Fixed in Japan, JeromeSadou.com

What I've been up to!

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Mon, 06 May 2013 22:13:15 GMT

Latest blog entry is from August last year. Better to compile here some stuff before I forgot about it (I will read this blog when I'll be 80y.o, if there will be still a trace of it somewhere that said).

So let's see. After Sagishima triathlon I was a bit tired after 4 months or hard training (cf runkeeper). Since then I've been training much less just to keep the form… well I gained a bit of weight though :-)

In October I rode the Hill Climb in Daisen like the previous year but without specific training.

[Wearing an original 80's jersey from La Redoute pro team]

I still managed to have an honest result : 19k of climbing in 1:05 for a 36th position /195. Not too bad. As opposed to 2011 the start was super fast (that quite surprised me) and it was a bit longer (which was good). Anyway a race I really enjoy as it takes place when the weather is at its best for riding in autumn.

Mt Daisen

Incredible colors in Daisen at that time of the year

In November I focused on running to prepare for the Tottori Ekiden from Yonago to Tottori City. I was in the B team of Hokuei Cho (my district) and this was my first experience to participate in an Ekiden.

Team was featured in the paper.

If you don't know, Ekiden is a relay race. Each member have to run from 5k up to 21k usually.

I was lucky as I got a short one [6.4k] and also almost flat. I ran the distance in 26:29 so a pace of 4:06/k. I had not run "that fast" in many years so I was quite happy but that still very far from what I could do 10 years ago… I wonder if I'll be able to run again in 37'/10k one day…

Also in November I had the opportunity to test ride Neilpryde's bikes during a morning. I was looking forward to testing the time trial specific model, the "Bayamo".

That was the first time I rode such a bike and yes you want to go fast with it. Unfortunately the test model was too small for me and could not really appreciate it.

The one that really surprised me was the Bura ultra light model, this one is a dream in the climbs. But if I had to buy only one Neilpryde bicycle that would be most probably the all-around Alize model, I like its shape, quite aero and I would be able to use it anywhere and for any kind of race.

Bayamo sexy lines ;-)

December has been slow as often. Kotatsu time :-)

In January I started to train for the Tottori full marathon when I injured myself in one of the first trainings, I was gutted… I think it was the first time in my life I had such a muscle injure. I was running at an easy pace of what was supposed to be a 20k jog when at the 13k mark I felt the shock in my right calf that stopped me suddenly, I could barely walk after then. Luckily I had the phone with me, as I was far from home. I was then forced to rest for few weeks and gave up the Tottori marathon : I could not have enough training to run it properly in March. I hope to have my revenge next year.

In February I could start to ride the bike again despite the cold but at least we did not have as much as snow as last year.

Around lake Togo : my "home trainer"!

First rides up the mountain.

In March I was offered a new job. That was unexpected and I have been an happy camper as being an independent developer for the last 3 years (cf. Ohayo Studio) but I thought the project was interesting and I can use some of the skills I developed as a blogger [even if this blog has been really infrequently updated for a year].

So from March adding to my developer work I have been an "English Content Producer" for the Tottori Prefecture Ecotourism Office.

My role is to help the prefecture to promote the natural treasures of Tottori and also to help to organize the International Ecotourism Conference that will take place in October. If you have some interest in the field you can have a look at the English version of the homepage or ask me directly any questions.

Sometimes I work on the move.[Here working from Tourism Office while friends from France were climbing Mt Daisen]

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you can see my regular uploads and see my love for the area. It's a real pleasure to live here, the nature is great but most importantly the people are very friendly. I met a lot of new friends during the past year, my Facebook friends count is growing steadily! ;-)

[New meishi from the Prefecture ( = name card)]

I will surely post also here some of the content we are producing for the prefecture. I am not really experienced at that but we are going to shot regularly some videos. I am learning a lot with Google sensei and I am trying to keep it simple for now. We have already covered the Run or Bike event in Yonago, but I have still some work on the edition before to upload it.

On the 1st of April we opened to the public the Cycle Café system : from now on between Yonago and Daisen a good list of coffee shops are welcoming riders meaning appropriate bike racks, access to tools, smartphone chargers etc…

One of the place is the Cog station in Kaike where you can also rent bikes. That was a very official ceremony with the governor of Tottori did a speech and the rode a loop.

Yes it is very serious!

You see!

As for training I had to adapt my schedule as I have to spend the whole day in Yonago about 3 days a week now. Living home at 7 to be back at 19 on these days.

That's quite a change for me.

On the 7th of April I ran the Shikano quarter marathon like last year. It's a tough course made of a good hill climb and … a descent. I ran the 10.5k in 46'. That was a good surprise as I ran 3 minutes faster than last year despite a rainy and windy day. I finished 33rd / 300 but lost 8 places just in the last k. Bad point is I probably caught a cold or something at the time and got sick for almost 3 weeks…rhaaaa

Anyway now the good days are here and I am enjoying the rides and runs, this is the end of the Golden Week right now [national holidays]. I better to add some swim also as the Yurihama triathlon will come fast now [6 weeks]. I am not decided yet 100% about the other races this year, I have to schedule that quickly too now.

And with a new friend on my running path :-)

Sagishima Triathlon Trip and Race Report

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 22:13:55 GMT

I was looking forward racing again after my 'come-back' to triathlon competition in June. I missed the limit date to register for Kurashiki triathlon in Okayama in July that was stupid… Actually I miss often this time limit, something I can't get used to. In Japan you have to plan your races months before even just for local races, it kinds of drive me nuts as in France I could always applied 2 weeks before the race… Well, this is my fault I just need to adapt to this.
At least I did not miss the registration for Sagishima Triathlon. It was the 23rd edition, organized on the small island. A course known to be tough with 42km (4 loops around the island) of bikes with ups and downs and the same loop for the run. And yes in mid-August so very very hot if you know Japan. I knew it and tried to prepare mentally and physically to that. I ran in the heat at training to experience it before the race and knew it will be difficult. As a Frenchy from Le Havre, Normandy, despite being in Japan for years, this weather is not something easy even for normal life so for a triathlon it's a bit extreme.
Anyway, besides the race I was also looking forward for the little trip. We crossed Japan from the Sea of Japan to the prefecture of Hiroshima, that was a very pleasant trip in the mountains.

I want to thank already the members of the Ishikawa Dojo Triathlon Club for their assistance. They drove me and my wife and our bikes, that was much appreciated. (It made me want to buy a huge van someday to travel around but that's an other story…).

After the mountains until the city of Mihara we took a ferry to reach the island of Sagi on Saturday afternoon.

(With Ishikawa Triathlon Dojo Team members)

This is Sagishima.

We had a reservation at a camp where a simple room was waiting for us. Then we just had a rest and rode one loop of the island very slowly in the evening. The 2 climbs of the course were easier than I thought but I will have to climb them 4 times on bike and one time on the run the next day. That's a lot in the end.

Front aero set-up : going for cheap and DIY :D

(Pre race day preparation, making sure all things ready)

Morning of the race! Hello little guy.

My not-usual breakfast, but that's not a usal day either.

(Part of the swim course)

Race day :
I took my race kit at about 8:30AM. It was containing the usual stuff, a chip to record my times, sticker numbers to put on my helmet, bike and the traditional race T-shirt.

(Officials speeches)

Then I prepared all my things in the bike park where more than 400 others athletes were doing the same.

Me and Yataka San from Ishikawa Dojo Team. A strong triathlete with a very good result this year at the tuff Kaike Triathlon (ironman format).

At 9:45AM I wore my wetsuit and did a short warm-up in the sea. I was actually already sweating…

(+1 if you can spot me :-)

Swim :
Line of the start was a bit uncertain, everyone was kind of wondering. They made us wait on the beach then 5' before start invite us to get close to the line and then when we were about there, suddenly that was the start… This time I did not do the same mistake as in Yurihama. I chose from the start to go on the extreme right of the group to avoid the usual swim "battle". That worked quite well and had a fairly smooth swim.

The 2 laps felt a bit long especially the end. I got out in about 29 minutes and 66th position out of 400. Not too bad considering my training, even a bit better than what I had planned when checking last year everyone times. So far so good.

T1 :Transition to the bike course : 2'52". I chose to wear a white cycling jersey on top of my triathlon wear because my skin really does not like this sun and I did not want to finish like a cooked lobster… So I lost a bit of time their but nothing important.

(One of the first athlete finishing his 1st lap when some are just starting)

(Same for me here)

Bike Part :

That's definitely my favorite one and the one where I am more at ease also. I was well trained and confident. I planned to ride the 42k in 1h16 and did it exactly without pushing hard. I really wanted to keep as much as energy possible for the run.My bike time turned out to be the 32th one out of 400, so I am quite pleased with that. My only mistake : my bottle set-up did not turned to be very efficient. After the 1st bump on the road I lost my bottle which was not tight enough in the cage. Fortunately we were provided enough water and drinks on the course. Volunteers did a great job at that. So that was no problem.

Bike map and elevation : 8 (short, about 1.5km each) climbs!

They are about 800 people living on the island and some of them were out in the sun to support us, that was very nice of them. Also as we were using the only large road of the island no cars were allowed so that was perfect.

(Removed the shoes just before T2)

Transition 2 :

At the end of the bike, my wife counted I was about 35-40th/400 which was kind of great. I chose to wear socks for the run, lost a bit of seconds there also but that's more comfortable. Well as long as you stay dry… Transition time was just 2 minutes.

Let's go for 10k in the sun, yoohoo!

Run :
As opposed to Yurihama Triathlon where I felt after a couple of kilometers my energy going quickly down, I was not feeling that bad. Of course the heat was terrible [absolutely no shade] but I was prepared mentally. I noticed I was passed by other athletes. I took my time to hydrate and shower at different aid booth but I thought I did not lose too much.

In fact I did…

I could finish, kind of a victory :-)

(Well deserved cold shower! Rhaaaa! :-) Thank you Sir!

So my final rank is 27th/96 in my age category [35-45] and 73rd/389 over all [there was few athletes who "Did Not Finish" from the 400, not surprising at all].
I lost about 30 places just on the run again, a bit depressing.

Full results : Sagishima Triathlon.

So yep a bit far from my goal again but this day I could not do better on the run. I almost miss the triathlons under the Normandy rain, well, not really ;-)

(waiting for the ferry to go back to Honshu - main island)

(with the team, みんなさん、お疲れ様でした！)

I was the only one from our city to participate to the race, the 3 members of the Ishikawa club were there to act as "marshall" during the race this time. That was also a hard task as they had to stay under the sun for hours…

Technical lessons from races :

- I need some sport glasses. I can't see $#!T in the water it's hard to orient well, I need special goggles. During the bike my usual glasses are quite uncomfortable also. Unfortunately lenses are not an option for my eyes. I need to spend some yens here…

- Running shoes. My Nikes were too old and too heavy for triathlon's races and as I was wearing socks, once I got drenched by water used to cool down my body the shoes/socks acted like sponges and felt very heavy to run with. Not good. I need more minimal stuff here.

- Bike : The Trek Madonne is a great bike especially in the mountains but my position is not optimal for triathlons. A real triathlon bike that would gave me a more "compact" position would be nice, I could produce power more efficiently. Well a different bike is kind of luxury at my level we all agree but triathletes of all levels love nice bikes :-)

From now on :

Now I would have liked to race again this year but that seems compromised, one of my idea was to go to Taiwan for the 70,3 (half-ironman) in November but I most probably won't make it. There is also Murakami Triathlon but that's very far from home. Instead I guess I am going to prepare for some running races [10k and half marathon] and also the Daisen climb by bike in October to check my yearly progress.So the plan for autumn and winter is to work on my run, I have to find the speed and resistance again on that part.

PS :
Two triathlons only this year is way less than expected. In France it is easy to race about 10 triathlons in a season but here it is a different story :
- less races
- they are far for most of them [cost of trip and stay]
- they cost quite some money to register

That is a bit frustrating as I am training quite hard and like competition. Well, this is also a life style that I like and I can participate to different endurance sports I guess. Now I am already scheduling 2013 season not to miss anything like I did this year. More challenges to come!

Special thanks to my lovely wife for the cool pictures and support!

Triathlon Training a Year After

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 12:41:33 GMT

Hello mid-summer and the not mid-temperatures!

Almost 10PM here and it's still 30 deg. Celsius out there… In the day time from 10AM it's about 33-36 deg. with humidity : not a nice weather to practice endurance sports, but I try anyway:-)

I try to start as early as possible my trainings even if I am not a natural early riser. Around 6PM it's also bearable to go for a jog before the night.

But before to go more into my current trainings I want to write a summary of my "come back to triathlon" journey, as it is just one year now that I (We) moved to Tottori prefecture and that I started to train again seriously.

1 - Getting back in shape

Body condition status on August 2011 :

I have not practiced any sports regularly for the past 5 years. I am not completely out of shape thanks to my daily fixed gear riding and also for some jogs or swim sessions I did during all that time but that was never really intense and even less planned and very irregular. Still I managed somehow to participate and finished 2 times Tokyo marathon with almost no training. And I had an "epic" day when I rode on a Fuji Track from Yokohama to Mount Fuji [138k] in 2010.

I am 182cm tall and was about 72/73kg, that sounds not too bad except I had 'no muscles' and that includes my heart which was quite out of shape. My body fat % was around 18%. Not great for triathlon...

Back to training :

You can read about the 1st 2 months of training here : Triathlon training the first 2 months. Training distances were quite short and pace "comfortable". With no surprise bike 'skill' was the first to show up again though.

Goal was to get back in shape, nothing competitive yet but that was a necessary first stage, building a good base for later.

Even with not so much power and fitness I managed to finish The Daisen Climb (October the 16th, so 2.5 months of training) at the 28th position [198 finishers] that was good for motivation.

Then I was planning to run an half marathon in winter but this one was cancelled because of the snow…

At the end of 2011, I was feeling better than in a long time. With no real goal and difficult weather [heavy snow], my training faded slowly but surely with winter. Moreover the local swimming pool was closed for maintenance for a month. In February and March 2012 I almost did nothing… Not very good, I know already I won't repeat that next winter.

2 - Working on the endurance

Thankfully I was not completely out of shape when winter ended but I had to build the basis again.

My first test after a couple of runs was to complete the Shikano running race, about 10.5k with a climb of 230m in the first 6k and then a downhill to the end. That was tuff without much training and I finished just under 50' [See the run here : http://app.strava.com/activities/13696259] That was on the first of April and really the start of 2012 training.

From then I trained very regularly and adding through the weeks.

12 sessions in April
28 in May
23 in June
28 in July [with a week completely off as we were in Taiwan for a trip]

That includes swim, bike and run training.

In Misasa after an evening training in spring

In May I rode the Tour de Daisen, that was a good test and I finished 23th out of 548 finishers. I was definitely not at my peak of form but was feeling ok and happy with the result.

Of course I was training also my run and swim as well with Yurihama triathlon as a main 1st goal for 2012.

3 - Work on power

After Daisen I was confident I had enough endurance to complete the triathlon but I needed more power on the bike and speed on the run. I knew my swim would not be great this year yet but I did my best.

Yurihama triathlon : you can read the report here.

To sum-up : mediocre swim [mainly because of the course], good bike, awful run but I finished and became a triathlete again after 7 years! I was a bit disappointed with the result, 67th/305 finishers and 15th/76 in my age group, mainly because of my inaptitude to really run that day [lost 30 places just on the run…]. But for a 'come back' that was not so bad actually. That also pumped me to continue a serious training towards next race.

4 - Adding strength and getting fitter

At that point I was back to 70kg but just about 16-17% fat percent [if my machine works well...]. Still room to improve.

My goal after my trip to Taiwan at the beginning of July was to get fitter, gain some muscles and be more resistant.

The next race being Sagi Island (Sagishima) triathlon on August the 19th.

The course is challenging [I will blog on that later] and it will be very hot I am sure. So I must be prepared for that : adding some tough rides and also longer run even in the heat sometimes [not really a choice anyway currently, unless to wake up at 4AM].

I joined the Strava Rapha Rising Challenge [link] which was a good motivation to climb the mountains around, logged some good kilometers at good pace. That brought me a better fitness.

Then I tried to complete an other Strava challenge : running 50k in 3 days. But I could not run on the first day so it became 50k in 2 days for me… I gave up at 37k on 2nd day as I was feeling my recovery would be too long if I wanted to complete the challenge. But these kilometers were some very good resistance training, something I will need during Sagishima triathlon run part.

Now I am at about 13/14% of body fat, still 69/70kg. Legs are getting stronger but my upper body is not really following as I haven't trained enough for the swim. So I am adding some strength exercises, I am using the Gain fitness iPhone app. and chose a beginner level, I'll see how it's going to affect me. [I would need a real coach for that part actually…].

I still have about 10 days of serious training before the tapper week race.This time the swim will take place in the sea. I am a bit in the unknown for the swim part as I did not train as hard as on the bike for example. Of course I will do my best though, I don't plan on resting during the swim :-) [I noticed last year swimmers time was quite long for many (more than 30 minutes. I wonder what is the actual distance, fastest was in almost 24' ! It must be more than 1.5k)].

This time I decided I won't push too much on the bike as it will be hot and the course [42k] is made of up and downs. I will need energy to have a proper run this time which is my main goal [same course as the bike, 10,5k with 2 climbs...].

Sagi shima profile

Ok, anyway 2 weeks until race day, I can't wait for it, it will be also my first time in Hiroshima prefecture.

I have few goals for the rest of the year, including an half marathon, Daisen Climb again, possibly a 10k run race and also one big project (that would be in November) but this one is not confirmed yet.

Strava - Rapha Rising Challenge

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 17:36:12 GMT

This week of training was a bit unusual for me as I took part in the Rapha Rising Challenge - Circle of Death.

What is it ?

Well, between 15/07/2012 and 22/07/2012 the goal was to Climb 6,881 meters, the combined elevation of the Circle of Death.
You can read more about the Challenge and what is the Circle of Death here : http://app.strava.com/challenges/rapha-rising-circle-of-death
I joined the challenge because it's kind of fun and I started to use Strava recently (they have some good stuff that Runkeeper does not have...) and also completing the challenge allows to participate to a contest and possibly win a Trek Madone 6.9 which is the modern version of my Trek Madone 5.9 model 2006.

Surely the chance to win is small as it's going to be a one chance out of maybe 2000 or a bit more riders who will complete the challenge in the world.

6881m was in my range I thought though. When I go for some climbs I do only about 1500m of elevation in a couple of hours as I don't do very long distance training [I am aiming at being as fast as possible on 40k for now for triathlon. I will do more distance when I will target an half-ironman for example].

So in 8 days I did the following :

4 rides :

1st and second were the same path. I think that was the maximum elevation I could get in a 2 hours ride.

For the third I tried a new road and it was quite awesome. I did not go up to the top of this mountain (but reached almost 1000m) as it was rainy and quite the jungle up there; road was not clean (lots of branches) and as I had only one spare tube that was a bit risky. Anyway I will ride it again after studying more the road on a map.
Also when you are alone in the "wild" like this, some animals sounds are a bit scary :-) Not to mention the eagle (not a tombi, I know the difference) that flied over me (I guess the blue helmet is a sign for him that I am not a possible prey...hopefully).
I crossed also what was a kind of a ghost village, like a about 10 really old houses, I learned when back that it was a village founded by a samurai who escaped there for some reason and that some movies where shot there... I should have stopped to take a pic.

On the cute side I saw a little river crab crossing the road up there...

For the fourth ride, this morning I was aiming at a bit more than 2000m to just complete the challenge. So I climbed 2 of my favorite roads, Hachibuse with some high percentages and then one more time the road to Mitokusan. I rode maybe a bit too much hard in Hachibuse doing a PB there and I was bit out of energy in the second part of Mitokusan.

Pic of the bike at the top of Hachibuse shot just one day before the challenge actually started. I live way in the back just near the sea :)

The irony is that with these 4 rides my total elevation is 13m short to reach 6881m! Right now I am ranked 1220/8888 and first at not completing the challenge :-)
Well I just have to ride the bike a couple of kilometers around to finish, I'll probably do that tonight on my way to the local matsuri :D

So the total numbers are :

Distance : 256.6km

Time : 9:48

Elevation : 6,868m

Avg : 26.18kph

Also I swam 2 times this week and on Tuesday I ran 19k. I guess that is a pretty good week. That said from next week I am going to do more specific training again towards Sagishima [Sagi Island in Hiroshima prefecture] Triathlon that will take place on August 19th.

Triathlon TV report and short interview!

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:24:14 GMT

This is the report by local TV TCC, yes I know it's in Japanese :-)

As a local racer I've been interviewed just after crossing the finish line. (This is at the end of the video around 6:09)

Basically I said I could finish but it was a close one I was not well and my final time was not good. Many people passed me on the run, but still I enjoyed the race.

Hawai Triathlon in Yurihama Report

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 23:27:39 GMT

Good news : I am officially a triathlete again.

Bad news : That was my worst time ever :-)

But not worst ranking though. [See all results here]

[On Saturday, pre race day meeting, with a reminder of applied rules, like the no-drafting rule.]

That was my first triathlon since 2005 when my personal best was 2:14.

Hawai (note the difference with Hawaii ;-) Triathlon takes place in and around Togo Lake just 8km from where I live, I know the bike and run courses perfectly. That was helping for sure as I could manage well my bike.

[Nojima San's photo]

Warm up

Tension at its maximum.

Bang!

So how it went ?

Swim : 28'27"

I was expecting to swim something like 25 minutes considering my latest trainings. Unfortunately, the lake is not deep. We almost can stand at any time. So it was hard to escape from the pack as we were kind of glued all together. Looking at the swim result I think 75% of the bunch was between 28 and 31'… That's not normal.

I really could not swim properly more than 25m in a row, always disturbed by other swimmers.

This is my arm in the middle with orange and blue lines. And a predator in my back :-)

This illustrates my swim until the end, the feeling to have someone on my back most of it :-)

No offense but Mister behind me, you should not be here on my legs and on behind swimmer's head!

I don't want to make a rule of a one time experience but from what I lived it was less about swimming than kicking the others… I swam in rivers, lakes and sea in France… I never experienced that… One more good reason to improve dramatically my swim.

Or maybe I should add jujitsu to my training :-)

After the swim I was ranked 64/305.

T1 : about 200m from the swim. Judges asked me to put my wetsuit properly in my bag. I obeyed. This is one of small rules that differ from France [at least from 7 years ago…]. T1 took me probably something like 2'30"

Bike : 1:04:51

People who don't know to put efficiently their shoes when on the bike [like me], please don't do it [like I don't], put them when in the bike park. I almost felt after 150m when already at more than 35kph one guy still struggling with his shoes cut my road in a zig zag just when I arrived at his high… duh… I could avoid him but that was a close one.

Apart from this incident, the ride went very well. I took few minutes to kind of forget the swim and focus on this part.

I know the course perfectly well so I knew where to push. The loop is mostly flat with only a climb of maybe 1.8k in 2 steps with a 45m elevation.

I finished the 40k in 1:04:51, 23rd bike time among 305 and could reach rank 35 overall which was what I was aiming. I am happy with that as it might be in fact one of my best bike ride ever. And I feel there is still room for improvement.

T2 : nothing special, it went ok. I chose to wear socks for comfort. Referee asked me to put my helmet in my plastic bag.

That was definitely the most ordered bike park I ever seen at a triathlon! :-)

Run : 48'49"/10k

Quickly I felt something was wrong. Still the first 2-3k I ran at a "normal" pace for me. But then very quickly I felt I was just out of energy, totally empty. I did some simulation (hard bike followed by race pace run) at training but never felt like that… Too bad.

So from k3 to the end, 32 runners passed me without being able to react… Kind of frustrating. I kept my jogging pace until the end to finish.

[Photo by Nojima San]

[Photo by Nojima San]

[Photo by Nojima San]

Just after crossing the finish line, the local TV TCC who did a portrait of me few months ago were waiting for me and a short interview… Ha ha, needless to say I was not in my best condition for an interview in Japanese and to show my face on TV but I did my best anyway.

Total result : 2:25:47. 10 minutes more than expected.

67/305 overall and 15/76 in my age group (35-45).

I guess there are things that training is not teaching and I needed to learn how hard a triathlon is again. Fair enough!

I want to thank all the organizers of Hawai Cho and Ishikawa Dojo Triathlon Club of Kurayoshi for their hard work as well as the Tottori Triathlon Association and all who volunteered or cheered up the athletes.

Next big triathlon event in Tottori will take place next month with the All Japan Kaike Triathlon. Equivalent of Nice in France. Oldest long distance triathlon in Japan with a selective bike course near Daisen mount and a grueling marathon as taking place in the terrible humidity and heat of July…

I won't participate this time yet but I will go to support my new friends and take photos. (I actually volunteered for this triathlon during my first trip in Japan in 2005).

As for me, my next goal is Sagi Shima [Sagi Island - Hiroshima prefecture] triathlon in mid August, it gives me 2 months to work on my weakness. This triathlon seems fun to do with a selective course and a loop all around the small island to ride 4 times on the bike and one time for the run. Heat will be a key parameter of the race for sure. Swim in the sea will suit me better hopefully...

Cycling : Tour de Daisen 2012

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:37:14 GMT

Tour de Daisen - results here

Two weeks ago, I participated to the Tour de Daisen for the first time. It's not officially a cycling race but let's say if you want to compete with others you can:-)

The event organized by the Tottori Cycling Association (http://tottori-ca.jp) with the help of the Tottori Triathlon Association (http://tottori-ta.jp) is now very popular as more than 600 cyclists registered and took the start! Participants who came as far as Tokyo. I must say the course is gorgeous, 82 km of up and downs all around the Daisen Mount. Plus we were blessed with a perfect weather for such a ride with a 22deg C, almost no wind and dry. The scenery in Daisen is incredible so it was a real pleasure to ride its roads even when it was in some of the more challenging parts. All I can say is that I strongly recommend this event if you like cycling whatever your goal is.

Also the area has a lot to offer with nice Onsens, and local products.

With 600 participants it has been decided for obvious safety reasons to make some groups at the start. So from 10 AM and each minute about 30 riders took the start. The group were more or else made by prefecture origin. So in my group was only riders from Tottori.

[warming up]

My group took the start at 10:07AM. My goal was to perform as well as possible but also to finish as fresh as possible. This was a good training ride for me before the Yurihama triathlon that will take place on June 17th.

So with 7 minutes and about 200 riders in front of me, the first 35/40km consisted in over taking a lot of people :-)

This was a bit strange as I was wondering, "is it me who is going to fast to early or am I really faster ?". I am not so used to distance of more than 80km as I am preparing for the 40k distance in triathlon races, so I was concerned in managing well the balance between intensity and saving energy to finish well, especially that the last 3 km were told to be the hardest.

From km 30 I almost did not reach anyone else, the guys still ahead of me were stronger and/or started before me. I noticed that very few over took me also so I thought I was in quite a good position. It remained like this more or less until the end, I could catch maybe one or 2 riders but about 3 other ones passed me before the finish line.

Actually 2 riders passed me in the last 3km as I was really in pain in the final slope of 10-12%.

I almost thought of walking when I saw my speed at 8kph… (that's what many people did in fact) and my wife running next to me :-)

[First cyclist to arrive, ranked second overall]

Crossing the line the lady with the microphone asked me for a comment, I said "まだ生きてる" : still alive :-)

I quickly noticed that few riders arrived before me and I was happy with my time : 3:27 for the 82km. I learned the first rider finished in 3:05.

(As almost all riders I stopped 2 times few seconds to grab some water and food at the check points. At km 60 my 2 bottles were already empty).

Among the riders there was almost all kind of bikes you can find in the field of cycling : X Million Yens carbon road bikes, triathlon/TT bikes, old school chromoly, randonneur, city bike, crossed bikes, mini velo(I saw 2), mountain bike and I even heard there was a mama chari!

One disabled cyclist even did the whole ride on his "hand bike" pedaling with the strength of his arms on a tricycle of more than 18kg, amazing!

An other one very noticeable was… a little girl! She is 9 years old and rode herself the 82km with her dad next to her. I am actually not sure what to think about that. Is not it too much for a child of this age ? And she was not the last to finish!

It turned out I finished at the 23rd position among more than 500 finishers. Of course this ride is not a high profile race but still it's a good indicator of my form toward the triathlon in 2 weeks.

I want to thank all the people who volunteered and organized the event (it turns out many are from my family :-). They were very helpful to provide the cyclists food and drinks at the different check points. I loved the umeboshi! That was a great day thanks to them and I will try to ride stronger next year to getting close to the top 10!

I restarted my bike training only in April after the winter so I have quite some room to improve I think. I just need to "not doing nothing" during winter :-) By the way if you are curious you can have a look at my training logs on runkeeper (http://runkeeper.com/user/JeromeSadou/profile). Now I know that I can keep an effort for more than 3 hours. So as I plan to complete the Yurihama triathlon in less than 2:20 (my best is 2:14 in 2005…), from now what I need to do is to work on my speed and intensity. Running is getting better also, but as for my swimming, I won't be very competitive yet. This is the least natural effort for me technically (despite I like it a lot), my goal will be to keep enough energy to perform well on the bike and the final 10km run.

All I can say is I can't wait for the race day! 2 weeks to go!

Besides I have few ideas to develop from now on the blog for example my diet. I am fortunate that the traditional Japanese diet is naturally healthy, there are some elements of it that I would like to present to athletes in other countries. Some of the healthiest food I eat now regularly was unknown to me few years ago. If you wish that I cover other stuff don’t hesitate to tell me.

Other participants blog I found, if you can read Japanese (or use google translate...) :

http://noboru.hatenablog.com/

http://hi-wind.blog.eonet.jp/default/2012/05/post-982b.html

http://tsumu26.at.webry.info/201205/article_4.html

http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/533028/car/634154/3111558/photo.aspx

http://kleingreenapple.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-461.html

http://tsumu26.at.webry.info/201205/article_16.html

http://tomozin.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2012/05/17-_-b517.html

http://ikenet.blog.shinobi.jp/Entry/1652/

http://tomozin.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2012/05/17-_-35f1.html

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/tkb16s

Osaka Cyclemode 2011 - Triathlon bikes

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:38:27 GMT

Last Saturday I took the train at 6AM for a day in Osaka, needless to say it is very unusual I wake up before the sun in Japan but that was worth it.

My plan was to visit the Cyclemode show in Osaka. Previous years you could see on my blog that I visited the Tokyo edition. Now I live closer to Osaka, plus that was a good opportunity to visit a little bit the city again. My first steps in Japan were in Osaka in 2005 but I haven't been back since then!

Anyway I took of course lots of pics at the Cyclemode, this time I focused mainly on triathlon bikes but there will be other stuff also in my next post.

To be frank I did not see any huge evolution compared to last year but still some very good stuff presented by Trek and the couple Fuji/Kestrel [Kestrel and Fuji being part of the same group now, they are represented by Akibo Corporation in Japan]. I think there was a special area for triathlon in Tokyo this year, I did not see it in Osaka though... :-(

First booth I visited

A Japanese maker that I did not know. (http://www.boma.jp/)

Kuota Kalibur

Ceepo still looking good.

Agressive Lapierre.

A classic now, Cervélo P3 with some Easton wheels.

Trek with a color custom service for customers.

This is the model used during latest Hawaii Ironman by some elites and also by Fabian "Spartacus" Cancellara this season on Time Trial races.

I got a short course on mechanical fluid from the booth staff, explaining why the square corners were important. It reminded me of studies I did 15 years ago at university on polymers properties… Anyway…

Time trial bike by Colnago, the Flight.

Koga are part of the Accell group as well as Lapierre : http://www.accell-group.com/

Kabuto aerodynamic helmets, I never tried such an helmet, it might be interesting though. I wonder how much my long hair slows me, probably few seconds in hour, ha! I'd better to train harder then…

Triathlon shoes by Shimano

BH time trial bike with Profile Design components

Pinarello also with Profile Design components

Lots of bottles!

Quintana Roo, I remember them to be popular a while ago, how about now ?

Kestrel are presenting some cool sets I think. I have to say the Oval wheels look good on it.

I don't have a specific triathlon bike, in France I had a road race Cannondale that was adjusted to a triathlete position. I guess I can do the same with my Madone but I'd like to try one of these machines during a season to see how it feels and if any significant time gain. Aero-wheel have also surely a strong impact. But I wonder from what speed the gain is really significant.

Any of you having 2 bikes : one road race and one specific triathlon bike ?

How is the gain ? What speed difference could you mesure? Or any other positive points ? [comfort in position etc...]

This was Matty Reed 's bike in 2011, first time I could see it in real life. Quite impressive!

Fuji (and now Kestrel) has always a cool booth.

French Triathlon shoes, Carnac. [Need a pair...]

Last time trial /triathlon bikes I saw, Ridley's ones. Notice the position of the front brake.

Random Bicycles from 2011

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:12:48 GMT

I just found this folder of pics that I collected through the year. As I am living now in the countryside I have, needless to say (way) less opportunities to stumble upon cool bikes... So this kind of post might get seriously rare on this blog... unless someone is willing to share his bikes shots from any city of Japan! I would totally accept someone to post here if he wants... The blog is still very well ranked in google for searches about tokyo/japan and fixed gears/fixie etc etc... I am more blogging myself about what I am into now (triathlon) but that would be nice to keep in some way this topic on the blog...

E.T 's bike in Meijijingumae, Tokyo.

My Fuji Feather, Yokohama.

Makino ftw.

At UltraSuperNew's Office

Front brake nicely hidden.

In a skate shop in Ameyoko, Tokyo.

Probably Paris in January

Lyon in January.

Rental bikes system in Lyon, one of the first in France if I don't mistake.

A shop in Lyon

A shop in Tokyo (nice cycling clothes) near Kappabashi.

Shibuya

Bike from the Fuji-Cyclingtime team for 2011.

My Fuji ... yep it was cold.

and slippy

Expo in Omotesando

Note the steel tyre!

A bike/skate shop in Tokyo, can't remember the name of the place... :-/

Bumbrich was the name of the shop I think.

This is a shop in Harajuku-Omotesando

Cheap colorful customizable bikes.

Yes lot's of choice.

Same blue Makino than more above.

Shane's Look.

Le vélo de la coiffeuse. [sounds more sexy in French, no?] . Harajuku.

Gift gloves from Pedal speed magazine.

Old Peugeot commercial in Japan from an art book.

Ah, the colorful bikes shop again.

Nice sneakers... not related but hey, that's my blog :-)

Instagram or no Instagram, that's the question.

mmm wtf ?

Rental bikes in Yokohama, Minato Mirai.

Nice blue.

Chic.

Classic.

Kaike - Daisen Exciting Tour !

jerome@jeromesadou.com (Jérôme Sadou) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:13:10 GMT

Last week I was kindly invited by the Tourism and International Affair Division of the Western Tottori General Office Citizen's Bureau (yes, a long name:-).

The purpose of this invitation was to participate to the monitoring of a 3 days tour that could be offer in the future. This tour entitled "Kaike Daisen Exciting Tour" is for people having an interest in outdoor and sporty activities.

The main activity being a ride around Daisen, the highest mountain of Western Japan, about 1700m. A good chance for me as I am planning to ride the Tour de Daisen next year, which shares the same road.

But let's start with the first day of the tour.

I join a small group of people (6) coming from Korea at the Yonago airport, official start of this tour monitoring. The tour is targeting foreigners also so it made sense to invite foreigners from the closest country. For info, from Yonago (main city of western Tottori) by plane it takes the same amount of time to reach Korea than to go to Tokyo. A little more than one hour.

We first made a stop at a kaiten sushi, fish and sea food are almost everywhere in Japan and Tottori prefecture is blessed with some really good and fresh products.

After lunch we had a walk in the main street of Sakai Minato celebrating the manga GeGeGe no Kitaro by Shigeru Mizuki who was from the area, it is a very well known manga in Japan for decades… not sure it's the same deal in Korea though…

Then it was time to check-in at the Hotel. We were very lucky to stay at the Kaike Tsuruya Ryokan. This is one of the most popular Hotel in Kaike and one of a very good standing. Good for us ;-)

In the afternoon we went for a lesson of sea kayak. The waves were a bit high though so we enjoyed kayaking in the near river for about 2 hours. I learnt then that there was a "sea to summit" race organized at the same place [also the place of the Kaike long distance triathlon]. The "sea to summit" is a race starting with some 6k of sea kayak, followed by 23.5k of road race uphill, and a 4.5 hike to the top of Daisen! Overall a climb of 1709m. It is a great idea, I will surely participate next year! I just need to perfect my kayak skill :-)

Then rain came so we went back to the Hotel to enjoy the salty onsen a speciality of the place. It is said to have curative properties. In the evening we were greeted by a dinner like we can enjoy in Japanese ryokan.

Next morning we took a bus to reach Daisen, our bikes following in a truck. Feeling like a pro cyclist :-)

The truck and the bus will follow us most of the day in case of any problem. That's what I call a luxury ride!

[Black & White Rapha jerseys]

Daisen is often compared to the Fuji San because from the west it really looks like it. It is not as high though.

Daisen offers some great views with great colors at this time of the year. I knew it well already especially the north and east parts. But this time I could discover the west and south parts and that was really incredible to ride it.

[Some serious equipment here!]

As we were riding around the mountain we were constantly going up and down. Even if we were going at a rather cool pace (it was not a training session) everyone could go at his own pace during the climbs and we waited for each other before to start a new section.

We were lucky to be guided by talented triathlete Daisuke Kawabata [7th at Kaike Triathlon (huge performance when you know this race) and also 7th at Yurihama triathlon!] and biathlete. I hope to train with him more in the future. Thank you again Kawabata San!

It was a great day to ride, weather was perfect. We rode a bit less than planned because we started a little bit too late I think. But 65km in the mountain is quite a good ride anyway.

The Madone excels in the mountain :-)

Then we put the bikes back in the truck and came back at the Kaike Tsuruya hotel with our minibus. At the hotel we enjoyed one more good onsen time to relax the muscles and then we were invited to eat the dinner with some Kobe beef prepared in front of us by a cook master, that was very impressive and… yes very good. Can I say it was awesome ? :-)

Final morning was dedicated to some tourism in the old city of Yonago.

This time we rode mini-velo to discover the Tera Machi : literally the Temple City : a long road with many Temples.

We did a stop at a temple where we were explained the basics of Zazen.

A 10 hours Ironman on a mini-velo :-)

Ganbare Kakui San!

Visit of a very old style sweet-toys shop.

A short lesson on manual computing.

Then we moved to a tea house where we were then introduced to the Tea Ceremony [Sadō = 茶道] [well that was not a first for me obviously but I always enjoy it].

Finally after one more ride in the old city to the Yonago port we took our lunch (a hearty bento) on a typical cruise boat and then that was the time to say good bye to each others!

I would like to thank everyone who organized and took care of the group during these 3 days. That was fun, and I was very happy to meet key people from Tottori prefecture. I have been living here for only 3 months but my life quite changed (for the better). Tottori Prefecture has a lot to offer especially for everything related to outdoor activities (one of the reason I'm living here also) and I will be more than happy to help to promote this anytime. I have myself few ideas I'd like to develop for people interested in endurance sports.

So thank you, Ichimura San, Kakui San and Bae San from Western Tottori Tourism and International Affair Division. As well as Ishimizu San from the Tottori Cycling Association [http://tottori-ca.jp] that first invited me to the tour. Also I was very pleased to meet Nojima San from the Tottori Triathlon Association [http://tottori-ta.com/]. And thank you Udagawa San, CEO of Tsuruya Kaike Ryokan for the stay and special thanks for the dinner at the "steak house" :-)

I would like also the Korean group I joined for the 3 days. Special thanks to Yunsuek and "Julian" who could speak English unless it would have been a bit awkward for me :-). Come back here anytime guys!

[Most of the pics are mine, some are from my new friends :-) ]