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Even though I haven't been training recently, I thought I'd try a 50 kilo crit. Since I'm out of shape, I just wanted to go out and have fun. At the start I was feeling all right, so I went to the front a couple times, but around the sixth lap my legs started to feel a little heavy, so I downed an energy gel, sat at the back out of everyone's way, and hoped to make it to the finish. At the end I was going up the last hill pretty slow, but managed to make it the whole way.

It was good to see everybody and get out to a race again, and congratulations to Arita-san for his great performance and win!

I'll be in the USA until the end of December. Although it's extremely cold in my hometown, I hope to get in some good training so I can have better fitness for Saitama. See everyone next year!