Thursday evening was a fast and furious ride to knock of a quick 20 miles (1 hour) before a welcome cup of tea and planning chat at Petes. Having had a cold (no not just man flu) all week the ride was a challenge for me but the result was that I seemed to sweat the cold out.

After a week of fantastic weather Saturday was a bit of a disappointment. We assembled a group of 8 riders and set off on the first part of what will be our 1st day in the saddle on the proper ride, however, we had not really decided that this was the plan for the day until we had done a few miles so therefore no one had the exact route in mind! But nontheless we headed off through the rain to Buckingham by where a short stop to devise a route home a route proved how cold it was. 

From Buckingham we headed out to Aylesbury via Gawcott – this was a great ride and I look forward to this in July – but we came unstuck when faced with the racetrack of the A41 so we opted to about turn and head back to Buckingham then over to Stony Stratford, Hanslope and home. All in all about 65 miles or so and all done before lunch.

Sunday saw the last Rugby games of the season which will free up a lot of time for the parents and coaches amongst us to get a few extra rides in as we head towards the summer (the gardening can wait).

Today I have a day off so I will be able to get out in the early afternoon to keep the mileage going….

Two mid week rides and the usual Changi Sat run this week.  It was Sam’s (my son) birthday on Sunday and as we were off to Singapore Zoo (awesome day – it really is a great zoo) to test out his super duper birthday camera, we opted out the usual Sunday breakfast run.

Felt pretty good on the bike this week but still considerable room for improvement!  On Saturday’s longer ride I kept with the fast boys in the lead pack for around 30k but dropped off the back when the average was 36kmh –way too fast for me!  I was then left to complete the next 30K (to our rest stop) on my own, staying ahead of the chasing pack (my normal group) and reaching the stop with an average of 33kmh – way faster than my normal 30kmh.  It’s amazing how such a small increment in speed really takes it out of you!

A slow and relaxing ride through the city and onto home bought the average back down to the normal 30kmh.

Some small issue with the baby (the bike!) this week.  My new crank and chain seemed to have bedded in well but the gears needed that little tweak that the bike shop excels in completing in 2 mins whereas my efforts send the whole thing totally out of whack (despite the minute changes being made) and destined never to work again!  However, the adjustment on Saturday afternoon seemed to be taking longer than usual and the guys even resorted to replacing the rear derailleur cable as things were not as smooth as they would have liked.  Still the problem persisted and it seemed that that the cable was snagging somewhere inside the handlebars.  On further investigation it was the rear hub that was loose (the bars are fine) – when tighten, all was sweet again.  My baby is OK – phew!

Need to get some good mileage in this week but got off to a bad start when the planned Monday ride with ANZA turned into another couple of hours in bed thanks to the snooze button!

Wed 22^nd April     Joyriders – Wed run        51km      1.46hrs   29kmh

Fri 24^th April        Joyriders – Fri run           51km      1.48hrs   28kmh

Sat 25^th April       Joyriders – Sat run         85km      2.50hrs    30kmh

Regards

Chris

So there I was last Saturday attempting the 400 km Audax ride. This after just three weeks of barely managing 130-ish km on the 300 km Audax before giving up. Why did I want to do this?

Because it’s there! pat comes the answer.

Sort of but not quite.

I wanted to prove to myself that I was up for the Twin Towns Challenge.

I wanted to achieve a new personal best distance (previous best: 320-ish km)

I wanted to get to a new milestone on my 29th.

And finally–Andrew had advised me that I wasn’t up to 400 km just yet and I wanted to prove him wrong!

Of course, I wasn’t taking this lightly at all. The previous weekend, I joined an Audax-like 200 km ride and followed that up with a solo 100 km a couple of days later. Drank like a fish all week (water!). Ate like a maniac the day immediately before. Ensured that my bike was in good condition. All the boxes ticked, in other words.

On the ride, more of the same. Ate frequently, dunked bottles of icy water over my head at every opportunity (and performed the shimmy-shammy though no one would insert dollar notes into my waist band, to my utter disgust), whizzed down slopes so I could tackle the coming up-slope more easily, blah blah.

Then–dread, disaster, disappointment. None of my making.

Going into a long right-turning bend on the way from Kulai to Johor Bahru, an oncoming car came out the bend out of the blue (out of the blue bend?) at a fantastically misjudged speed. The driver must have been doing 90 around a bend that should have been taken at 50. Just when he came into view, I saw him over-steer and skid off the road onto his left. Oops, he says to himself, there’s a ditch here and I’m headed right into it, so let’s steer the other way. The car jerked itself wildly to the right and this time he was skidding sideways across the road to where I was. Heading straight at me, in other words, side on, with no control over his auto any more. Think drifting but without the control and at 90 km/h.

All this within the matter of a second or two.

When I first saw the car skid off the road to the shoulder, it struck me that it was very like a video game. Now that it was headed towards me, all the more so. Funny but true!

All those things about one’s life flashing before one’s eyes? I didn’t have time for all that. I knew it was binary: either lights out or complete escape. No in-betweens and no “Sorry, you lose 1 life, you have 2 lives remaining” video game message.

From the angle at which the car was headed my way (sided my way? haha), I thought perhaps, just perhaps, I could squeeze past if I accelerated quickly enough. After 280 km on the bike, acceleration isn’t necessarily the thing one’s legs are best suited for and I must have managed half a turn of the pedals. It was enough. The car caught my rear wheel and careened further towards poor Denise, who was about 30-40 metres behind me. I immediately crashed, of course, but managed to fall neatly, receiving not even a scratch.

I immediately turned around and it looked like Denise was getting up off the ground and her bike was lying a little distance from her.

What had happened was that, as with me, the car was headed for a side-on collision with her. Like me, it was do or die for her but unlike me, she didn’t have the choice to accelerate to avoid the car. She managed to disengage her shoes from the bike just in time to jump off to the right and feel her steed pulled from underneath her by the impact with the vehicle.

All’s well that ends well. Mostly. Both riders are well, Denise with a bruise or two from landing on the road. It was a hugely disappointing ending for me to a 400 km milestone that seemed well within reach. There will be another time. Denise told me, incredibly, that it was only the second ride she’s ever had to give up for any reason–and this is someone who’s done 600 km, 800 km and 1,200 km rides!

We later marvelled at the fact that the peleton had chosen to break up just for this short section of the ride just a meagre few minutes prior to the crash. If we’d been in our original formation, this would have been a very different report indeed–assuming there had been a report.

Another ride report here.

And ride stats for what they’re worth:
Distance: 280-ish km
Average: 28 km/h
Max: 61 km/h (one of those down slopes, in top gear, pedalling like a hamster)
Time on bike: 9 and a half hours-ish

Two rides this week, one little one and a HUGE one!

Saturday saw me complete a 400K Audax run into Malaysia and back – my longest ride ever.  14 of us met at the start in Singapore at 4.30am Saturday and by 5am, having completed the paperwork and collected my brevet card which had to be stamped at appointed locations along the route, we were on our way.

We sailed through customs at the border and set a pretty good pace for the first 100k where sadly two of the crew bailed out and doubled back for Singers.  (Dirk and Chris who were actually on their honeymoon!).  The first 200K went pretty well although the heat was blistering – 40deg c, little or no shade, the heat bouncing off the road was fierce to say the least!

When we stopped at a village (Kota Tingi) for food, the thought that we were only just over half way was daunting.   Once we set off again the weather turned – we had seen lightning on the horizon for the last 50k but soon we were in the thick of a huge electrical storm.  We sought shelter (with the rats and mossies) in an empty food stall along the way in order to wait for the lightning to stop but within 30mins were back on our way for the tricky hills section leading to Kulai.

I was pleased with my pace here, we had decided that instead of traveling as a tight group as we had over the last 250k that over the hills we would set our own pace and then re-group – I went for it and reached the agreed mtg point just behind Scot and Gareth, our two fastest riders.  Sadly, we then heard that there had been a problem on the road behind us. In the darkness an oncoming speeding car came round a sharp bend totally out of control.  Murli took evasive action but the car hit his back wheel, throwing him of the bike and onto the road, Denise leapt of her bike just in time to avoid herself being hit by the car but the car then proceeded to run right over her bike and ended up in the roadside ditch.  Both Murli and Denise were shaken but essentially unhurt and both bikes were totally trashed.

The police were called and both Murli and Denise were taken off to the local station for statements.

Our ride continued in a more somber mood.

At 300k we crossed back into Singapore and completed our usual Saturday route back to Longhouse, our original start point – some 20hrs earlier (inc. stops) and after some 15hrs of pedaling.

Fri April 17th     Joyriders – Friday run         37km    1.20hrs   28mh

Sat April 18th    400k Audax                      401k    14.53hrs  27kmh (9166 calories!)

Chris

Paul Manning, Team GB Olympic Gold Medallist, joined us for our regular Saturday morning training ride. Fortunately Paul was very generous and kept to a reasonable pace for a 50 mile training ride around Northamptonshire ( good job really cos otherwise we would only have seen him for the first 200m!)

Paul passed on a few useful training tips which will come in handy in the coming weeks. We may get a little faster using his advice but I don’t think any of the GB team need worry about us taking their places!

It was great for Paul to spare the time to come out with us – it has given us all an extra boost to our training and more incentive to get faster! We need to start increasing the miles now.

The team pictured in Collingtree before our training ride. No prizes for guessing which on Paul is.

Training with Olympic Gold Medallist Paul Manning

Kept to my promise of ‘more beer this week’ and as a consequence, a late night on Saturday meant no ride on Sunday!  Easter Friday was a holiday here in Singapore, but sadly not Monday!

Wed April 8th    Joyriders – Wed ride                     50km   1.49hrs      28kmh

Fri April 10th     Joyriders – Good Friday Changi       88km    2.55hrs     30kmh

Sat April 11th    Joyriders – Changi                        82km    2.45hrs     29kmh

Chris

3 rides and 3 hot yoga classes this week.

Took it steady on Wednesday but turned on the gas on Saturday – which meant that I struggled on Sunday!

2 weeks of not drinking or eating much has been great for my weight but terrible for my energy levels.  Note to self – must have more beer this week!  (Carbo loading).

With Shane, refuelling after Sundays ride

Wed April 1st    Joyriders – Wed ride                     51km   1.52hrs     27kmh

Sat April 4th     Joyriders – Changi                        85km    2.48hrs     31kmh

Sun April 5th    Joyriders – Changi/Breakfast run      81km    2.51hrs     29kmh

Chris