A Quiet Ride

Woke up at 5am, but procrastinate till 6am before I decide to get out of the house for the ride.

It is drizzling in Yishun and I dun really enjoy cleaning the bike after a wet morning. But I need to get tubes from Joyce, and I ain't sure when is the next time I will be seeing her again. Cannot make life tough for her lah.
Oh Joyce, thanks for the good deal! :)

Cycle straight to Joyce's house to pick up the tubes before proceeding back to LH.
Hitched the Changi Ride home.

Well...quiet moments for the ride means a lot of thoughts flowing.

Still enjoying the euphoria of completing Bintan Triathlon.
Starting to wonder if this is the end of the journey for me.

Will I still look forward to completing a Full Marathon, a Half-Ironman?
Up till today, the answer still resembles a resounding "NO".
I guess it is always the dreaded run that is putting me off these distances.

Having said that, I still signed up for City Duathlon and Pearl Izumi Pure Run Series, with the intention of using these races to overcome my phobia.

Haha, but I may just sign up for Aviva Ironman Singapore 70.3 given the strong family support I had at Bintan. They are now eager to support me for my next triathlon. :)

Very contradicting hor. :p

About the ride.
After doing Bintan Bike route, Singapore route seems a bit too flat. :p
Yeah, you may think I am atas, but no lah. Bintan is very technical and very challenging. My sort of ride. :D
And somehow I do not like to draft anymore. Or I think I just join the wrong speed group.

Okie, gotta rest now. Sundown is just round the corner.

Eerie

Woke up startled by a voice inside my head.
"Daniel, where is the photo of me and my boyfriend?"

So yeah, SL you are receiving an email from yours truly at 3am in the morning .

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.

There came a big spider,
Who sat down beside her.
And frightened Miss Muffet away!

Bintan Triathlon 2008 Olympic Distance Results

Swim : 38m 18s (402/465, 86.45%)
T1 : 2m 52s (424/465, 91.18%)
Bike : 1h 31m 28s (400/465, 86.02%)
T2 : 2m 48s (443/464, 95.47%)
Run : 1 h 33m 28s (458/463, 98.92%)

Overall Gun Timing : 3h 48m 56s

Olympic Distance Triathlon Finishers
Field Placement : 446 / 463 (96.3%)

Age group : 35 – 39
Group Placement : 108 / 114 (94.7%)

Gender Placement : 367 / 380 (96.6%)

Trifam Sprint Triathlon 2008 Results

Swim (750m) + T1 - 19m 44s
Bike (20km) + T2 - 38m 00s
Run (5km) - 35m 43s

Overall Timing - 1h 33m 27s

Overall, I finished 47 out of 50 Men's Open Finishers, last 6%.

Bintan Triathlon 2008

1500m Swim, 40km Bike, 10km Walk!
4 hours of madness
But yeah, I done it!!! :)

My first Olympic Distance Triathlon.
My first overseas race.
I feel like a true blue triathlete now. :)

*=*=*=*=*

Day 1

Again Shannon and Stella is well prepared for the trip and woke up early.
The kids do have holiday sixth sense.
Started the day by executing our logistics of transporting my family, luggage and bike to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. A tight fit, but we got there. :)

Once there, it was a mad rush to get everything and everyone through customs.
Meet the first of my Bintan Triathlon kakis Aerosolcan, Shut, Eliza, Yuki and Corinne on the ferry.

We left Singapore at 1000am and reached Bintan at 0950am.
Geez... we are travelling backwards in time. Cos Indonesia is 1 hour behind us. :)
Bintan customs was a breeze for us, as there are few Singaporeans , we went through visa-free zone in double quick time.

Reaching Nirwana Gardens Resort Hotel, we were treated to a VIP reception.
Huge banners were hung everywhere welcoming "Bintan Triathlon Athletes"
There were dancers performing the traditional Indonesian dance and we were served a welcome drink.



Check into my suite and let out such a large "Wow!!!" that got a passerby laughing.
It reminded us of our wedding suite.

After I have settled my family, I proceed to meet the guys to collect our race pack and retrieve my bike from the Bike Depot.
Lunch is the next order of the day, after which I proceed to do my race prep.

It started to rain heavily for the entire afternoon.
Not too sure if the Bike Recce at 3pm is still on, but I decided to give it a miss.
According to the locals, there wasn't a drop of rain for the past two weeks.
They predicted a hot weather tomorrow. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Rain stopped in time for our dinner.
Shut arranged for taxi shuttle to Pasar Oleh Oleh for us.
Thanks, Shut.
Had a good and cheap dinner and return back to the hotel in time for the Race Briefing.
Met Stazla, Gugugaga and XiaoPang. Gugugaga has sprained his left ankle and will probably be out of the race tomorrow.

The race course consists of a swim with a run-in at mid-point.
Bike course is expected to tough with undulating hills, but having missed the recce I can only hope for the best. :p
Run course looks confusing. Never mind, just follow the crowd lor. :)
It has been raining heavily for the past 2 races with 24 bike crashes last year.

Bintan Triathlon is the single, most resource-intensive event for Bintan every year.
Haha, we are turning a quiet, relaxing island into a very busy island. :p

Day 2 - Race Day

I went to the Race site for recce and photo taking.
The swim route is clearly indicated with left and right lane markers.
It was still early, so most of the Sprint Distance triathletes has not checked in yet.

Went back to bring my family for breakfast.
Filled my hydration pack with iced water.

At 12.30pm, I meet Aerosolcan and we proceed to the race site.
Set up transition area and get our body marking before proceeding for some warm-up.
Dark clouds loomed overhead and soon it started to rain.
Let's hope that the rain stops before the bike leg.

The rain stops before the race.
I realised that I have skipped lunch and now I am feeling a tad hungry.
Too late to go back into transition point and down a bar of Snickers.
Too bad, I shall have to eat after the swim.

Very soon, we were all herded into the Swim Start area and the countdown begins.
When the horn sounds, Aerosolcan and me took our time to walk into the sea.
I walk slowly and Aerosolcan walked even slower.
Once into the sea, Aerosolcan was gone in a flash.
Similar to Trifam Sprint Tri, the swim was surreal.
There are arces of space for me to swim.
Soon it was the first buoy.
Another buoy later, we are heading back to shore for the run-in for the 2nd swim leg.

Although I asked my family to enjoy themselves in the hotel pool and sea, they were there at the run-in to take photos of the "sea turtle" emerging from the sea. :) Thanks, sis!
When I finish my 1.5km of swim, the official clock is showing 38mins.
Hmm... that is fast for me. :)

Enter transition... where are all the bikes?
Most of the bikes are out of transition liao!
Wah, a lot of sea monsters out there.
Even Aerosolcan is gone.
Took my time to put on my helmet, gloves, hydration pack and shades.
Too tired to run, I walk with my bike to the mounting line.

Turning the corner, a steep slope greeted us.
There was a guy pushing his bike up the slope.
I told myself that this will not happen to me and quickly switched into the biggest gear and started pedalling hard.
Conquered the slope, but I am more tired than before.
All the Mandai training started to kicked in.
Efficient gear shifting translate to efficient riding.

I am not even out of Nirwana Gardens, when Dr Lynette over took me on her pink Zipp Wheels.
I tried to keep her in sight, but she keep pulling away.
I lost her at the 10km mark.
Not longer after, Dr Siong passed me by on the return leg!

The bike route took us past Club Med, Ria Bintan Resort and the Township.
At times, we have very cold breeze blowing past. Interesting.... reminds me of aircon route.

Stazla passed me near the 20km mark. This gal really fly on the bike.

Gosh, I am starting to feel hungry.
How could I forget to take Snickers during T1!
I drank so much water to compensate that I feel like puking.

Overtook Li Ying for the last time going into Township.
Haha, the two of us has been overtaking each other for the last 20km.
Passed XiaoPang coming out of Township. The chap seems to have problems with his gear.
He is spinning hard, but he is not moving far.

Back in Nirwana Gardens, a lot of triathletes are already on the run leg.
Passed Aerosolcan who is halfway into his first run leg.
The cool weather helps make the whole bike route a pleasant ride.

My only bother is the many speed humps along the route, which had me slowing down to a crawl.
I could probably go over the speed humps at speed, but I guess the stigma of the horrible year-old accident still lingers somewhere in memory.

40km ride completed and I am into T2.
Again, I took my own sweet time to take off my gloves (making sure all the glove fingers are out nicely), helmet and shoes.
On goes the toe socks and ANT.
Carry 2 bite size Snickers to eat on the move.

Onto the run route, I tried to run but the leg muscles started to protest by cramping up.
Most of the time, when I tried to run, it responded by cramping.
I resorted to run-walk most of the way.

500m into the run., saw Shut coming back on his bike leg.
Barely 1.5km into the run route, I got a rude shock. 5:18pm, it reads on my Garmin.
I have 25 minutes to make completed 3.5km or I am gonna be stopped from starting my 2nd run leg.
Shoot.. this is gonna be tight.
Moments later, a bulb lights up.
This cannot be right. I could not have possibly taken more than 3 hours for my swim and bike.
Haha, I am looking at Singapore time!
Phew, now I got more than an hour for 3km before the official cut-off time.

Overtook Raymond and from that point on, we designate each other as our markers.
Down both Snickers bars and the stomach started to protest.
Everytime I down the cups of electrolyte, the bad feeling keeps coming back as well.
Things are not turning out alright.
Luckily walking on, the bad feeling ebb away each time.

Following others' examples, I started to put sponges on my back.
They were like instant relief! The muscles started to relax immediately.
Why have I not use these sponges at the earlier drink stations!
It become a must for me to do at all the drink stations from that point onwards.

Past the 3km mark, Aerosolcan passed me on his way to his race finish.
This man can run really fast. Dun he feel tired at all?

Entering Nirwana Gardens, mum and Stella were waiting for me.
Wanted to hug Stella, but she shy away.
Hehe, with the shades and visor and the unfamiliar tri-suit, she must be wondering who I am. :p
Near the end of 5km, Joanne, Dad and a tired Shannon was waiting for me there. Took some photos and I am on my way again.
Completed my first 5km in 44minutes 58 seconds.

During the 2nd run leg, the route is getting visibly quieter.
At the 3km mark, it started to pour heavily.
The route marshals started disappearing and I hope that I did not make a wrong turn.
Shut passed me during the last 1.5km.

Coming out of the last water point, I was still happily drinking my 2 cups of electrolyte when I heard "Daniel! No more walking! 1 km to the Finish!"
Haha, it is Eliza, Yuki and gang relaxing in the pool watching us run past.
Stopped to take a photo with my mum before running the last km to the Finish.
Crossed the line in 3 hours 48 minutes 58 seconds.

After a couple of handshakes, I picked up my bike and proceed back to the hotel.
Stayed in the bath and dozed off a couple of times.
Joanne came in to check if I have dozed off in the bathtub. :p
Cleaned up the race stuff and had dinner.
After dinner, I put both my girls to bed before entering dreamland myself.

Day 3

With the sun bright and sunny, I proceed to bring out all the wet race kit to dry.
Send my bike to the Bike Depot before proceeding for breakfast.
Brekkie was the same as yesterday, but the crowd today was huge!
We totally forgotten that we were having brekkie when the Sprint Distance triathletes were having their races yesterday.
It is good to see so many familiar faces around today.

After brekkie, proceed to pack all the race stuff and nua for the rest of the morning.
Soon, it was time to check out and we started our trip home.




Highlight of the trip
================
Free Elephant Rides for the Triathletes' family

Bummer of the race
================
No Finisher Medal

Other OD Finishers
================
SGRunners - Aerosolcan, Stacy, Shutehelup, XiaoPang
JoyRiders - Dr Siong, Dr Lynette, Mika Kume, Li Ying, David, Alex Foggy Glasses, Dr Ming Wang, Jenny, Chermaine Fung
Trifam - DaftBitch (Relay)
Raymond

Sprint Distance Finishers
=====================
SGRunners - Eliza, Yukiko
JoyRiders - Raphael, Winston, Corinne

Conclusion
==========
Overseas Race is fun.
You only need to get your bike through the customs.
I shall try to bring my family for one overseas race a year. :)
Won't matter if it is the same Bintan Triathlon every year. :p

A Strange Dream

Have the same dream for 2 consecutive days.

In both my dreams, someone hijack the front wheel of my Cervelo and replaced it with that of a smaller wheel, probably that of a 650cc wheelset.

Silly Dad

When Shannon cries this morning, my eyes started to well up too.
Sometimes it really pains me to see Shannon cry and you can do nothing to help.

*-*-*

Despite not able to train for Bintan Triathlon, I still remain pretty optimistic about my first Olympic Distance Triathlon.

Having used up my warchest of sportsbeans , I am faced with a dilemma.
Trifam Sprint has taught me that I definitely need to refuel myself either on the bike or run. I am bonked right at the start of the run.
I am getting desperate, but I could not think of an alternative.

That is till I cracked my brain and realised that Snickers is a good source of fuel.
My beloved SOC pre-race snack. :)
It is a ritual that I have not tried for more than a decade liao.
And the wise old men has always taught us not to try anything new on race day, but I guessed I am left with no other choice.

The next thing that bother me is how to carry the Snickers on the run.
The New Balance tri-suit does not have pockets and it will look unsightly if I stuff the candy in my tights. Worse looking still if I were to stuff them on my chest under the tri-suit.
Moreover, I guess close contact with the body heat will make Snickers taste darn yucky.

That is till I look behind my bedroom door and found my Ultimate Direction - Marathon Belt! Yeah!
The pockets fits the Snickers bar perfectly.

Packed my tri-stuff and bubble wrapped my bike.
Not a easy thing to bubble wrap a bike. The gaps are so small.
I shall leave most of the bubble wrapping till Thursday.

Good nite, guys!

Under the weather

This is getting frustrating.
I have been feeling under the weather for 6 days.
ie. Right after landing back in Singapore on Tuesday.

The migraine attacks and phlegm just keep coming back.
It has disrupt everything that I have planned to do as build-up for Bintan Triathlon.

The amazing thing is that the sickness do know how to take a break too!
I was feeling totally alright when I woke up yesterday for Trifam Sprint. Amazing, yeah?
Other than one long bout of coughing in the sea, where I attempted to cough my lungs out, I feel totally fine for the rest of the race.

Migraines, please go away!!!

Trifam Sprint Triathlon

Woke up at 2.45am to a VERY WARM night.

Took a bath and pack my tri stuff.
Watching National Geographic at the same time, so took me a full 2 hours to pack up.
I also took the opportunity to double-check my Bintan checklist.
At 5am, I brought my bike rack downstairs to set up.
Took me a full hour to set up the bike rack!!!

Picked up Roonz and proceeded to the race site at Camelot.

The race site was a simple setup, using canteen benches and free sitting.
As Kah Han's bench is unoccupied, I proceed to share the transition bench with him. :)

The swim leg is a water start.
The swim was surreal. Never had a swim have such a calming effect.
Whenever I swim using freestyle, I have arces of the sea to myself. ie. Until I slapped someone's feet. :p
Turned to breaststroke and is quite peeved that the 3 side-by-side freestyle swimmers in front of me makes me swim even slower. Ain't that energy wasting for a swim stroke that is supposed to be more efficient?

Keep doing breast stroke, till I have arce of space to switch to freestyle.
I found out that I could sight for every upstroke, but it is taking a strain on my neck. Was doing freestyle when I slapped Aerosolcan on the shoulder.
He was so focused on his prey in front, I am sure he did not know who hit him. :D

Drafting behind Roonz, I climbed out of the water right behind her with Aerosolcan close behind.
Enter T1 - Roonz, me and Aerosolcan.

Haha, Roonz and I are trying to beat each other in our transition timing.
We came out of T1 in the reverse order.
Aerosolcan, me and Roonz.

Once out of Camelot, Aerosolcan is nowhere to be seen. Mr Sng is slaughtering me on my pet discipline. Riding at an average speed of 32km/h, I am still unable to catch up.

I ended up playing tag with another guy in a similar New Balance Tri-suit.
Everytime I passed him, he make it a point to overtake me on the next speed strips. Haha, such a simple race and he has already spotted my weakness.

Along the way, I missed my hydration pack.
I need a drink!!! Will stop to drink if I really needs it, else I will wait till the U-turn point to have a sip.

7km in, I spotted Gugugaga on the returning leg. He saw me, but I doubt he recognised me. He was that focused on his race.
I am amazed to see Winnie right on his tail. Wow, this lady can really cycle!
She is right behind one of our strongest cyclists.

Spotted Aerosolcan on the U-turn Car Park, but he din see me again. Haha.
Stopped at the car park to have my long water break before I start off again.

When I din see Roonz on my return leg, I start wondering if she has decided to DNF herself....

The return leg was so boring that I proceed to sing and did not spot a BIG pothole till it jerked me back to my senses. I fear for my wheels.

Terrible, terrible. Without any pressure, I am only clocking 28km/h on the return leg.

Nearing the last (Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal) traffic junction, I noticed a healthy group gathering.
As I near the red traffic light, I start cruising and try to spot a way through the crowd.
The traffic light turns green while I am approaching it and I sprinted through the traffic junction, ahead of the pack. Keke.

While turning into Camelot, I could sense someone right on my tail.
I picked up pace and when the guy came dangerously close to crashing into me, I slowed to let him enter transition first.
Turns out to be the NB Tri-suit chap. Crazy bugger. Such a narrow route, need to compete until liddat meh?
Anyway, am glad to finish the bike leg ahead of Aerosolcan and Stazla, whom I overtook at the last traffic light. :p

Haha, decided to take my own sweet time at T2 and change into toe socks. Lalala...
Got beaten by Aerosolcan in transition again. Darn... :D
Check with Roonz and she mentioned that she has DNF-ed.

Hardly 400m into the run, and I started to walk.
Reality hits hard. 10km (Keep thinking of the Bintan Triathlon next week) is a long long distance to walk.
Try to do run-walk, but succeeded to do the latter more.
Was lucky not to get caught walking by Aerosolcan who is on his return leg.

At the U-turn point, our chalk-marker cum solo-拉拉队 DaftBitch was shouting herself hoarse encouraging us to run. :p Thanks, girl.

During the last km, the run director came by on a bike.
Insisted on using his bike to finish my run and he apologised for not being able to help. :D

With less than 500m to go, saw Aerosolcan coming back to pace me.
Thanks, mate. Without you, I would still have walked till the last 100m. :p
Did my last km in a record breaking pace of 6.30min/km. (Dun laugh, 6.30min/km for me is tough)

Great race, Surreal swim, Wonderful ride and pleasant run.
Hopefully we can have the same atmosphere next week at Bintan. :)

Haha, it may stop working once I have said it.
But I do like the feeling that whenever I race, I am blessed with good weather. (Think City Duathlon 2007 and OSIM Triathlon 2007)

Bintan Triathlon, here I come!

Swim - 19.44mins
Bike - 17.44km, 35.07 mins, Average Speed 29.8 km/h
Run - 4.77km, 36.16 mins, Average Speed 7.36 min/km
Overall Timing - 1:33:31 hrs

Week 20 - 0 , 0 , 0

Ever since I start my training log this year, I have sub-consciously try to maintain at least some distance in either my swim, bike or run disciplines.
Have managed to do that for 19 weeks, no matter how short the distance is.

So I am not really proud to say that I have finally break the duck.

It is something that I cannot avoid as I came down with migraines, sore throats and a stuffed nose soon after landing in Singapore.
It still din feel any better, prompting me to skip my usual Saturday's ride.
Grrr....

Phuket

Day 1

Get woken up at 4am by Shannon. Turns out that Stella has woke up too.
Haha, looks like the kids are more excited about the trip than us.
Got a cab at 6 and reaches the Budget Terminal way ahead of our flight at 8.15am.
This is our first flight since our honeymoon and our first budget flight too.

Budget Terminal is a simple setup, but it has all the necessities, including a children play area which the larger terminus lacked.

Customs is a breeze, but a mobile boarding station looks like a giant step backwards.

Allocated seats is great and the lack of meals and entertainment does not bother me at all.
Budget airlines are here to stay. :D
My two princesses keep me occupied during the whole flight and trip to the hotel.

Karon is a much quieter beach as compared to Patong, where all the buzz is.
I will recommend Andaman Seaview to all honeymoon couples.
It is a simple but wonderful getaway resort.
The hotel is kind enough to allocate connecting bedrooms with the kid's pool in our backyard for us.
Some of the other rooms has steps that lead directly into the adult's swimming pool.

First order of the day is to fill our stomachs after a long trip.
Contemplated getting room service but end up lunching out.
It is a good choice as food are aplenty out on the streets.

Twice within an hour, we almost get caught in sudden thunderstorms.
Decided to hit the sack after lunch.
Woke up for dinner and did some supermarketing and that is end of Day 1.

Day 2

2nd day on, eating and sleeping becomes a norm.
Brought my running gear, but the gym is not free, so that is a good reason to slack. :p
Had brekkie at the hotel. Their large spread of international selection is good.
Their honey was served directly dripping from a large slab of honey cob, which sua-ku me did not figure it out, till my worldly-wise sister pointed it out to me.

Given the good weather, we hit the beach right after brekkie.
Slapped on large amounts of SunPlay, but still feels the skin burning.

Giant waves from the South China Sea are fun, but you risk getting swept off your feet by the undercurrent, which combined by the oncoming wave could be a deadly combination for those caught unaware.

After the kids had enough of sun and sand, we adjourned to the swimming pool where there is a kid's water slide for the kids to play.
Beach and swimming pool proves to be our main activity in Phuket.
The rest of the day is occupied by makan and sleep.

Day 3

Had Ice-Cream for every breakfast and dinner.

In the morning, we hit the beach again.
The waves are fiercer today and we got swept into the sea a couple of times.
The morning activity was cut short when a sudden thunderstorm rolls in and we were hit hard by the sandstorm that develops.

Retreats to the swimming pool and played for a while before I went to buy lunch.
Take an afternoon nap and it was time for dinner again.

For the third straight day, we went to the Sunset Restaurant for our dinner.
The guys must be darn surprised to see us.

Watched cycling every night.
Tonight, it is Giro d'Italia.
Was looking out for Cervelo and Felt, but there were none. Guess they are mostly confined to triathlons and Ironmans.
The theme for the race is pink, so you get to see pink everywhere.
There was a fall during a hill climb and you see 20 to 30 cyclists falling into a heap of men and machines.
Water bottles were everywhere.
Some cyclists recovered quickly and were on their way again where others waited for the support vehicles to get their wheels replaced.
These cyclists are superhuman, averging 50km/h while hill climbs is around 44km/h.
The races are all about strategy, where the lead changes hands numerous times till the last km, where team cyclists starts to block other team cyclists so that their star cyclists has a chance of a podium finish.

Day 4

Work up early and catches ITU Richards Bay Triathlon 2008.
The lead swimmerleads the bike chase pack by 30 seconds with chase pack 2 a full minute behind.
But by the fifth lap, all the triathletes are clustered together in one single pack.
It is pretty obvious during the bike leg what drafting can do.
Any lead are reduced to zero in a matter of seconds.
The deciding factor proves to be the run.
Once the runners finds their rhythm, you hardly see any overtaking.
The finishing order is pretty obvious by the 5km mark.

Finish the women's race and pack up for home.

42.195......

A magical number.

But I guess it will stay a mythical number for a longer time than I have expected.

Been thinking about the year end marathon for 2 weeks and I still cannot convince myself that I will sign up for the full distance when the time comes.

Throw me a OD Biathlon, OD Triathlon even a Half-Ironman, I won't hesitate to sign up.
I will probably give MR25 Ultra-Marathon a shot.

So what is wrong?

Tribob Sprint Duathlon 2008 Results

Run 1 (3km) - 20m 02s (375/405, last 7%)
Bike (15km) - 31m 38s (160/405, top 40%)
Run 2 (3km) - 23m 18s (378/405, last 6%)

Overall Timing - 1h 20m 47s

Overall, I finished 336 out of 405 Finishers, last 17% .

In the Men's M30-M39 category,
I am placed 109 out of 116 Finishers, last 6%.

Tribob Sprint Duathlon 2008

Cycled with Aerosolcan from Yishun to race site.

Cham, something is wrong with my front brakes. Legs and bike is covered with black rubber bits.
Tried to fix the problem, but does not seems to help much.

Reached race site and proceed to set up our bike.
Aerosolcan lot is near the run out while mine is near the bike out.
Decided that the hydration pack is not totally necessary despite the hot weather and deposited it at the bag deposit.

Met Gugugaga. Learnt from him that he got his Ironman 70.3 Clearwater slot back. Way to go, man!
Saw Eliza and her cute sunflower marker. :D
Met LT, Burnz, Shutehelup and a few other JoyRiders.
But the person I am most surprised to see is my gynae, Dr Ang. :D Way to go, Dr Ang!

The race started soon after 8.30am.
Down Nee Soon Flyover and into Upper Seletar Reservoir CarPark.
After passing CarPark A, I started to lose most of the runners.
Never mind, I will crush them on the bike leg, I keep reminding myself during Run1. :D

Running towards carPark C, I can see Aerosolcan running on the straight stretch towards T1.
Darn strong runner. Still got the legs after yesterday's 30km.

Reached T1 in 20 mins, only to realise that we have no time to enjoy the scenery at all.
Drank a bit of water, changed into bike shoes and I am off.
Looks darn pro, pushing the bike out of T1 by the saddle. :p

Must be the adrenaline pumping, cos I chiong pretty fast on bike start.
Sigh, with all the runners far ahead of me, now I got no one to "crush" on the bike leg.
Not soon after, can feel my quads burning. But it is fine, cos it is tolerable throughout the whole bike leg.
Tried to cruise, but the moment I stop pedalling, the pain is back.
Best remedy? Keep pedalling at slow speed.

Mandai Road does not have full road closure as we hoped.
Overtaking is still possible though, although I witness a few near accidents.
U-turn on Mandai Road proves to be the scariest part. It is right at the foot of a down slope. Did super slow U-turns.
Burnz, in case you are reading this, I guess the extra 400m is excusable, cos I think they could not put the U-turn point on a downslope. :)

Second bike lap is the worst, as this is the lap where the stronger Wave 1 cyclists are doing their last lap, while the Wave 2 cyclists is doing their 1st lap. Congestion on the lanes, thus a lot of shouting "On your right!"
I almost fell at the U-turn cos this lady is taking her own sweet time to do her U-turn.
My bike was already at a standstill, 2 seconds more and I would have toppled over.

By the 3rd leg , I am well spent.
Finished the bike leg in pretty good time, averaging 27.8 km/h :D

Walked slowly to my bike lot.
Decided to take the water bottle with me to drink on the 2nd run leg.
Was walking to the Run Out when suddenly I heard LT shouting my name.
He was chasing after me , asking me what am I doing with my bike helmet still on? Thanks, LT!
Walked slowly back to the bike lot, while consuming the entire bottle of water.
Put away the helmet and water bottle and started jogging to Run Out.

Crossing the gate into Upper Seletar Reservoir, my heart is pumping so hard that I promptly stopped to walk.
Wah, did not have such reactions before. Really darn scary.
Not long after, saw Aerosolcan and Burnz finishing the last 300m of their race.

Walk-a-jog most of the 3km , only picking up speed at the last 100m.
Am glad to cross the finish line in 1hr 20min. :)

After the race, dropped the bike at home and proceed to pick up Roonz for makan.
Had lunch with LT and Burnz at Jalan Kaya Prata before proceeding home.

Ramblings #2

Woke up numerous times during the night.
Forced myself to stay in bed and not checked the clock.
After I think it is late enough to wake up, I went to check the clock.
What? 5.15??
Must fight the urge to ride this morning.

SMS-ed Winnie to let her know I am not riding this morning.

When I got her SMS at 8am, she thanked me for SMS-ing her.
Turns out that she overslept and was woken up by my SMS. :p
She was out of the house in a flash.

Haha, she is addicted to the morning rides as well.
She would rather lose her sleep than her rides.

I guess the day was meant to start this way.
1) I am not suppose to ride.
2) I wake up early enough to SMS Winnie.
3) Winnie overslept and is woken up by my SMS
4) Winnie does not miss her ride. :D

=*=*=

Went to Yishun Street 20. Meet Supcon there.
He is there to see the sinseh for a mis-aligned wrist.
Turned out he fell while riding.
Chat for a while and we parted ways.

20 minutes later, I was at Chong Pang market.
Who do I meet? Supcon! :D
Haha, he feels that we guys are doing the Yishun tour. :D

Hmm, seeing Supcon makes me think if my daughter meant to say
"Daddy, Uncle (Supcon) falls down on Saturday."

Kids say the Darnest Things

Sometimes, I tends to be mischievous and addresses my dad as "Uncle".

Today, Shannon heard me and immediately corrected me.

"Daddy, you cannot call Ah-gong Uncle"

Aiyoh, so embarrassing. ;p

Ramblings

I won't be riding tomorrow.

On Thursday, Stella tripped and almost fell.
Shannon told us "Mei Mei did not fall down".

And she quickly added "Daddy fall down on Saturday."
What is unusual about the sentence is the day affixed to it. *Shocked*

=*=*=

Wanted to help a friend get out of the doldrums.
But I dunno how.

I feel so helpless.

=*=*=

Having a look at my blog's sidebar, gosh....
Suddenly all the race dates are nearing and I am nowhere prepared for the races.
Need to buck up.

=*=*=

Without a good education (which I solely missed) and not worldly-wise, I still do not have a job with a good pay package.

What I am earning now is just enough for my family and I to get by.
Financial planning is an impossibility, cos I cannot even afford to set aside money as savings.

Living a simple life does helps a lot.
No restaurant outings, no StarBucks, no fancy cars, no overseas holidays.

But we are happy. I am grateful to my wife and kids for being so understanding.

Really hope that I can earn more in the future to give them a better life.

Labour Day Ride

Woke up at 3am, unable to sleep.
Submitted the Recce field report before going back to sleep at 5am.

Had all the intention of skipping today's ride, but still manage to wake up at 5.30am.
After going through the morning ritual, I manage to leave home at 6am.

Today will not be chase day.
I will be going at my own pace.
Strangely, I do not see any other cyclists till Mandai Shell.
After a brief stop, I continue on my way back to Longhouse.
Along Dunearn Road, the sky threatens to open up.

Reached Longhouse at 7am.
Chat with Winnie and Kelvin for a while before I do a slow ride home.

Decided to take the Old Upper Thomson Road.
Never realise that the air-con road is so long.
The last time I cycle here, the distance feels just right leh.

Hit Mandai Road and suddenly the road came alive.
Cyclists were all over the place.
Wonder where these riders came from.

Reached Mandai Shell and took a long sip.
My butt hurts. Strange. I have been wearing this cycling shorts for 4 months without any issues.

While resting, saw Janice comes in.
Andrew comes in about a minute later.
Andrew seems to be using PowerCranks, cos he is standing on his bike with both crank arms at 6 o'clock.

Did a U-turn and cycle home.
Nice ride, although the weather is darn humid and the only breeze that you feel is the one that you created.