Iiyama race weekend
Day 1 (hill climb): 2nd, class 1+2
I was actually surprised with my result, because I didn't think I had spent enough time on my climbing. The first time up I didn't know what to expect because I didn't pre-ride the course. So for the first part, I just followed wheels for a little bit, then moved to the front and put in a couple of efforts to try and break things up a bit. After the front group got down to about 8 people or so, Nishizono-san made his attack and soloed in for the victory, while I rolled in behind at around 5th. The second climb was pretty similar to the first. The last climb, though, I almost didn't make it with the front group. My legs were pretty tired most of the way up, and I was actually a few seconds back, but I dug hard and pulled up to the front group just within the last kilometer. Myself, and riders from Chuo and Osaka U. had ridden similar times on the first two climbs, so we headed into the last 500 meters riding side-by-side, waiting to see who would jump first. The Chuo guy came in first, but I was close enough behind him to keep my second place behind Nizhizono-san.
Day 2 (criterium): DNF, class 1+2
I must have pushed myself harder than I thought on Saturday, because my legs were completely drained when I woke up on Sunday. Riding to the race course, I could already feel that my legs were tired, and from the start of the race I started heading directly towards the back. I hung around there for most of the 45-odd minutes I lasted before dropping out. Naturally, I'm disappointed that I couldn't make it to the finish, but I put in a good race on Saturday, and it was a good chance to do back-to-back races. I just need to work on my recovery and keep racing hard. Higashi-san was awesome in the crit!
Congratulations to Nishizono-san for taking the lead in the race series! Let's try to keep that jersey next month in Shuzenji!
I uploaded some photos from this weekend in my web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mwhenry05
As for training, today I just did a slow and easy recovery ride down the Asakawa.
0:38, 16 km
