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26th Tour of Yatsugatake - April 15, 2012

Doug3

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Jun 24, 2010
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OK, now we have a separate thread for this race.

I just received my entry in the mail yesterday. Reading the Kusatsu thread, I have the impression that the following people have registered:
GSAstuto
Quicksilver
bird
dgl2
Doug3

Any others?
 
I'm in.

I just emailed them on Thursday and got switched from E (40-49) to "heavy" class -- over 75 kg -- which I am by nearly 20 kg right now, though they noted it is too late to be listed as such in the program. Plus it looks like I will need to ship my main road bike off for an event the following weekend in Ishigakijima, so I will be riding the steel frame I built this winter, just to add another kg for good measure.

I need to be in Tokyo on Saturday afternoon, at least through mid-afternoon. So I was planning to just hop a train out to Sakudaira on Saturday evening and stay in a business hotel ... then head up to 299 start area for registration first thing in the morning ... but welcome other suggestions.

And I was thinking if the weather is decent then I would pick up a small pack at the top and head down the other side through Tateshina, or loop around to Nobeyama and through part of the Crystal Line or nearby Yamanashi and then at least part of the way back to Tokyo.

Best, David L.
 
I will be driving up Saturday evening with David and staying in separate hotels around Saku. We will arrive relatively late ~9:30pm, so I guess we will plan on having some dinner on the way and hitting the sack relatively early. (My plan anyway)

Hope to see Eugen and Patrick sometime on Sunday morning, and any others that are out there, and if I miss you at the start, let's try to meet up and swap some stories at the top or at the awards ceremony.

I'm also in the heavy class, currently weighing in at 77kg (sorry to have that advantage on you David), race number 2136 with a 9:14am start time.
 
Race Report

It was nice to see Patrick, David and Eugen at the event on Sunday. Kudos to Patrick on the fastest TCC time 46:15 putting him 35th in the competitive E class. (winning time 40:34). I clocked in at 48:04 which was good enough for 6th place in the >75kg class (winning time 42:38), while David, with an extra 15kg on me, was 46th with 1.00:41. Eugen (who beat me on Strava) had an official time of 48:19 for 45th place in B class (winning time 38:53).

It snowed the night before, so they shortened the race from 25km and 1300m to 15km and 800m. They also delayed the start by 30 minutes. The weather was sunny but a little chilly at the bottom. I had parked at the goal and ridden down the hill to the start with all of my gear. I wanted to be light, and decided to go with the shorts and ss shirt, which turned out to be the right decision, as the course was essentially in the sun the whole way up. After throwing my stuff in the truck to take it to the top, I ran into everyone at the start.

After some pre-race chat, I went out to do my warm-up, and showed up about 12min before the start and took a place in the front row of my group. The first 2 km were going to be the place where drafting would have an impact, so I wanted to be in the front group. However I did not want to go to far above my LT in the early stage, and then plan to TT to the top.

At the start, I moved into a top group of about 12 riders, and the pace was moving along, I stayed in the draft as much as possible. At one point early on 3 people started to make a move, and I was in 6th spot when a gap started to open. I decided to push and bridge, which brought the HR above my LT (164). Oops, burned a match. Soon after that the grade increased and the effects of drafting became minimal, so I went into TT mode.

Basically I think I went out too hard in the first 10-15 minutes, trying to stay with the riders in front of me who were slowly slipping away. About 1/2 way, the guy who went on to place 3rd passed me and told me to stay with him, but I did not have enough to keep with him.

My Ave HR was 166 and Max of 173. In the 2nd half of the race, my HR was a few beats below the 1st half, and I had am suprised that my max was only 173. It seems like I was having a hard time to get it higher, especially in the last 2km.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/168229491

It turned out to be a solid effort and I finished alone in 6th place. This was an A race for me this year because of the special weight category. My goal was to place in the top 6, so I was very pleased with the result. On the podium the guy next to me asked how much I weighed in the morning, and I told him 77. He and the guy next to him said 75kg, and the other top people could not have been too far off from that either.

Looking forward to next weekend at Kusatsu to see how things go with my new closest rival, Eugen.
 
Nice report and congratulations for the 6th place!
How did you manage to move at the front of the start lineup? Did other people complain?
 
Congrats to your 6th place Doug, well done!
Also it was nice to see David and Patrick before and after the race.

decided to go with the shorts and ss shirt, which turned out to be the right decision, as the course was essentially in the sun the whole way up.
Right decision indeed. Before halfway, I was overheated in my winter kit.
Taking my gloves off and unzipping my LS jersey helped only little.


Looking forward to next weekend at Kusatsu to see how things go with my new closest rival, Eugen.
Same here!
 
Doug, it looks like you (literally) shaved a few grams off your head. Didn't notice while you had your helmet on. :cool:
 
Nice report and congratulations for the 6th place!
How did you manage to move at the front of the start lineup? Did other people complain?

The race started in waves. I entered the bunch ahead of my starting group and worked my way backwards. Easier than coming up through the back of the bunch. I did not hear any complaints.


Was there a weigh-in for the >75kg class ?

I downed about a liter of water after the race in case they had us step on the scales;)


Doug, it looks like you (literally) shaved a few grams off your head. Didn't notice while you had your helmet on.

Did you notice my short fingernails and toe nails too?:p
 
The race started in waves. I entered the bunch ahead of my starting group and worked my way backwards. Easier than coming up through the back of the bunch. I did not hear any complaints.

Good Idea, will try the same for Kusatsu (or we can do that together I guess).
 
I should know this, but is the winner of the Champion Class, Clayton Locke of Team Peugeot Cycles Nippon, TCC's very own Clay -- winner of many a past Mt. Fuji International hill climb event?

It was great to see everyone on Sunday, and very impressive results ... other than me. I did about as I had expected.

... while David, with an extra 15kg on me, was 46th with 1.00:41. ...

Doug -- Actually, I weighed in at 95.50001kg or so both day before and after, and I think you were at approximately 75.00001 kgs. So I had around an extra 20.5 kg, plus add another 1.4~1.5 kgs for my steel bike with cyclocross build, etc., for about 22 kgs more weight to carry up the hill!

My race plan of outlasting everyone on the last 10 km was dashed by the shortened course. (That said, I was a bit surprised by the number of DNFs -- something like 70 in the 41-50 yr old group alone -- despite the shortened course). I was not too unhappy with 45th place out of 98 starters in the 75kg-plus category.

Official results are here:

http://www.rising-publish.co.jp/TDY2012/2012result.html

Looking at many of the other categories (41-50, 51-60, MTB, those who originally signed up for the half course, or even the Champion category), there is a huge overlap in the range of times.

After we finally got the green light to descend back to the start, I had a nice ride up the valley a ways on Rte 141, then a delightful little local road (Nagano Pref. Route 68) through Hirose village, up another short climb and down to Kawakami (which seems to have a higher percentage of Chinese laborers than anyplace else I have been in Japan), then Pref Route 106 over Shinshu Toge, and various roads down the hill to Nirasaki for the express train home.
 
Great to see Doug, Eugen and David at Yatsugatake! After ploughing through a snowy blizzard the evening before and scraping ice off the car first thing, the glorious sunshine which turned into a warmish spring day seemed miraculous:D Congratulations on the placing to Doug! :bike: Good to see you were able to fly the TCC colours on the podium! The weight control alone is impressive:cool: Thanks also for the report and pictures, Doug! Congrats also to Clay and the team! Eugen, great ride ... er you were just kidding about it being a training ride right:eek: For me, this was the first race with a new bike and riding with gears, carbon wheels and tubs seems a huge advantage over the beloved single-gear I rode in a couple of events last year...but it still hurts:warau: When you suddenly find the race you had been half- dreading is almost cut in half it is an odd mix of relief and disappointment...I also, foolishly missed out on the chance to enjoy the descent (and practice the descent skills from another thread) as my family drove to the top and I came back with them ;) I am wondering about planning a ride up there soon (take train to nearby?) when the road opens fully. Anyway, for me this was the big race of the month as I cant make Kusatsu, however I hope all who participate post detailed reports and look forward to seeing how you all do! Best of luck to everyone!:happy:
 
Likewise. :) Hopefully in the near future I'll be joining some TCC rides too - it's been a while. :eek:
 
Likewise. :) Hopefully in the near future I'll be joining some TCC rides too - it's been a while. :eek:

You must have jumped on your bike just after writing this post, because I thought we passed each other on the Tamagawa path near Y's around 11:15!:bike::bike:
 
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