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Cycling 2011

AlanW

Maximum Pace
Jan 30, 2007
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A good year on 2 wheels this time around for me:

January
Early season training in Boso Hanto. Some really chilly rides but found some great new (to me) routes and built a solid base for the rest of the year.
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February

New bike time :D! I picked up this Titus X Carbon at a bargain price. Short-travel full suspension, built with light but durable parts and just over 11 kg. I got some early season XC rides in before the road racing / training season kicked off.
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First race of the year. Tokyo Enduro River Stage; mixed team with Naomi-san. We got second place - beaten only by a team with two strong male riders and one lady.
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April
First hillclimb of the season at Kusatsu. My training plan was interrupted by a nasty cold but I still beat my target time of 40 mins and got 6th place.
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May
Mt Asama Hillclimb. Chose this one as part of my Training for the Mt. Fuji International Hillclimb (my biggest goal for the year). A bit steeper than Kusatsu, 1000 m elevation gain. Unfortunately it meant I missed out on the TCC showdown but training-wise it was perfect! 4th place and feeling strong.
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June
Mt. Fuji International Hillclimb. This was IT for me this year. The first 6 months of training all building up to this event. My second go at this race up the Azami line of Mt. Fuji. As I commented to Steve at the time, once you've done Azami, all other climbs seem easy by comparison! I've seen people lying on the road, still clipped into their bikes, unable to keep going on the steepest sections! I lined up with the Experts and semi-pros at the front of the field, so I knew my overall position. As I neared the summit, I was thinking "This is for a podium place!" and dug deep to keep going, finishing 3rd in Expert. Beat my time from last year by almost two minutes, as well :)
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Last year I kept racing all through summer and pretty much lost my biking mojo around the September time frame. I could barely face going out into the heat, never mind churning out the kilometers needed to stay in racing form. This year I did things differently. After Fuji I took a couple of months break from road racing, planning for a second fitness peak around November for Ryusei.

In June I visited a new (to me) MTB park at Fuji-ten. Only a short chairlift (10 mins) but lots of fun coming back down!
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[July]
Off to my homeland for 2 weeks with my mountainbike. Time for some "No Fear" attitude (not even a little bit!)
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August
Back to Japan and still enjoying MTB riding. Got a full day in at Mt. Takamineyama.
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September
2 weeks in Whistler, Canada. More fear-conquering to be done, this time to ride the elevated wookwork sections. Initially terrifying; it took a while to get the confidence to roll over them.
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October

Giro de Hotaka was announced, and the road bike training started in earnest again with three days hard and hilly riding in Chichibu.
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November

Some great training rides with some of TCC's speedy gentlemen building up to the Hotaka Hillclimb and Giro and Ryusei Hillclimb. Finished the year on a high with a new personal best (by over 3 minutes) at Hotaka HC, second in the Giro, and despite still being tired, a new personal best at Ryusei.

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And now it's time to relax and wind down for the rest of the year and give my body a chance to relax and refresh.....because a new season of racing will be stating soon!
 
Great recap, Alan! Lots of quality riding by you and nice pics too.
See you in the next season :) but hopefully sooner :D
 
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