more than I bargained for

2011年6月 4日 11:35 andy | 個別ページ | コメント(0) | トラックバック(0)

Today’s asaren was more than I had been expecting. With the benefit of hindsight, yesterday I would have trained easier, drank less, eaten more, gone to bed earlier and prepared myself mentally!

The basic plan was to ride out to Mt. Yahiko, climb it from the easy side, descend the steep side, meet Tazaki san and ride up together.

On the road at 5:00. Nice and warm. Headwind. Shouldn’t have bothered with arm warmers and an undershirt. Feels great to be on the road in these conditions.

First climb of Yahiko. Tempo pace. Keep it aerobic. Raise the HR a couple of times on the steep sections.

Descend the steep side. Down to the gate meet up with Tazaki san and co. Early in the season we take it easy from the bottom, chit chat, catch up, until someone drops the hammer and it’s race mode. Not today!

We’ll set off in intervals. The chasers and the chased!

First off is Ono san. Pacemeaker, going hard from the bottom, the carrot to be chased.

I join Numa san and Watanabe san (two pure climbers) soon after.

10 seconds later, Honda san will start.

35 more seconds and Tazaki san will be last off.

And we’re off. Watanabe san is out of the saddle in his usual style. Numa san is latched onto his wheel. I decide to try to bridge across to Ono san right away. I almost make it but he has about 10 metres on me for what seems like an eternity. Numa san has my wheel.

I slow down a little to encourage Numa san to come round. He comes round and keeps going. He’s a really strong climber. He bridges the gap to Ono san alone. I look back, Watanabe san is about 30 metres back.

Numa san and Ono san together pick up some momentum. I’m sitting pretty at 170HR. If I want to get across, I’ll have to go harder. Into the hairpins and I’m up to about 180HR. Catch up with Ono san and exchange a few words.

Tazaki san comes round on a tight corner. He’s made up 45 seconds and is flying. Moments later, Watanabe san. He’s found the energy from somewhere!

I ride with Ono san for a while until he fades. Before me Numa san breaches the climb in 19 m 20 s. Behind me, Ono san in 19 m 40s, so I guess about 19m 30 s for me. Not a bad time at all!

At the top we chat and catch up and then go our separate ways. I descended down to the gate on the easy side for a third climb with Ono san and Tazaki san. Tazaki san’s plan = a TT. Ono san’s plan = some SFR big gear work. My plan = to hold Tazaki san’s wheel for as long as possible!

I didn’t hold it for long! However, having him up the road and in view was motivation to do a decent ascent.

On the way home, the expected tail wind had turned into another head wind. Turned the computer off and got my head down.

Great training today, thanks F(t) Racing!