Date: September 9th and 10th 2023
Where: Fukushima, Japan
What: TOUR de FUKUSHIMA
Day 1: 12km TT
Day 2: 211km ‘very hard’ course!
Why: I’m not quite sure. This is going to hurt..!
Despite my last proper race being well over a year ago at the well-known HuaDong event (Tour of East Taiwan) in 2020, and the race previous to that being as far back (I think) as 2017, I will be lining up in not a lot of time for Japan’s longest road race, the Tour de Fukushima.
I have very kindly been invited by the Editor-in-Chief, Yamaguchi Hirohisa, of the iconic Japanese cycling magazine, Bicycle Club, to take part.
The race entry closes on the 27th of August, so if you do want to enter, follow this link to do so, or message me if you have any trouble.
There are shorter rides too, 53km, 61km and 91km.
I’ve just come back from 2 weeks of working at the Mongolia Bike Challenge and was off for three weeks before that with a bad back, so I am quite out of shape from my usual ‘casual cyclist’ form – and years off my old racing form!
I could have chosen the 91km route but I am being invited and I feel I should go big!
I’ll be detailing my training here soon, if you can call it that, that is currently underway (day 2 and I struggled to get 2 hrs done..).
I’ve been to Fukushima twice before to cycle and it is absolutely gorgeous, with terrifically resilient and friendly people too – should be a great trip!
