isonobe TT

The week before a bike race you'll often here cyclists talk about “tapering”. Reducing their cycling so they will be firing on all cylinders on race day.

However there are two ways to do this:

Do you reduce the intensity? Do rides on the flat at tempo pace? “Cycling” is what many people call this kind of riding in Japan.

Or do you reduce the volume? Do short rides with with bursts of medium to high intensity work?

For a race like Tokyo ~ Itoigawa, you need to be completely fresh and rested to slog it out for 8 hours plus. The week before I did some light riding or “cycling” and a couple of days of complete rest.

For Tsugaike however, it's 1 hour of pain. Of course you want to be fresh but you also want to respond quickly. Your body needs to be ready to go hard from the off. This week I want to do a couple of hard efforts of short duration. Keep the engine revving.

I also want a few early nights (not enough sleep these days!) and later in the week some light riding followed by one or two days of rest before the event.

Yesterday I rode to work, nice and easy.

Today I did a TT on Isonobe. A hard effort if ever there was one! Starting at the bridge, I went hard all the way to the top. Heart rate above 170 and above 175 for the upper reaches. Using the gears to keep a cadence in the low 80s. Gearing mostly 34 × 24, with the 27 coming in useful for the really steep parts. 25 degrees today and it was particularly tough for the last kilometre or so.

Some people do TTs all the time. I don't do too many as they hurt so much. A feeling of great satisfaction when they are finished though.

Time: 17:36. The reward? A big can of coke and a jumbo ice cream at Hashimotoya in Takayanagai....

Today's training: Isonobe x 1 (TT) (64 km, 500 m climbing)