Survived Suzuka

Wednesday was the Big Day - the Suzuka 8hour Enduro.

It was my first attempt at the race and I was really looking forward to it. Being part of the D-team made it even more special and fun.

The day started by meeting in Owariashi at 2:30am. That meant I had to ride my bike from Kasugai from 2:00am. We left after loading the bikes into 3 vans and headed for Suzuka. Once there we had to line up to race for a good pit site and put down our big blue sheets.

I then went for a 3-lap practice run as it was my first time to physically get on the track after hours of driving on it on the Playstation. At this stage I still didn't know if I actually had a team or if I would have to ride the whole day by myself. One teammate cancelled, but luckily Mr. W arrived ten minutes before the start of the race, so we had a 30 second strategy meeting - I have to go first.

So we took it in turns to complete the race. One full lap is almost 6km, so we switched after doing 3-4 laps. By the end of the 8 hours my knee was hurting, but together we had done 41 laps - I did 21 and Mr. W did 20. Pretty good for two of us, but well behind the top riders, including the Ono Yoko team who were impressive in finishing 25th out of 330 teams. Well done!

After the drive back home, I then had to ride back to Kasugai which is not so far, but pretty hard to go over that Moriyama hill with a sore knee.

By the end of the day, I had ridden over 150km - that's twice the distance I have ever ridden in one day in my life. It was a hard day, but well worth it and I look forward to doing it again. If you are keen, why not join us next time.

P.S. Hopefully I can post some nicer photos soon - maybe one with me or Mr. N in it.