Strava Gran Fondo 3

After getting some disappointing news regarding a PhD application (a project that I REALLY wanted!) yesterday morning, I thought I'd ease the annoyance by spending the day riding 100 miles. As you do.

I chose a nice route, with a bunch of climbing in the first half (and a couple of nice descents to go with them), an easier, flatter second half, and some lovely scenery. Added to the weather forecast - a little chilly and overcast, but nothing extreme - it promised a cracking day on the bike.

The first half was magnificent. I felt great, the sun actually made itself known and I got to take in some wonderful mountain scenery.

The second half began with a solid bonk - I just flat ran out of energy. I stopped and ate a proper meal (a light rice pilaf) and had a Coke, which sorted that out. Heading down the final long descent - around the 90-100 km mark - I felt an uncomfortable rumbling from my stomach. Had I not found the very well-placed 7Eleven, I think I would have had a messy final 60 km. Ugh. No idea what caused this - I can only assume I ate something bad the day before, maybe? When I finally got to the final flat 60 km,  the weather changed on a dime and I got snow, hail, rain, cloud, sun and... wind. Oh god, the wind. No matter which direction I was headed in, I was always against it (funny how that happens...) and it was STRONG. Strong enough that at one point I just gave up and took a 15-minute nap. By the time I got home, I really had nothing left to give.

That said... it took my mind off other things!

Strava Gran Fondo 2

130 kilometres. Mud. Ice. Snow. Headwinds. Dead-ends. Roads that are apparently "highways" but are in fact single-lane forest roads featuring most of the aforementioned things. Steep climbs. Ripping descents. And the company of a great friend. It was even warm enough to wear shorts and a short-sleeve jersey (with a wind jacket for brisk descents).

Doesn't get much better than that!




The one slight downer was the terrible PM2.5 pollution China have so kindly sent our way. I feel like someone sandpapered my lungs. Thank you, China!

Strava Gran Fondo 1

Needed to complete this one, so I set off this morning. In the rain. Which did not stop.

"Optimise for suffering"... I think I managed that!



'Epic' is a word that gets thrown around too much, but I think this ride was getting there. I had a bit of a crisis point at about the 50 km mark where I literally couldn't feel my fingers, to the point where I couldn't brake or shift properly. I had to duck into a convenience store and buy some nylon liner gloves, which I wore under my other gloves - that did the trick and I was fine from then on.

So, it rained for a solid 130 km. It was cold and at times windy. Everything - clothes, bike, face... is both soaked through and absolutely filthy, plastered with road grime and oil. Rules 5 and 9 were firmly in effect today...

Rule #5: Harden The F*** Up

Rule #9: If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period. 

Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather - be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot - are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.

Rain makes for some beautiful views, though!

Warmth break 1: endless hot tea and organic chocolate cheesecake in my favourite cake shop

Warmth break 2: Hot cocoa with cream and sprinkles. Sprinkles are totally acceptable in this situation.

A series of unfortunate events

After sleeping an absolute ton yesterday, I actually woke up feeling pretty good early this morning. My desire to go and ride somewhere - anywhere - got the better of me and I set out on a nice flat route to see how I really felt. You know... maybe I can complete Festive 500 after all!

Winter treats: hot canned cappuccino and corn soup

I think the 'story' of this ride is best told by detailing what I was thinking at each stage. So, with approximate distances, here is the series of thoughts and realisations that led me through this morning's fun-fest:

• 0 km - "Man, it's cold out here!"
• 5 km - "I feel pretty good! This should be a fun ride."
• 10 km - "Fat, knobby cyclocross tyres were probably a bad idea."
• 20 km - "I'm already attempting to sing along, out loud, to 80s power ballads. I do not care."
• 30 km - "These new winter bibs are giving me a wicked chamois wedgie."
• 40 km - "My legs are far more tired than is reasonable for this distance..."
• 45 km - "Canned sweetcorn soup is the worst thing. Also, I don't feel that great."
• 50 km - "Is it possible to simultaneously vomit and crap oneself while riding a bike? Because I feel like that's a distinct possibility."
• 60 km - "It is beginning to rain. I don't really care."
• 70 km - "Emergency time: I need to scarf down an energy gel to get me home."
• 71 km - "There is remarkably little difference between gels flavoured 'Tropical Fruit' and 'Dog Shit'."
• 80 km - "10 km on, I can still taste that gel..."
• 85 km - "That ride was the worst idea. How did I survive?"

LESSON LEARNED: Don't ride when you have a cold.

...

Well apparently my Festive 500 plans have been changed to "Wake up with stuffy nose and scratchy throat; cancel all riding". Guess I won't be getting that second badge, in all likelihood.

Festive 500 approaches...

Been a really busy couple of months (and still is) with a whole host of stresses, but Christmas is nearly here and that means... Rapha Festive 500!

I have something really crazy and/or stupid planned this year. Stay tuned.

Singletrack Silliness

Took the CX bike out on a mountain bike trail the other day. Probably ill-advised, to be honest, given the recent rains which have wrecked a lot of the trails here and covered them in debris (huge rocks, branches, fallen trees, etc).

As it turns out I got quite lost and took the wrong way down. Said descent turned out to be something like 20-30% average grade with 40-50% sections, greasy wet broken tarmac covered in loose gravel, rocks, branches and other fun. Coming down it on 32mm tyres and drop bars was... interesting. I had to walk a few sections because my brake pads were glazing over.

When discussing it with Peter (who races MTB and CX at a high level) today, he simply said "Oh god, you came down THAT way?" and looked at me all wide-eyed. So yeah...

What a view!

Part of the descent...

Certainly fun to see what you can get away with on a rigid CX bike with (relatively) narrow tyres. Apparently, not much more than this, though!

In other news, this ride was pretty much enough to put me over the top and complete my latest Strava challenge, the Vuelta Skelta:

Not a bad effort, and might get another ride in tomorrow to boost my elevation a bit more before it finishes.

Rapha Rising: La Fin

That's it. It's all over.

7869 metres climbed in 5 days (and 3 rides) takes me to 108% completion. Very happy!



Nothing hugely exciting today but some good varied climbing with Ross to get my final metres in before I head to Kagoshima for the IAVCEI 2013 conference tomorrow. I'm gonna miss my bike but a few rest days will be nice!

Seven Summits Challenge: Rapha Rising 91% Complete

Been wanting to try this for some time; this seemed like an opportune period (Rapha Rising and all).

I tried and easier version of this back a few months ago (and failed it due to weather). I wasn't convinced that I would manage it this time around, especially since I made it harder (added the heinous Hanase Omote and Atagosan climbs), and, well...

I didn't finish it. I did manage 5 out of the 7, though, including Hanase Omote - definitely happy with that!

The idea was to climb all of the big climbs in northern Kyoto (reasonably possible with a road bike), in order, from east to west. Start all of them from the Kyoto side (i.e. no loops). They are, in order:

1 - Hieizan (to Hieizan Driveway turning)
2 - Ebumi Pass (East)
3 - Hanase Omote
4 - Kumogahata & Mochikoshi Pass (East)
5 - Kyoumi Touge
6 - Climb to Takao
7 - Climb up Atagosan from Hozukyō

In bold are the ones I managed to complete. Having to deal with Atagosan at the end is really, really harsh (it's more or less another Hanase Omote) but I think in cooler temperatures, with a full day, it's definitely doable if you're fit enough. I'll probably try it again in a few months.

Photos from the five summits:

1 - Hieizan

2 - Ebumi Pass (East)

3 - Hanase Omote

4 - Mochikoshi Pass (East)

5 - Kyoumi Touge

All in all, this brings me to 91% completion on Rapha Rising. I'm so close I can practically smell it... even if it is clouded by the smell of my shoes and bib shorts...

Kuta Loop: Rapha Rising 44% Complete

Really, really humid day today, but nonetheless I set off with Steve this morning for this beautiful little route...



Got back just in time to avoid a very, very intense thunderstorm that rolled in in the early afternoon - lots of lightning, really heavy rain and a level 2 tornado warning would probably have complicated matters there...

Quite a sky!

Finished off my day with a well-earned cold beer while watching Froome absolutely wreck everyone up Mt. Ventoux in Le Tour. Amazing performance. Definitely ready for bed now!

Anyway, that all gives me 44% completion on the Rapha Rising challenge already. Tomorrow will be a rest day and Tuesday potentially a big ride (lots of elevation), depending on how I'm feeling (I have a little knee niggle which I'm hoping will go away). I head off to Kagoshima for the IAVCEI 2013 conference on Friday so I need to be done before then, anyway!

And so, up we go...

Rapha Rising: Le Commencement

Here goes!

Rapha Women's 100

Yesterday saw the first Rapha Women's 100. I was tasked with planning the route for, and leading along with Peter, the Cycling Kyoto group ride. Grecia did most of the organisation for this but sadly could not come because she was in Beijing (can't say I particularly envy her there, given most of what she's told me...).

All-in-all, the ride turned out to be quite the adventure...

A summary of the day's events:

 - Peter and I each rode a total of about 140-150 km including trips to and from Arashiyama

 - The ladies each rode about 108 km (the route itself)

 - Three girls turned up, the oldest being 62 years old (incredible!)

 - We lost a girl in a pretty serious crash about 10 km into the ride, involving inadequate breaking and a very luckily-placed crash barrier - the result was probably a cracked rib, and a ride home - such a shame!

 - LESSON: The climb up Atagosan is a killer in the heat

 - Peter and I held a short fly-collecting competition on our legs - no clear winner...

 - One frog attempted (and succeeded at) death by front derailleur

 - Much ice cream was enjoyed

 - Much meat was eaten

 - Much VAAM was consumed

 - Much water was dumped over my head and neck

 - Our navigation was flawless, thank you...

 - LESSON: KEEP DRINKING!

 - It was a very, very long day indeed

A selection of photos which I will by-and-large be too lazy to caption:

In good spirits despite crashing!

Collecting flies on the Atagosan climb

Suicide by derailleur

Weirdest (and probably raddest) bike I've ever seen...

The perfect ride, take two: more perfect than perfect?

Another day, another ride...




Only this ride was exactly the same as the preceding one, except just with the company of Grecia this time around. No bad thing, though - the route was once again absolutely stunning, and this time we hit the restaurant at Hiyoshi Dam. Sadly (or perhaps thankfully) the famous all-you-can-eat buffet wasn't being served, but the food was still excellent and a (singular!) delicious local beer made the second half of the ride go by much faster. Not that I could possibly condone drinking and riding, of course...

We left the restaurant and as we were about to pull out of the parking area, it began to rain. Pretty heavily. The obvious solution to this problem was to wait it out in the free foot hot-spring.

An hour later, the rain finally started to clear, so we set off. It came back occasionally and we got pretty wet (besides, the roads were soaked) but the weather was warm enough that it was actually quite enjoyable. The views more than made up for it, too.

What a phenomenal route.

The ride also saw the final day of the fi'zi:k Tour Tune-Up challenge. I didn't make the 30 hour completion mark, but I did pass 20 hours, which I'm fairly happy with, netting a nice little badge in the process. Meanwhile my riding is all building towards Rapha Rising, which starts in about 3 weeks. I'm feeling confident, but the more training rides I can get in beforehand, the better!

Rapha Rising - finally!

Recent challenges have been a bit of a let-down, either requiring a time commitment I couldn't give or coinciding with a huge heat spike. Annoying, but finally the challenge I've been waiting for all year has come around: Rapha Rising.

Rapha run two challenges each year and both come with the reward of an actual woven patch on completion. The first is Festive 500, which I completed last year (ride 500 km between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve). The second is Rapha Rising, requiring you to climb the combined elevation of several mountain stages of Le Tour De France in 8 days (coincident with the Tour).

Kyoto mountains? Plenty more time to acclimatise to the heat as best I can before it begins?

I can do this one...

Castelli Challenge: Failed

Yeah, it wasn't happening. Didn't even reach the 2/3 mark (quite), which I'm a little disappointed about. I got screwed over by the sudden increase in temperatures, really, leaving no time to acclimatise. Completing a challenge isn't worth the risk of wrecking yourself.

Did get some good riding in, though. Lots of quality time in some beautiful places - I could probably have completed this if I just did lots of flat rides but I decided to head into the mountains instead. Since it was a challenge designed to commemorate the pivotal climbing stages of the Giro d'Italia, I feel like I did it some justice even without finishing it.

Meanwhile, last Saturday we all got together to watch the penultimate (and final mountain) stage of the Giro, accompanied by lots of quality cheese (a rare treat in Japan) and beer/wine. Good times with a lot of very good people.

This week looks rather rainy (today is foul and it's set to get worse at least through to Thursday) so I'm not hopeful of much good riding before the weekend! Oh well, let's see what happens...