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Grinduro Japan 2019

TheAussieinJapan

Maximum Pace
Apr 15, 2014
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Hi all,

I noticed that there were no threads for Grinduro surprisingly so I thought I'd pop this here in case anyone that attended or had wanted to attend wanted to know more.

MY buddy and I just got back. Ended up being a much bigger "adventure" than planned due to the massive typhoon which caused some logistic issues on way back as well as grovelling to wife left at home alone during super typhoon.

To summerise it was absolutely awesome. I've only attended one other cycling event as racing just doesn't interest me and the vibe at most of the cycling events just didn't feel like what I was looking for. As Grinduro says on their site, perfect party to race ratio. Its an event you want to do with friends, minus typhoons. Shame we couldn't camp as that would have had an amazing village vibe (and saved some money).

I think this has set a new benchmark of what is possible for a bike event for me. I could chill out with buddies, talk about bikes with folks, had good sponsor tents with stuff i want to buy, well run with bike racks, facilities, rest stops and food, and just attracted lots of folks not too serious or worrying about what they carbohydrate intake for the day was. In the end we were all covered in mud. It's the type of ride where you can enjoy the ride with friends, then when you hit the timed sections go hard, then wait for each other until the next bit.

Mountain bikers were better off at this location in this weather overall but each type of bike had its own strengths on different sections. The 500m Death Climb had most people pushing up the hill I'd say though and my new 38t with a 11-46 on the back wasn't a help for the last 1/2 of it either. So when they announce next events in Japan if its not crazy far & expensive to get to (Spent way more than I want to think about) I'm definitely there.
 
What were the individual segments like?

I noticed the winner of the 40s did a relatively slow first segment, but won overall with fast second and thirds.

I like this idea of segments. It can be made cheaper by just using Strava, if everybody uploads at the goal.

This is what we do for our local TT and HC event.

Works well and is quite exciting waiting for each others' data to appear.

Andy
 
What were the individual segments like?

I noticed the winner of the 40s did a relatively slow first segment, but won overall with fast second and thirds.

I like this idea of segments. It can be made cheaper by just using Strava, if everybody uploads at the goal.

This is what we do for our local TT and HC event.

Works well and is quite exciting waiting for each others' data to appear.

Andy

Yeah I did alright personally on the uphill first section, then did better than many on the 2nd downhill section. The third section I started really slow as I just wanted to get down safe, then I had a huge crash downhill in one of those gutters going over the handlebars. I stayed there waiting for about 4 people to come past so I could let my buddy know and added 3-4mins onto my time.

Great way to do a race. Strava I'm not so sure can be reliable as my data was way different to my friend and I had less than 400m elevation.
 
Yeah I did alright personally on the uphill first section, then did better than many on the 2nd downhill section. The third section I started really slow as I just wanted to get down safe, then I had a huge crash downhill in one of those gutters going over the handlebars. I stayed there waiting for about 4 people to come past so I could let my buddy know and added 3-4mins onto my time.

Great way to do a race. Strava I'm not so sure can be reliable as my data was way different to my friend and I had less than 400m elevation.

Strava is probably accurate enough for a low key event if you are just measuring time taken between two reference points.

Some of the group rides on here for example could incorporate a mini race within a social ride.

Andy
 
Strava is probably accurate enough for a low key event if you are just measuring time taken between two reference points.

Some of the group rides on here for example could incorporate a mini race within a social ride.

Andy
Hey that's a cool idea. Segments, then check the times for that day.
 
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