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Today - August 2011

Secret Training Fail

I've hardly been riding at all recently, having all but given up my regular commuting regimen for the comfort of an air-conditioned train - It has simply been too damned hot to ride.

Now, with my arm almost fully recovered, I figured it was time to start losing some weight & building up some strength for the upcoming Toyo Turnpike race.

With that in mind, I set out this morning at 7:00 with the intention of climbing Shiraishi-Toge, "from the steep side" - See Map! It's about 7km with an average of 10%, so it's quite a challenge.

I had made it all the way to the base of the climb, near Myokaku (明覚)station, 75km away, but I could already feel the beginnings of heat-stroke setting in. The sports-drink was sitting heavy in my stomach, not being absorbed - I felt like throwing up. I decided that climbing in that condition would be a foolhardy exercise, so I did an about-face, and came straight back home.

As a reconnaissance ride, it was a great success (>Yamabushi: Great alternative route out to the north end of the Green-Line). And as a training ride, the headwind I had on the way back down the river gave me a very reasonable workout.

On the way back though, I had to stop several times at convenience-stores, every 20-30km, where I would buy a 2-liter bottle of water; A third, I would pour over myself to simply cool down, I would drink a third right there, and the last third would fill my bottle. Plain water worked best, while the sports-drinks failed.

So much for not riding because it has been too hot; I picked one of the hottest days of the year for my back-in-the-saddle venture. *Forehead slap* Dumb-arse!

All up though, a hard-fought 148km.

*Map link fixed - Sorry if you couldn't see it earlier.
 
Cross bike

dusted off the cross bike ( okay I rebuilt it from frame up:eek:)
and enjoyed a gaijin breakfast ( ardbeg scotch-ristretto ) before
and enjoyed screaming the glue off my freshly stuck tubies to scare off the bears
about 2 hours worth
 
I have a feeling this Sat's ride will prove to be a scorcher. I've started hydrating now in advance. It's really important to simply follow a ride-drink schedule and stick to it. Same thing happens to me - the sports drinks just sit in my gut and don't absorb once I start to get a littl dehydrated. At the point - I can only drink either pure water or slightly salty water. The thought of anything sweet makes me want to puke.

Great route! Cause I'm looking for kinder, gentler way to get to Shiraishi!

I've hardly been riding at all recently, having all but given up my regular commuting regimen for the comfort of an air-conditioned train - It has simply been too damned hot to ride.
 
Yellow Giant, I know how it feels! But my experience is that it actually gets better on the climb. Sure, climbing itself is tough, but in many cases (like Shiraishi) you get quickly into the cooler forest, possibly close to running water (not quite Shiraishi) and the increasing altitude also helps. Once you are up at a certain altitude, you don't feel like descending any more... These days, being well above 1,000m and not in a heat sink like the Kofu, Matsumoto, Chichibu areas or other broader valleys helps a lot.

Just back from a hot 1.5 day ride through Nagano with Tom. More on his blog.
 
(p.s. Thanks to Far East for letting me 'experiment' with his PowerTap - wow, this is very cool - and laced up to my lightest 50mm 3D rim makes a very nice 'do all' wheel - not sure I want to give it back)

If you`re interested, Cycleops are re-vamping their powertap line and will switch to just two models. The cheaper model - an updated Pro+ - will retail for $799 (US) and should start shipping in 3 weeks. There are some bargains on the current models starting to filter through, but not enough yet to tempt me...

Well done on the wight loss btw.
 
Yellow Giant, I know how it feels! But my experience is that it actually gets better on the climb. Sure, climbing itself is tough, but in many cases (like Shiraishi) you get quickly into the cooler forest, possibly close to running water (not quite Shiraishi) and the increasing altitude also helps. Once you are up at a certain altitude, you don't feel like descending any more... These days, being well above 1,000m and not in a heat sink like the Kofu, Matsumoto, Chichibu areas or other broader valleys helps a lot.

This was my thinking yesterday, start off slowly up the hill and eventually it will cool down to get going properly, but just got slower as still reading 30C at the top (700m). Nearly got caught out by one car, as hugging the wrong side of the road for the shade. The only cool places yesterday were the tunnels. What I`ve found helps, is to wear a cap under my helmet: I wet it before I set off and find it also helps keep the sun off my head. If it drys out, unlikely with sweat, just soak using a stream.

Bought 5 drinks and would have been 6 if I hadn`t foolishly spent my money on food instead. But another 1650m of climbing to add to the total.
 
79.11 km before 9:30AM.

Tried to beat the heat by startin out early.
 
A little over 60km on the moutain bike and back home by 8:30 AM.
 
Saturday- 122km and bugger all alt gain
Sunday - 130 and 1260m alt gain
Monday - 151km and 2500m alt gain

Tuesday - Thursday adventuring up and around in Yamanashi ken from Ashikawa.
 
It's a bit miserable but I'm spending my summer evenings on the balcony (moved outside due to noise) on the trainer rather than getting any normal rides in.

There may be only a 2 or so degree of difference from usual, but it's still a bit too hot. The heart rate seems noticeably higher than usual as my body tries to cope. Couldn't imagine cycling in the daytime.
 
Tuesday - Thursday adventuring up and around in Yamanashi ken from Ashikawa.

Assume you are not spending more than a minute in the Kofu plain which is even less bearable than Tokyo or Yokohama. Let me know if you want to have some advice on the rindos in the Minami-Alps area, or those north of Kofu.
 
A few laps of intermediate recovery intervals around the Pimple. Seems like quite a few people are doing early morning constitutionals there.
 
Lovely and quiet on the roads this morning. Couple of racing boys tried it on with me but I seem to have left them dazed and confused with my possibly-not-quite-illegal junction feint technique.
 
Edogawa, 105.56 km.

Hope to circle the Emperor on Thursday, plan to take the 1st train to Tokyo.
 
Good to be back in the Pan after a brief stint in the homeland. Finally tried a mountain bike out back home, the rear shocks gave me something akin to sea sickness but was able to make it through the ride...
New appreciation for my rock hard san marco saddle, and continued love for Japanese rindos:love:
 
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