Got up early enough to get in a quick 50km before training BUT after getting all the dogs fed and secure I was running 15 minutes late.

At Shinzakaya where we take a photo and divvy up into teams to go back I downed a can of Mountain Dew. Was going to get a tea or a sports drink but a craving sugar rush was called for as I sensed a tough sprint back. Normally I don’t have breakfast on Sundays but 2 slices of raisin toast were devoured and because they tasted so good I went back for seconds. (4).

Today I went in the 2nd group and there were 5 of us. By Noda bridge we had lost one. By the next bridge we had picked up one and dropped another. By the final sprint bridge with about 800m to go I found myself at the front. Too late to go to the back again so I just steadily upped the pace right to the finish line. 47.2kph Max was enough for the win. There was a slight crosswind for the whole trip but I could see that the final 800m or so the course bends to the right and that was going to be enough of a tailwind to keep me fresh. I didn’t have to over exert myself and all I had to do was listen for gear changes behind me or attacks and I had enough gas in the legs if need be.

As I was late I joined them all about 2km before the warm-up start line. Therefore the usual 58km Sunday morning ride was only 54km today.

Some of the guys had booked a tour of the Asahi beer factory at Moriya and headed off there. Would love to have joined them but puppy duty called and I got home to give them all some fresh water and put them inside again away from the sun and heat.

A few colas was good enough for me.
Photo = Cola Time

Tomorrow Sora gets his sack stitches taken out at 9:30a.m and if I get home and it’s not raining I’ll go for a long slow ride.