wind training

最近の天気が変ですね。今日は寒くて大雪。昨日は暖かくて晴れ。それからものすごく風が強かったね！

昨日は弥彦に行ってきました。行きは73号線と116号線で弥彦村まで走りました。少し風があって、気温が12℃位で春みたいな気分で楽しんで走りました。

弥彦山には雪があまりなかったのでちょっと登ってみました。弥彦ヒルクライムと同じ道で上がりました。まだ風はあまりなかったです。でも途中の交差点で海岸の方に出ると急に風がとても強くなりました。山登りをやめて、野積の方へ下りました。海岸線で帰るつもりでしたから“どっちからの風かな”と考えながら下りました。向い風でした！残念！

海岸線では風がありますね。冬の風が一番強いですね。でも昨日の風が僕には今まで一番強い風でした。寺泊のセーブオンまでバスの後ろでドラフティングをしました。
前は昨日みたいな風だったらすぐ116号線まで逃げていました。116号は風があっても海沿いじゃないし、道はローリングだし、車が多いし、いつでもスピードが出ます。

昨日はトレーニングのためにそのまま海岸線で帰りました。まずコンビニでガソリンをインプットしました(コーラとスニッカーズ！)。
風が強い時に大きなギアを使うとすぐ疲れますね。フロントをインナーに入れて、90位のケーデンスで帰りました。風はとても強くて、時々転びそうでした！スピードが早い方で25キロ位、遅い方で15キロ位でした！時々後ろにさがりそうでした！
向い風で走ると楽しいことは全然ないけど東京～糸魚川のためにはいいトレーニングかもしれません！-

昨日のお風呂は最高じょんのび！

It’s been really strange weather recently hasn’t it? Today was cold and heavy snow. Yesterday was warm and sunny. And　what about yesterday’s wind!?！

Yesterday, I rode out to Yahiko. On the way out I took the inland routes 73 and 116 to Yahiko village. There was a slight wind and the temperature was about 12C, making it feel like spring, and making for a really enjoyable ride.

There didn’t seem to be too much snow on Yahiko, so I thought I’d give it a little climb and have a look. I rode up the same road as is used for the Yahiko Hill Climb race. There wasn’t much of a wind. However, as I approached the junction with the other skyline road and moved onto the coast side of the mountain, the wind suddenly became really strong. I gave up climbing the mountain and headed down towards Nozomi. I wanted to take the coast road home, so as I was descending I was wondering which direction the wind would be blowing. It was a head wind! Damn!

The coast road always has a wind. The wind in the winter is particularly strong. But yesterday’s wind was the strongest I’ve ever seen. I managed to tuck in behind a bus to the “Save On” in Teradomari.

In the past when the wind was too strong, I’d make a bee-line for R116. R116 has some wind but it’s far enough away from the coast, has a rolling profile and has plenty of cars, which means you can usually keep speed up.

Yesterday for the sake of training I decided to keep with the coast road. First I filled up the tank at the convenience store (a coke and a snickers!).

When the wind is really strong if you stick with a big gear you’ll become tired really quickly. I stuck the front into the small chain ring and tried to keep to a cadence of around 90. The wind was so strong that there were a few instances when I thought I was going to be blown off. The top speed I touched was 25 kmph and the lowest around 15 kmph – I felt like I was in danger of being pushed into reverse!

There’s very little fun to be had in riding into the wind but it was probably good training for Tokyo – Itoigawa!

At the end of it all last night’s hot bath felt fantastic – “saiko jyonnobi!”

Photos:
Snickers – “Suitable for Vegetarians” – じょんのびGASOLINE
Yahiko – clear road
Lance – checking out the wind…..