The first part of the ride was very cold and cloudy as you can see. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop us from taking some selfies.

After about a 45km ride, we arrived to the race venue at Hirata Riverside Plaza Park. The racers had already been doing time trials in the morning to determine race categories and starting positions. We arrived with good timing, right before the main races were starting.

I quickly went into vlogging mode, and started filming the race action.

I actually participated in this race last year, and won, so coming back this year and not racing was a little bit tough. On the other hand though, it was nice to be able to relax and enjoy watching the race and cheering on my friends who were participating (and suffering).

If you want to read about / watch last year’s race, click here.

Unlimited Class Start (Elite)

The fastest class of the day was “unlimited”, which was limited to the top 15 fastest riders of the morning.

The course here at Hirata for the sfiDARE Crit is half technical with some narrow turns, but also requires power with some very long straights and corners that can be taken at full speed.

This was Thuong’s first ever time seeing a race, and she quickly turned into a super fan with her cowbell.

In the end, Kodama-san, who had the fastest morning TT, also won the unlimited category race by riding solo away from the field with a strong attack halfway through.

The pack riders put in a really hard chase, ultimately shattering the pack, with the sprint for second coming down to a group of 3 who couldn’t quite close the gap to Kodama-san.

All in all, it was a really fun race to watch and it was great to see some big growth and interest in the race compared to the previous year. Kodama-san is actually a professional keirin racer here in Japan and together with his wife, they are making big strides to make fixed gear racing popular in Japan. They’ve even started their own dedicated fixed gear racing time that is racing in fixed gear races throughout the Asian circuit (and even Red Hook Brooklyn).

The Long Way Home, To Ichinomiya Tower!

Rather than going back home the same way we came, we (I) decided to take the long route back, and check out the cycling path along the Kiso river and Ichinomiya Tower 138 Park.

This was my first time coming here up close, and I was really glad we made the extra effort to come here, but I think I pushed Thuong a little bit too hard..

Nothing a quick little nap can’t fix..

We ended up getting over 100km in for the day, and the cold cloudy morning turned into a pretty warm day with some strong sun. I hadn’t prepared for such weather, and ended up getting really sun burned. Was going to happen sooner or later though.

Today’s Ride on Strava

Be sure to check out today’s VLOG as well.

sfiDARE Crit 2018 Cycling VLOG

The post 100km Ride to sfiDARE Crit 2018 Japan’s First Fixed Gear Criterium appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

The race was held at the Hirata Riverside Plaza, which is the same location as the local monthly training crit (平田クリテ) is held. There just so happened to be a race this day as well, which I was planning to enter, and then enter the sfiDARE Crit afterwords.

Because I wanted to participate in both races and I don’t have a car, I had to ride over with my road bike as usual, and Kodama-san lent me one of his spare track bikes, a Giant Omnium.

After a solid top 10 finish in the Cat-1 race of the regular crit, it was time for the main event!

The first lap was supposed to be a “free lap” for people to get used to their bikes and riding in a pack on fixed gears on the course. One person didn’t get that memo and decided to attack. Other people went with him, and that left me dangling off of the back trying to get used to my new bike. Luckily, after a few laps of getting used to the bike and the course at speed, I was able to put in some hard attacks on the long back straight and eventually catch up to the front group and then attack off the front.

I was able to get a gap briefly, but was brought back into the group by Kodama-san and Jasmin, who were fresh on form from travelling to the Red Hook Crit in Brooklyn, NY. Eventually, it came down to the three of us, with Jasmin taking a last lap flyer, and Kodama and myself playing cat and mouse to see who would chase and lead out the sprint. He ended up leading it out, and I was able to come out around him at the very last second in a very narrow sprint finish.

Needless to say, I had a blast and was really happy to be able to perform well in my first fixed gear criterium race.

This race wouldn’t be possible without Kodama-san and his wife, who have both made significant strides in bringing fixed gear racing culture to Japan through the sfiDARE Crit.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and I’m excited to see how this race will grow in the future!

みんなさん、お疲れ様でした！

sfiDARE Crit Race Day VLOGS

Full race day, Hirata & sfiDARE Crit

sfiDARE Crit Full GoPro Race Footage

The post Victory at sfiDARE Crit! Japan’s First Ever Fixed Gear Criterium appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Track cycling played a really big part in developing my cycling racing career. I grew up with a velodrome very close by to my house, it it became one of my first entry points into the world of competitive cycling. However, once I moved away from home, participating in track cycling became more and more difficult, since there are not many tracks in the US, and I pretty much stopped riding / racing on the track.

In Japan, there are hundreds of velodromes or keirin-jo (競輪所), which is what they call the velodromes here when they are for the purpose of gambling. There are about 4 or so tracks within a reasonable distance to my home, so I decided to get a track bike of my own so I could participate in some of the training events and races at the local tracks.

Since I was only doing this for fun and I did not have a lot of money to spare, I was looking for a cheap, but good option. My friend suggested the Undefeated II model from State Bicycle Company, which at the time was an unknown brand to me. It appeared to be built for street fixed gear racing, but it looked like it could handle itself on a track (especially a nice wide open Japanese 400 meter track). The price was also perfect, at just under $1,000 with a decent wheelset and omnium track cranks, I couldn’t have picked a better build for this price point. To top things off, they were running a 20% off campaign when I bought mine, which helped cover the international shipping charge to Japan!

Here is the bike fully built up. Can’t wait to put it to the test. Full review coming up in a later blog post!

The post New Track Bike – State Bicycle Undefeated II appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.