December 1, 2003

• Mass ride was wet.  As we got under way after a briefing and waiting around, setting off about after 3pm, the roadies John Chan leading the way with me as a sweeper and leader of the second MTB group behind me, while a slower third group of MTB followed behind their sweeper.  I have known John for quite a while now but never knew his name.  Weird?  Not really.  For me, I know quite a number of people by face, and some by nick but most of the time have problems putting two and two together.  It's nice to finally put a name to his face, in addition to a few other people such as MaddEye (a.k.a. TheOracle).  But then as usual, my terrible memory has cleared mostly by the time the ride ended but still I remember some people.  Wendy and Ah Boey (Lai Wan, who leads the BOAC rides) were there too.

  
  

  Our first stop was at the golf course just besides Seletar Reservoir, a turn in to the left before the "upper seletar hill" which the Thomson group will normally start their real ride (i.e. speeding up).  Pace was kept at everyone-stay-together speed and even as John kept looking back to see if we're still there, I kept waving to him (actually trying to say go faster).  At the golf course parking lot, I placed my bike lying down on the road, and to my horror... started seeing water dripping out from the back.  I had thought it was my water bottle leaking but that wasn't it!!  Another more experienced cyclist noted that it's normal when cycle in the rain, because of all the drilled holes and stuff.  Urgh!  And if left unchecked, the BB (don't ask me what a BB is but it's that thingie that holds the cranks (which is the thing which connects to the pedals and to your legs) to the bike.

  
  

  Managed to drain quite a bit of water out... and then it started raining.  Just as we were about to move out after a slow wait for the third group to arrive.  In any case we plodded on and things got so bad that John decided to take shelter at the stop just up of the Upper Seletar Hill.  After a while, we saw the second group go past and the roadies decided to go too.  Turning left into Mandai, not too far out, the rain turned to drizzle and then stopped and the road suddenly turned dry.  Looks like the rain has been pretty selective about where it was going to drop, because there was no more water (road was really totally dry) until we reached the zoo, and the turning into T15 Bukit Timah where the MTBers will decide whether they are going in or join the roadies on the road to King Albert Park.

  
  

  A long long wait here, more than half an hour and we realize that the third group didn't set off due to rain.  Terrible wait but the roadies went on (at a slow speed of just 24kmh) towards Bukit Timah.  Not much incident here except some cars which kept cutting into the lanes.  Could see Wendy was pretty miffed about certain driver behaviours but I was kinda like hmmm... what else do you expect in Singapore.  So in a way, I was really one of the more experienced riders in the group, knowing how to handle the traffic, the right braking and shifting out to another lane, etc. without any problems.

  
  

  Rain again.  We finally reached Rifle Range Road and while I was looking for another sweeper to take over because needed to escort some riders back to McRitchie, it turns out the other three riders left also had planned to break off already.  Only John stayed back in the end, so we headed to the nearby Mobil station to top up and me to eat!  Haven't had lunch since my swim in the morning and I was in a terrible state!  Hmm... haven't written about my swim yet.  Okay, later.

  
  

  So we topped up water bottles and our stomach then headed back home via Lornie Rd, which two of the riders were apprehensive about (gee, I've gotten to the point where I don't even think twice about riding through Lornie Rd).  Basically led the group of five riders including myself back through Bukit Timah at about 30kmh... which was pretty fast now that I think back about it, in the rain, but everyone did keep up.  Traffic was bad and at some point we did some rather calculated risk of filtering through the unmoving traffic.  Up Lornie Rd wasn't good either as me and Wendy keep dropping the other two riders, and Wendy managed to keep up with me through the bridge across PIE.  We waited for the two riders who made it and then let them lead the way back to McRitchie, where I washed my bike from the rain water, lubed it, washed myself, and then received my messages (left my phone at home, forgot to bring) that BBQ was still on because rain had stopped, and went by MRT to Harbourfront, switched to Sentosa Bus, took the WRONG bus (blue line) thinking it went to Palawan, went back to starting point and took the RIGHT bus (yellow line) to Palawan beach, and searched through trying to find the Wilderness Associate guys.  Fortunately at some point I spotted Yen Pin's rather unique bodyshape (he's a bit shortish but well built, a true climber's bodyshape), ate a lot of stuff while the rest cooked, got to know some people and then took a cab back with Teck Guan.

  
  

  I enjoyed the aircon on the bus back and after transferring to the cab I slept so very soundly until it reached Bishan where I dropped off and Teck Guan went on.

  
  

  Oh yeah, I did a twenty lap swim by breaststroke at Bishan pool in the morning, another two half-laps of freestyle then joined Joyce at Braddell View (or is it Braddell Heights - the one next to Mt Alvernia Hosp) for another few laps of swimming before I got really really tired and felt the cold seeping into my muscles.  Joyce noted that I don't glide when I swim.  I will have to time myself to see how much difference it makes if I glide (it's not that I can't, I just thought I will go faster if I keep on swimming and the extra energy required doesn't seem to burn me off - at least not for the first twenty laps).  If gliding slows me down more than 20% then I will continue with what I am doing, because I cannot afford to make up the extra 20% by bike through the energy saved.

  
  

  Slept so very soundly, until I couldn't wake up till 8am, then felt the muscle sore and whole body felt like I've biked for 120km the previous day, so I decided to skip riding and slept on till 10am when I had wake up and head to Woodlands where I will be meeting a group of people to go Turf Club and see see look look.

  
  

  Apparently lunch was provided at Pasta Mania, ate till very full, then took the MRT down to Kranji, got into the Turf Club and enjoyed betting for the first time on horses.  Urgh, it can get pretty addictive so I just made one bet, sharing with another person, and won $3... then said my goodbyes to the group at almost 3.30pm (was supposed to end at 2.30pm) to head down to Sentosa hoping I will still be in time for the prize presentation.  MRT to Jurong East, then switch over to Outram and down to HarbourFront and the same way, this time knowing better how to get to the Palawan Beach and the race site.

  
  

  Immediately spotted Joyce Funky Chick and Esther Killer Monster, aptly named because I then head the funny story of how she almost killed Kenneth her teammate during the adventure race, towing him most of the time via a bungee cord which helped a lot in the bike and run.  Imagine that!  Would have thought a guy will normally be towing the lady but noooo, that's not Esther.  Joyce on the other hand was more suitably partnered with Mark.  Some boo-boo about the mixed team that came in second because of mixed checkpoints since Joyce's team came in right after Esther's but did not get the third prize which Esther's team did after their earlier protest.  Jeannie and Winnie did much better, coming in first placing in the Ladies Team, even though with a slower time than either of the Mixed Team.  Also met Rebecca there who is a mountain biker who helps out with SACA races - I help out with the MTB races which she takes part in and since there are normally just two or three lady racers in the MTB category, it's not difficult to know who they are.

  
  

  Winnie offered to give a lift home but instead I followed Joyce and got pulled along for dinner - another buffet! - the last day of the one-for-one buffets which we all have been stuffing ourselves with.  Ate a lot without working out but body still feels very tired out, so maybe it'll help in recovery (I still think it only makes me fatter).

  
  

  I now weigh in at 71.6kg... overweight.  Need to drop 2kg in the next few days and maintain (if not drop another 2kg) till race day on 14 Dec at NTU.

  
  

  Will know what condition I am in when I go for Spinning class this evening, as both my knees are still hurting at the joint.  

  • 1:41 am
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