FarEast
Maximum Pace
- May 25, 2009
- 5,528
- 538
Tour De Kumano; JBCF E2. Stage 2
Another early start and time for a massage to get the blood in to the muscles, I wasn't too happy about the prospect of a Japanese style breakfast either. But upon sitting down and being presented with the usual cold salted salmon etc, I was surprised at how appealing it looked and then how delicious it tasted.
It's amazing how the mind will override things in order to get exactly what it needs to replenish and repair itself and it was nice not to have to force feed myself today.
Warming up over looking the terrain would be racing over.
We were still in a jovial mood and taking great delight in putting pressure to perform on our junior rider and he was jokingly told that he would be fired if he didn't put in a performance today – things got even better for me when I also found out that I had leaped in the national ranking and series ranking to the top 20 in the Elite Tour.
That morning during warming up we tweaked my gears to get them shifting smoothly, however we soon realized the effort was futile as the chain had actually twisted and with the Pro team mechanic at hand the bike was soon up on the maintenance stand having the chain replaced and a closer inspection to make sure it was in perfect working order.
The mechanic switched out the old Dura Ace chain for a KMC 10SL, lighter than the original and in gold!
NICE!
Pro Conti BLING!
Today was the day of my favorite stage of the Tour de Kumano, yes I know coming from a non-climber that's a very strange thing to say but the course is perfection, with the neutral zone being a procession through the town and then out through all the little villages, hamlets and farms all lined with locals both young and old waving flags and cheering us on.
Then as we loop back around towards Senmaida Toge the roads move in to deep forest as the gradient slowly increases and then one swift left turn and you are looking up at Senmaida Toge.
We were told by the race organizers that they had abandoned the 5 minute time out rule, but they would now start each group 30 seconds apart. Again a few of us made eye contact, the unspoken acknowledgement that we would work together to bridge to the E1 riders and get as many people between us and the stragglers that would try to suck wheel all the way to the line.
Another early start and time for a massage to get the blood in to the muscles, I wasn't too happy about the prospect of a Japanese style breakfast either. But upon sitting down and being presented with the usual cold salted salmon etc, I was surprised at how appealing it looked and then how delicious it tasted.
It's amazing how the mind will override things in order to get exactly what it needs to replenish and repair itself and it was nice not to have to force feed myself today.
Warming up over looking the terrain would be racing over.
We were still in a jovial mood and taking great delight in putting pressure to perform on our junior rider and he was jokingly told that he would be fired if he didn't put in a performance today – things got even better for me when I also found out that I had leaped in the national ranking and series ranking to the top 20 in the Elite Tour.
That morning during warming up we tweaked my gears to get them shifting smoothly, however we soon realized the effort was futile as the chain had actually twisted and with the Pro team mechanic at hand the bike was soon up on the maintenance stand having the chain replaced and a closer inspection to make sure it was in perfect working order.
The mechanic switched out the old Dura Ace chain for a KMC 10SL, lighter than the original and in gold!
NICE!
Pro Conti BLING!
Today was the day of my favorite stage of the Tour de Kumano, yes I know coming from a non-climber that's a very strange thing to say but the course is perfection, with the neutral zone being a procession through the town and then out through all the little villages, hamlets and farms all lined with locals both young and old waving flags and cheering us on.
Then as we loop back around towards Senmaida Toge the roads move in to deep forest as the gradient slowly increases and then one swift left turn and you are looking up at Senmaida Toge.
We were told by the race organizers that they had abandoned the 5 minute time out rule, but they would now start each group 30 seconds apart. Again a few of us made eye contact, the unspoken acknowledgement that we would work together to bridge to the E1 riders and get as many people between us and the stragglers that would try to suck wheel all the way to the line.