theBlob
Bokeh master
- Sep 28, 2011
- 3,014
- 1,715
Takaaki and I entered he Akagi Hill climb race this year. 1348m 20.8km
It was to be my first ever bicycle race. I wasn't really expecting much of a result as my prep had been pretty disorganized. Anyway we got up the the area on Saturday registered and went for a drive up the course to scope it out. We had done a practice runa few weeks back in heavy rain and lightning so I kind of knew what to expect in terms of pain.
On Sunday we got an early start and got or places in our respective start groups, I was about 150 people back from the start of mine. So as we started off and just before the line I started moving up as I figured the faster guys would be up there and if I was going to get a draft up the lower flatter sections of the course then I should be positioned to tag the faster guys coming through. My plan worked quite well, I bunny hopped from group to group and soon was following a guy who was running the pace that was good for me. I followed him up to the 8 km mark, then as the road flattened and crossed a bridge I jumped and gave it a bit of hammer, when I looked back him and the other guy who was behind me were back about 50m or so.
It got steeper after that as we hit the switch backs no -one came past me until 2 really fast old guys blew by I tried hopping on their tail but gave up after about 50m.
As we got near the top it started to flatten out again I put started to bring my power up for the run home, I ran the last 600m at about 360W and crossed the line 52nd out of 952 in my class with a time of 1:12:10 at 293W
It was a wierd experience as there were about 3000 people entered I think and I was passing multiple people every second from the moment I started to the moment the race ended. it was seriously 3 or 4 wide cyclists for the entire 20.8km.
The only negative is that I seem to have strained my hamstrings right on the sit bones in that last run to the line and am in quite a bit of pain. I ran 53/38 - 12-30 set up so I spent almost all my time in the saddle, I probably should have got out of the saddle more but I found it better metabolically to just chug away rather than be in and out of the saddle, like I used to ride. But I think my legs or should I say ass wasnt prepared for this length and intensity in this position...
Takaaki kicked ass in his class coming a very impressive 12th place with a 1:04. Well done mate, you are just getting faster and faster. Very impressive.
This is the course for those interested...
It was to be my first ever bicycle race. I wasn't really expecting much of a result as my prep had been pretty disorganized. Anyway we got up the the area on Saturday registered and went for a drive up the course to scope it out. We had done a practice runa few weeks back in heavy rain and lightning so I kind of knew what to expect in terms of pain.
On Sunday we got an early start and got or places in our respective start groups, I was about 150 people back from the start of mine. So as we started off and just before the line I started moving up as I figured the faster guys would be up there and if I was going to get a draft up the lower flatter sections of the course then I should be positioned to tag the faster guys coming through. My plan worked quite well, I bunny hopped from group to group and soon was following a guy who was running the pace that was good for me. I followed him up to the 8 km mark, then as the road flattened and crossed a bridge I jumped and gave it a bit of hammer, when I looked back him and the other guy who was behind me were back about 50m or so.
It got steeper after that as we hit the switch backs no -one came past me until 2 really fast old guys blew by I tried hopping on their tail but gave up after about 50m.
As we got near the top it started to flatten out again I put started to bring my power up for the run home, I ran the last 600m at about 360W and crossed the line 52nd out of 952 in my class with a time of 1:12:10 at 293W
It was a wierd experience as there were about 3000 people entered I think and I was passing multiple people every second from the moment I started to the moment the race ended. it was seriously 3 or 4 wide cyclists for the entire 20.8km.
The only negative is that I seem to have strained my hamstrings right on the sit bones in that last run to the line and am in quite a bit of pain. I ran 53/38 - 12-30 set up so I spent almost all my time in the saddle, I probably should have got out of the saddle more but I found it better metabolically to just chug away rather than be in and out of the saddle, like I used to ride. But I think my legs or should I say ass wasnt prepared for this length and intensity in this position...
Takaaki kicked ass in his class coming a very impressive 12th place with a 1:04. Well done mate, you are just getting faster and faster. Very impressive.
This is the course for those interested...