This past weekend was nice, actually close to perfect.
Saturday 3 June 2006:
Saturday Morning Ride
Woke up early on Saturday morning and went for a supposedly "easy" ride around Mandai loop. But as luck would have it, caught on to the wheel of a faster rider who had the words "Team Ascender" printed on his jersey who pulled me to Farrer Road. Then caught on to a team of mostly expat cyclists upto Longhouse. Here I tried to recover my lost composure and ride plan that was blown to bits by now. Fortunately for me, I run into JB taking his daughter JB for a slow ride and I stuck to them for the rest of the ride back home. Thanks goodness for JB 'cause I needed to take it easy and I had bigger plans for Sunday.
Sunday 5 June 2006:
The Tribob Ride
I join the tribob ride doing the Reverse Changi and the Reverse Kranji Loops. We set off at about 7:35 AM after waiting for the latecomers. The ride started along Thomson Road taking a right at Yio Chu Kang Road. Matthe's instruction during the ride briefing is to take it easy up Thomson and Hougang and step up the pace as we reach Changi. I chat with Chris, whom I met for the first time and wonder how I am going to keep up when the pace picks up. Chris assures me that I will do fine and I take his word for it.
Matthe has a flat as we reach Pasir Ris and this breaks up the group. Matthe, Chris and Nathalie stop to fix the flat and assure us that they will catch up with us by the time we reach Fort Road. Myself and the rest of the group push on with Mike.
Pulling and sitting in
The group gets further broken up by the time we reach the Coastal Road. The flat road is inviting and a few guys take off. I hesitate to sit in after the lashing someone got at last weekends ride (not with tribob) and try to pull for a while knowing that it is going to take a lot out of me. I am pleasantly surprised about how well I do. Unfortunately only 1 rider follows me while the others decide to take it easy.
There are a couple of lessons here. Not all groups think the same when it comes to pulling. Not all groups care about who pulls and who sits in. A general rule of thumb is that the faster the riders or the ride, the more they care about who pulls. Slower riders can't care less - my kind of people. They are happy to sit in when someone pulls, they are happy to pull when someone sits in. Lesson two is dont pull unless you are really, really sure you can last the distance. There is really no point pulling first and dying out later - then the rest of the group has to really slow down to keep in touch with you. And that is not going to help anyone go faster.
Traffic Lights & Junctions
The ride goes uneventfully through the rest stop at Fort Road where Matthe and his group catch up. Uneventful until we were cruising along West Coast Highway at 30 kph across a red light thinking that it is a T-Junction and we were on the safe side and wham - a car comes out of the left. There is frantic breaking and some sliding but miraculously none of the 10 sets of wheels meet and everybody is safe.
My biggest cycling wish is that cyclists do not jump red lights. But if we have to, be extra, extra cautious - ride slowly, on the brakes and leave some space between each other. A faster pace is nice but no one is going to go very fast for a while when they have broken bones and broken wheels.
Nanyang University
I am supposed to bail out around South Buona Vista to go and play with the kids but I decide to ride on 'cause I am feeling good, we go around to Nanyang University, the hills there are quite challenging. Nice place to do loops in preparation for a hilly ride, maybe even when not preparing for a hilly ride. I try to keep the intensity in control waiting for the torture to come on at the Lim Chu Kang Airstrip but the group decides to turn right towards Old Choa Chu Kang Road and head back towards Upper Bukit Timah Road taking short cuts. We see some senseless drivers and in our defence - we had the right of way but 2 idiot drivers who probably only get their heart rates above 12o by trying to run down cyclists try to run us down. I am sure their resting heart rates are above 100 and they are headed towards Lim Chu Kang soon!
I stop at Springdale while the rest of the group heads towards Bukit Timah Road for brunch at a coffee shop. Since the suggestion comes from Nathalie everybody follows. She once got a croissant on a supposedly 2 minute break.
I cool off on Hindhede Walk - custom built for this purpose. I go home and take the brats "mimming" as Rabi calls it. They really enjoy the water and having Daddy around. I cant wait to get them on bikes and ride around with me. Well, only if they want to!
Night Safari
The Boys and I round off the weekend by going to the Night Safari. Rabi and Rishi are fascinated by the Silat styled dance and the fire eating performances. We take photos with the Jungle Cat and the Owl. Rishi has his favourite Hot Dog at the Bongo Burger Stand. Rabi eats his French Fries and makes sure Grandma and Aunty Tiah are fed too! Then it is home and to bed. I am exhausted and wake up a couple of times feeling too tired!!
Saturday 3 June 2006:
Saturday Morning Ride
Woke up early on Saturday morning and went for a supposedly "easy" ride around Mandai loop. But as luck would have it, caught on to the wheel of a faster rider who had the words "Team Ascender" printed on his jersey who pulled me to Farrer Road. Then caught on to a team of mostly expat cyclists upto Longhouse. Here I tried to recover my lost composure and ride plan that was blown to bits by now. Fortunately for me, I run into JB taking his daughter JB for a slow ride and I stuck to them for the rest of the ride back home. Thanks goodness for JB 'cause I needed to take it easy and I had bigger plans for Sunday.
Sunday 5 June 2006:
The Tribob Ride
I join the tribob ride doing the Reverse Changi and the Reverse Kranji Loops. We set off at about 7:35 AM after waiting for the latecomers. The ride started along Thomson Road taking a right at Yio Chu Kang Road. Matthe's instruction during the ride briefing is to take it easy up Thomson and Hougang and step up the pace as we reach Changi. I chat with Chris, whom I met for the first time and wonder how I am going to keep up when the pace picks up. Chris assures me that I will do fine and I take his word for it.
Matthe has a flat as we reach Pasir Ris and this breaks up the group. Matthe, Chris and Nathalie stop to fix the flat and assure us that they will catch up with us by the time we reach Fort Road. Myself and the rest of the group push on with Mike.
Pulling and sitting in
The group gets further broken up by the time we reach the Coastal Road. The flat road is inviting and a few guys take off. I hesitate to sit in after the lashing someone got at last weekends ride (not with tribob) and try to pull for a while knowing that it is going to take a lot out of me. I am pleasantly surprised about how well I do. Unfortunately only 1 rider follows me while the others decide to take it easy.
There are a couple of lessons here. Not all groups think the same when it comes to pulling. Not all groups care about who pulls and who sits in. A general rule of thumb is that the faster the riders or the ride, the more they care about who pulls. Slower riders can't care less - my kind of people. They are happy to sit in when someone pulls, they are happy to pull when someone sits in. Lesson two is dont pull unless you are really, really sure you can last the distance. There is really no point pulling first and dying out later - then the rest of the group has to really slow down to keep in touch with you. And that is not going to help anyone go faster.
Traffic Lights & Junctions
The ride goes uneventfully through the rest stop at Fort Road where Matthe and his group catch up. Uneventful until we were cruising along West Coast Highway at 30 kph across a red light thinking that it is a T-Junction and we were on the safe side and wham - a car comes out of the left. There is frantic breaking and some sliding but miraculously none of the 10 sets of wheels meet and everybody is safe.
My biggest cycling wish is that cyclists do not jump red lights. But if we have to, be extra, extra cautious - ride slowly, on the brakes and leave some space between each other. A faster pace is nice but no one is going to go very fast for a while when they have broken bones and broken wheels.
Nanyang University
I am supposed to bail out around South Buona Vista to go and play with the kids but I decide to ride on 'cause I am feeling good, we go around to Nanyang University, the hills there are quite challenging. Nice place to do loops in preparation for a hilly ride, maybe even when not preparing for a hilly ride. I try to keep the intensity in control waiting for the torture to come on at the Lim Chu Kang Airstrip but the group decides to turn right towards Old Choa Chu Kang Road and head back towards Upper Bukit Timah Road taking short cuts. We see some senseless drivers and in our defence - we had the right of way but 2 idiot drivers who probably only get their heart rates above 12o by trying to run down cyclists try to run us down. I am sure their resting heart rates are above 100 and they are headed towards Lim Chu Kang soon!
I stop at Springdale while the rest of the group heads towards Bukit Timah Road for brunch at a coffee shop. Since the suggestion comes from Nathalie everybody follows. She once got a croissant on a supposedly 2 minute break.
I cool off on Hindhede Walk - custom built for this purpose. I go home and take the brats "mimming" as Rabi calls it. They really enjoy the water and having Daddy around. I cant wait to get them on bikes and ride around with me. Well, only if they want to!
Night Safari
The Boys and I round off the weekend by going to the Night Safari. Rabi and Rishi are fascinated by the Silat styled dance and the fire eating performances. We take photos with the Jungle Cat and the Owl. Rishi has his favourite Hot Dog at the Bongo Burger Stand. Rabi eats his French Fries and makes sure Grandma and Aunty Tiah are fed too! Then it is home and to bed. I am exhausted and wake up a couple of times feeling too tired!!
posted by AdvRider at 10:25 AM
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