It's killing me but..........

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As I mentioned before "The Smoker" recently spent nearly 2400pounds/4500 dollars on a Litespeed frame, never mind all the other bits. He told me this in confidence and said, "for gods sake don't tell my wife". Quite how he kept it secret from her I don't know, unless he was hoarding cash somewhere or other.:D
Nota bene; Japanese men usually hand there salary over to her indoors at the end of the month, and she allots him x amount for his own personal use. (pocket money) How kind!:rolleyes:

My theory is that carrots work better than sticks.;)
This is exactly what I advised RD. Carrot, stick, what's the difference?; call it what you like, but withold it.:D

Carrot, stick, what's the difference?LOL. I hope we don't have any psychologists on this thread.;)

RD, I see people refer others who ask for advice on how to improve to this thread. However, this thread has become unreadable volume-wise. I thought of compiling an abridged version with all the pertinent posts.
However, to do this would be time consuming, which I don't mind, but then the thread would soon disappear of the page, so is it worth the effort?

I'ts a shame really that newbies and others not following a structured training programme, are unable to reap the benefit of your advice on structured training without reading through some 90 odd pages that include plenty of waffle and irrelevant to cycling repartee.

What are your thoughts re: this idea?

RD, I see people refer others who ask for advice on how to improve to this thread. However, this thread has become unreadable volume-wise. I thought of compiling an abridged version with all the pertinent posts.
However, to do this would be time consuming, which I don't mind, but then the thread would soon disappear of the page, so is it worth the effort?

I'ts a shame really that newbies and others not following a structured training programme, are unable to reap the benefit of your advice on structured training without reading through some 90 odd pages that include plenty of waffle and irrelevant to cycling repartee.

What are your thoughts re: this idea?Well, I am working on a document that incorporates much of the advice I have given you in this thread, including a discussion of training with power but without the benefit of a power meter. Now that I have actually finished my ride file parsing application (I thought it was finished before but then I found some things that caused me to overhaul it in a pretty major way), I will be able to finish the document. Of course, I don't know how people will know where to look for it short of reading 90 pages.:D

This is kind of like those episodes of 12 O'Clock High. Lots of people with binoculars scanning the horizon hoping to relieve the tension by catching the first glmpse of the over-due plane. Runways are cleared with emergency crews at the ready. Everybody just keeps watching the horizon and listening for the sound of an inbound plane. Is the plane late because of headwinds? Battle damage? Shot down?

Tyson, this is the tower. Have you cleared the coast?

This is kind of like those episodes of 12 O'Clock High. Lots of people with binoculars scanning the horizon hoping to relieve the tension by catching the first glmpse of the over-due plane. Runways are cleared with emergency crews at the ready. Everybody just keeps watching the horizon and listening for the sound of an inbound plane. Is the plane late because of headwinds? Battle damage? Shot down?

Tyson, this is the tower. Have you cleared the coast?LOL. Maybe the pilot was tired and landed at the wrong airport.;)

NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE! :(

My nightmare on p81 yesterday became a reality.

I arrived at the start and for my 25 dollar/13 pound entrance fee I was given one bottle of crappy sports drink (sugar water). At 8am we set off at a furious pace. A lead bunch of about 10 guys soon disappeared into the distance.
After 3km we were on the first climb; it was bad but not as bad as my cycling buddy said. Then we came to the second climb - much worse! I lost count of how many sections were 13-15%. However, on this climb a bunch of us started to catch up on some of the "fast boys" who'd been dropped. By the time we got to the top, a guy in an Italia jersey and I had dropped everyone.

So far so good. Mt Italia and I hared down the long descent and then disaster struck; we started to climb again and had gone about 2kms up this climb when an organizer came up behind and shouted, "you should have turned left at the bottom", so we headed on back down and of course all the guys I had worked hard to drop were now well on the way to the first checkpoint. I was distraught and interest started to wane.
Maybe if I'd been 20 years old I would have taken it better.
Did I say checkpoint? Ha! The 3 checkpoints were 3 little country stores where you had to go in and buy something and get a receipt with the time stamped on it to prove you'd been there.

Anyway, by now I'd dropped Mr. Italia and headed off up a long 12km climb.
I had to do 20km in total by myself with not a single rider in sight in front or behind. I was getting more and more bored and was absolutely furious.

Btw, I think I dropped my map at the first checkpoint, so when I came to a junction I had no idea which way to go, so had to wait nearly 10 mins for Mr. Italia. When he finally arrived he spent nearly 5 mins studying the map and I was getting angrier and angrier. I paid 3000 yen for this?!?!?
Finally we turned left and the instructions said checkpoint 2 is 300 metres on the left. No shop - so we edged slowly up the road and after more than 800 metres we found this tiny little shop.

We started off on climb No.4 It was then I decided I'd finally had enough of this crap. I said byebye and turned back. I then had to climb back up the pass I'd come down from, meeting other riders coming down.

To cut an already long story short, I eventually joined the short course heading for home. That in itself was a nightmare. The first 15km was along a very busy main road with trucks almost brushing my elbow.

Finally I saw a sign which said 6km to the "Flower Commemoration Park" I heaved a sigh of relief and as I'd done 94kms by now I thought I shall be safely back at the car by 100km. Ha! No, the nightmare was to continue.
This park is a huge complex on the top of a hill which sticks out on the plain like Ayers Rock in Aussie. Would you believe I couldn't find the carpark. I climbed up to one carpark and back down and up to another. Did this 4 times before I found the right one and I'd travelled 21Km not 6km!:(


In total I did 115km. I might just as well of stayed with Mr. Italia and done the 137Km.

A little old lady welcomed me and said put your name and time on this form and we'll send you a certificate. I politely said, I don't need a certificate as I actually hadn't done anything. (except more than complete the short course)
I actually thought at the time, STUFF YOUR CERTIFICATE AND YOUR EFFING RIDE RIGHT UP YOUR ANUS.

I'd paid 3000yen for a bottle of sugar water and a recipe for getting lost.
How many others got lost I have no idea. I suspect some are still out there!:(

There is one person I know who will definitely not be there next year. Grrrrrr!

NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE! :( Ouch! That's a shame about the course directions and lack of clarity about turns and such. Not to worry. When you come to the states (assuming you don't come in the winter), we'll go out to Bishop, CA and ride the Death Ride course. I will personally strap a GPS computer on your bike that will be programmed to say (with a Japanese accent), "Turn left here, Tyson. That's correct, I said left, not right! Okay, you missed the turn. Now turn around before you go too far and have to climb back up this big mountain.":D

NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE! :(
There is one person I know who will definitely not be there next year. Grrrrrr!You know Tyson, there will be a time when the anger and frustration subsides and you will actually find it all quite funny in retrospect. I don't know how long it will take but it'll happen eventually. Cold comfort right now I'm sure.;)

A few years back I travelled to a country town for a weekend (5hrs drive/hotel stays etc) to compete in an open handicap road race. When signing in, this relatively unfit Masters rider found himself graded to ride with the chopping block bunch, about 1.5 mins in front of scratch. Limit riders had about 30min start. After politely pointing out the error of handicapping and being politely dismissed (which is really frustrating when the officials all know you personally) I set off with all these young gun rabbits on a miserable cold wet windy day. Well 2.5km up the road, the road side flag indicated a turn (who knows where the marshal was?). Of course I was hanging on the back of the line of riders like grim death and just followed the wheels. I did think the turn seemed strange at the time but.... Well 10 min later a commissaire car came rushing past to say we'd taken the wrong turn and had to go back..... So not only did I find myself with a bunch I was going to last as long as the first climb if I was lucky, we were now behind the scratch riders by about 15-20 minutes!

So I front up for the crits the next day to see I'm graded Cat 1 and promptly lasted 3 laps, dutifully pulled off and handed my number to the Commissaire as a silent protest, packed up and drove home.

That trip really sucked but I laugh about it now. All that driving and hotels costs etc. Hey at least I can say I raced Cat 1 - ha ha.

You know Tyson, there will be a time when the anger and frustration subsides and you will actually find it all quite funny in retrospect. I don't know how long it will take but it'll happen eventually. Cold comfort right now I'm sure.;)

A few years back I travelled to a country town for a weekend (5hrs drive/hotel stays etc) to compete in an open handicap road race. When signing in, this relatively unfit Masters rider found himself graded to ride with the chopping block bunch, about 1.5 mins in front of scratch. Limit riders had about 30min start. After politely pointing out the error of handicapping and being politely dismissed (which is really frustrating when the officials all know you personally) I set off with all these young gun rabbits on a miserable cold wet windy day. Well 2.5km up the road, the road side flag indicated a turn (who knows where the marshal was?). Of course I was hanging on the back of the line of riders like grim death and just followed the wheels. I did think the turn seemed strange at the time but.... Well 10 min later a commissaire car came rushing past to say we'd taken the wrong turn and had to go back..... So not only did I find myself with a bunch I was going to last as long as the first climb if I was lucky, we were now behind the scratch riders by about 15-20 minutes!

So I front up for the crits the next day to see I'm graded Cat 1 and promptly lasted 3 laps, dutifully pulled off and handed my number to the Commissaire as a silent protest, packed up and drove home.

That trip really sucked but I laugh about it now. All that driving and hotels costs etc. Hey at least I can say I raced Cat 1 - ha ha.No marshal - that sounds familiar. What is a marshal?:) At least you had a commissaire car Alex, so you can't complain.;)

And you were a category 1 rider, albeit for a very short time.:D

No Alex, I will never laugh about yesterday's ride. I train hard to ride seriously and, yes beat guys less than half my age. So I don't take it lightly when I find myself in a pantomime. On reflection though, I should have known from their terrible website that the organizers were a bunch of amateurs.:(

I probably should be thankful that I had the sense to turn to turn back and not plod along with Mr. Italia. He's probably still out there poring over his bloody map.

Tyson wrote:

Then we came to the second climb..............on this climb a bunch of us started to catch up on some of the "fast boys".......... By the time we got to the top, a guy in an Italia jersey and I had dropped everyone.
On top of that second hill, gaining on the lead group, dropping others, that was such a shining moment. Then, .......all of the crap that followed......sigh. Great stories going on with so many of us, playing out unexpectedly sometimes but most importantly "TO BE CONTINUED" next season. ;)

Tyson wrote:


On top of that second hill, gaining on the lead group, dropping others, that was such a shining moment. Then, .......all of the crap that followed......sigh. Great stories going on with so many of us, playing out unexpectedly sometimes but most importantly "TO BE CONTINUED" next season. ;)
That's right Curlew, 4 or 5 days complete rest now, then it's back to work for next season. I think in one respect Frenchy maybe right. Perhaps I have lost my edge a little bit and need to give the old frame a break (before it breaks:) )

Am off to Mister Donuts in a min to give myself a treat and drown my disappointment in gross coffee. At least you can drink as many cups as you like for the price of one. :D TYSON

I think in one respect Frenchy maybe right.
Now, I know you were just trying to preempt the potential "I told you so," but in reality you were ready to have a great ride if things had been organized better. Give yourself credit for all the hard work you did preparing -- the crappy ride wasn't your fault.

Now, I know you were just trying to preempt the potential "I told you so," but in reality you were ready to have a great ride if things had been organized better. Give yourself credit for all the hard work you did preparing -- the crappy ride wasn't your fault.
Actually the old quads were a bit tired, I think the rest will do them good.

If only I could just lose another 3 kilos, I know I could come back climbing like an ibex.

Sorry to hear about the experience, but like others have said later you will have this story to tell with more humor.

I do not race so I am curious. Why are maps given out?

I am only familiar with charity century rides that give out maps, but better than that they paint arrows on approaching intersections as to the direction. You don't even need a map and can just concentrate on riding.

Why wouldn't they do something like this where a competitor doesn't have to concentrate on reading a map and can just focus on racing?

I do not race so I am curious. Why are maps given out?


You'd have to come to Japan to see what some of the roads in the mountains are like. I suppose they couldn't put marshals out because the course was really in the middle of nowhere, and they couldn't stand a guy out there for hours. And the later stages would be hours between the fastest and the slowest riders.

But I agree with you, they could have put a marker on the road in chalk or something.

Incidentally, when we made our first mistake, it was quite a wideish road we were on, and the road we should have turned into was a narrow mostly single track road. This road was another reason for me getting peed off. I won't say it was rough, but by the time I came to the end of it I felt like I'd been working a pneumatic road drill all day.:(

NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE! :(
So does that mean there was a naked lady? You didn't mention that part in your race report.

That was my favorite part of the dream.

So does that mean there was a naked lady? You didn't mention that part in your race report.

That was my favorite part of the dream.And what about the toolbox (not that it compares with the naked lady)?

So does that mean there was a naked lady? You didn't mention that part in your race report.

That was my favorite part of the dream.
Lol, now why was that predictable?:rolleyes:

And RD, you seem to have some kind of fixation regarding the tool box. Did your Daddy not let you play with his wrenches etc. when you were a child, or are you just a toolboxaphile? :D