113km Singapore Clockwise Loop

Ryo, KL, Ben and me did this route on Saturday morning (thank god we decided on Saturday as Sunday was raining cats and dogs all day long!). We left at 5am (Ben made a gargantuan effort to join this ride!) and met up with Ryo & KL at Nicoll highway. It was quite a cooling day!

The ride through West Coast Highway - Jalan Buroh was particularly smooth although there were pockets of traffic consisting of huge trucks which were a little worrying to us but fortunately the roads were wide and well lit. In fact, I felt that route completed quite fast as before we knew it, we were turning towards Jalan Bahar and heading north. Funny that the same route, different direction really feels like a whole new route!

We did well maintaining average speed of 32-35km/h whilst moving throughout the ride. Had a short 10-15 minute break at Yishun Dam before turning left into Seletar North Link which connects into the new and upcoming Punggol Timur/Barat islands...nice road...problem was towards the end there was a gate which blocked the road. BUMMER we thought! and then a motorbike came for the other side of the gate detoured to the side of the gate and got to our side via the small mud path! Geez, why didn't I see that?? So we did a short cyclocross stint and went on our way. This led us straight into Punggol....wide roads....high rise HDB flats.....basically a chance for HDB to plan something finally from a 100% clean slate I guess.

At Changi coastal road everyone went berserk. A group from Anza cycling went pass us and we chased them down. They were maintaining speeds of between 38km/h - 45km/h throughout the way. Midway through the straight, I tried to breakaway motioning Ben and Ryo followed suit. The hope was to get some distance in front of the train and let Ben/Ryo lead us further ahead, at least try to hold on to the lead until the end of the straight. Ben ran out of juice pretty quick, Ryo responded and took the lead, I was just hanging on for dear life after that break....I looked back and saw the train coming! I think we just managed to stay away for about a minute or so....there is no outrunning a train at that speed. I think we won some respect though as the train passed, the lead guy shouted to me and Ryo "Nice try guys!"...I just gave it a final burst to get some lead and promptly gave up....we regrouped behind the train, still going strong at 40+km/h. Stopped at the end of the straight to wait for Ben and Kim Leng.

A good ride and good test for my new Shimano shoes too. I think it helped a lot in the ride and my legs felt good all the time that day. Nutrition : 2 x Kid-O Butter Crackers + 2 x 750ml Tap Water.

Speed from Coastal Route...about 40km/h for close to 9km....crazy HR at 180 average.

Average speed posted on Sport Tracks ~30km/h for 112km