light warm-up

明日のTTに向けて今日は軽く『ほどほど』に回してこうって昨日、Pei-sanから連絡が入ってきた。いつものSaturday CrewにN-jima-san, Chun-san, and Rin-kunと６人組んで8:30amにstart！Courseはいつもの鞆周り。light練習だと思いきや、掛け合いし、とんでもない坂を上り、へろへろになって明日のTTが不安です！

 Anske-sanにいぃペースで引いてもらった後、Rin-kunが火つけたアタックに貢献し、いったんコンビニで a short break.

 次のdestinationは田島に決定！海岸沿いのflat roadで気持ちよくCrescent Beachまで走ると、、まさかの坂道にコース変更！N-jima-sanのsecret training spotらしいが、変態ぢゃなぃと普通は上がらない坂です！次のSequenceでみなさん分かるでしょう！？

 （もちろん写真撮るがかりは必要ですから！忘れないでくださいね！、、なんてちっちゃぃ人間ですみません！）

 その後、震える脚にはa well deserved lunch! Today's menu is 海鮮丼！絶好調のRin-kunに引っ張ってもらい、店に戻り。明日のTTにはDeep rimsがいいと思い、お願いしたら自転車のメンテや掃除までしてもらっちゃった。感謝です！今日の距離はちょうど良いの６０kilometersで脚のmusclesを十分目覚ませたと思う。夜はRin-kunとShinacchiと合流しバラ祭りへ！

祭りってえぇな！

初バラ祭りの俺とド変態

 体脂肪などを計ってもらえました！やっぱり自転車は健康的だと分かりました！

 そこでなんと細井さん登場！下半身の筋肉は『クソ強ぇ！」って店員コメント。やっぱりそれぐらぃじゃなぃと選手権に出られないからね！明日頑張ってください！

全部うまっす！

 ダイエットには効果でなぃもんばっかですが、バラ祭りは特別でしょう！許してください！

 しめに鍋屋さんへ！America代表、Hong Kong代表と Japan代表の初集まりです！明日raceなかったらkaraokeに行けたのに！まぁ、raceの打ち上げででもいいでしょう！明日、頑張りましょう！

Can't Feel My Legs!

The weather has been real good recently, but today was the first time to ride since Golden Week. I haven't been able to ride as much as I'd like to since well before Golden Week, and with a race coming up next Sunday, I'm far off from being able to help the team! So yesterday I gave Pei-san the usual call to see what today's route would be. Unfortunately, Anske-san is in Shimane-ken for the Iwami Gran Fondo. So Pei-san started our ride at 8am from our usual gathering point. With my legs in not so good condition, he led me at a good 35km/h pace through Tomonoura to Tsuneishi.

Cosmic Carbon! But you can't tell from this angle...

After just about 40km of riding we stopped to refuel at a nearby konbini. (I don't feel too bad, but I'm noticeably weaker and not in great shape) There, I gave Rin a message to see if he could meet up with us. It must be over a year since I last rode with him and we're all glad he's well and back on his bike! He requests to meet at Chou-Chou in Matsunaga so we head there before thinking about where to go next.

After picking up Rin get a call from Matsu-fufu and decide to meet up with them in front of Onomichi Station. After arriving there we then grab a little snack for the rode just enough to last until lunch time. At first what I thought would be a normal day riding the usual routes, Matsu-fufu offers taking us to Takehara where there's good roads, good scenery and good food! Without hesitation we agree on the 5 of us head out a long the coast to Takehara through Mihara.  It was my first time to Takehara and what an awesome place it was! Just like they said there was a fantastic scenery and an awesome lunch! There was even a beach named after me! (.. I think?)
 

エバンの海って書いてありますよな！？？

The long flat road and the beautiful ocean view heading to Takehara

Time to refuel! Daikon-oroshi Ponzu Hamburg Set! There was soup, too!

After a good rest and a hearty meal we hit the road and made our way back to Mihara. At this point Pei-san and I were at the 80km mark. Instead of making a U-turn to go back the way we came we stayed on the same road that also led us to see an old Japanese style village. It reminded me of Kyoto and seemed a lot better than the one in Kurashiki (No offense!) This road also included a brutal climb through the mountains. Already, my legs were feeling the hurt, but having some energy we pedaled on...
 

Awesome place!