As Patrick said, beautiful weather and perfect conditions for the race.
I rode with the power meter and used that to dial in my efforts. The start is really interesting because it it is so easy to see people going out too hard. I lined up relatively near the front of my starting group, and within 200 m I was off the back. Then I just steadily caught people as they burned themselves out. I could not believe that a guy was already walking at the 2.5km point.
Despite my steady pacing however, I also went out a bit too hard. I was trying to ride 5% above my FTP, and set a personal best in the first 3.5km. However, found it hard to maintain on the first set of switchbacks, but easier to do on the real steep sections.
From my practice rides I knew that the last few km's was the place I really had to focus on. I like the idea, go fast in the fast sections, which I got from motorcycle racing. At the top there are several places where the road flattens out. Most people tend to recover there, and I know I would tend to do so to. For the race I made it a point to stand up in the drops and hammer it on the flat sections, allowing me to pass tons of people, and hit the climbs with momentum, where I could then recover.
I was relatively happy with my result, being within a few seconds of 2 years ago, given my lack of riding the past couple of weeks. I still have the 1 hr mark in my sights, and can probably get there if I drop a few kg's.
Was also pleased with the 12th place and 4th place results in the Japan Pro Tour and Japan Feminine Tour from the athletes that I am working with.
Kudos to Patrick for his great effort.
