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Tour De Nishiawa

Sikochi

Maximum Pace
Sep 13, 2010
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Sunday did the Tour de Nishiawa. The ride starts in Miyoshi, Tokushima and you have a choice of 3 routes. The A course just loops round the Yoshino river and is 52km pancake flat. The B course, 75km, heads up into the mountains, then after the descent, follows the A course. Finally, the C course, 110km, which is the same as the B course apart from heading back up into the mountains the other side of the river. Signed up for the C course and rolled back with a total of 107.5 km (lost the sensor slightly on a descent), 2130 m climbing and a moving time of 4hrs 28mins (another 50 mins spent at checkpoints/lunchstop), avg 24 km/h. Most fun I`ve had on a bike in ages - all that training made a hard day thoroughly enjoyable.

For anyone who lives down this way, can`t recommend it enough. Organisation was way above any of the other handful of events I`ve entered since I`ve been in Japan. They stuck to the schedule, had 4 checkpoints with ample food (help yourself) and water (though the last one didn`t have any water – my only criticism – but it was more of a cut-off point than a checkpoint). There were marshals to shepherd you across any main road interactions (or was it to stop cyclists from jumping lights and giving the ride a bad reputation???), more marshals at any point where there was a risk of a wrong turning, and even more marshals on hairpins warning you to slow down...that was a bit overkill though, esp. for someone who likes to brake hard/late. Some of the locals even turned out to cheer you on just after the start, and they even put 2 sets of cheerleaders on the final ascent of the day (for those on C course) – a series of mid-teen ramps with the last one maxing out at 20% (1K 150m – they saved the best for last!). Passed one poor guy who was valiantly doing his utmost not to resort to walking (almost horizontal zig-zagging) – not wanting to sound condescending, as been there, done that! And had the ride been 3 months ago, would probably have been in his shoes...
 
Sounds like a nice event. I was wondering if they give you your time splits and overall placing. I think it is always a bit of incentive to do this at these kind of sportive events. Of course they are not an all out race, but it's nice to compare times with your friends and your previous efforts.

Anyway, hope you find more good events like this.

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
they even put 2 sets of cheerleaders on the final ascent of the day (for those on C course) – a series of mid-teen ramps


I though something else for a moment their:eek:
 
For the event, they didn`t give us any splits or times, just a Certificate of completion. I know for the local long ride here in Kochi, they say they can`t give splits or a list of finish times (though you can have an individual completion time) as then the police will deem it to be a race, rather than a ride, and they will stop it. Whether the same applies in Tokushima, I don`t know. Maybe, they think that giving times will encourage cyclists to jump lights, and indulge in other such unbecoming behaviour :angel:

Obviously, you could `unofficially` race...I only raced the mountain sections. A few people came past me at the start of the first set of climbs, but I pulled them back once their anaerobic enthusiasm came back to haunt them. A group of 4 caught me up at the end of the 200m climb that started the second mountain section, but I caught them up by the next checkpoint (though if they weren`t trying to stay together, no doubt some of them could have distanced me.) Otherwise, caught and passed everyone I saw (says he blowing his own trumpet - I wish...) I did have a couple who wanted to race me. The funniest...there were two ramps on the first mountain section. I went past one guy on the first ramp (the guy was quite hefty, but not fat) then it levelled off before the second ramp, and behind me I could hear a click of a gear, so knew he had gone up a gear and was going to go past me. I knew I was on my limit, so let him go as he came past me, but at the end of that section, he had nothing left to raise his pace, and I just sailed away...

The main cycling club in Kochi were there, and I was wanting to ride with them for the second half, but they stopped so long, I gave up waiting.

And I forgot to add, apparently, they swept some of the mountain roads before the event, and the goody bag included a Camelback podium chill insulated bottle!
 
they even put 2 sets of cheerleaders on the final ascent of the day (for those on C course) – a series of mid-teen ramps

I though something else for a moment their:eek:

For sure, it was hard enough. Didn`t need any added stimulation ;)
 
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