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Eric's TT 9/29 (Sat) *could be an Offical TCC TT

EricinIkebukuro

Speeding Up
Jan 30, 2011
414
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So with the Sprinters race and the KOM race, I am motivated to keep the events going while the weather is still good for riding.

I would like to propose an Individual TT event on the Edogawa river. It will be a 41.5 km TT from Matsuda to the Noda city Castle along the Edogawa cycling road. See Route here: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/135516765

Starting time would be at 9 am. We line everyone up with the potentially faster riders starting at the back. At 30 second or 15 second intervals (depending on the number of riders) riders will start and ride the course as fast as they safely can go. Because everyone will be leaving at a specified time, their arrival time will be recorded and from that we can judge their overall time.

Rules:
1) you can not work with other riders to improve speed or time (that would make it a TTT).

2) the few lights in the beginning of the course will be not be taken into account in your over all time. If you get stuck, tough luck. I think it would be too complicated to take the lights into account for those who did or did not get stopped by them.

3) Ride hard but do not endanger pedestrians. There will be a few people at the first 5 km of the course as it is in Matsuda. Watch out and don't do anything to risk injury.

We will need a volunteer to wait at the finish line and take people's times as they cross the line. The finish line will be about 10 meters in front of the entrance to the Castle parking lot. Using clocks on our cell phones will be most accurate as they use gps to determine time and are in sync with each other.

After the TT, we can enjoy lunch at the small restaurant and then have a nice group ride back to Tokyo.

Any comments, suggestions or improvements to this idea are welcome.
 
Actually sounds like fun, Edogawa is nice.

Though I suspect my recent strava achievements from last weekend are going to get crushed with this group..... :eek:uch:

Sadly I don't think I'll be around for it though on that weekend.....

:bike: :bike: :bike:
 
H Eric,

great idea, but aren't there many people walking the dog at 9AM, especially over the course of 40km?

My recommendation for more quite race courses are:
- Nakagawa 10km TT - 10km (flat)
- Monkey Island Loop - 3.6km (flat)
- Miura Pine tree Loop - 10km (hilly)
 
Eric - Brilliant Idea!

I love a good TT and having been involved in the UK TT scene for many years I can add some advice that will make this a ripping success. Mike asked my opinion on the "Sprinters Race" about safety concerns and stuff and I will offer you the same advice as I did him.

I think one of the most important factors when organising an event is trying to remove as much possible risk as you can - I know Mike rode a lot before setting up the sprinters race to find suitable locations for each finish line and I mentioned that even if you think there is potential for an accident then find another location. (Obviously riding is dangerous but it was more to do with blind junctions, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings or other hazards)

It was also one of the reasons why the race was broken up in to social segments and then racing segments.

So I would suggest removing the section with the traffic lights, it removes the potential risk of riders jumping lights or pushing harder and taking more risks later on that might result in hitting a pedestrian.

Also I know there are some very narrow sections on the Arakawa, will the TT go through those sections? If so again you might want to consider altering the distance or the course to remove them – Many courses have a U-Turn in them it adds a little curve ball to the event as riders have to find the pace again but it also means organisers can have a more flexible course that again can remove potential risk to riders or pedestrians.

Remember the last thing we want is a TCC event to be marred with an accident, especially one that could result in a law suit against a rider or even the club.

Although the 40km is the standard length of an ITT for championship events there are other distances that are approved:

  • 10 mile (16km)
  • 20mile (32km)
  • 25 mile (40km)

15 mile and 22 mile are also approved - although rare. So you could shorten the route to make it as safe as possible yet still offering a serious challenge to the riders.

Also I would strongly suggest 1 minute intervals again the "minute man" is standard practice on open road TT's as it allows a good distance to form between riders and not only adds to the safety aspect but also plays a very physiological role in the event – if you can see the other rider right from the start you'll end up with riders bunched up regardless – especially towards the end and it will also mean that it looks a lot less like a race to the casual observer.

I recommend riding the course – make notes of potential hazards or hot spots and the distance into the TT they occur (most races will highlight these in the "road book" or course map) take some photos of them and then analyses them. Then you need to work out if they can be avoided by using an alternative route, U-turn or do they require a marshal.

If you want some help or another set of eyes to bounce ideas off I'd be more than happy to assist you.
 
I agree about the traffic lights, no good can come from having a course that has lights on it.
 
Nice one Eric, put in the calendar.
Finally a chance to use my spinach bars!!
 
Muwahahahaha You all underestimate my abilities. I am prepared for a back up course.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/135767905 This side of the Tone-gawa has not a single soul out there. Now this path is a little narrow in a place or two but there is also a construction service road that is open and never has cars on it. I will be riding out there this weekend to double check the lengths as they sometimes have a fence up. In this one we have a U-turn and a flat course of 16km. If that road is open it would be more than enough for us. This is what the Saitama TT used back in May.

In back up plan B, we ride up to the castle leaving from Pete's Family mart at 8, get to the castle by brunch time, refuel and go to the course. With a Start/Finish line next to each other it will be much easier to time people.
 
Hi there,
i would have to say that the nakagawa TT is better than the Tonegawa or Edogawa options,
The saitama Tonegawa TT is done with the co-operation of the local council and some of the barriers at the east end (construction end) of the course are removed for the event, at the west end of the course they have marshals managing the flow of pedestrians that cross the path onto the baseball fields.
Edogawa has lights, switchbacks, narrow sections, baseball fields, and would be hard to do at pace.
a few teams have chosen Nakagawa for pace training as it is wide, sparsely populated and you can let rip at 50kph with a tail wind in relative safety, .. you still have to be careful, especially when u-turning that you are not turning infront of someone else, also it starts and finishes in the same location, and you don't need timing volunteers.
its not all roses tho, there are limited amenities, no good cafes i could reccomend, and the scenery is not much better than riding on rollers in a car park, .. but it works... 4 laps would be around 42km as even though the uturn is at 1km and 6km marker, some bright spark didn't quite get it right
 
FE makes some really good points. We used to hold TT all the time as it was one of the easiest, cheapest (and safest) races to put on. Pre-riding the course and chalking any hazards is very important. Also - get a few volunteers to standby the critical corners or intersections. 1min interval is best. 40km is a pretty long haul - so , again, as FE suggests, I'd break this into a few different sections so more riders will feel confident to try it. Everyone can eventually regroup at your finish then ride back socially. Again, the most critical point will be safety. If even one rider has even the smallest incident it will adversely affect the community. This is not like Norikura where it's almost a 'culture' to have cyclists TT adhoc on the mountain. It's a multi-use zone that shares pedestrians and cyclists alike. Let's try to find out about the closed , private road. That may be the best bet - if we can get provisional use permit for it then it's much better.
 
Matsudo to Sekiyado Castle is 40km which is what you meant I think.

The Noda castle (Kikkoman Castle) at Noda was demolished and moved to a new location a few years back. You could make this the turn around point as it is almost exactly 20km as well...

Just pointing this out in case there is some confusion.

Matsudo to Sekiyado castle is 40km.
Matsudo to Noda castleless is 20km.


There are two sets of traffic lights on this route 3 if you don't know how to go under the Musashino train line and the last road you have to cross is less than 2km from the goal. No traffic lights there. Good luck timing the red lights...


:cool:
 
Turning down the Tone river from the Sekiyado castle is the quietest stretch of river... No traffic lights, very few houses near the river mostly rice fields...few pedestrians. Good view ahead all the way... Do a ten km down and 10km back to the castle...or the bridge there that crosses the Tone.

Matsudo has too many pedestrians all day.

You could even do 5km laps on a safe stretch...easy to see each other and pace yourselves...

No need to go too far from point A....
 
I just want to voice my interest for this event, well frankly, I don't have a choice now do I?

Has the course been decided on? Preferably I'd like to know before this weekend.

Cheers, Aron
 
Just received a full green light for riding this Saturday and want to use it to respark the discussion about this TT thing. There seems to be a lot of interest, so can we maybe confirm the course and participants over the next couple of days?
I think what is especially great, is that it's a lot more accessible and doesn't have any climbs, so really open for riders of all speeds. Just come on out!
 
Sorry for the really late reply. Things came up do I will be busy this Saturday and the TT route needs a bit more planning. Expect an update soon!
 
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