shimano road race - suzuka

back for 6 hours after hokkaido and then out again at 4am to head to mie for the shimano road race. fortunately we had booked an airconditioned room behind the pits which, presumably, the teams use when suzuka is used for its better known event. I also got to sleep in the car and had a single room awaiting me at the hotel which were blessings. we arrived early enough for a few laps to get to know the circuit and just after lunch we had the 4 up team time trial (4TTT). having ridden at an easy pace for a week I was raring to go and found myself pacing the other two after we dropped our slow man (we've all been there). we ended about 4 minutes back from the leaders and a third of the way down in the results table which didn't seem too bad. the kit that even the beginner riders have in japan still amazes me - the kids too are decked out with quality frames - bet they don't even have a paper round.

today though, after excessive hanging around and nervous eating/drinking, the open CAT 3 was another story. the travel was also catching up on me. I thought the hills would help but although I could lead into some of the hilly areas I was always dropping back during the flat sections. CAT 3 is tough. riding in a peleton is no fun at the best of times but when you've that many corners and trigger happy punters up ahead, the side can be a far safer place to be. anyway - 5 laps at an average of 40km's an hour was not quite david coultard territory but I finished in the pack and had much anticipated beer afterward. I'm hanging my boots up for a week.

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