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Race Race report: 1st Annual Miyoshi-machi Criterium

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Dec 9, 2017
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Signed up for my first outdoor group ride in 10 years. The 1st Annual Miyoshi-machi Criterium was held about 20 minutes from my house. This will be a bit long - and will probably be of zero interest to people that already race quite a bit, but for those reading that don't race yet and/or are looking to get back into racing, hopefully this will be of use.

TL;DR edition: a) warming up is really really important, b) for crits in particular, it's really really important to get to the front c) This was the inaugural edition of the Miyoshi-machi Crit, with plans to have this as an annual event; highly recommended for riders in the Tokyo area.

Since its been 10 years since I road in a small group outside, I signed up for the 'freshmen' race, a short (4 laps) race for people 'racing for the first time'. The course was on normal public roads but the entire course was closed off, which was nice. The course was also across the street from a park / nature reserve type area with a fairly big playground and mini-train rides for the kids, plus a small cafe, so we ended up spending almost the entire day. I had originally planned on only going myself, but while preparing the night before, I realized that - rather surprisingly - my bike fits easily in the back of our 20-year old Vitz. So the wife, kids and mother-in-law tagged along.

I arrived about 30 minutes before the start of registration. Plenty of time to get the bike together, line up for registration, get my timer chip and get my numbers pinned on my jersey. About 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the race, the 'freshmen' group were led to a spot just outside the course while waiting for confirmation that the course was now closed to normal traffic. We were then led by motorbike about half way around the course to the start line, where detailed instructions were given, with a heavy emphasis on safety. People were going around checking helmets, bikes, timing sensors etc. Given this was a group of roughly 80 'new racers', I definitely appreciated the 'safety first' aspect.

The race had originally been advertised as half a lap rolling start and three laps racing. Ultimately we had one full lap with controlled pacing by a motorbike and four laps of racing.

The course itself was a little over 2km long, and was basically pancake-flat. It was generally rectangle-shaped, with two fairly tight, 90-degree corners and two less-sharp corners that could be taken at decent speed.

I didn't have any grand designs on winning or anything - I simply wanted to make it through in one piece first and foremost, and didn't want to be completely blown out of the water. At 50, I was almost certainly one of the oldest - if not the oldest - person in my group. I didn't see anyone that was obviously older. A lot of the riders appeared to be in junior or senior high school. I did see some guys that were probably in their 30s or 40s.

I realized quite quickly during the controlled lap that I had made a mistake in not getting closer to the front - I immediately saw the dreaded 'accordion' effect going around every corner, with people slowing down around the corner then having to go balls to the wall to try and catch back on. There were a couple of riders (older riders, generally) that seemed even more skittish on the bike than I was, which was a bit nerve-wracking, including riders randomly drifting left or right with no regard to people around them.

As we crossed the start line for the official start of the four-lap race, I was trying to move my way to the front - when about three or four bike lengths in front of me there was a crash taking out 5 or 6 riders. Luckily those of us behind were able to stop and avoid getting tangled up, but it definitely cost us time. I didn't see anyone hurt that badly, although a couple of the bikes looked in rough shape.

Back to the race - the group thinned out fairly quickly after the crash with the front group well ahead. This is when I realized my second big mistake - no warm-up. I always do a good hard 15-20 warm-up before my indoor Zwift races - at my age, I really really need to get the body primed for work. But without a portable trainer or rollers, my only real warm-up was the controlled lap around the course. I was now asking my body to really punch it all of a sudden - and my body was having none of it.

I was barely able to latch on to the first wheel in front of me, but was already in the red. I struggled to stay with the two guys in front of me. After making our way around the first two corners I tried to settle in, and on the back straightaway, it looked like we might be able to form a small chase group with some riders close by....but just when we'd get the group together, it would accordion out again going around the tight corners.

The entire race was only 8km, but the lack of warm-up meant it felt a lot tougher than it should have. By the last lap I was finally fully warmed up and starting to get my second wind, so it's a shame the race was now basically over. I was in a small group but didn't really sprint at the end.

I went back to the family and got some hugs and high-fives from the kids, which was lovely. Back to the car and put everything away and got changed. As I handed in my chip, I realized that times were already posted - turns out I was 33rd out of 70 riders, +1:21 behind the winner. I had thought i was farther back, so was pretty happy with that result. I lost at least 10 seconds or so getting around the crash, and I think I could have done better if I had warmed up properly, and if I had started out closer to the front (although ironically that could have put me in the crash as well...).

This is supposed to be an annual event. It's close to my house so I obviously will be going - hopefully moving up in category, but I'd also highly recommend it to others as well - despite it being the first event, it was well organized, and everything ran pretty smoothly. It also wasn't a ridiculously early start - the first race was from 10:30am, which seems to be at least an hour or two later than some of the other races I've seen. I didn't find the course that technical at all, and it's quite flat, so probably a great course for someone looking to get their feet wet. At Y5000 it wasn't cheap (especially for the freshmen and beginner groups; I told one of the organizers that really, riders only doing 8km shouldn't have to pay the same as people riding 40km).

My race only took about 15 minutes, so we could have been back home in time for lunch, but we spent the rest of the day at the park area across the street. A really fun day overall, especially since the weather was perfect.

Before the race
IMG_1660 (002).jpg

Coming around the second corner
crit.jpg

Results
IMG_1661.jpg
 
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Awesome job and great write up. Seems like you learned a lot. Listening to the TrainerRoad guys, if you warm up before an event, the warm up effects last for up to 30 minutes so something to keep in mind next time also.
 
If you absolutely need to warm up and don't have a trainer, put arm and leg warmers (and/or a jacket) during your warm up. A warm up is exactly what the name implies. That's why athletes (e.g. tennis players) always show up in trainers/track suits.

Good job on the race.
 
Definitely scedule in a warm up.

If you are with the family, maybe it's best to try and warm up on the road?

I usually try to think of 30 minutes before the start as "race time". Sneak off and do a 20 minute warm up routine. Then 10 minutes to do the final few things you need to do.

Cracking write up by the way. Really enjoyed it!

Andy

https://www.facebook.com/biketrainingandracinginjapan/
 
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