Official Ride Enduro Aftermath....

[Edogawakikkoman]

Congratulations to the Go Go Girls... Fantastic racing. Well done.

Even though the weather was shocking, I thoroughly enjoyed the day and luckily I got the driest last leg of B team and had fun out there.

Looking forward to next year's sunny blue sky enduro and all the rides before then.

I hope you had a great bounenkai and sorry I couldn't join you. I'm hoping there will be a shinnenkai in January... ???

BTW:
I only started this thread because the original Enduro thread was 'closed' at the time.
Somebody has since re-opened it.

 

[thomas]

Even though the weather was shocking, I thoroughly enjoyed the day and luckily I got the driest last leg of B team and had fun out there.

Definitely a most spectacular and challenging day. I wonder how long it has taken everyone to clean their bikes. Just spent 2,5hrs getting rid of the grime, sand and leaves and lubricating all parts.

I'm still wondering what happened to the Positivo Espresso team and their beer challenge.

 

[TOM]

You beat us!

Thomas...the Positivo Espresso team - basically a bunch of picky sissies (or was that sissy pickies? forgot) - decided to go back to bed... this would have been our third enduro in a row in pouring rain and I guess we've had enough of that! Clearly jinxed on that one.

Granted though...you won and beat us so we now owe you at least a few drinks...you agree m o b ?? So on our next ride together, let us take you to Tamajiman for a few bottles.:beer2:

Really admire the TCC riders...now that is a team with real guts! Fantastic job & invincible GO GO GIRLS team.

I'm still wondering what happened to the Positivo Espresso team and their beer challenge.

 

[thomas]

Really admire the TCC riders...now that is a team with real guts! Fantastic job & invincible GO GO GIRLS team.

TOM, I have read your blog and all I have to say is: the Positivo Espresso team were SMART! Yet, I believe most TCC members wouldn't turn down a pint of beer.

I hope to be riding with you and finally meeting the other PE team members soon!

 

[kpykc]

The race was "enduro" in many aspects - I don't know who had to endure more - people riding on a circuit or those waiting outside in cold/rain But it wouldn't be so fun without this extra challenge.... or would it?

Of course - congrats to the Team G with their 2nd place!
And a huge thanx to Sora-san for organizing the race and the bonenkai

 

[chazzer]

This....

was comfortably the most miserable and most enjoyable 15 hours that I have spent on or with a bicycle this year. Utter stupidity from end to end. When can we do it again please ?

Many congratulations to the Go Go Gals again for the podium place. I am also extremely proud to have been a member of Team Z who came a very respectable 12th in the Mixed category. Well done to my teammates - Sora,Juno and Elvis !!

And many thanks to Sora-san for the excellent arrangements throughout and especially the bonenkai.

When I was a young rugby and soccer star we had an excellent track record of being banned from every restaurant which hosted our annual Christmas dinner for various misdemeanours and unspeakable acts involving food. Almost none of it was eaten (and may not have been fit to eat in the first place). What a contrast to last night where every scrap of food was eaten and every drop of alchohol in the izakaya was consumed. I am sure the busy master-san must have been delighted that his cunning nomihoudai plan had worked so well !

Have we been banned yet ?

chazzer

 

[Edogawakikkoman]

Some of my team mates rode on the Saturday...

what a contrast....

http://www.seo-smd.com/08/081213-tokyo-e.html

 

[WhiteGiant]

Cold & Wet... but Fun!

I wonder how long it has taken everyone to clean their bikes. Just spent 2,5hrs getting rid of the grime, sand and leaves and lubricating all parts.

About an hour for each bike!

Some of my team mates rode on the Saturday...
what a contrast....
http://www.seo-smd.com/08/081213-tokyo-e.html

I had some friends from "Alpen-Marker" who rode on Saturday too - I think they came 11th.

Oh yeah, here are the RESULTS:

Out of 241 starting teams...
Team A - 8th
Team B - 15th
Team C - 17th
Team E - 43rd
Team D - 55th.

*Note: 233 teams were non-starters! - There would have been 474 teams riding if not for the weather.... including our Positivo Espresso buddies...

...the Positivo Espresso team - basically a bunch of picky sissies (or was that sissy pickies? forgot) - decided to go back to bed... this would have been our third enduro in a row in pouring rain and I guess we've had enough of that! Clearly jinxed on that one.

Really admire the TCC riders...now that is a team with real guts! Fantastic job & invincible GO GO GIRLS team.

Anyway, it was one the most dreadful days of my life, and I can honestly say "I had a GREAT time!!!":bike3:

Will endeavour to write a full report within a week or so... as soon as my fingers thaw out.
Travis

 

[Deej]

My fingers are still numb!

I've been too busy to write anything yet, and only have time for a quick message before writing something proper (you know, with links, photos, exaggerations and digressions).

I just wanted to thank everyone for making the enduro such a blast.

Bravo TCC!

Deej

 

[Wolfman]

Whilst wet, cold and shivering I swore that my first Enduro would be my last. The day can easily be grouped in with those things you had to endure at school that are, or were, seen as "character forming" (country runs over frozen fields, ice cold outdoor swimming pools, and freezing showers). However, whilst the thumb is still a bit numb, I'm already looking back and thinking that it was quite good fun. I might even sign up again next year.....

The restaurant was very good, with a plentiful supply of beer - I drunk way too much though and yesterday was a complete write-off - we should do that more often though

Thanks to Sora-san for organising everything and to everyone else for the stoicism and humour in the face of adversity.

Lee

 

[Phil]

Thanks!

Wet, shiveringly cold, muddy, miserable, and a heck of a lot of fun!

The trip to the far side of Tokyo was well worth it, from the damp gathering of hard-core TCC-ers at Nishi-Tachikawa in the morning, to the penguin-huddling under "our" tree in the mud, the race itself (a whir of puddles and spray), the podium ceremony for the ladies, and, of course, the (slightly drunken?) evening in Nakano.

Many thanks as alway to the usual suspects: Sora-san and Yasuhiro-san for organization of the race and superb bonenkai, Travis, Nobu, and the other thoughtful souls who produced the tarp and rope to build our shelter, Arai-san for coming out to take pics despite feeling ill, and everyong else who made it such a great day.

Congrats to all the teams on the great results!

 

[AlanW]

Endure (vb) - to undergo (hardship, strain, etc) without yielding

Enduro (n) - An unrivalled opportunity to practice the above


Well, like most people I was anxiously checking three websites the night before the race - TCC, the Enduro organisers' own page, and the weather forecast for western Tokyo. However as time wore on, none of these offered any good news, with the forecast steadily worsening and no sign of the event being cancelled. Sure enough, looking out the window early Sunday morning showed heavy cloud, roads glistening with surface water and a few hardy people with their umbrellas up. But apparently the event was still on. I can honestly say, had it not been a team race I would have gone straight back to bed and stayed there.
I had already decided to take the soft option of the train to the event start, as I was recovering from a bad cold. However the soft option got even softer; instead of riding 8km to Yotsuya and jumping on the Chuo line, Naomi-san and I rode 2 minutes to the nearest station and got on the train there.

Arriving at Nishi-Tachikawa we saw a few others from TCC who had also decided to brave the weather. Peer pressure is a terrible thing! We huddled in the station concourse, looking across grey, rain-spattered concrete towards the locked gates of the park, and unpacked our bikes.
Eventually we could delay no longer and walked our machines to the sign-in area. There was no fixed shelter at all, although some of the better equipped teams had Easy-Ups, tents and so on. Fortunately for us all, Travis had brought a tarp which we managed to hang from the branches of a tree.

The TCC 'A' team had a last minute discussion about who would roll out first; and we decided Thomas should be our lead man, with me next, then Deej and then Phil. Our plan was to do three laps before changing riders, with a total time of about 25 minutes for a session. I saw several of the TCC team riders, including Naomi-san and Thomas, towards the front of the field for the parade lap, then the start of the race was called and the speed of the field increased. I waited in the 'Pit' area, next to the change-over lane, which gradually became more and more muddy and churned up as the race went on.
Thomas came in on schedule and we did a quick change of the ankle-band transponder and I set off for my first session. This was my first enduro so I was not sure of the course.

The first corner was slippery with mud that had been dragged from the pit/change over area so I tiptoed round, finally getting on the power as the straight opened up in front of me. Water was coming from every direction; flung up by the tyres of my bike, plumes of spray from other riders' wheels, rain falling from the sky. I couldn't see any groups at all that might offer a chance to draft (and a chance to get even more thoroughly sprayed), so simply put my head down and went for it. The rest of the course was OK with only one tight turn at the south-east corner to get round; the rest of the turns could be taken pretty much flat out, until the last turn into the start/finish straight. On my second lap I caught Sergey who had been out since the starting gun; he was still riding strongly and I tried to offer him a little shelter from the wind. We rode together till the end of my session, when he came in as well.

Waiting between racing sessions was an exercise in trying to stay warm. Any body heat built up over the 3 racing laps quickly went away. I wore an extra fleece, hat and gore-tex shell which went some way to staying warm.
My second session was pretty much as the first, although the rain was easing, and the start/finish straight increasingly resembled a mountain bike course. Some riders were having trouble with their cleats binding up in the mud, and Charles and Shinobu-san nearly fell down as they came in to change. Luckily other TCCers were on hand to catch them.

The clock ticked on, and we were still on-track, and managing fast change overs when we needed to, especially compared to some of the teams who seem very relaxed about the time wasted in the change-over area. In the last 15 minutes of the race, no changes are allowed, and we wanted to bring Thomas in just before the cut-off, so he wouldn't be out for too many laps. As it turned out, he did a single, fast lap and I went out to finish the race. I crossed the line after two laps, just before 4 hours. I didn't realise that the racing is over at that point, so was still going for it on my last lap, until I caught up with Naomi-san who told me the race was already over. Oh well.....I did go for it anyway on the second-to-last lap to make sure I got across the line before the 4 hour mark, so there was probably no difference in the end.

We ended up 8th, with one lap less than last year's TCC 'A' team which is not too bad considering the conditions and the lack of drafting. Congratulations of course to all the TCC riders; thanks to Sora-san for organising the race entries and the splendid bonnenkai afterwards and to everyone who turned up.

Interesting things I saw along the way:

• Several Moultons
• A recumbent tricycle
• More riders wearing Marigolds (rubber gloves) than I've ever seen, ever
• Endless variations on headgear to try to keep the rain out
• A Surly Pugsley
• A folding bike with a disc rear wheel
• A couple of fixed-wheel bikes
• A couple of Santas
• A rider in a dinosaur suit

 

[gmason]

Support From Afar!

Just thought I'd drop a quick line to say well done to all TCC'ers at the enduro.

Looks and sounds as though it was a toughy with the weather.

Keep it up

Good luck to all for 2009

Greg

 

[nobu☆]

Tcc Banzai

今年の締めくくりのレースもやっぱり思い出深い１日でした。

レースがはじまって２時間くらいは、休憩している、Ｙａｓｕｓｈｉｒｏさんやトラ、しのぶちゃん
『寒いねぇ～終わったら銭湯によろう！』という、言葉だけを心の支えにしていたのに、
レース終盤、雨が上がり、そして表彰式に呼ばれた頃には、すっかり忘れていました。

みんなで楽しめる、エンデューロはやっぱりいいですね

そしてガールズチームは、４人揃って走ったのは、昨年のこのレース以来でした。
なのに、２位になっちゃってすごーい！！

ＴＣＣのみんなの応援があったので、頑張れました！！

そして、忘年会も楽しかった。　泥んこの私たちを嫌な顔ひとつ見せずに、迎えいれてくれたお店の皆さん！
幹事のSoraさん、Ｔomokoさん ありがとうございました

また、皆さんと一緒に走ったり、おしゃべりしたりすることを楽しみにしています。
nobu☆

 

[zenbiker]

A couple of firsts for me.
First bike ride and first time to ride in the rain. Enjoyed the race but the rain I could have done without! Looks my pair got 26th place which we are very happy with. At one point I was shivering so much I just couldn`t get my shoe into the pedal! After one lap I warmed up but waiting for the next ride was no fun at all. Couldn`t keep warm.
Lessons learnt:
1. Need better weather gear!
2.Try to keep mouth shut when drafting in the rain.
3.If its 7 degrees and pouring rain... Stay home for TV and cocoa!

Will have warmer kit for Motegi in Jan.

 

[m o b]

Positively some beers

Yes Tom is right, we [Positivo Espresso] owe you guys some beers and we will serve them at Tama Jiman next year when we ride together.

In 2008 I did Hitachi Naka JCRC, Tokyo Tour of Japan race, Yokohama Enduro, and Yokkaichi JCRC in the rain and that was enough for me this year. Plus Miyakejima JCRC in clouds of poisonous gas.

Let's hope that the weather stays dry during the next months so that we can all make some longer rides and our performance level does not drop too much as well.

Congratulations to all TCC teams. You guys had a lot of discipline and guts and the results are also good.

 

[Sora]

Tokyo Crazy Club

BTW:
I only started this thread because the original Enduro thread was 'closed' at the time.
Somebody has since re-opened it.

Sorry, I closed the thread by mistake.
Thank you for opening anther thread.ray:

And thank you for all the members who came to Tokyo Enduro and Bonenkai.
The leaders of each team, thank you for your efforts.
And especially Arai-san, in spite of your illness you came there and signed in. Thank you very much. I hope you will be fine so soon
Also thank you for Polymer Head-san for your cheerleading up us. I hope you will fixed your injury soon, and look forward to cycling with you.


------------
This is my little impression of the event:

In Bonenkai, I heard many members saying " In this morning, I was thinking about canceling the race, because of rain"...
In fact, I was thinking about the same thing..........


When I reached the Nishi-tachikawa Sta. at 8:30am, there already were several TCC members were assembling their bikes(They came by train or car). Soon, most of TCC members came there. I felt, "What CRAZY members are here!" with a bit of smiling, and lighted my cigarette.

But the faces of the members looked blue and the tone of the conversation was relatively lower than usual. I thought it was because of the cold rain.

The enduro started 10:30am.
All the TCC racers, who came back for their lap, looked so exhausted because of coldness and rain. But I thought the reasons of exhaustion was not enough. I thought they already forgot about coldness and raining (I was not sure they never forgot of them all), they looked eager to run the race for the team.
I had to do my best, I thought.


2:30pm, the enduro ended.
Thomas-san came to me and said, "Will you take team photos?"
Sora: "Of course! It is my pleasure!"


"Hey Team X(...A,B,C,D,E,G and Z), let's take pics!".
All members of each team were in their best smiling in front of my camera. And after I took their photos, they didn't apart soon.



The beer with crazy guys and gals in Bonenkai was one of my best beer.
"Tokyo Crazy Club", sounds not bad.

Good end of the year.
Thank you, all.


----------------------
Btw, I forgot to bring my camera here in Hamamatsu. I will upload my pics of Enduro and Bonenkai in this week end.


もう、英語大変! 言いたいこと、伝わってんのかな?!

 

[Phil]

Allsports pics are up, in case you have a couple of hours to kill clicking through hundreds of pics:

http://allsports.jp/event/00005918.html

They're sorted by helmet color and time.

 

[araim1]

Thank you , Sora san

Sorry, I closed the thread by mistake yesterday.
Thank you for opening anther thread.ray:

もう、英語大変! 言いたいこと、伝わってんのかな?!

sora san

ありがとうございました。そらさんの気持ちは十分に伝わってきますよ！！私も忘年会に参加したかったぁ。でも参加したら最悪の体調になっていたと今でも思ってます。

いいな、参加できて。私は概ね回復しました。翌日が出張でなければ無理をしたんですけどね。大事な出張だったので大事をとりました。今は暖かいオーストラリアで病を癒しています。セキが出る程度です。それではまた次回のイベントを楽しみにしています。

新井

 

[Wolfman]

Allsports pics are up, in case you have a couple of hours to kill clicking through hundreds of pics:

http://allsports.jp/event/00005918.html

They're sorted by helmet color and time.

Thanks Phil.

Guess I must have been going too fast for them to get any good pictures.