time to team time trial

2011年6月18日 11:48 andy | 個別ページ | コメント(0) | トラックバック(0)

Today we had a chance to put our F(t) Racing / じょんのびTIME super team on the road.

I met Kitano san at Matsunami at 5:10. A brief chat and off we go. The first climb behind the power station. Kitano san gets a metre, and another and another. He's flying! I have to dig hard to close the gap. Latch on to his wheel. Look down. 170 HR, 34 kmph. If you do a hard effort here, it sets you up nicely for the run out to Teradomari.

No wind to speak of today. We took long pulls. When we got to Ishiji, I switched the watch to the timer mode. I sat on the back for 45 seconds to a minute before going on to the front. Kitano san followed the same pattern. I thought he'd fallen into this pattern naturally, but later he explained he was counting in his head and watching my movements. How well we understand each other.

On the front I was doing 40, 41 kmph, 165 HR. On the back I could recover to about 150HR. On the front Kitano san was doing 42, 43 kmph, 170 HR plus. Always stronger than me at the start.

We made it To Teradomari 45 mins after leaving Matsunami. Record time. Both of us a bit worried that we'd overcooked before the real training began.

Luckily the F(t) boys arrived in a similar looking state after some hard training of their own. Umiguchi san, Oono san and Honda san, who would sit just off the back keeping an eye on things.

We talked over strategy. Rotation techniques, timing, cornering, starting.

Then we were off. The first time to try the clockwise rotating technique. The front rider drifts to the right after his pull, allowing the 3 riders to drift through. This worked very well and after a few rotations we were putting the foot down. Holding 45, 46 kmph on the coast road.

It became apparent that we shouldn't stick to times to rotate of say 30s. Rather, stronger riders should pull longer. The main thing is to keep the pace as flat as possible and avoid sharp accelerations.

We turned inland at Izumozaki for a loop of the race circuit that Andrew and I sometimes train on. There are a few climbs moving inland from the sea. We took these on at tempo pace.

On a quiet stretch of road we practiced our race start. My idea was to have me as an anchor with one foot on the floor. The three riders would clip in both feet and rest their arms on each others shoulders. The three start like that. I clip in and go hard to get on the back. We tried it a few times. It looks cool but is a bit tricky to pull off smoothly.

In the end we decided to go for a standard start. Fall into the formation. When the last man is on the back, he calls out “OK!”.

We also experimented with our order in the line. We found it works best 1. Umiguchi san, 2. Kitano san, 3. Oono san, 4. Andy. This is also the order we'll try to get into technical corners too. Oono san and I will have to work out our pulls to set up the timing for this.

After the first lap we did one more at full pace. The pace dropped a bit on the second lap but was still very fast.

After 2 laps we were all cooked and regrouped at the Save On to talk over a few more things.

Really looking forward to next week now. Let's home we can give our rivals Chojin Club a run for their money.

I rode back to Kashiwazaki with Kitano san. A high pace all the way. It seemed somewhat effortless after the hard training that had gone on before.

Just one last contest, the hill behind the power station. Kitano san went early and gapped me. I dug in and managed to bridge the gap by the tunnel. I thought he new I was there. I was expecting him to launch a second attack as we left the tunnel. I was planning to try to go with him and override him as he began to tire.

As we left the tunnel, he looked back. Surprised to see me there. Sighs of disappointment. Now's the time to go. Onto the aerobars. Dig deep. 36 kmph! Up hill! Wait! Here comes Kitano san from behind! Neck to neck. He doesn't quite have it. Drops back in line. The two of us on fire.

As we parted ways in Matsunami the rain started. Perfect timing.