Cycling in the Tropics – Cranking it up!
We met at Longhouse at 5am in order to receive our Audax Brevet cards, this card must be stamped at the designated check points in order to ensure that the correct route has been taken. This was an official 300km Audax ride, however, the distance was estimated to be 320km and with 10km to and from home, the total that I needed to cover was 340km. With Audax, there is a maximum time set for each ride, for 300km its 20hrs.
Once we had passed through immigration and crossed the Singapore/Malaysia border, after getting our cards stamped at the first official check point, our group of around 25 quickly split into two. Being apprehensive about surviving such a long distance, I was happy to sit in group 2. Riding through Johor Baru (JB), just over the border, the sun was just starting to rise – It looked like it was going to be a hot one!
At the checkpoint (77km) we ran into the leading group, who were just leaving, and at that point they were already 20 mins ahead of us. Lunch at Kluang (125km) was the second official checkpoint – a small hawker style restaurant where we ate them out of house and home and cleared their reserves of cold bottled water and 100+. At this point, we had our first casualty, Murli, who was unwell at the start, caved in and we called the support car that was with the leading group to head on back and collect bike and rider.
A long 90km followed in blistering heat (40deg) with very little shade. At a short water stop somewhere along the route we had our second casualty, David, feeling unwell in the intense heat and humidity. 10km before Kota Tinggi, we had our third casualty. A broken spoke put Barry’s rear wheel so out of alignment that it caught the frame, preventing him from going further. Miles from anywhere, we were lucky that someone stopped and offered a lift to the next town in order for the remainder of the journey to be completed by taxi.
The Kota Tinggi check point (215km) was a well earned rest and those that had been there before were quick to lead us to an excellent roti prata house where copious amounts of the delicious food were consumed in a vain attempt to restore energy levels. Feeling exhausted with 125km still remaining was daunting to say the least.
By now the sun was starting to set and a long hilly section loomed. I had completed this particular section previously and at the time, lapped up the hills but now the prospect was different! By the time we reached the start of the hills it was absolutely pitch black and all but one of us had ‘proper’ bike lights – my own being small LED devices meant for cars to see me rather than for me to see the road. The roads are certainly not Singapore standard, full of cracks and potholes – when you can’t even see your feet, this is a problem. However, we all made it unscathed and after a final water and chocolate stop close to JB we returned through immigration and finished the final 20 km in Singapore finally hitting the final checkpoint (Longhouse) at 10.30pm, 16hrs after leaving the same place. With 3hrs of stops for breakdowns, water and food, we had been pedaling for 13hrs and 5mins! The leading group were at least 2hrs ahead of us!
From Longhouse it was a jaunty 8km ride to the pub for a much deserved beer and burger, finally reaching home at 1pm. A very long day!
Just for the record:-
Distance 340km
Total ride time 16hrs (inc. water, food, mechanical stops)
Total pedal time 13.05hrs
Avg speed 26kmh
Cadence Avg 71rpm
Heart rate Avg 134bpm
Calories burned 8,538.
Sunday – no ride! Went back to Brewerkz for the ANZA new kit launch party. Great new design, even more kit to fill up the ‘biking drawer’ back at home! Got caught in the moment and signed up for the next Audax ride – a 400km ride in 3 weeks time. Doh!!
Tue March 24th Joyriders – Tue Sprints 54km 1.52hrs 29kmh
Fri March 27th Joyriders 51km 1.51hrs 28kmh
Sat March 28th Audax – Singapore/Malaysia 340km 13.05hrs 26kmh
Regards
Chris