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Today June 2015

Ride report from Kawasaki Marine Enduro (Strava activity). Entered the 3hr solo category. Solo and group riders all started together, but group and solo riders used different timing tags so it was easy to tell who I was really racing against. Course was pan flat on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, 5 km total with a few 90 degree corners and two 180 degree hairpins, with the second hairpin literally 100 metres from the finish line. I was lucky to line up near the front and rolled out with the fast group without much trouble. In the group those hairpins were the only times I needed to do any real work - sheltering was easy in a bunch of nearly 100 riders.

After about 40 minutes (8 laps) the rotation of the pack placed me at the front of the group. I took a bit of a turn, looked behind me and... no one was on my wheel. Two options at this point, calm myself down and return to the group, or wind myself up and do a solo to bridge to another fairly fast group about 2 km up the road. I hit out solo #yolo. I put everything on it for 2 laps with my heart rate on the limit (170s compared to 140s in the pack) at 40+ km/hr.

I made the junction, and was absolutely knackered, but had no time to rest. The new group was much, much smaller and I needed to do regular turns to keep things going. Since the course double-backed on the same roads I could see the main pack and we were only just holding them. The rest of the group saw them too, and upped the pace accordingly, which thinned the group leaving just the stronger guys. 2 hours 30 minutes in, and there was only 5 of us left, holding off a pack of still nearly 100 riders. The main group took us with just 5 laps to go. My legs were smashed, but I stayed near the front, cos they weren't that quick to be honest. Winning now came down to group sprint round a 180 hairpin plus 100 metres. 9th. Damn.

Looking back, I probably could have taken them if I'd Tony Gallopin'd it with 2 laps to go, instead of Tony Martin'ing it with 2 hour 20 minutes to go. Ah well, it was fun to try.
 
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Cheers. Well done to @xDOMx as well who did the 3 hr enduro in a 3-man group. He wasn't fortunate enough to get in the quick group near the start so basically solo'd it all the way. There are also some action shots taken with a proper camera, but the image files are so large I need to build a datacenter next door to hold them. Coming soon.
 
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Cheers @GrantT .

John is 100% right. I fucked up by not being with the right group so had to drag my ass along for an hour and 15 minutes sans draft.

The queue was an early start and, hindsight being 50/50, I should've played the Gaijin card and pushed my way to John's area.

I'm not overwhelmed with my effort but it was my first ever race so:

1. I didn't crash (albeit I heard one or two a little further back).
2. I stayed at a pretty high heart rate (my average was 169bpm when my max is 186bpm).
3. I finished with nothing much left in the tank.
4. My team finished top half.

Images coming soon!
 
Sunday 28th went out with any Half-Fasters brave enough to tackle a mystery ride in the mountains near Oume. Three turned up. The ride was @Deej's Ome Temple Loop. (Thank you @Deej, wherever you are.) This route has defeated me twice, due to overheating and/or insufficient fitness. But today I not only made it all the way 'round but made it all the way up the preposterously steep climb to Takayama Fudōsan without stopping.

Also rode out from home, and back home afterwards, for a total of 180 km. No speed records broken, but a great day in the saddle with great friends.

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HFC Lunatics pictured at Nenogongen-tenryūji Temple, in front of a tree that has allegedly grown from a chopstick planted more than 1100 years ago.
 
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Oh yeah

@Sibreen and/or anyone familiar with the Hanno / R299 area...

They finally finished the tunnel and completely reconfigured the junction circled on the map below. (The pipe dispensing spring water referred to long ago by @Deej is, sadly, long gone.) I can't work out where the other end of the tunnel is. The tunnel doesn't show up on Google Maps or Yahoo Maps yet - only the 'mouth' under construction.

I fear that if I investigate too strongly I will discover that billions of taxpayer yen have been spend just to cut out a couple of meandering turns on R299. Please someone tell me that it ain't so and the tunnel leads somewhere significant...

SafariScreenSnapz001.png
 
@Half-Fast Mike I got confused a month or so back when I dropped down from the mountains to the junction with the new tunnel. It must have only been open a couple of weeks. I accidentally went through it before realising I didn't want to do so. If my memory serves me correctly, it leads to just about where your mouse cursor is. I think they used it for the sole purpose of wasting money.
 
(The pipe dispensing spring water referred to long ago by @Deej is, sadly, long gone.)

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@Half-Fast Mike -- well done on the big ride. I noticed your achievement on Strava and was inspired to give it a whirl again on Sunday.

Despite all the crazy public works and bizarro tunnel, the pipe dispensing the spring water survived and was absolutely gushing. Unless it was a mirage (it was damn hot).

Deej
 
Despite all the crazy public works and bizarro tunnel, the pipe dispensing the spring water survived and was absolutely gushing. Unless it was a mirage (it was damn hot)
@Deej can you tell me where it is, then? I could not find it. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place. It would be so welcome, just there.

I thought it was at this junction where they built the tunnel, because the first time I went there there was a miserable hosepipe dispensing a trickle. But re-reading your original description it seems the spring is at the start of the climb. Is it after this last left turn? If so, how far after?

SafariScreenSnapz001.png
 
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@Half-Fast Mike -- Sorry, I should've mentioned the location in my previous message. It's right at the main intersection of 299 and the road leading to the climb. When you reach the intersection, look across the road, to the tunnel side, and to the right you'll see a pipe sprouting out of the hillside about knee high. Terrible description, I know, but I'm pawing at the screen with my thumb, fending off sleep as I lie on my side in bed. Suboptimal posting conditions.
 
@Half-Fast MikeIt's right at the main intersection of 299 and the road leading to the climb. When you reach the intersection, look across the road, to the tunnel side, and to the right you'll see a pipe sprouting out of the hillside about knee high. Terrible description, I know
Terrible. Go to bed. Then go out and take a photo. Good lad...
 
I take it back, @Half-Fast Mike, it's an awesome description. To recap: Get to the big intersection with all the fancy new roadwork. Look in that general direction, sweeping your gaze rightish until you see a pipe jutting from a hillside-type of land formation. That's the pipe you want. Cos it's got cool, cool water coming from it. Oyasumi.
 
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