I am witting this blog sitting in the Heathrow airport lounge waiting to board my Singapore flight home.  The cycling event is over but the fund raising continues.  We are currently on £30,962.23, 62% of target and I believe that with monies still to be collected, we will have approx £35,000.  A great total, so far.

The ride itself went pretty smoothly but not without its hardships.  Riding 120miles/200km a day for 8 days consecutively takes it out of you.  All available time is consumed with either bilking or preparation and recovery from biking.  To this point, we couldn’t have succeeded without the presence of our support crew Andy, Murph and Fred, their logistical support and general pampering really made a difference – thanks guys and look after the trophies.

We have all cemented some strong friendships and it was sad to be leaving the guys last night after our celebratory (end of ride, Jon’s birthday) beer and curry session last night.  We had some fun and games along the way but the needy cause of Autistic Concern was always on our minds.

In addition to our rider of the day competition we also awarded Gary with our ‘Top Tourist’ award.  Gary deserves this in recognition of the valuable time that he spent, both on the road and late in the evening when he should have resting in tending to our machines – congrats Gary.

A particular thanks to Jon and Pete who worked tirelessly to organise the whole event – your efforts don’t go unrecognised fellas, even if Jon does get all the glory Pete. J

We returned to Wooden Walls in Collingtree on a sunny Sunday afternoon to the accompaniment of a Scottish Piper and a warm welcome of at least 300 of our friends and family – a great homecoming, thanks for recognizing our efforts guys.

I know that since our return to the UK the team have been eating and eating, (last nights curry was no exception) – and I know that I’m not the only one who wont miss our daily diet of energy bars, caffeine gels and Rego.  I don’t think that any of us actually lost weight as we loaded up so much during the ride but, hey, we are all racing snakes anyway!!!

A 13hr flight now awaits and I can’t wait to see my family again.

Thanks for your continued support

All the best

Chris

Fred in his 'loafers'

Celebrating in Gent on the way home

The boys getting their revenge on Fred!

As the song goes, ‘All my bags are packed I’m ready to go’, well almost! Its Monday morning and the bike is in its box anyway, the rest of my stuff is in a growing pile awaiting final selection – packing for this trip is not easy as I want to travel as light as possible but I have the ride plus some time either side to think about and the weather isn’t the same as here – by a long shot!

Watching the Tour over the last few days has given me a glimpse of what may lay ahead.  Barcelona looked decidedly unpleasant (Barcelona – July!!) we are used to rain here in Singers but when its rains and its 30+ degrees it’s a lot different to a cold, wet, windy Europe! So the ‘pile’ gets bigger with stuff I haven’t used for 2 years, a rain jacket, arm warmers, overshoes, long sleeved top….

I was traveling (and entertaining) this week but managed three good rides Fri, Sat and Sunday but after much advice, the bike is packed and I’m resting up.  I was due to be traveling in Jakarta Tue and Wed but due to the latest developments, that has now been called off.

Fri 17th July   Joyriders Fri                    51km   1.49hrs  28kmh

Sat 18th July  Mandai, Changi, Kranji     163km 5.19hrs    31kmh

Sun 19^th July  Joyriders club run             75km  2.38hrs   29kmh

My training log shows 97 individual rides since my tng started at Christmas, a total of 274hrs, 7,815km and 189,000 Kcal! I had a medical just after Christmas and another one just recently – during this time I’ve lost 9kg.  I feel great – bring it on!

Keep reading the blog as we provide team updates during the ride itself.

Chris

A very special thanks to Peter, Rene and Denise  who generously donated $400 to the TTC coffers during our 200K ride in Singapore last weekend.

Thanks guys, very much appreciated.

Peter, Rene and Denise after the 200K. Are they smiling because the ride is over or because they are in the bar??

Chris & Murli

In ten days time Murli and I will be on our way over from Singers to the UK – pls book the warm weather!

Five rides this week.  Managed to get three early morning rides in plus a great 200k Audax ride on Saturday into Malaysia plus the usual Sunday morning Joyriders breakfast run.

The Malaysia ride went well, felt pretty good but did tire at the end.  230k in total.  Managed to stick with the lead group and survived the Causeway this time (I fell the last time I returned coming back into Singapore).  The 8hr 10min ride  (including to the ride start and back from the pub!) was great prep for the TTC and I was particularly pleased that I felt good enough the following morning to complete the breakfast club run.

Donations are now looking much better at £25K, 50% of target.  The UK guys completed a bucket shake in the town center yesterday – keen to know how much that raised.

Some great work on the Joyriders website by Kampong Boy Calvin who has now established a live Twitter feed so that we can keep the Joyriders team updated while we prepare and during the ride itself. 

In KL most of this week so very little riding possible.

Tue 7th July   Joyriders Tue Sprints 55km  1.51hrs         30kmh

Wed 8th July  Joyriders Wed          52km  2.07hrs         28kmh

Fri 10th July   Joyriders Fri             38km  1.16hrs         30kmh

Sat 11th July  200K Audax             230km 8.10hrs         28kmh

Sun 12^th July  Joyriders club run      76km  2.42hrs         28kmh

Have a good one

Chris

Cycling in the Tropics – There was trouble ahead!

Spent two days in bed this week dosed up to the eyeballs but by the end of the week, all was right with the world again and I managed to get out for a short 50K session early Friday morning.

Saturday, to be honest, I probably did too much too early as I wasn’t fully recovered.  The last 20k of my 160k ride was a real struggle.  It was particularly hot this weekend though – 34 deg and I don’t think I drank enough.

The TTC fundraiser Murli and I (sorry Michele and Alison) organised went really well last night (Sat).  We managed to raise $2,850 – a great Singapore result for a charity based back in the UK.  A huge thanks to Joyce and the Joyriders who attended and assisted on the night and a special thanks to the three Singapore bike shops, Swiss Valley (2 cycle shirts), Rodalink (3 pairs of sunglasses) and Bike Boutique (4 $100 service vouchers) who donated for the raffle and auction.

I hope to get out a few more times this week (there’s a 200k trip into Malaysia planned for Saturday) but the following week, my last full week in Singers before I leave for the UK, I’ll be in KL all week.  That’s when my bike is booked in for its service.  New tyres went on earlier today – the Continental GP4000s tyres that I replaced had done over 10,000km and still have life left in them, thoroughly recommended.

Looking through my stats – since the end of Dec when I bought my new bike and started to log my rides, I’ve undertaken separate rides covering a total of 7100km, I don’t think that I’ll hit the 8000 before the start of the TTC but I guess it will be close.

Fri 3^rd July               Joyriders Fri                                52km   1.52hrs         28kmh

Sat 4^th July              Mandai loop, Changi, Kranji            124km 5.24hrs         30kmh

Have a great week

Chris

Cycling in the Tropics – there may be trouble ahead!

Three rides this week, 2 short (50k) runs plus a longer run on Saturday (124k).  Feeling great on Tue and Wed but my heart rate was way into the red zone for much longer than usual during Saturdays ride and a number of times I deliberately eased off.  Looks like I’m coming down with something! 

Normally I would have undertaken a 160km route on Sat, instead I ducked home earlier than originally planned – just to be on the safe side!

Sunday saw Charlie and I hosting the monthly Joyriders lunch at our condo.  I didn’t ride Sunday as I simply didn’t feel up to it but after a couple of medicinal beers on Sunday afternoon – I suddenly felt a lot better!

Tue 23^rd June           Joyriders Tue Sprints       54km   1.52hrs         29kmh

Wed 24^th June          Joyriders Wed                     52km   1.52hrs         28kmh

Sat 27^th June           Mandai loop/Changi          124km 4.04hrs         30kmh

Plans are progressing well for our TTC fundraiser in Singapore this coming Sat.  Michele, Murli’s girlfriend has been instrumental in assisting.  We have a number of key donations for an auction and lucky draw – notably from Andi at Swiss Valley bike shop (www.swissvalley.com.sg), in River Valley Road and from Choon Wei at The Bike Boutique (www.thebikeboutique.com) in Amoy St.  We will also have a live blues band, a poet who creates personalised verse, a tarot reader and possibly a caricaturist!  Not forgetting the screening of the Lions V S.Africa game of course!  Shaping up for a great night out.

My baby!!

Great BBQ

Martin (from Marberg) and Madeline (M&M) at the booze - we had a kinda hat thing going on today!

More Hats - Garfield & Peter

The Beer King - doing what he does best - corrupting the young!

Huge melons!

Michele and Chris look on as Murli acts up!

In return for my birthday cake I have to sing - The Court of King Caractacus!

The booze crew!

Kelvin in the dentist chair!

Joyriders June birthday babies

Sam looking after his mum!

The vodka-melon went down very well!

Best Regards

Chris

After a week of forced rest due to Last weekends fall I made the Joyriders 5.30am Mandai Loop run on Saturday, followed by a Kranji jaunt with ANZA. Felt pretty good but still some pain when deep breathing – particularly with the pack chasing you down Bukit Timah and up Adam/Lorni Road after a 40k sprint!

Chris & Murli ready for the off

The ANZA ride was good fun and particularly enjoyed the sprint up Buena Vista with Fred at the end of the ride.

Saturday afternoon saw me undertake 3hrs of stand duty at Suntec Shopping Center where Joyriders had a stand at the Active Aging Carnival promoting cycling as a way of keeping fit – for all ages.

How light??

Unfortunately somebody made me drink too much on Saturday night so Sunday was a recovery day – no biking!!!

Sat 20th June Joyriders Mandai Loop/ANZA Kranji 103km 3.23hrs 30kmh
Regards
Chris

Donations are still slow, only GBP210 donated last week, please help to spread the word!

Three mid week rides and an awesome 300km audax ride (actual distance 327km) into Malaysia.  13 of us braved the thunder and distant lightning and met up at 5.30am Saturday for registration.  I was pleased to see that Murli was also there after previously saying that he wasn’t coming. By 6am we were on our way at a steady pace.  After a brief stop after clearing customs we met up with our support driver (ice cold drinks) and we made for the now regular stop at the SPC petrol station (or gas station as I shockingly find myself calling it nowadays – clearly, I have been away from home too long!).  Here we met up with a real hero.  At the back of the station was a padlocked touring bike and a small tent belonging to Eric Smart.  Eric is cycling from Aberdeen to Adelaide www.aberdeen2adelaide.blogspot.com in support of ME.

Having been a previous sufferer of ME, Eric is now trying to help others raising money on his adventure.  He’s been on the road 14 months now and is just over the half way point.  Having suffered a few setbacks wrt visas in Eastern Europe (I haven’t caught up with all of his blog yet) he’s now extended the trip by crossing Canada and the USA.

The previous night was the first time that he’s slept in his small tent for 2 months, normally he sleeps on a small thermo mat but the Malaysian wildlife had got the better of him.  In India he’d witnessed 46 deg heat but it was the humidity in S.East Asia was causing him real problems.

From here we basically followed the first 300k of the previous 400k route.  Chicken Rice in Kluang (140km) followed, after 90km of the ‘road to Hell’ as Wally has now christened it, to Roti Prata in Kotta Tingi.  I was on fire today and led the way for large chunks of the day.  At 200k (approx) we found that 5 of us had broken away, myself, Jeff, Wally, Brian and Martin.  We could see lightning on the horizon and we could feel the rain coming.  We upped the pace for the last 30k to Kotta Tingi and as we arrived, the heavens opened.  The remainder of the crew were stranded and found refuge in a small café 10k back.

This was an enormous storm – the thunder simply didn’t stop and the lightning was both sheet and fork, hitting ground just a few km away every 20 seconds or so.  We were stuck.  After an hour (it still hadn’t stopped) the remainder of the crew arrived in the minibus support car complete with 8 bikes.  Peter had given up after around 100k as his rear hub had seized.  1.45 mins later and the 5 of us decided, enough was enough – we’re going for it!  The rain was still lashing down but the thunder had ceased, the only worry was lightning – but now it was every 5/6 mins rather than every 20 secs and it had drifted further away from our direction of travel.  The reminder of the gang threw the towel in, definitely the more sensible option.

Wow, it was cold, in the last 18months here in SEA I’ve never been cold outside but this was not nice.  I wasn’t the only one suffering either.  Still, away we sprinted, and although we still had 100k to go it really was a sprint.  Eventually we hit the hills of Kulai where the darkness meant we had to slow down to avoid the potholes.  A dash down the main expressway into JB and we were at the border.  Immigration has all recently been upgraded but its not bike friendly.  There are numerous grates with gaps engineered perfectly to both run in line with the flow of traffic and be just the right width for bike tyres.  To cross you have to traverse diagonally, not easy with all the other traffic present.

Having successfully crossed every grate, we were through but here my personal horror started.  Navigating a speed hump my front wheel caught in a concrete drainage groove running at 45 deg to the road.  Before I knew it I was falling and heading straight for the concrete bollards lining the road.  I knew I was going to fall and I knew it going to hurt.  I braced my fall with my left forearm which hit the bollard with a sickening thump, I remember thinking at the time that my arm was going to break.  I was on the deck (I remember swearing – sorry mum!) and Wally approached from behind after witnessing the whole thing and helped me uncleat.  My left forearm and left knee had some nice grazes and my lower back (kidney area was screaming at me).  Worse, my left brake lever was bent and I scratched my handlebars!!

25k to go and not wanting to fail in earning my official 300k Audax medal I sat at the back of the other 4 and in no time at all we were back at Longhouse, arriving at 10pm, 16 hours start to finish but with 11.5hrs of pedaling.  Avg speed was 27kmh, avg cadence 72 (hills), avg heart rate a respectable 132bpm.  I burnt up 7500 calories but that was soon balanced with a beer at longhouse followed by 2 more beers and a huge Cowboy burger at Brewerkz.

It wasn’t until I got home and showered that I saw how badly grazed my back was.  I hope that when I clean my bike I don’t find more scratches! J  A great days biking and I was pleased with my fitness.  No biking Sunday – back is pretty sore.  Hope to make the ANZA run tmrw.

Have a great week.

Chris

Tue 9th June    Joyriders – Tue Sprints             54km       1.52hrs   29kmh

Wed 10th June    Joyriders – Wed Ride               51km       1.45hrs   29kmh

Fri 12th June      Joyriders  - Fri Ride                  50km      1.47hrs   28kmh

Sat 13th June     Joyriders – 300km Audax         327km      11.36hrs  28kmh

The cash that is!  The pot is building but, to be honest, not fast enough!  At the time of writing, we have GBP 13,130 – way short of our target of GBP 50,000.  Only 7 weeks to go.  Murli and I planning a fund raising evening in Singapore – we’d love to see as many of the Singapore crew come along for a casual social sometime in the next few weeks.  Watch this space!

Really pleased to see Joyriders introduced as a corporate sponsor – thanks guys!

Feeling a little under the weather this week – sore throat, drippy nose, blah blah blah so opted for a rest on Sunday morning (especially as the third Lions game only finished at 1.30am Sunday).  Hope to regain momentum next week.

So, apart from Fridays early morning ride, it was just the one long ride (157K) on Saturday.

Fri  5^th June      Joyriders – Fri run                          51km     1.46hrs   98kmh

Sat 6^th June      Joyriders – Mandai, Changi, Kranji     157km    5.22hrs   29kmh

Murli and I during Saturdays ride.

Father and Son in NEW Joyriders shirts

Malaysia this week so reduced opportunities for training.  Three rides this week, Fri, Sat, and Sun.

Sat, I again undertook the early Joyriders Mandai loop followed by the Changi mass group ride and managed to convince Nick (and Charlie for part) to join me on a reverse Kranji.  Shortly after leaving the East Coast, the skies look extremely menacing.  The run down the busy Keppel Flyover was a tough one as the wind was awesome.

 10k later, on leaving the flyover, the heavens opened and we were forced to seek shelter in a bus stop.  It was 20 mins before we finally decided to continue our ride, rather than give up.  We were glad that we did as 20 mins later and the sun was out again.  A quick pit stop for ‘Crunchies’, thanks Nick, and we were soon spinning through a sunny Kranji jungle.

 5K before the end of this 160K ride, Nick having just turned off for home, I was almost knocked off my bike! A white Toyota drew up beside me, pulled ahead and then, without indicating, turned left in front of me, just missing my front wheel and forcing me to brake from 30kmh.

 Fuming, I chased the car 100m up the side road and through the security gates of her apartment complex, shouting and protesting all the way.  I managed to pull up alongside the car and bashed heavily on the side window.  The apartment security team came running up to see who this mad man was!  Reluctantly the woman got out of her car, held out her hands, shrugged her shoulders and said ‘I didn’t hit you!’.  Strong words were exchanged but the woman didn’t care and wasn’t the slightest bit sorry.  She hadn’t hit me and hadn’t seen me, so what was the problem – unbelievable!

 I cycled home still fuming, wishing that I’d insisted on filing a police report.

Charlie, myself and Justin at the East Coast

Sundays ride started well but Sam (my son) who joined the ride and was struggling today so we cruised to the breakfast rendezvous where he devoured 2 helpings of roti prata, 3 drinks and a bowlful and fruit before everything was Ok with the world again!

Alison explaining how big things are to Tom!

Fri  29th May    Joyriders – Fri run                            49km      1.47hrs   28kmh

Sat 30th May    Joyriders – Mandai, Changi, Kranji       158km    5.31hrs   29kmh

Sun 31st May    Joyriders – Sun breakfast run            76km      2.42hrs   28kmh

Have a good week

Chris

Ah!!!