Having ride once for the past two weeks, I am certain I will suffer BIG time...
Woke up at 4am, I did everything slowly and time flies...
6am... I finally open my race pack and prep for the race.
Could it be a case of race overdoze... I can't be bothered to prep for races till the last minute.
Out of the house by 6:30am, I flew to the race site.
It was still very early (7:10am) when I get my race gear all laid out.
Met Edwin, Benjamin, Marcus, Croc Raymond, Kah Han and Winnie.
My race neighbour today is Roy, the winner of Hong Kah Endurance Challenge. =)
Nice meeting you again, mate. =)
Got questioned by the official about my the Road ID... =S
The race started exactly at 7:45am.
The race is heating up very fast.
After the first buoy, the weak swimmers were all left behind.
I was uncomfortable with the 5-minutes interval between waves and I was proven right.
Having survived the first round of kicking, I got one huge kick fest when the second wave overtook me.
Completed the first lap in 21mins.
Second swim lap...
I lost count of the number of waves that overtook me.
I just know that whenever part of an entire wave tries to overtake me, it become a kick fest.
Some swimmers are pure idiots. I am swimming beside the ropes and they insist on overtaking on the left when there is already not much space left.
Witness a breast stroker who was leading his wave. Impressive...
In fact, there was quite a number of very strong breast strokers today.
Completed the second lap in a total time of 44 mins.
Running to the transition point, I find it a wonderful relief that there is no overhead bridge to pass.
Insistent on not doing another horrendous transition timing, I stuff the entire Performance Bar and try to swallow it.
Roy looked at me in digust. =p
Together with Roy, we made our way out onto the East Coast Service Road to start our bike leg.
But I was no match for him. He reached the Service Road 20m ahead of me. =D
I targeted to keep pace with Roy. But I only managed as far the U-turn point at the National Sailing Center where I lost sight of him.
Learnt a few things during the bike leg...
One... it no longer matter which hand reach for the aerobars first. The fear of crashing must have played tricks on me. The fear is missing during the race
Two... retrieving and putting bottles from either the seat tube or the rear hydration system din prove a problem. During OSIM, I slowed to almost a standstill retrieving the bottle from the rear.... Again fear must have been at work.
Three... it actually helps a lot to ride half the race in aerobars and the other half upright.
Can someone confirmed this? We are using different sets of leg muscles riding in the two different positions.
It is thrilling to do sharp turns where you are 45 degree from the horizontal. =D
The sense of defying gravity and hope that the ground dun chew you up... =p
I managed to go Single Speed all the way. =D
My full water bottle Weight is adding much more weight than I hope.
1 AeroDrink, 3 water bottle provided me with approx 3liters of water for the whole journey.
Tried opening a Cough Drop with my teeth.
It worked perfectly previously, but I failed big time today.
Recalled Kam Meng mentioned that he had his meals on aerobars, so I decided to try it out.
Haha... cool stuff...
Essentially, both hands are free to truly have a meal. =D
Forced myself to stay aero while on the straights...
Got my first photo in aero position. Thanks, Fu Ling.
Nothing glamourous, just cheap thrill.
(U can kaypoh and check it out in FB. =D )
Made it back to transition point, lamenting that this triathlon is harder than OSIM triathlon for the simple fact that the crazy Desaru LD triathletes are taking part in this race too. =D
Off for my hardest part of the triathlon.
The legs felt weird today.
Never had this sensation before.
Must have been trying too hard to run after the bike, something which I had never really done before. =D
Turning out from the hawker center, I grimaced when I could not spot the water station in the far distance...
Cham.... the stomach is growling....
It was till we turning into the rear of the beach resort that I spotted the first water point.
Happily ate my gel and downed 2 cups of water. =D
Turning out from the resort, I was surprised when the U-turn point came up pretty fast.
Kudos to Tri-Factor for re-arranging the swim, bike and run legs so as not to make it look like another OSIM triathlon.
I gotta say that most of us enjoyed this race more than OSIM triathlon.
Making the U-turn with me were Edwin and Kah Han.
Oh boy, these two chaps are really fast....
Never mind, just 7.5km more to go. =D
Going for my second loop, Raphael caught up with me and he stopped by to chat before running off again. =D
Not wanting to suffer the same fate as OSIM triathlon, I dutifully took my 2nd gel at the water point before plodding on. =D
With less than a km to go, Kam Meng caught up.
He was so frustrated with his timing that he decided to walk with me for the rest of the journey.
I din realise that he is on his first run loop. =p
The poor chap has miscalculated his bike loops and went for 1 extra lap!
(Many riders clocked 36km, thinking they were 1 lap short.)
Nonetheless, Kam Meng did a 3:06 to finish the race!!!
Racing towards the finish line, I was hoping to complete the race in less than 3:28 as the seconds ticked down.
Sadly this was not to be and I only got myself to blame for walking too much. =D
Went over to the JR booth for some photos before scrambling home when I noticed the looming clouds overhead.
Aviva, here I come. =D
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