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Race Kawasaki Enduro 10/14

OK, that blog guy - he's got some serious palmarès.
- 筑波8耐 4時間カテゴリ 準優勝
- 筑波8耐 4時間カテゴリ 準優勝
- 筑波9時間耐久レース 4時間カテゴリ 優勝
- ツールドひたちなか(5月) 2hソロ 7位
- 筑波8時間耐久レース(夏) 2時間ソロ 優勝
- ツールドひたちなか(11月) 2hソロ 5位入賞

He apparently is at 4w/kg, which is pretty damn good. That's solid Cat 2 territory in the US at least.
He did the Fuji Climb in 72 minutes, probably puts him in the top 10% at least depending on his age.

Yeah, the whole circuit definitely is narrower than I expected; especially that hairpin turn.
Didn't realize that it was basically one narrow road that you double-back on....
 
Put my bike on the trainer today and it made me remember that I had a 11-28 on my wheel. Maybe worth changing that out to my trainer cassette which is a 12-25 and possibly swap a cog or two to get the ratios closer and maybe even take the 11. I presume swapping cogs is still a ok if both are Shimano and both are same speed (10S in my case).
 
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Also watched 1 hour of the video today (thanks @andywood) on the trainer. Totally glad I did. Amazing feeling with the camera. Felt like a first person shooter. It was a pretty hard race. Our hero made quite a lot of errors cornering so that was interesting to learn from. Also tried timing grabbing a gel based on where he was and what felt safe. Amazingly I had my hand off squeezing the gel in when there was some hard braking due to something further up the bunch and I probably would have crashed due to being late on the brakes. Whoa. Last lap was interesting. Guy in front clipped his pedal on a bend and hopped the back wheel. My heart rate flew up... lol. Sprint is hard as its just after a u-turn.
 
Put my bike on the trainer today and it made me remember that I had a 11-28 on my wheel. Maybe worth changing that out to my trainer cassette which is a 12-25 and possibly swap a cog or two to get the ratios closer and maybe even take the 11. I presume swapping cogs is still a ok if both are Shimano and both are same speed (10S in my case).

Just be careful the gears run okay under heavy load.

I noticed a friend of mine finished on the podium in the 3h.

Screenshot_20181011-094908.png

He's a nice guy and speaks perfect English, so give him a shout if you need more insight.

Andy
 
Also watched 1 hour of the video today (thanks @andywood) on the trainer. Totally glad I did. Amazing feeling with the camera. Felt like a first person shooter. It was a pretty hard race. Our hero made quite a lot of errors cornering so that was interesting to learn from. Also tried timing grabbing a gel based on where he was and what felt safe. Amazingly I had my hand off squeezing the gel in when there was some hard braking due to something further up the bunch and I probably would have crashed due to being late on the brakes. Whoa. Last lap was interesting. Guy in front clipped his pedal on a bend and hopped the back wheel. My heart rate flew up... lol. Sprint is hard as its just after a u-turn.

I'm glad you did too!

Nothing like getting in the zone, knowing where to position yourself, speeds and lines through corners etc.

If you do Motegi, definitely watch a video as the climb is one big interval each lap...

Andy
 
Btw. I noticed in the video that some guys had their number stuck on rather than just pinned and one guy even had a flappy number. How did the guys stick on the number? Is that a special glue in addition to pins? Seems to work really well.
 
Btw. I noticed in the video that some guys had their number stuck on rather than just pinned and one guy even had a flappy number. How did the guys stick on the number? Is that a special glue in addition to pins? Seems to work really well.

Double sided tape by nitto.

I buy it from Amazon

Screenshot_20181012-144323.png

Amazon product ASIN B004OCULOU
But you can probably buy it at the hardware store. There are a few different types for different purposes, but they all look the same, so best to ask a staff member.

There is no need for pins. But some organisers insist on pins (in which case I just pretend and pin through the number but not the jersey).

For the race number, tape the perimeter and tape an X from corner to corner and that should hold it.

Put your jersey on your back pack or pillow to stretch it out in a shape similar to your body and slap on your numbers.

Hey Presto!

Andy
 
I looked at that picture and was like, man that looks familiar. Sure enough, we had a roll of it here in the house! @wexford I'll be bringing the roll with us to the race, in case you don't have time to pick some up ahead of time.
 
Weather is looking up. My heart is racing and I haven't even left the house yet. About to rectify that now. See you there @WattsUp. If anyone else is around, I am either wearing a red adidas top or a jersey with either Stephen Roche or Wexford on it. Haven't decided yet.
 
Major kudos to wexford, for crushing it in today's Kawasaki Enduro, coming in 13th in the over-40 group, with a time fast enough to be in the top third of the open category!

I was 38th in the over-40, but only 50 riders. Probably just missing the top half of the open category? Wexford had the right idea, tapering for the event and starting out near the front of the group at the start. I was taking pictures with the wife and kids and started out pretty much right at the back. I was mostly doing this event to get in some outdoor riding and as part of my current block of training - I wasn't exactly fresh; I had over 700 TSS already in the bag for the week through Saturday. I think I would have come in a bit higher being a bit fresher and lining up a bit earlier.

Still enjoyed the event - the weather cooperated, roads were dry and it wasn't too hot. A bit of a wind, but that's to be expected given the location. The roads weren't quite as narrow as we had thought based on the youtube video. Saw a few crashes, including one that looked like a certain broken collarbone (came around one of the hairpin turns way too fast, right in front of me). So happy to have come through quite safe, with a good solid two-hour effort under my belt. Feel like I nailed my nutrition, both leading up to the day and during; two gells and full bottles of SiS electrolyte that were mostly empty by the end.

Enduro.jpg
 
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Brilliant stuff by both @wexford and @WattsUp ! Awesome performances.
My apologies for not making it to cheer you on. I got home later than expected and fell asleep straight away after doing so.
 
Thanks lads. @WattsUp - shame we didn't take some photos together. That man is looking fit. Obviously all that hard work you are putting in is paying off. Keep it up and great performance yesterday. Thank you also for providing the tape yesterday for the number. That stuff was magic and thanks @andywood for that and for all the awesome advice on this thread. I felt ready and this thread helped loads in my preparation.

I drove to the race even though I could have ridden down. I had to stop for a pee in a PA on the way and once again when I got there so had high hopes regarding my hydration. It was cold and windy on arrival but luckily the rain had stopped and the circuit was drying up. Checked out some of the corners visually while the 3 hour race was in progress and it didn't look as narrow as maybe the video had made it seem. Got to check out the surface as well as a few surprise cars and trucks parked on the road.

Got out on to the circuit quickly for a warm up lap and road a little in the bunch to check out how that would feel. Then I left them and put some power down to warm up properly. Only did a lap and a half before lining up a few bike lengths from the front - 25 minutes to go. I knew that warm ups last around 30 minutes or there abouts so didn't sweat the wait. Better to be up front.

Start was rolling. Straight in to the pedals and tried to maintain position but as the flag went down, things got a little busy and just tried to keep it clean and roll back up any time the pace went down. Was close enough to the front on the first hairpin but was surprised by the speed pick up even at that point. First two laps we were averaging 43kmph. End of second lap, back straight had just killed me when the hairpin arrived and it was time for another big effort, a lot of folks were feeling it also it seems and the guys in front gave up the chase. At that point, I was still close but I tried to just up the pace and TT back on hoping someone else would help. Nobody on my wheel though and I wasn't able to close down the gap. I realized then, that I should have tried sprinting on instead of the TT method. Live and learn. Recover a little and wait for someone else. At this point we had a mini 8 man group with each one working hard trying to get back in touch.

End of 3rd lap, we almost caught up with the first group under braking into the hairpin, but the pace out was again huge and we couldn't pull it off. After that we were alone for a few laps holding our own before a larger group caught us. More fire power I thought. I tried to keep up front as much as I could out of harms way. It was actually quite natural to move around in the group. I wasn't nervous at all. There was shouting behind me and some crashes at various stages as folks touched wheels. I could ride though the corners full pelt through while pedalling and was really enjoying that.

An hour in I realized I was starving. Really hungry. I had wondered if I would be able to eat a gel in the pack before the race and well it seemed I was over due trying. I had to eat. Decided on the one hand teeth rip method and just went for it. Hold in mouth for a bit, squeeze more in when I could. Went well. Took a second gel around 25 minutes to go. Laps were ticking by and I thought we might hold the first group off to the end. But you could really tell that folks were tired now and I found myself leading several times until I decided that I just didn't have enough gels for the energy that I was throwing down.

Three laps to go, road position had me in the bumps and my legs started cramping. Both calves. Drink more, drink more. Try a bigger gear. Cramps went a way a little but stayed with me the remainder of the race. Never fully cramped up but definitely uncomfortable. Just after we entered the last lap, the lead bunch lapped us. I felt sure I could finish in the pack but just stay out of the sprint. Second last hairpin had me out the back again though. Legs just couldn't take the brutality of a mini sprint with the back straight still to go. Plus I knew the back straight was going to be crazy fast.

At this point, I was thinking of the folks that were behind me and the fact that I was so close, keep the hammer down as much as I can. A few folks sprinted by me. Tried grabbing a wheel of a guy going by at a more reasonable pace but he slowed down once he caught someone else so I went past again. There were a few around for the last corner just before the finish. One guy took me going into the corner. Noticed that his number was in the same category so I put my last efforts into taking him before the line. Job done.

Elated after the finish. Was fun to see other folks being held up by fences and lying on the ground recovering while recovering myself. Took time to gather myself back and just ride around while stretching to try recover some of the hurt. I feel I rode a good race and put everything down on the road.

I took an FTP test about 2 weeks ago and dropped 17W back to 239W. So pretty happy with this effort as summarised by TrainerRoad. NP was 271 so seems like a bit of an NP buster.
Screen Shot 2018-10-15 at 10.37.33.png

Looks like I did 275W for an hour based on this graph. So maybe not a NP buster but a raised FTP.

Screen Shot 2018-10-15 at 10.41.55.png

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread. I learned a lot as I'm sure others have too.
 
....At that point, I was still close but I tried to just up the pace and TT back on hoping someone else would help. Nobody on my wheel though and I wasn't able to close down the gap. I realized then, that I should have tried sprinting on instead of the TT method...

Can I ask a stupid question?
What does it mean to "TT" it? I know TT stands for time trial, but what does this actually imply in terms of riding style? Is it simply going aero and pedaling at high cadence? Or, is it simply riding as fast as you can, whatever method you use? (I always think I'm TTing, but have no idea what I'm talking about...)
And, is sprinting basically going full bore, keeping as low as possible while smashing down on the pedals as fast as possible a la Cav, Caleb Ewan, etc?
 
Can I ask a stupid question?
What does it mean to "TT" it? I know TT stands for time trial, but what does this actually imply in terms of riding style? Is it simply going aero and pedaling at high cadence? Or, is it simply riding as fast as you can, whatever method you use? (I always think I'm TTing, but have no idea what I'm talking about...)
And, is sprinting basically going full bore, keeping as low as possible while smashing down on the pedals as fast as possible a la Cav, Caleb Ewan, etc?

I think they mean going full gas without the benefit of a draft.
 
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