Mille Miglia Japan

Our Ryokan was near Aizu Wakamatsu city. This area was the site of the Boshin war in 1868. During that war there was a boy samurai troop named Byakkotai that retreated to a hill and saw smoke rising from the town below. They assumed the castle had fallen and as result committed suicide by their own swords on Iimori hill. In actuality the castle had not fallen, the smoke was from the surrounding town.

If interested there is a bit more information here: Byakkotai

Near the site Iimori hill there are a number of temples and buildings. This one was a temple that you could enter called Sazaedo hall. It was built in 1796 and modeled after a marine shell fish. The path up goes in circles to the top and the path down also spirals down, but they do not cross paths.

This picture shows how the routes were made so that they do not cross one another.

From the top we got a great view of the city.

We then made our way to our Ryokan (Japanese style hotel). This one was 120 years old and was built into the side a hill. Our room was the highest room and is the one in the middle of the below picture.

The building was beautiful and well kept, with a lot of old rippled glass.

Here Kate is standing at the top of one of the flights of stairs. There were many, and they were a bit difficult to navigate in the Ryokan sandals.

We all met in one of the rooms for a formal Japanese dinner.

This is only the starting portion, there were at least 4 more courses that were delivered during the meal.

A new dish for us to try was koi. I didn't realize that you could eat them, but you can. Ours was boiled in a sweet soy based sauce. It was really good, actually all the food was.

The next morning we were able to go and explore the garden a little. This hotel was build in a hillside around a formal Japanese garden. Outdoor sandals were provided at all the garden entry points.

Here is our room in the day light.

And the pond in the garden filled with a bunch of tasty koi..

Our room consisted of three different areas. The patio with sliding glass panels that could all slide to one side so that the patio was completely open to the outside air, the main room for sitting and sleeping. At night futons are rolled out into this room for sleeping. The final area was a kind of entry/sitting area by the front entry.

The Shionome san's room was next to ours. The children could look out the windows and make faces at one another across the way.

Apparently this Ryokan is also famous and was used in a JR train add campaign. This is the poster that shows up in train stations throughout Japan.

Here we are standing in about the same area as the poster. We didn't do a very good job looking over our shoulders longingly. Oh well, still a good picture..

Next was Tsuruga-jo castle. It was originally built in 1384, but was destroyed and rebuilt in 1965. There are many stone walls surrounding the castle, and from the parking area you can not see it. I like the old castles and so was a bit excited to get to see another one. As we rounded a corner it finally came into view. I actually laughed a little when I saw it. We have not had the best of luck in viewing the castles. Himeji was also under construction, but at least you could see it.

There is a small picture on the scaffolding, but if you want to see a better one of what it looks like, click this link.

Tsuruga-jo

The inside was open and there were a number of artifacts and paintings to view. Many of the floors did not allow pictures and so I don't have many exciting photos to post. They did have the top decorations on display. They have real gold teeth and huge diamonds for eyes.

On the way home we stopped at a omeage shop. On the second floor was a small old children's toy museum. Taka san put on the glasses and hat to show us how candy was pedaled to children years ago. He said men would go around with a bicycle and candy box. Then tell stories with picture boards to lure the children in.. We laughed when he put the stuff on.

This weekend we had a small fair well party with both Kate and my senseis. The party was at Sachiko sans home, but both Sachiko san and Reiko san made food for the party.

All the food was great and we had a good time hanging out and talking. From all the food, Kate has asked for a couple more recipes so that she can make them after we return to the US.

This weekend was also my final Happo hill climb. This course is really punishing. I enjoy the challenge, but it borders on not being fun. This time my friend Maeshima san participated as well. I had a number of business trips during the week and so could not train before the event. As a result I felt a bit tired in the beginning. In the end I could finish in 14th place, but my time was 20 seconds slower than the last event. Anyway I did the best I could on this day, so even though I did not achieve my goal I was happy with the result.

On Miyazaki san and Yamase sans advice I was able to talk the family into going as well. Now in the mountains the leaves are starting to change colors and so this area is very pretty. While I was climbing up on the bicycle they were able to enjoy some of the scenery. In they drove past the bicycle route and were able to drive a little on the Happo Initial D course. I don't remember, but it may have been the course of the gumtape death match. I will have to ask around at work. This link is that course played on a video game.

Happo Initial D

It is a little overcast in the picture, but you can see there are already many colors of leaves around the mountain side.

For dinner we went back to the ramen shop with the crazy spicy ramen, only this time I ate tasty somewhat spicy ramen. It was much better this time and I was able to get a picture of my name on the board....

Have a great week..