UTokyo bicycle racing team

Been a while since I've ridden with the team. 0730 Koremasabashi and then up the Tama towards Itsukaichi and Tomin-no-mori.

After leaving Itsukaichi the pace gradually increased as the road turned upwards. Just as things were starting to get tough I dropped my bottle. Great. Stop, turn around, pick it up, and then I dug deep to try and catch back up. Surprisingly I managed to get back, although just in time to say goodbye to Higashi-san.

Unfortunately my success was short-lived, as we started the climb to Tomin-no-mori soon after that. I was already in the red catching back on, so when Takaki-san, Nishizono-san, and Naito-san upped the pace I said "see ya" and started my solo climb. 39x25, head down, and grind.

Felt terrible on the climb, better on the descent, but terrible on the ride back. I had planned to climb up to the Kubo Tunnel, drop down into Uenohara, and then go home that way, but the road looked closed. Since I had dropped off the main group with this plan in mind, I spent the rest of the ride back to Itsukaichi chasing (again). Just as I reached the group Higashi-san attacked and it was back into the red for me. Eventually we formed a group of four and were riding along pretty fast when Nishizono-san laid down a hard attack. No response from anyone so it looked like I'd have to dig deep again. I managed to cross over but that was it for me. A little refresher at the conbini and then an easy spin by myself back to Takao.

4:35, 133 km