Went out at 6am, and rode alone for a while, going beyond the usual turning and up to Sembawang and Woodlands before making a left turn (following bus) and then went to the end of that before making a right turn (coz it said Sembawang). Okay, direction-wise, it doesn't really make sense (a left followed by a right equals back?) but it was correct. After another right turn, got into Senoko area (??!) then hit Sembawang Road (even more ??!), then finally got back on track (strangely) on the road I came from. I tried not to ride too hard, conserving for a longer ride, but nearer the end of the ride, my heartrate is indeed higher and I'm pushing more. Back before Thomson Plaza I saw two guys (ANZA?) going the opposite direction, and I managed to make a U-turn before LongHouse, to chase. Figure if I took the straight road, I'd be able to catch up to them... and I did! Right on target in fact, just as they passed the prata shop, I got up and there were other riders waiting there. Turned out that Adrian Mok was conducting training for Ironman Langkawi people!!! Arrgh, I couldn't believe my luck. Managed to chat with him for a while, then he told me about their swim at NIE (the old one) on Mon and Wed... so tomorrow I'll be joining them, at 7pm.
The pace for their ride though is really really slow, and my heartrate is below 110bpm, which is even way lower than a recovery ride, so I said by goodbyes and made it back to Thomson group... was early so dropped in Joyce's place first to refill and go toilet. Back and there were two riders wearing red (can't figure out if Viner or Liquid Elements), three ang mo, one Cycleworx (though he's a non-Cycleworx rider) and one cute cute lady, who then proceed to change her tubes in record time - before any of us could offer help. Dunno where to hide face. Kit-bird was there too; my cycling teammate. The others are nowhere to be seen. In the end we left and the lady was doing some stuffs at the Shell Petrol station so we waited a while then went. Managed to speak to her; she's from Canada but born in Singapore. Back for 2 weeks with "him" (either bf or hubby) to visit family and looking for riding groups. I made some comment about how good a climber she must be! Laughs. Another chiongster like Esther, she refused to let the guys let her draft, instead pulling ahead and riding with me when I picked up the pace to break the wind for her so that we can pull back to the small group that started to move quite a bit ahead. But she has a max power output and I keep just slightly behind her to let her dictate the pace while the other two red jersey riders were behind. Then one of them pulls up and I follow and the pace was hard enough to drop the her and the other rider. By the time we hit Mandai the gentleman (red jersey #1) fell back to bring them up to pace... then I led but I think they have run out of fuel and drop out coz when I looked back they were gone... far!
Time to pick up the pace, and I got on my aerobars now (which I don't use when riding in pack) and tried to catch up to the group. About this time a trailer - huge! - came and was in front of me, going at a nice speed while downhill at Mandai, and I was drafting easily behind it, recovering while going at 56kmh the whole time! By the time we hit the traffic lights, I had caught up with the group already. From here it's me and another ang mo guy who's breaking the wind. KB helps me out when he sees me getting tired, while the rest take turns but not for long periods. It feels good, burning the legs while on a little beyond sustainable speed, at times hitting up to 45kmh for a stretch while I try to pull back to the group (okay, I cheated - used aerobars for this - but just one guy behind me). The ang-mo I suspect is the one who came with the Canadian lady (who by this time is presumably escorted by the two gentlemen, and very far behind) and is very strong at sustainable high speed.
Down back Bukit Timah, I drop back when the speed goes sub 33kmh and used my aerobars. At some point in time KB noticed I'm behind while he's still behind the strong ang-mo guy, with two others in between them and me, and slowly drops back to check on me. Told him I was okay, and that I was using the aerobars, then I pushed the pace to pull back to the two, and continued at chase pace up to the ang-mo, then KB powering up the slope while I took it at gentler pace, conserving efforts for a longer ride style. Guys start going left and right off home so KB and myself decided to head to Newton but ended up at the Caltex petrol station and had coffee there. Chatted a while about stuffs like swimming and running then headed back.
Bike was easily cleaned with the high-speed jet spray; very very dirty. I just realize as I am writing this that I forgot to lube it!! Arrgh, hope the chain has not rusted by now.
I'm clean and thinking of going for a swim... now or later? But tomorrow still have swim. Should I?
Total bike ride today: 110km in 3hr 30mins of riding time (my HRM got stopped accidentally at some point so I lost track of actual time on and off the bike). Urgh!!! It started drizzling again. So much for swimming. Maybe I'll go for a movie or something.
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