FarEast
Maximum Pace
- May 25, 2009
- 5,528
- 538
What a weekend!
We arrived at the Continental Cycling Centre in Shuzenji on the 21st for Tsukino to participate in the Kids Criterium race, anyone that has kids I highly recommend these races!!!
She was a bit nervous as she didn't really know anyone there but as soon as Haru from Team Beach arrived she cheered up.
She made short work of the race finishing 2nd in a peloton made up of 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders, all of which were boys and finished 2nd overall in the race and taking 1st in her age category.
Day 2 was the JCRC K-Class race and the usual suspects were there minus Yato-kun who had moved up, but she would race Haru again.
She was in 3rd place for the majority of the race until the last corner where one of the boys crashed right in front of her due to his pedal clipping. She was able to avoid hitting him (Bloody impressive bike handling)
But Haru squeezed through and although she was gaining ground on the leaders she ran out of track and finished 5th overall and 2nd in the girls.
Great results for Tsukino!
My S-Class race was at 10:00am and already heat mirages were dancing over the course. Out of the 45 riders that signed up, 5 decided to not race due to the oppressive heat and humidity.
Straight from the gun the pace was fast, this could have something to do with the Peloton having several Domestic and 2 Continental Pro's in its ranks and with no shelter or shade from the sun riders started to full off the back of the Peloton by the 3rd lap.
Lap 5 I was starting to feel the effects of the high pace and slowly but surely on the climbs I was losing ground, only to catch up again at the bottom of the descents this yo-yoed for 2 more laps before I finally lost contact with them.
It's probably the most depressing thing to be dropped by the Peloton and I saw some other riders remove their race numbers ending their race there and then on side of the roads. For me it's over when I'm told by the outriders or I physically can't go on, so gritting my teeth I continued to keep my heart in the 180's and continued to race. Before long I started catching other riders that had been chewed up and spat out the back of the Peloton and it invigorated me to push harder and not let up on the climbs.
All the time I was worried that the leading riders would lap me and thus end my chances of taking the points I so desperately need in the series.
I caught and passed another S-class rider in the Astana team colours and he jumped on my wheel on the back climb, suddenly he launched off the back of me and went for it and before long he was gone. I continued catching and passing other S-class riders only worrying about my pace and keeping at it on the climbs.
Last lap and I was thinking "This is where they will catch me" I put rubber to road and pushed the heart rate higher, reeling in another 2 riders on the climb out of the starting area. Cresting the highest point alone I dropped back down only to spy the Astana guy again, passing him for the second time we battled our own personal race up that long gruelling climb in the heat.
I realised that If I could stop him from passing me I would be able to get a lead on him in the descent (Being heavier has its benefits, especially when gravity is involved) I think he sensed what I had planned and tried to pass, we snaked up that climb with me defending my wheel and I reached the apex of the climb slightly ahead of him and took off down the final descent.
At the bottom I had a 6 meter lead on him and I realised that if I attacked now and put another 5 or 6 meters between us he may just give up on taking me. Putting my last efforts on the climb to the line I took him completely by surprise and opened another 10 meters on him.
Looking under my legs I knew he was done, I crossed the line exhausted not knowing my placement, guessing that I had finished in around 20th. I could hardly stand in the heat and without the flow of air around my body cooling I need to drop my core temp. Fortunately Shuzenji has a trough like drinking water zone and the cold water pouring down my neck and head was bliss.
Finally able to think I sat down in the shade and rehydrated, my only worry being that of finishing within the required time and collecting the 140 points. I was amazed to find out from Kaori that I had not only got my points but that I had finished 8th overall!
With the 156 points for 8th place I'm now the race leader in the JCRC S-class series by 53 points and only 4 more races left!
Complete race report will go up on my blog sometime this week with the photos.
We arrived at the Continental Cycling Centre in Shuzenji on the 21st for Tsukino to participate in the Kids Criterium race, anyone that has kids I highly recommend these races!!!
She was a bit nervous as she didn't really know anyone there but as soon as Haru from Team Beach arrived she cheered up.
She made short work of the race finishing 2nd in a peloton made up of 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders, all of which were boys and finished 2nd overall in the race and taking 1st in her age category.
Day 2 was the JCRC K-Class race and the usual suspects were there minus Yato-kun who had moved up, but she would race Haru again.
She was in 3rd place for the majority of the race until the last corner where one of the boys crashed right in front of her due to his pedal clipping. She was able to avoid hitting him (Bloody impressive bike handling)
But Haru squeezed through and although she was gaining ground on the leaders she ran out of track and finished 5th overall and 2nd in the girls.
Great results for Tsukino!
My S-Class race was at 10:00am and already heat mirages were dancing over the course. Out of the 45 riders that signed up, 5 decided to not race due to the oppressive heat and humidity.
Straight from the gun the pace was fast, this could have something to do with the Peloton having several Domestic and 2 Continental Pro's in its ranks and with no shelter or shade from the sun riders started to full off the back of the Peloton by the 3rd lap.
Lap 5 I was starting to feel the effects of the high pace and slowly but surely on the climbs I was losing ground, only to catch up again at the bottom of the descents this yo-yoed for 2 more laps before I finally lost contact with them.
It's probably the most depressing thing to be dropped by the Peloton and I saw some other riders remove their race numbers ending their race there and then on side of the roads. For me it's over when I'm told by the outriders or I physically can't go on, so gritting my teeth I continued to keep my heart in the 180's and continued to race. Before long I started catching other riders that had been chewed up and spat out the back of the Peloton and it invigorated me to push harder and not let up on the climbs.
All the time I was worried that the leading riders would lap me and thus end my chances of taking the points I so desperately need in the series.
I caught and passed another S-class rider in the Astana team colours and he jumped on my wheel on the back climb, suddenly he launched off the back of me and went for it and before long he was gone. I continued catching and passing other S-class riders only worrying about my pace and keeping at it on the climbs.
Last lap and I was thinking "This is where they will catch me" I put rubber to road and pushed the heart rate higher, reeling in another 2 riders on the climb out of the starting area. Cresting the highest point alone I dropped back down only to spy the Astana guy again, passing him for the second time we battled our own personal race up that long gruelling climb in the heat.
I realised that If I could stop him from passing me I would be able to get a lead on him in the descent (Being heavier has its benefits, especially when gravity is involved) I think he sensed what I had planned and tried to pass, we snaked up that climb with me defending my wheel and I reached the apex of the climb slightly ahead of him and took off down the final descent.
At the bottom I had a 6 meter lead on him and I realised that if I attacked now and put another 5 or 6 meters between us he may just give up on taking me. Putting my last efforts on the climb to the line I took him completely by surprise and opened another 10 meters on him.
Looking under my legs I knew he was done, I crossed the line exhausted not knowing my placement, guessing that I had finished in around 20th. I could hardly stand in the heat and without the flow of air around my body cooling I need to drop my core temp. Fortunately Shuzenji has a trough like drinking water zone and the cold water pouring down my neck and head was bliss.
Finally able to think I sat down in the shade and rehydrated, my only worry being that of finishing within the required time and collecting the 140 points. I was amazed to find out from Kaori that I had not only got my points but that I had finished 8th overall!
With the 156 points for 8th place I'm now the race leader in the JCRC S-class series by 53 points and only 4 more races left!
Complete race report will go up on my blog sometime this week with the photos.