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.

After my return to racing in last month’s Hirata criterium where I finished in the top 10 in the C2 race, I decided to increase my training intensity so that I could compete in the C1 in this month’s Hirata criterium to see how I could perform.

Unlike the last race, which was a rain fest, today was a nice clear and warm day. The pace started fast, and there were constant attacks. Unlike the C2 race, where I was the one doing the most of the attacking, this more aggressive style of racing was what I was more used to.

Since it was my first C1 level race attempt in a few years, I decided to play it easy for the first half and just follow wheels. This strategy seemed to work well since it came down to a field sprint. I led it out going around the last corner, but was passed by two people in the long finishing straight.

Very happy with a 3rd place finish in my first C1 race. Definitely need to work on improving my sprinting power / speed if I want to get that win though.

Today was also my first race on my new race wheels, which are made in Tokyo Japan: Imezi’s Project 167 carbon wheels.

Thanks to Catarina for the race day photos!

The post 2016 Hirata Criterium #9 – 3rd Place C1 appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

My friend Bradley and I had been training together quite a bit this Summer, and we started discussing possibly going to a race together to see what it was like. We found out about a local race called the Hirata Criterium (平田クリテリウム), which is held once a month and only cost about 1,000 yen (~$10). It was only about a 1.5 hour ride from the center of Nagoya, so about a 2 hour ride for me from Nagakute, which is on the east side of Nagoya.

It was a pretty cloudy day with a high chance of rain, but we had already decided that we were going to do this race rain or shine. Luckily, it didn’t rain during our ride over. This was Bradley’s first every crit, and he managed to stay on until about 2 laps to go. He said he really enjoyed the race though and was motivated to train more and come back again next time.

This was my second ever race since moving to Japan, and also my second race since quitting competitive cycling a few years back. Although I hadn’t been racing much, I had been training with some of the fast local racers, so I was pretty confident in my ability, and decided to first start out in the second highest category, C2.

During the race, it started to rain pretty hard, and I decided to bury myself and test my limit by attacking as much as possible.

Unfortunately, none of my breakaway attempts stuck.

It came down to a field sprint, which I had no energy left for, so I finished at about 6th.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with my result. I was able to prove to myself that I can still race hard at the front of the pack, and next time I want to challenge myself in the C1 race.

I also really enjoyed the atmosphere of the Hirata Criterium. It is very relaxed, with lots of people chatting, catching up, and also Bucyo Coffee has their food stand with delicious snacks, which I was more than happy to stuff myself with after the race.

Definitely gonna be back for the next one!

For more information about racing at the Hirata Criterium, click here

Thanks to Kikizu and Catarina for the race photos!

The post First Ever Race at Hirata Criterium appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.