■

RRS#2 at Shuzenji. Due to some laboratory work, I got less than 1 hour of sleep the night before the race. As a result, I felt tired and sick all morning, and had no idea whether I'd be able to race or not. Once the race started, I decided to just race as hard as I could and support Nishizono if possible. To make things interesting, I attacked on the first lap and rode about 1.5 laps solo. It was fun riding off the front. I probably would have been able to go a little bit longer, but I dropped my chain just after starting the 3rd lap and ended up getting back on the bike just as the field passed by. For the next few laps, I rode at the front as much as possible and chased down several small breaks. Around the 7th lap, I started getting tired so I rested for a few more laps by sitting in the field. Sometime after the halfway point, it started to rain, and then started to rain harder. Fortunately the course wasn't too slippery, but I got completely soaked very quickly. A few small breaks got up the road, and one of them included Nishizono, so I just spent the rest of the race riding in the constantly-shrinking field. On the last lap, the pace predictably increased. I was starting to feel pretty tired at this point, but managed to hang on until the final uphill sprint, when my fatigue caught up with me and I rolled in around the back of the main group. After crossing the finish line I found out that Nishizono won! Congratulations! I ended up somewhere around 15th, which isn't too bad considering I didn't even want to start in the first place. I bet I'll sleep well tonight, because right now I'm completely exhausted!

2:52, 97 km