Cycling Criterium

well, a bit absent from posting...

I continue to alternate running with cycling, trying to rump up the running in distance and intensity, but keeping the fun of the cycling training.

So Sunday I lined up for a cycling criterium race.

Once I arrived at the site in the Yuen Long Industrial Area, my first reaction was to turn back and go home: the race was a 800m loop in a narrow road, with slippery surface because of the rain during the night.

I imagined it would have been a carnage, if 50 riders would try to sprint together in those corners...

My fear was also confirmed by early crashes in the opening junior race... so, I felt really doubtful whether to start, especially because I had not been training too much in the past weeks and it did not make sense to risk a crash...

Anyway I also spotted that in reality all the youth races were decided very early, with a early break up of the group and then few racers fighting for the top spots...

So I lined up at the start and kicked off very hard from the start... I was always in the top 3-4 positions and making several attacks.

As expected, after only few laps, we were only 6 left in front and there was a gap behind us. We cooperate quite decently and the break become larger and larger.

With us, there was obviously "monster" John T, the most amazing rider I have ever met: at 46, he scores countless victories in Elite races around Asia. A real monster, so I felt already with zero chance of winning the Master40 category...

Anyway the laps went by quite quickly and we really upped the pace for the last 2 laps. I tried to help a teammate to take a gap, but he was caught very soon.

At the sprint, I was quite cooked up already and I really missed the right moment to launch the sprint. So I was 6th overall and 3rdMaster which was really satisfactory...

I was able to "do the race" and place myself in the right breakaway.., despite the approximative training.

My good streak in cycling races continue... it is really going much better than my expectations

Here a nice photo in the height of the action of our breakaway (I am the last one....)

Worn out shoes

Sorry for the long absence, but I was busy for a while and then it is difficult to pick up again...

So at the end I decide to resume blogging from the end... no point to go back and write how many miles I run or ride in the past 2 months...

I have been in Austrialia for holidays in the last couple of weeks and I had a decent running streak.. but after few days I noticed that my left knee was painful in the inside.

(well... also the achilles tendons were painful but this is not a news..)

Pretty sure that such kind of pain was caused by the shoe being worn-out and tilting inwards, but I was with no spare and I had to be back home for a check.

Once home, I took the "old shoes" (a pair of Kayano 14) and and a new pair of Kayano 14 in my stock... same shoes, the one did maybe around 600-800km and I had not used them for the whole 2009..

Drawing a reference line in the same point for the 2 shoes, I measured from the ground:

OUTSIDE: new: 36 mm - old 36 mm

INSIDE: new: 40 mm - old 36 mm

so the "old" left shoe had lost 4mm of thickness only in the inside!!

Given a width of 90mm, it give a tilt of 2.5 degrees (if I still remember well trigonometry...).

So... even if the shoe upper and the sold are still in excellent conditions... I guess that those pair of Kayano is destinated to the rubbish bin... :-((

Stefano is back....

post mainly for Italian readers... so I just switch to Italian

(anyway very brief summary: my friend and fellow italian Stefano P come back from his injury (also an Achilles tendinitis) with a victory in the HK Half Marathon Championship...

Inizio d'anno molto positivo per la nostra rappresentanza podistica a HK: Stefano P. vince il Campionato Nazionale di Mezza Maratona, distaccando tutti di quasi 1 minuto!!

Una vittoria meritatissima per Stefano che ha battagliato per mesi con la tendinite, ma ha sempre avuto la costanza di tenere duro e seguire una lunga riabilitazione!

Per la cronaca, 2o e 3o sono arrivati 2 atleti della Nazionale di HK.. un paio di ragazzi che avrebbero ben maggiori potenzialita' se si allenassero meglio...

Ancora piu' singolare che il Presidente stesso della Mizuno, Mr Mizuno (sponsor della gara) era presente... purtroppo gli e' andata male perche' Stefano corre per Asics...

(foto tratta da questo album di au1266)

a new start...

the main good news is that I resumed running...

the PT told me that at this point anyway I better gradually resume running and see the reaction of the ankles.. at the pinch test they might still be a bit painful, but he claims this is not necessarily a bad thing and that anyway unless I put some load, the tendon are not going to regenerate...
I must also sing praises of the ShockWave Therapy... I found out that it was also available in Hong Kong and had some session which greatly improved the problem of the adhesion between tendon and his sheath. After only a couple of session I felt much better and the "pinch test" was a very positive indicator of improvement.
Now I will have other sessions and hope to report some good news... if someone is interested I might dwell a bit longer on all the therapies I tried for the tendinosis and my opinion on each...

Runningwise, I run already 3-4 times for 10-15 minutes on the treadmill. I would never imagined that a treadmill run would have been so sweet...
Now I must obviously avoid getting carried away and I will stick to run every other day for 15-20 minutes max for all the month of January, to see if the tendons hold.
No long terms plan or yearly plan, just take one week at the time.

Main current focus is to work in strengthening and stretching:

- the PT told me that my right hip is very weak and therefore the stride put too much demand on the ankles. So I must work a lot on strenghen the hip and the gluteus, plus working on general balance and ankle/feet strenght

- after 13 months of no running and only cycling, my muscles are very stiff... I lost a lot of range of motion and flexibility, so this is another area on which I must focus on

I want to also stick to cycling as long as possible, to make up the total "aerobic" time in a week and also because it is pretty enjoyable at the time... since I have gained a decent cycling fitness... very likely that I will close the cycling racing season in June and then hang the bike and just run. By that period, I hope to be able to "train" and not just "run"...

It is a steep road ahead, but I feel motivated

Lastly, I quick balance of 2009

RUNNING: 2 Km in 1 run ...

CYCLING:
==> around 5500km, 170 rides in around 200 hours (MTB+Road).. (not bad, but also not not impressive...)..

==> 2 races with excellent results (2nd overall in SZ and 4th AG at HK criterium)

As a side effect of the injury, I should have also done a total of all the medical and non medical expenses related to the problem, but it would be too shocking. Between medical care not covered by the insurance, expenses for cycling stuff, etc, etc...the total easily amounts to several thousands USD... so I really recommend to take care of your injuries in a preventive way becuase it is better to spend some money earlier on new shoes, orthotics or massage than later shell out 100USD/session on the PT bed..

Anniversary week - settimana di anniversari

ITALIAN version at the bottom

This week marks a series of important anniversaries:

- 1 YEAR AGO:Our son Marco was born...today is his first birthday. He is a lovely boy and a perfect baby, can not ask for better. He smiles 24/7 and his big eyes are an easy catch to everybody.

- 1 YEAR AGO: my last run. Well, I do not know how to elaborate this , but it is already 366 days that I can not run and I also do not know when and especially if I would ever run again. The ankle is pretty much ok, but there is always a painful spot on the tendons and it does not go away. I have a picture which can remind me at any moment of my very last steps, right before the finish line, right before I collapsed to the ground in total pain because my Achilles were killing me. (well, not that my face does not show it...)

- 10 YEARS AGO: I moved to China. I can not believe it, but it is already 10 years that I am here... I was supposed to come, fix the situation and go back, but working here has a magic feeling of "getting the things done" which keeps me here...

In 10 years I did have probably more experiences that in the previous 30 years of my life and the time has simply flown away.

I came here as a young manager with all my stuff which could fit in a couple of suitcases and a girlfriend left back in Europe. Now 2 apartment are not enough to fit in all the belongings, that girlfriend is now my wife and we also goes around with 2 screaming kids... I would say 10 years not wasted

Questa settimana segna una serie di importanti anniversari:

- 1 ANNO FA: nasceva nostro figlio Marco che compie oggi il suo primo compleanno. È un bellissimo e dolcissimo bambino, non può chiedere di meglio. Sorride 24 / 7 e i suoi occhi grandi sono una calamita per tutti.

- 1 ANNO FA: la mia ultima corsam. Beh, nons o piu' cosa dire, ma sono già 366 giorni che non riesco a correre e nemmeno so quando e se potro mai riprendere.La caviglia è in generale a posto, ma c'è sempre un punto dolente al tatto su entrambe i tendini e non molla...

A ricordo "perenne", ho una foto proprio dei miei ultimi passi di corsa... giusto prima delle linea del traguardo di Singapore e giusto prima di accasciarmi a terra dal dolore, con i tendini che erano completamente andati.

- 10 ANNI FA: mi sono trasferita in Cina. Non riesco a crederci, ma sono già 10 anni che sono qui ...Dovevo venire, sistemare la situazione della societa' e tornare indietro, ma il lavoro qui da una sensazione incredibile di "poter fare le cose", che ancora mi tiene qui ...
In 10 anni ho avuto piu' esperienze che nei 30 anni precedenti della mia vita e il tempo è semplicemente volato via.
Sono venuto qui come un giovane manager con un paio di valigie e una fidanzata rimasta in Europa. Ora, 2 appartamenti non sono sufficienti per farci stare tutto, quella ragazza è mia moglie e andiamo anche in giro con 2 marmocchi... Direi che 10 anni di vita non sprecati !!

Long Climb with Cycle-cross bike

In a moment of depression/weakness some weeks ago I forked out some notes and bought a Cycle-cross bike...a Kona

The bike was a total bargain because an HK distributor got stuck with the bike in his inventory and he was more than happy to find the actually there was a crazy guy willing to pay it even at rock bottom price and even assembly it by himself...

I bought it and carried to Dongguan because I found quite interesting the idea to have a bike which could face the badly paved secondary roads in China and also some light gravel roads, etc... So I could enjoy riding both off-road and in-road with the same bike here and also avoid dragging around the MTB.

But probably the main reason was sentimental: when I was young, I was crazy about cycle-cross and it was my total cycling love... in Summer I was just dragging around on road or MTB races or only to wait end October when the Cross season kicked off.

I avoid being too nostalgic and posting tons of photos of that era, but at least one is deserved

Italian Senior Open Champs 7/1/1988 (basically the Elite race).. I had just turned Senior by 7 days and I was training mainly on fast and flat courses for 40' races...

... I can still remember that course: on the slopes of a mountain resort, the climbs looked like walls (as you can see from my face in total agony) , so steep that the front wheel would touch the ground when I was carrying it on the shoulder...

So jump ahead 22 years and today I forked my new bike for the first time and headed straight on the long climb here in Dongguan: I was a bit beaten up from yesterday's workout and it was quite daring to attempt the climb with the smallest gear of 36x26, while on MTB I was usually cruising up with the 24x20 or 32x30...

It happens that the climbs had really hard spots and with the 36x26 I was really struggling, so I really had to take it easy on the less demanding sections...

luckily the road is being gradually improved, so it is no more the bumby road of few months ago, but a very smooth gravel with concrete sections.

Anyway, here the result:

2/Dec: 6.6km in 38'18"- HR avg:171 - max 186 (cycle-cross bike, click for Garmin details)

12/Nov: 41'55" - HR avg: 168 - max 181 (MTB bike, road was in worse conditions)

2/Sept: 44'09" - HR avg: 168 - max 181 (MTB, totally dirt road, no paved sections yet)

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that going down a steep gravel road with a cycle-cross bike may reserve some emotions, since the brakes are more suited for easy stops in a muddy field

che sprint !! - what a sprint !!

ENGLISH VERSION AT THE BOTTOM

dopo aver testato le acque al criterium di 15k, sabato scorso mi sono gettato in una "vera" corsa, al Shenzhen Cycling Festival, una kermesse con gare ciclistiche di ogni tipo, fiera, etc..

Premetto che in 10 anni di vita in Cina, non ho MAI (proprio MAI) visto/incontrato un ciclista su strada... so che ormai da qualche anno ci sono anche molte gare, ma in pratica personalmente

non avevo mai visto nessuno (mentre la MTB e' gia' molto piu' popolare e comune).

Per cui non avevo alcuna idea di cosa aspettarmi e del livello della gara: un branco di principianti oppure una legione di professionisti ...

tra le varie gare in programma avevo scelto la 40km, perche' la gara principale di 80km mi sembrava ancora troppo lunga peril mio livello di allenamento, visto che di solito non faccio mai piu' di 50km alla volta.

Alla partenza, noto che in effetti ci sono un sacco di corridori da Hong Kong (per forza, la gara era a 1km dal confine...) e anche molti ragazzi locali che sembravano abbastanza agguerriti e con equipaggiamento non male...

Ovviamente, essendo in Cina, l'organizzazione della gara aveva qualche punto debole: in pratica il percorso era un rettangolo molto scorrevole, ma l'arrivo era stato posto proprio dopo una rientranza della strada, con una doppia curva a 90gradi e una sezione di asflato in condizioni terribili, addirittura con un "taglio" di sterrato perche' stavano facendo dei lavori...pazzesco.

Di sicuro se fossimo arrivati ad uno sprint di gruppo, sarebbe stato un massacro, perche' era impossibile rimanere in strada sul fondo sconnesso durante lo sprint...

In ogni caso, a questo punto la mia tattica di gara era di fare la corsa dura dall'inizio per evitare di portarsi appresso troppa gente. La gara in effetti e' stata molto combattuta con attacchi a ripetizione. Per fortuna ho evitato le varie cadute e vedevo pian piano il gruppo di testa assottigliarsi. Alla fine eravamo rimasti in una ventina e mi sentivo ancora abbastanza bene, per cui ho tentato piu' volte di partire in fuga, ma cercando di andare fuori in 2 o 3 perche' il vento era abbastanza intenso e di sicuro non ho la condizione per fare 5km da solo a 45kmh...

Cosi' come accade in una gara, tenti 100 volte senza successo e poi invece di vedi sfilare sotto il naso la fuga buona... in questo caso a 5k dall'arrivo un corridore se ne va solo e noi del gruppo ci fermiamo... perdendo quei 200m che ci saranno fatali.

Nel gruppo di testa c'erano svarie squadre con piu' di un corridore, quindi non mi sembrava realmente il caso di fare io una sparata per coprire il buco... in pratica ben presto ci siamo ormair rassegnati a sprintare per il secondo posto...

E qui, succede l'incredibile per me...

A circa 2km dall'arrivo iniziamo una brusca accelerazione e io saro' all'incirca in decima posizione; per fortuna il gruppo si e' assottigliato per cui non devo sgomitare molto per tenere la posizione e a 1km dall'arrivo giriamo a destra per il rettilineo finale (controvento...).

Con il vento in faccia, cerco di stare coperto e vedo che pian piano alcuni "saltano" e anche il corridore in fuga si fa sempre piu' vicino...

a 100m dalla doppia curva, sono ormai abbastanza davanti e vedo che si apre lo spiraglio buono... non so come, ma ci piazzo uno scatto "alla Cipollini" e riesco a infilare la doppia curva per primo... il corridore in testa e' solo 20 metri avanti a me e ho una velocita' nettamente superiore...

pero' non era destino e proprio sul tratto di strada con asfalto danneggiato, mi cade la catena dal 53 al 39... (azzz....) e' stata una questione di attimi, ma ho deciso che invece che continuare lo sprint con il 39x14, forse era meglio tentare di recuperare la catenza.. aziono il manettino e per fortuna la catena risale sul 53 e posso continuare lo sprint, anche se ho perso velocita' e di sicuro non riusciro' a riprendere il primo...

alla fine della doppia curva, do una sbirciata dietro e vedo che, nonostante tutto, ho ancora 3 bici di vantaggio sul gruppo e posso quindi sprintare ancora in tranquillita' per un incredibile secondo posto...

anche a 3 giorni di distanza non mi posso capacitare di come sono riuscito a prendere 3 macchine di vantaggio in 200m...

In ogni caso, per me e' una soddisfazione enorme di essere cosi' competitivo in una gara ciclistica, anche dopo tanti anni... e di sicuro non mi ricordavo di avere uno sprint cosi'

A chiudere bene la giornata, vado a casa con 150EUR+una bici di premio...

Ecco una bella foto mentre taglio il traguardo...dove sono rimasti gli altri ??

after testing the waters at the criterium of 15k, last Saturday I dived into a "real" race at the Shenzhen Cycling Festival, a huge kermesse with races of any sort, exhibitions, etc

I must admit that in 10 years of life in mainland China, I never (really never) seen / met a cyclist on the road ... I know that for some years there have been road race races, but in practice I never met a road cyclist (while the MTB and 'already' much more 'popular and common).

So I had no idea what to expect and the level of competition: a bunch of beginner or a legion of professionals ??...
among the various races on the program I chose the 40km, because the main 80km race seemed far too long for my level of training, because usually I never train more than 50km at a time.

At the start, I notice that in fact there are a lot of runners from Hong Kong (not difficult, since the race was 1km from the border ...) and many local youngsters who seemed quite competitive, and with also good equipment ...

Obviously, being in China, the race organization had some weak point: the course was a rectangle, but the arrival was placed just after a double-S tight turn with damaged tarmac and even a roadwork.... really crazy.
Surely if we came to a bunch sprint, it would have been a carnage, because it was impossible to avoid a fall if you sprint in a turn with damaged surface...

In any case, at this point my race tactic was to make the race hard from the beginning to avoid too many people tagging along. The race was in fact hard fought with repeated attacks. Luckily I avoided the various falls and saw the lead group gradually thinning out. In the final laps we are only 20 left and I felt still good, so I tried to attack several times carrying along some other riders, because the wind was quite intense and certainly I would could not sustain a solo attack...

So as common in a cycle race, you try 100 times without success and then you see the winning strike passing under your nose... in this case a guys attack solo with 5k to go and we let him, losing a fatal 200m .

Nobody reacted strongly enough and so we had to settle for a sprint for the 2nd place...

And here, the unbelievable happens...

At about 2km from the finish, we kicked in a sharp acceleration and I am around the 10th position; fortunately, the group has thinned a lot, so I do not need too much elbowing to keep the position.

With 1k to go, we turn right for the final stretch and we meet the strong headwind.

With the headwind, I try to draft as much as possible and I can slowly see that those ahead are "Coming back" and also the runaway rider is getting closer and closer ...
100 m from the double turn, I seize the right moment and place a huge acceleration which let me enter the turns in first place and in full speed... I have the front rider in sight and I am significantly faster..

... so for a moment I also focused and getting him and try to win the race...

but was not destiny: and on damaged tarmac, my chain felt from the 53 to 39 ... (fuxxxx. ...) was a matter of moments, but I decided that rather than continue the sprint with the 39x14, maybe it was better to regain the right gear .. I pulled the handlebar shift and luckily the chain pulled back on 53 and I could continue the sprint, even though I lost speed and certainly would not be able anymore to catch the first...

the end of the double turn, I peeked back and see that, despite everything, I am still 3 bikes lenghts ahead of the group and I can still relaxed sprint further for a stunning second place ...

even today, 3 days away, I can not understand how I managed to get 30 meter advantage in 200m...

In any case, for me was an enormous satisfaction. I have been away from any road race for ages and I started again this cycling "stage" only to take care of my tendons... so it is all beyond my expectations. And never ever I would have imagined to have such a sprint...

As a side, I also won 1500 RMB (200USD) and a bike...

Up there a nice photo crossing the finish line ... where were the others?