05.05.09 - JCF#3: Another win on Hakodateyama's Peak
Hakodateyama in Shiga was the place of my first mountain bike race in Japan last year. It wasn't a good experience. I wasn't fit, I didn't know what Japanese racing was like, I ate all the wrong food before and during the race, I had issues with my setup, and I made the wrong tyre choice after assuming it would rain. After a win last week, and my fitness improving with every race, I was confident I could put that behind me and make up for that race with at least a podium. And I was still hungry for a win.
This year the track was run in reverse, with more singletracks added. Still only five 20 metre single tracks, but technical enough to create or close gaps. And fun enough to break up the track. As with any ski resort track, the weather was unpredictable, so we had to think about and prepare for everything. A few wheels were on standby. My carbon race set had the faster Bontrager Revolts on there ready for the dry. And in the end we had another dry (but still greasy) track. Everything was in place. I just had to fire up to go hard on a track that didn't suit me.
Being relaxed helped. The night before the race we had a traditional Japanese meal with the team. The rice, soba noodles and eel went down well. Lots of laughs as usual. Everyone was healthy and looking forward to racing. And speaking of 'fun', watching my friends Kinumoto San and Noguchi San tearing up the Expert men's race before ours inspired me to simply enjoy our race. It was great to see Nogu back racing off road too, even if he was just taking it easy and doing it for fun. He was smiling too much though!
After leaving my bike with guru mechanic Niki San, it was perfectly tuned and ready to go. I don't have to check or even think about my bike now. I just hop on and ride it and it works, including tyre and fork pressures. And Vince San's massage got my legs dialled. Heavy in practise the day before, but perfect for the race.
After discussing my race plan with Vince, I was focussed on the job ahead of me. With such a demanding course, pacing was critical. I planned to go hard on the first lap, then sit back and recover, then observe and assess the race, then wait until after half way to go harder. In the end I did exactly that. I lead from the start, with my mate Takenouchi coming with me. Then I sat up and took it easy. Takahiro came across then. But the suprising thing was that I felt good enough to maintain my lead in the process, so I felt like I was holding back. My other team mate Onodera worked hard to get across after chain problems early on. I kept a close check on time splits (easy to do on this open course) and let him get within a minute, but no more. I assumed he'd worked hard to get there, so I then turned up the pace to see if he was tired. It appeared was, so my gap grew again.
Hold a couple of minutes for most of the race meant I could relax and focus on riding smoothly. So I was enjoying it the whole way. Takeya was chasing hard, so I couldn't relax too much. But I had a comfortable lead and too it easier on the last two laps. But by the end I was tired, with a bit of energy left. So it seemed I paced it perfectly In the end Takeya made some time on me on the last lap. But I had a comfortable win and was relieved that the Hakodateyama demon was dead!
As we packed up after presentations, the rain came. We were so lucky with the weather and I thought it was symbolic of the weekend. Good times. Fujimi is next, in a month. So it's time for a short rest and another build up to maintain the series lead.
Race Footage
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