I saw my first cycling road race yesterday, a small local affair. Road racing is quite a bit different than the only other kind of bicycle racing I've seen, cyclocross, so it was a great experience.

The races yesterday were 「第5回守山野洲川クリテリウム」, the fifth Moriyama City Yasugawa River Criterium, with short races all day over a loop on closed-off public roads.

It was a 32km (20mi) ride to get there, so I left with some friends from Kyoto early, to arrive in time to watch some other friends race.

I brought my Nikon D4 and big Nikkor 70-200/2.8, schlepped in a backpack, so I don't have shots of the uneventful-anyway ride there.

I had researched the event the previous day, and taking into account the course, what roads would be closed, good vantage for photography, etc. I picked a spot that gave me easy access to riders at two opposite sides of the loop.

We arrived while the first race was going on, and so I used the opportunity to practice with the camera...

This particular race was 12 laps around the 2.2km (1.4mi) loop, so I had plenty of opportunity to try different approaches.

I think this guy went on to win by a 20-second margin.

The second race of the day was the one I came to watch, a pairs time trial where teams of two riders start at 15-second intervals, racing against the clock for three laps (taking about 11~12 minutes).

We've seen both Ionut (pronounce yo-notes) and Stephanie on my blog in the past, Stephanie here, here, and here, and Ionut here and here.

They were to be the second team to start, so I was down at my spot waiting with the camera.

I also knew that Higuchi-san (the lady in the shot above) would be riding this race. Manseki and I did a ride with her last year, and I often stop by a cafe where she works on the way home from a ride.

Higuchi-san had mentioned that the sixth team was strong, so I watched out for them as well...

It's much easier to ride directly in the slipstream behind someone, rather than being forced to push through the air all by yourself. When both riders in the team are of comparable strength, they'll take turns at the front, but in these male/female pairs, generally the man rides in front the whole time, allowing the woman to go much faster than she would on her own, thereby allowing the team as whole to finish more quickly.

The difference in posture among the three pairs is striking, with the final pair in a much more aero posture. They clearly had experience doing this.

Not only is the individual position of each rider on the bike important, but even more-so how closely tucked in the second rider is to the first, to take maximum advantage of the draft. In my limited experience, it's difficult to stay tucked in closely, especially on a course like this where the road rises and falls and turns. If the front rider is too strong out of a turn or up an incline, the second rider is dropped and draft is destroyed. If the first rider is not strong enough, the whole team goes slower than they need to. I suppose they need a lot of communication and experience to stay tightly in sync.

One more comparison of the three teams I was watching:

She's so far back in that last photo that she's not getting any benefit from the draft.

It seems clear who's in their first race and who seems to have a lot of experience. I shudder to think what I'd look like. Maybe next year I'll enter and we'll find out.

Stephanie and Ionut got third place, which is pretty darn good for their first race. (Stephanie has a long history of solo triathlons, but I think this was her first pair time trial.) Their prize was a dozen eggs each.

The pair whose form I liked came in second place and won gyoza. Amazingly, for all their better form, their time was only two seconds faster per lap (6 seconds overall) than Ionut and Stephanie, which just goes to show how strong Ionut and Stephanie are to begin with.

I never saw the team that won, probably because they started in a slot that put them opposite the teams I was watching. They won by a 35-second margin.

While milling around after the race, I noticed (and immediately respected) this guy:

There were still races all day, but I'd seen what I came for, so I headed off to explore some nearby mountains, but I'll leave that for another post.

Continued here...