training partners

Up at 4:45. Some cereal, orange juice. On the road by 5:00. Meet Kitano san at the Handa 7-11 at 5:10. Always willing to get up early to train. Great training partner!

“How about the mountains?”
“How about Ogami Dake?”

We rode out to Komura Pass two abreast. Talking over last week's race. What went well. What we could try next time.

Komura Pass. I've climbed it 5 times this week. 5 different ways but all at tempo pace. No tempo pace today! Kitano san's on the front. Big ring. I found it difficult to get my heart rate up in the week. Not today. 150, 155, 160, 165, 175, 180 by the first hairpin. He's flying! I'd never be going this hard on my own. The gradient eases off a bit. Breathe deep. Keep close. HR down to 165. The gradient picks up again. 180. Holding on. Thank god it doesn't get any steeper. The gradient eases off again. My favorite part. I can't sit on all the way to the summit. My turn on the front. 185 HR. When was the last time I went this hard? Kusatsu?

The ideal training partner is someone who can push you but you can push them too. Great training partner!

Over the top. Roll up the arm warmers. Next up Ogami Dake.

Ogami Dake. We ride shoulder to shoulder for the first three spikes. Like two young boys playing with the volume control on the car stereo, we try to get the pace how we want it. I'm at 170 HR for each climb. That's the benefit of raising your heart rate once, you are always ready to go again.

Onto the last steep drag. I find my rhythm today. With the aerobars off, I can get the cadence up to about 70. If this was a race, I'd use compact cranks but this is training, and good training at that. It's raining on the way up and feels great. My turn to dish it out.

Rather than take the dirty road down to Sakurazaka Pass, we opt for the long descent to Yoshikawa town. What a great road this is. Long enough and hard enough to be a hillclimb race. We're descending it today though. It'll have to wait till next time.

The road to Kawatani is really pretty with lots of old beautiful farm houses. Old wooden school buildings with no children to fill them. After the abandoned onsen, the gradient picks up. A tricky concrete section and then some really steep sections. The first time for Kitano san to ride this road. He seemed to like it!

Asahi no sato and up to Ishiguro. The road is really rough through here. But the steepest sections have been resurfaced. It's a strange feeling to speed up as the gradient increases. It just goes to show the importance of road / bike contact.

At the top of the climb, as we often do when we bridge together, we compared heart rates:

Andy “177”
Kitano san “180”

Similar in fitness. Kitano san is a few years younger than me. Often a few beats apart.

Isonobe. Check the clock. 3h 20 mins. Like the decisive climb in a Tour stage! The pros drop the hammer here. I was happy to hold 170~175 HR to the top.

Takayanagi to Kahiwazaki. 40 kmph. In the drops. Like TOITO all over again.....

This is the type of training that makes you stronger. The heavy snow fall this year has held us back longer than usual but now we are raring to go. The engine is good. A bit of fine tuning and I should be good to go at Tsugaike...

北野さん、すばらしいトレーニングパートナー、またおねがいします！

Saturday's asaren: Komura Pass ~ Ogami Dake ~ Yoshikawa ~ R241 ~ Kawatani ~ Asahi no sato ~ Ishiguro ~ Takayanagi ~ Isonobe

(123 km, 2100 m climbing)