10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 23

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 23

The Inter-High Race begins, and Onoda's mom wants him to bring back a souvenir. Hakone's sprinter makes an impression on Naruko and Tadokoro.

Onoda's mom is so oblivious, she thinks her son is still in an anime club, and that they're having races now. And when Onoda makes it clear it's a bicycling club, she thinks it's a touring bike club. And I'm not going to knock her for thinking ロド レーサー (road racer) is some kind of new anime like Mazinger. However, she homes in on the important thing, whether the red-headed boy and the narrow-eyed boy are going to be with him. Heh. You bet Naruko and Imaizumi are going to be with him. Game faces on! Oh, but bring back a souvenir for your Mom, Onoda. That's a good boy.

After Imaizumi and Naruko calm down Onoda, who is feeling the quiet concentration of the peloton all about to burst from nervous energy, he feels the power of the peleton even in the neutral start. It really does create it's own bubble of air dragging everyone in its wake. We have some quiet time for even Manami to pay a visit to his broheim. The Big Three take a keen interest in the only first-year on the favored team, and that he has made friends with Onoda also marks him as having something special about him. Just don't go spraying your sparkles all over the peloton, Manami...

As the race gets on proper, the sprinters start maneuvering to the front to start contesting all the little races within the race. Sohoku's support staff has to get moving to the first checkpoint, and this gives us a good vehicle to explain what the stakes are for the first part of the race. Ask-me-anything Sugimoto is frustrated that they don't have radio or TV following the riders, so he doesn't know how he supposed to follow what's going on. Perm-guy gives Sugimoto a look I often make when Sugimoto starts yapping.

He didn't ask you anything, Sugimoto. Miki is nice enough to explain how each of the bikes are outfitted with the same sensors they used at training camp, and there are several checkpoints along the route to let the officials know who is where. This explains what the first race within a race is about: the first checkpoint. In a pro race, the hard charging at the front of the race right after the start is to get into a breakaway, to get your sponsors a 4 hour commercial with the TV coverage. In a high school race, the stakes are different, with no TV or radio signals. What matters are the names that get over the checkpoints first, because those are the names read to the crowd, and written on the signs carried by the official's cars. So, now we know. Naruko and Tadokoro are going to shine a little bit for the next few episodes.

Kinjou is cagey, which I've mentioned before. Part of winning the first checkpoint is also the way you do it. Tadokoro knows this, and keeps Naruko with the bunch while the other sprinters start pulling away. You've got to make an impact, he tells him. But the reason Kinjou sent them both up, instead of holding one back to rest before final kilometers of the stage, is, well, psychological.

Neither of them want to let the other take the lead, and this competitiveness between teammates will spur them to go even faster. They blow past the bunch of nationally ranked sprinters, and are prepared to fight each other for the first checkpoint. That's the impact they wanted to make too with the other sprinters. They're going that fast without the other helping him. Of course, somebody else want to make a similar impact.

Hakone's sprinter, Izumida, comes up to the Sohoku guys and introduces himself. He sits up, unzips his jersey, and coasts at the same speed as Naruko and Tadokoro without holding the handlebars. That's impact. That's showing the others that he's not even trying to go that fast. Tadokoro may seem like a big bear, but he knows sprinting, and he knows he hasn't seen this guy's name in the top results for the past year, and that he unzipped his jersey on purpose.

Izumida, whom we saw much earlier in the show working out and naming his pecs, has been building his form and body to peak at this race, so that explains his lack of results. Naruko immediately dubs him Eyelashes guy. Izumida then explains, he only zips up his jersey when he's serious, and he kicks out of their little pack.

We're in the race now, and we've got another 13 episode season when this one ends in a couple of weeks, so it's time to relax, let the kids beat each other up in all the little races within the race. I'm going to soak it all in.

This week's cycling porn includes a parade of bikes in the neutral start.

We've got Onoda spinning his Shimano pedal nervously, a huge bunch of bike brands we've all seen before, and what the checkpoint line looks like. The neutral start is a good idea for several reasons. First: safety. With a 120 guys all at a stand still, there would be mass chaos trying to get clipped and moving to get to the front. A road bike is at its most dangerous when it's moving slowly, and people would be just falling down all over the place. Second: pageantry. The Japanese call it a parade, and that's what it's like. The people in the crowd at the start aren't going to get in there cars and follow the race, so this slow moving bunch of wheels and colors puts on a good show for the crowd. A criterium may be good as a spectator sport, because it's just laps around a short course for about 60 to 90 minutes, but for a stage race, you need to give something to look at for the start town. The finishing town will be getting the race reports, and will see the finale, but the start town is where you see all the riders still clean, smiling, and excited. It's the PR face of road racing, whereas the finishing town gets to show the fruits of competition. The starting town is for the sponsors while the finishing town is for the cyclists.