Posted in Cycling on 07/02/2009 03:47 pm by mcentyre
Last night 8 turned up for sprint training, including a BR-1 level pro who was there for the first time.
As we know the course so well we gave him a good run for his money and he didn’t win all the sprints. maybe 2 out of 8. He was often left panting frantically at the end of some of them as well. I’m sure if he comes again he will win them all.
As for me, I was on my first day of my colon cleanse.
Still able to have some meals in the first 3 days I turned up to training with some curry rice and two herb tablets in my stomach. Not sure, but I think the curry was causing the most irritation. I had the Fondriest out with the heavy wheels and no heart rate monitor or computer so I could feel a bit of extra tension all round. I launched an attack on the second lap but the seat post was a bit loose and the saddle slipped down a few centimeters. I stopped for a lap and adjusted it.
It was hard to hang on to the head of the pack in the tunnel sprint and I was not going to try too hard.
I launched a few attacks but the red lights caught me and I had to slow down and be swamped by the pack.
On about the 8th lap we were in the tunnel going over 50kph when some dickhead in a black Hi-ace came flying up beside us blowing his horn for the full 300m of the tunnel. He was breaking the law by passing us in the tunnel, going over the speed limit and then blowing his horn as well. On the next lap I saw him sitting in his car hiding behind the post office watching us.
We finished the 10th sprint and were having our chat when the cops turned up. They told us somebody had reported us for running red lights. We do run the left hand turns but not the straights.
We apologized and said we’d be more careful. They also said that they are aware of our training and that we cause no problems but that the general public (some) may not understand what we are doing and be frigthened or bothered by us. We promised not to upset anyone in future and to be careful.
They said they could only talk to us and they didn’t complain about us running through the tunnel, or parking our cars on the sidewalk. It is afterall a sports park area where people come to train for all kinds of sports.
Just after the cops left the Hi-ace did a lap past us then came back and parked up the road, switched his lights off and watched us. I guess he was waiting for the cops to come and arrest us. Like one of those pyromaniacs who comes to watch the fires he has started. Well, I got his license plate and the next time he stalks us, I’ll be calling the cops first. He almost ran us off the road in the tunnel.
The BR-1 racer said he’d be back next week. Our little secret training is being discovered. We had so many podium places at Hitachinaka and this trainig was the reason for that.
As for the cleanse. Seems to be going well. I’ve been on apple juice and water all day today. Had an apple for lunch. This is overdoing it a bit as I’m still allowed a bit of food till Friiday night.
Looks like rain for the next 4 days so will be able to concentrate on the cleanse. Two puppies being sold on Saturday and that will leave us with just one to go!
Posted in Cycling on 07/01/2009 08:07 pm by mcentyre
Sometimes you just have to give your body a chance to clean up. Some parts are a bit hard to get to with a bar of soap so we have to find other ways of washing out those hard to get at places.
The Colon Cleanse.
3 days of preparation then 5 days of full on cleansing.
I’ve just started day one of the prep.
Overview of the BEST Option
For the BEST results, the Colon Cleansing Kit™ should be done over a 9 day period that includes a 5 day, liquids-only fast. Liquids-only fasting assures that Toxin Absorber’s™ ability to remove old waste will not be lessened by the presence of solid food. In addition, taking Toxin Absorber™ every 3 hours, while awake, will maintain the optimum concentration of waste-removing herbs within your digestive tract and give you a sense of fullness thus lessening the feeling of hunger. This option is unequaled for removing old accumulated intestinal debris.*
I am taking 2 of the herb pills before dinner for 3 nights and then a sachet of fibre and water.
From day 4 it will be apple juice and water every 3 hours (or more) with a sachet of fibre thrown in and the herb tablets at night.
The tablets help to soften and lift the mucous and gunk off the intestine walls and the fibre helps to move it down and out.
That’s how I understand it so far. As I read more about it I may find it to be different to that but for now that’s how I read it.
No food for 5 days. Just apple juice, water, herb tablets and fibre drinks.
I’ll report in every day with what I’m doing, what is happening and how I’m feeling etc.
The last time I did something like this I expelled about 5 black rock hard diamond like pieces of corn that must have been tucked into some folds of my intestines for years. I’m hoping there are no surprises this time.
Posted in Cycling on 06/28/2009 02:13 pm by mcentyre
Hitachinaka Tour Of Japan 2009 Stage 3: Class D: 30km ( 6 laps of 5km).
Since I came 3rd in Saiko about 4 and a half years ago and went from E into D class there has been a very long dry spell in the JCRC races. Lots of excuses and missed opportunities. Today it finally ended and I can kiss D class where the sun don’t shine ‘goodbye’.
[D2クラス] 第1版6/29
着順 番号 SID 氏名 年齢 所属クラブ名 周回 タイム トップ差 km/h
1 D2-236 4595 八田 広治 34 セマス新松戸 6 0:43:26.323 00:00.000 41.44
2 D2-237 5544 山本 英門 32 ヤマダレーシング 6 0:43:26.813 00:00.490 41.43
3 D2-227 4591 MCENTYRE PETER 45 セマス新松戸 6 0:43:26.970 00:00.647 41.43
4 D2-214 7563 坂内 康史 36 レーシングクラブカズ 6 0:43:27.020 00:00.697 41.43
5 D2-244 7294 脇坂 琢一 39 いそや友の会 6 0:43:27.184 00:00.861 41.42
6 D2-235 8626 安西 博司 41 セマス新松戸 6 0:43:27.201 00:00.878 41.4
Lots of good sprint training over the last year really helped today on the physical side but this was more a mental race for me. I had blown it two years in a row and I really had to think today. Actually, I had been thinking about this race for the last two years and it finally all came together. (almost).
On Thursday my Aunt died and her funeral is to be held tomorrow in Perth. For the last few months there had been a daily visit to this blog from Perth and I thought it might be my Aunt but wasn’t sure. The Perth visits to the site seemed to stop last week and I can only assume. I said to myself I’d ride for her today since I knew I wouldn’t be able to go all the way to Perth and she deserved I try my best and do my best. がんばります！
More on the mental side were the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and then Michael Jackson this week as well as my Sister’s grandfather in-law. Although we knew Farrah was going to die, M.J was a total surprise and with all the death around, there was a lot of thinking going on about living as well. M.J’s song ‘”Man In The Mirror”, had also been reverberating in my head for the last few days as well.
“I’m Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It’s Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .”
On Thursday a book I ordered from Amazon also arrived and I managed to get halfway through it by last night. Mark Cavendish’ autobiography “Boy Racer”. It was great reading and a lot of it hit home with me. Especially about his weight problem!
Mentally, I was more prepared than ever before!
Today:
Up at 4a.m and in the car by 4:40a.m.
Half a bottle of expensive apple juice in my water bottle and the other half I drank as I drove.
Stopped off at McDonald’s for a set of pancakes, coffee and a hash brown just before the Joban Expressway entrance.
Stopped off at a 7/11 for doping and my lunch for later. 2 cans of Red Bull, a bottle of Pocari Sweat and a bowl of chicken-spaghetti.
Warm-up: 3 laps of the track 15km and 15kms riding around the starting area.
10km more warming up than I usually do. I also measured the last 200 to 300 meters of the course twice taking into account the red traffic cones, the tree positions and getting a feel for everything and making mental notes of where those things would be on the Wednesday night sprint training course.
Filled up my now half bottle of apple juice with Pocari sweat.
Downed my Red Bulls within the hour before the start time as I watched the S, A & B class races.
9:13 a.m.
The race: Mantra: Conserve all energy: Don’t get stuck at the back: Keep out of danger:
I noticed my left arm trembling with nerves at the start. That was on top of the loose toilet trips in the morning, that showed I was quite nervous and taking this a little too seriously. Just as I noticed my trembling arm one of my supporters yelled out (embarrassingly) that I had my NEW Semas shoe covers on the wrong feet. Left on right and right on left…. ‘Ssshhhhhhhhhh’ was what I was thinking…’don’t jinx me.’. I guess she would know though as she sold them too me!
I had a few problems with the HRM too. Didn’t bring my Polar chest strap so was going to rely on the Garmin. It must have froze near the start and my heart rate was stuck on 144 for the whole race. I knew deep down that the HRM was frozen but the psychological advantage of seeing it so low, all race, made it all feel even easier than it was.
Except for one part of the race where I was yelling at an old bloke in front of me who looked like he was going to crash about 3 or 4 times I kept my cool. Very rarely do I yell in a race. It was a good sign!!!
I managed to race to plan and coming around the last bend I was kind of stuck in the middle of the pack. I didn’t panic and just kept looking for little gaps and jumping into them. With about 3 or 4 hundred to go I had got across to the right hand side and was sitting behind this little weedy looking kid. (no apologies to him). He was going as hard as he could out in front off to the right but he was not going to help me and I knew that was going to leave me out in no-mans land. As he started wilting, I aimed myself for the race motorbike that was about 20 or 30m ahead, right in front of me, hoping to get a little draft off him.
I could see to my left the breaks starting and a guy had gone out in front with 2 or 3 hanging on to him. They were too far away from me to get any drafting happening. I still felt good and wasn’t going to give it everything yet, as it was still more than 200-250m away from the goal line and I only had about 150m off gas in the tank. Right then a team mate who had been hiding at the back for the whole race came flying from behind me at about 60kph (confirmed the speed with him after the race) and out into the front. I had no choice but to give it all I had. I was in the wrong gear for that but went for it anyway. I got it up to 57 and knowing I wasn’t going to beat 2nd and sure nobody was going to pass me for 3rd I threw myself at the line and finished in 3rd.
0.647 away from 1st. The first 23 places all within the next 2 seconds.
I can’t complain, can I?
I also went in the 10km Team Time Trial but didn’t care how I went in it and after it finished and I had my lunch I got in the car to get home to the puppies.
I’m sure my Aunt was watching and I apologize to her for not being able to make it to her funeral tomorrow. I had a bit of a cry in the car on the way home.
R.I.P
Auntie D. I love you!
72kms on the clock for the day.
Will post pics later tonight.
C class is going to be tough!
Friends & Team mate’s results today:
S class. Murata-san 2nd.
A class: Tomo-san 3rd
B class: Yamaguchi-san 2nd.
C class: Kazu-san 2nd Suzuki-san 5th.
D class: Yatsuda-san 1st, Yasunishi-san 6th.
Posted in Cycling on 06/24/2009 11:11 pm by mcentyre
16 turned up tonight which is a record. Fine weather and Hitachinaka brought them all out of the woodwork. Almost everybody with their race deep rimmed wheels. (me included).
I also dropped my handle bars down to the lowest possible position tonight. (Raised the seat a centimeter yesterday). This seemed to help with the cornering but may be putting a bit of extra strain on the calf muscles.
I tried to have a go on the first sprint and managed a 3rd place. After that it was hard to get near the front. The sprints were starting over 200 or 300m out and that was too far for me. For the rest of the night I worked on drafting and spinning. I also took a few big pulls and made a false break away just to see how unfit I was.
The police had a good look at us tonight and didn’t say anything. At first as we entered the ‘no bicycles allowed’ tunnel. Then later there were two more hiding behind the post office on there scooters who watched us go left on a red light. 16 riders must have been too much for them to handle at once. We are probably scarier than the bosozoku.
A bot tired from last night’s run but glad I had another 46km under the belt before Sunday. Will probably have a light spin on Friday night as well.
Posted in Cycling on 06/24/2009 06:36 am by mcentyre
While waiting for the team to turn up for training last night I squeezed in a 20km warm-up.
With a few new riders and enough starters to make two teams we picked two aces and let them pick their teams.
We warmed up for 3 laps and then put about a 1.5km gap between the two teams and by phone, called the start.
The objective: To protect our ace and try and catch the team ahead of us within the hour.
Both teams were pretty evenly matched and the opposition could only make-up about 10 seconds on us. (according to a spectator).
During the race we had no idea and neither did they about how far apart we were and that made us work at 100% the whole way.
I wasn’t very happy with my form. Was not able to do my work off the front as much as I was needed and in some parts struggled to hang on to the 3 fastest. I managed to get my breath back for the last lap and put in about a 2km strong pull to finish.
Not sure what I should do now before Sunday’s race. More training with the sprint guys tonight? It’s raining again as well. Or just take it easy and watch TV?
Posted in Cycling on 06/21/2009 10:06 pm by mcentyre
Woke up at 4a.m looking forward to a special team training run amongst the Chiba boso hills only to hear the rain pelting down outside.
Back to bed and a quick wink and it was 8:30a.m.
Still raining but not as heavy. I got my cycling gear on anyway determined to go for a ride by myself in the wet. The rain however picked up and got heavier.
Plan B:
To the gym. I did my normal routine but not as heavy on most of the machines. Having seen a lot of blogs of team mates and training partners lately, I’ve seen a trend of the riders doing the most sit ups are improving the most.
I sat down and put the incline at the lowest position with 1000 sit-ups in mind before I went home. 350 first then I did my usual routine around about 10 machines to finish up with 150 sit-ups at the end. Half my goal but more than twice what I’d ever done before.
I’m sure the pain will come on Tuesday and be gone by Thursday.
Monday tomorrow and only 2 hours of classes in the morning, I’ve decided to ride to work and get in at least 75km on the way home for a total of 100km.
I hadn’t been to the gym in an embarrassingly long time.
Posted in Cycling on 06/19/2009 11:35 pm by mcentyre
Second week of Friday night football. 3 of us doing the Wednesday ight course with the Tuesday night sprint finish. I had 2 cars block the lanes on my lead out tonight that ensured a win. There was no room for anybody to pass.
A 47km good pre-race ride. Not sure if I’ll wake up in time for Saturday morning early bird’s Sekiyado run. The guys will pass by my home around 5:30a.m. That’s puppy poo-poo time.
Posted in Cycling on 06/16/2009 08:54 pm by mcentyre
This will be my third attempt at the D class 30km race on this course.
Two years ago I was quite unfit and took the lead just before the last bend and had absolutely no power left and got dropped in the last km. Last year I was fit and in the pouring rain panicked with the sprint and broke away within the last 800m but ran out of power in the last 150m.
This year, I’m fitter, have more sprint race training and know I have to wait for the last 100m before trying anything too fancy.
It really is the easiest course for me and it is very frustrating not to have figured out the mental aspect of success here.
