uchinada cycle road race 2015

Uchinada Team Time Trial and Road Race on Sunday.

This is one of my favorite races. A great location for a family weekend away. We stay 2 nights in a hotel right above Kanazawa station.

Race format

All races use a square 10 kilometre circuit. Pancake flat. 4 tight right angle bends.

From the start, a long wide exposed home straight. Corner no.1. A short straight. Corner no.2. The long back straight, less exposed, 2 chicanes along its length. Corner no.3. The return straight. Corner no. 4. 200m to the start/finish line.

• The TTT is 2 laps (20 km)

• The Champions Road Race is 5 laps (50 km)

Weather

Heavy rain on and off. The wind is mostly a side wind. Strong from the left on the home straight. A strong headwind on the short straight. From the right but more sheltered on the back straight. A powerful tailwind on the return straight.

Not much fun for the kids in this weather, I ride to the start...

Team Time Trial

Back ground

My 4th time to enter this.

4 rider teams. The time of the 3rd rider over the line decides it. Usually the top places are taken by serious TTT teams.

65 teams start. Our start is 3rd to last.

Me: Personally I feel I have the best form I've ever had for this race. Under the guidance of my coach the recent training (FTP intervals x 20 mins) are perfect for this event. We also tweaked the annual training plan. After a rest week, I'm fresh and ready to go.

The kit: Thanks to GS Astuto, I also have an aerobike Aero front end. Hidden brakes. Rear wheel tucked in behind the seat tube. Disc cover. Aerobars. Skinsuit. Aero helmet. Shoe covers. No excuses for not being able to compete with the top teams in full TT kit!

The team: As a team we all have good form. Training together has given us confidence we can pull something off. 45 kmph av should put us there or thereabouts.

The tactics: We talk about how to rotate on the different straights. Apart from that, we know the drill!

Race time

Line up for our 8:04 start. The heavy rain. The sidewinds. The first time to be cold on the start line in a while!

3,2,1 Go!

Lap 1.

Hayakwa san < Adachi san < Andy < Morikawa san

A slight echelon formation. Pulling off to the left. Coming round on the right. We have good speed.

A few teams are freewheeling down here after finishing their races. Screams and shouts get us through safely. You can't account for this in training.

Corner no.1. The short straight. Boom! The headwind! The speed drops dramatically. I put in a big pull to get us through this.

Corner no.2. Safely through. The back straight. Put the speed on here. It's the two long straights were time is lost or made. We are rotating well on the straights.

Through the chicanes. Not as smooth as we could be. To be able to train on this course would be a big advantage.

Corner no.3. The return straight. This is 50 kmph plus all the way. Take advantage of the wind. Corner no. 4. The ringing bell!

Lap 2.

Still together. As riders fade, their pulls become shorter. A smooth constant effort is what it is all about.

We are slowed down by another team through corner no.1. It takes a while to get reorganised. We lose Morikawa san here. Next year he'll make it to the finish!

Corner no.2. On the back straight, we are losing a bit of our rhythm. Not enough warm up? Too hard on the first lap? Adachi san and I do big pulls to keep things moving.

Corner no 3. Almost home. Rack it up over 50 kmph down the return straight. Corner no.4. 200 m to go.

Keep it tight. 3 over the line.

Goal!

Not the perfect ride. But much more organised than other teams on the road.

Will it be good enough? Wait for the results to go up...

2nd on the day! 40 plus seconds down on the winners (a team of track specialists). Got to be happy with that.

Interval

Between the 2 races is the awards ceremony.

Then time to get the bikes ready. I say bikes, but there is only one. Unscrew the aerobars. Screw on the bottle cage. Take off the disc cover. From TT machine to RR machine!

On a course like this, this bike will be advantageous.

In training I was producing 40 kmph in the drops for 20 mins (compared to 41.5 with the aero bars on). Not much slower than the TT machine.

It will be particularly advantageous if I want to be off the front Jens style...

The road race

Background

Me: This pretty much always ends in a sprint. Sprinting is my weakness as a cyclist. If I'm there at the end, I won't win it!

140 starters. The speed of the group makes for a thrilling ride. More so when you try to attack it...

Team tactics: We have an ace road racer in Adachi san and an ace sprinter in Morikawa san. These are our 2 cards to play.

My role is to "nigeru". To escape.

In pro racing, if a team mate escapes, you don't have to work in the group, so your team mates can rest.

At this level, if someone escapes, it helps to keep the group together. Steady and organised. Working for the collective cause. Nobody wants to attack a group when there are riders up the road.

Predictably it is when the catch is made (or almost made) that the fireworks go off.

My plan

I decide:

• to follow any moves and join potential breakaways.

If a breakaway doesn't happen:

• to attack the group on the 1st corner of the 4th lap (20 mins to home)
  

Lots of teams are well represented. So other teams are thinking tactically too.

At the start

Wind again. Rain threatening...

Just want to get going.

3,2,1 Go!

Fast and furious down the home straight. The nervousness. Elbows. Close calls.

Like every year, I try to be near the front for the 1st corner. It is a big effort top get down the left hand side in this wind.

First through. Boom! That headwind again! I sit on the front for the short straight. I must be nuts.

Through the 2nd corner. 2 guys attack. Up the road they go. Any response?

5 more go. I jump on the back. Gestures are made. Rotations start.

One Balba guy has a team mate up the road. Soft pedalling. No time for this.

I attack them. Drop them easily.

The 2 guys up front have a big gap. I can see them gesturing each other through. Hardly a well oiled unit. I have a chance.

I look back. The group is dissappearing in the distance. Closing the gap to the 2 up front is more difficult.

Stuck in no man's land.

Keep an eye on the power. 300 to 320 W should pull them back.

As close to the bank as possible. As low on the bike as possible.

Another Balba guy joins from behind. He doesn't want to work. Stupid really. If we can bridge to his mate, the 4 of us will have a chance.

The catch is being made. But it's painfully slow. Like Luke waiting to blow up the Deathstar.

Lap 2

On the home straight. I have the 2 leaders in my sights. A little shift in pace drops the Balba guy.

I get up to the others. "Sorry to keep you waiting!".

We get into a rotation. The others are looking back a little too much for my liking. "The road ahead, that's all there is!"

They don't fancy it. They sit up before Corner no.1. The group is almost here. I keep going though. Just need to get through corners no 1 and 2 safely.

On the back straight I fall back in the group. On the back. Free wheeling on the straights. But coming out of the corners is hard. Interval training at its finest.

Lap 3

Sat on the back. Hayakawa san is controlling things on the front.

I could try to work my way up and help him.

But I stick with my plan to go on the 4th. Neck the gel. Get ready.

Lap 4

The home straight is a wide road. Everyone wants to be on the right side. Sheltered from the wind. Moving up the left side is impossible at this speed.

There is a kink in the road about 800 m before the 1st corner. The wind changes direction a little here. That will be my chance.

Still at the back. 100 riders or so to pass.

3,2,1 here we go again!

"Migi, migi migi!" I realised later that I was shouting right instead of left! No wonder one guy nearly sent me flying into a muddy ditch. Glastonbury weekend!

1st through corner no.1. Talk about deja vous. Corner No.2. Look back. About 5 on my wheel. The break is on!

Through the 1st chicane. The 2nd chicane. I'm surprised to open a little gap. Head down keep going.

Corner no.3. Look back. The stamping horses are merely ants. If only this was the 5th lap!

Down the return straight. TT mode. Corner no.4. Still a good gap. The ringing bell.

Lap 5

This is when Seb Coe used to take off. I just need to keep this effort.

I have no illusions about soloing it to the finish. The pack is moving at 42 kmph av. This is my 3rd big effort today. Just need to keep away as long as possible...

About half way down a guy comes flying past. I can just about make out "Kanazawa" written across his arse.

Too fast to jump on. But it's 50:50 that he'll crack. He has a gap. But it's not huge. The road ahead. The road ahead.

A guy in blue is bridging from behind. I'll jump on this one. Here he is! Oh there are 2. Team mate Hayakawa san!

Seeing him up here is like having redbull injected into my eyeballs. Quick into rotation. That elbow flick that I love so much.

5,6,7 rotations. Suddenly the group are on us like a swarm of bees. A thumbs up, "Otsukare san" "Good job" from team mate Adachi san.

He's well positioned. Team mate Morikawa san tucked in behind.

My jobs done then. On the back again. Up front I can see the 3 of them up there. Looking good.

On the back straight Morikawa san's arm goes up. 3km from the finish. A puncture. His race snatched from him.

He's smiling though. "Do you want my wheel?" I joke.

From the back I watch as riders go through the last corner. Position is everything here.

Adachi san gets home in 8th. A good result.

I roll in at the back of the group. Really heavy rain now. Chat to a few guys as we roll on. Everyone has a story to tell.

Really happy with my ride. I rode aggressively for the team. I feel stronger than ever on the bike this year.

But more importantly I'm really enjoying every ride...

Our main target was the TTT and we bagged a result this time.

Next up is JCRC 70 km S class at Gunma CSC in July. Bring it on!