We drove up to Matsumoto from Gunma’s Numata city around 12:30 pm on Saturday. We took the low roads instead of the highway because it is really only about 30 minutes difference and it’s a much nicer drive.
Looks easy via this view doesn’t it?
It rained all day Saturday and it poured buckets during the night. But by 5 a.m. it had stopped and the clouds started to break. The 4 of us woke up in our small room, had some coffee, energy bars and what not, got changed, prepared our bikes and headed to the race. I did this race 2 years ago and my time was 1:22:23 . I beat it by ove 7 minutes this year. Stats are at the end of this blog.
When I entered for this race on-line my friend talked me into going in the “expert” class which I totally regretted this morning when I woke up and started getting really nervous. Then to make it look like I’m really cocky, I placed my bike right at the front of the line where I stood next to Japanese legend Imanaka Daisuke san (He has raced in the Tour de France) and shared a lengthy conversation. I’m sure it will appear on the NEWS and make it look like I’m some “foreign” ex pro or something.
But that image quickly changed when they counted down and we all raced off to start the climb and I got swallowed up! The first 5 KM are very steep with an average grade of 18% and everyone was out of their saddles.
That quickly separated the men from the boys but to my surprise I was still somewhere near the front 30%. I found a young guy and stuck my wheel right behind his and kept my head down. By the 8 KM mark I thought I had over exerted myself too early and I was thinking of falling off his wheel until we got a nice 4% grade for 400 meters which got my lungs back. After that I actually ended up pulling him for a little while (you never know how the others are holding up do you?). Then out of the blue Mr. Imanaka smoothly rides by me and says in Japanese, “Hey, you’re strong”! And I replied, “Yeah, up until this moment”. I’d love to say “It’s all down here from here” but that really has a different meaning in cycling does it?
My heart-rate was quite high and I worried about how long I could hold on but I somehow managed until the 16 KM mark where it leveled out and even descended in some parts! At my 72 kg weight I’m not designed for hill climbing. I carry a lot of upper body muscle. Especially with these 58-62 kg riders next to me. But at the top when it leveled for 3 KM I was strong as could be and I actually left a few of the guys I was riding with behind. Don’t ask me how! However, one of them stayed with me and we raced the last 200 meter hill and I lost by a foot! I think he sling shot from my draft but I don’t mind though since he was half my age and that’s a smart tactic. In fact, as I mentioned, someone carried me for about 6 KM. I had a great time. My time was 1:15:25 which is about 7 minutes faster than before. In the champion class I finished 39th. Most champion riders were in their 20’s though. Plus out of 498 forty year old’s, I placed 13th. But here’s the weird facts.
If I was in the 20 year old group I’d have placed 9th out of 134 riders.
In the 30 year old group my time would have made me 31st our of 354 riders. And in the 40 year old group I’d have been 14th out of 491 riders. So, all in all I’m happy with that. More important “Da Boyz” and I shared some great moments and a heap of laughs.
Beer time.
Kelly Pettit 