.... the jackal rides and run....

Had a good riding month in Feb...completed 700km on the bike (incl. NTU Bike Rally). This is only 3rd to June 2010 (856km but include TOP) and Sept 2010 (828km but include BnB2010). Let's see if March can top this (I seriously doubt it!) Looking into SportTracks...since Sept 2011, - Ave HR seems to have dropped a little bit - Ave Power has increased quite a fair bit - Ave Speed has increased On track for TOP 2011. Faber madness will start right after Janamanjung 2011.

First 'official' ride of the year. This is the first time I participated in this event and boy, no regrets. It's a real mixed bag and I opted to try to chase the fast ones and managed to keep up. Good thing there were a lot of stop points (every 20km or so..) Garmin data as below....only tracked 140km...lost 8km of data as I forgot to switch it on upon leaving NTU rest point. 2011 NTU Bike Rally by boostbutt at Garmin Connect - Details This year, KL, Ben and I participated. We rode from our homes, met up at the usual Nicoll H'way stop and went to the F1 pit. About 1000 people signed up for the event...I think perhaps 800-900 turned up. We were mostly together during the rides until after NTU where we kinda split a bit but still meet up at the rest points. I managed to complete the last 4 stages with the fastest group (arriving at rest stops which were empty!) with the Coastal one being the most brutal as cramps started to creep in. There, I took turns with the lead guy

I wanted to target solo 30km/h average for the 115km loop on Saturday. I reckon this would be quite tough to do solo, without drafting. All was going to plan...was hitting 30km/h ave speed upon reaching completing Jalan Buroh but after the roundabout on the road towards NTU...headwind! A fast group of ang-mos, on nice tri-bikes and deep profile wheels (all of em' except one) passed me there. I decided to follow them right at the back. Man, those guys were fast. On that stretch until Neo Tiew (>5km), ave speed was something like 43km/h non-stop. Being at the back was ok, but still HR was already hitting 175bpm so pretty much on the edge of my presumed lactate threshold. They were friendly enough not to signal 'back off' to me (if they did, I would) and I followed until Punggol (managed to go mid-group as well as some of the rear guys were dropping off like flies after Mandai) where they turned off to another route. I went on my usual 32-35km/h pace until Pasir Ris, where

Well can't stave off travelling for long. Its gonna be a big part of my 'career' if I'm going to 'go anywhere' as much as I hate it. I spend 5-6 years travelling pretty intensively for Philips in the past..pulling long hauls and 2 weeks stints. Those were the good old days. The problem with this kind of travelling is it disrupt exercise and really stacks the weight on you from the non-stop daily customer dinners and lunches. Breakfast I can control. My running shoes were stolen some time last week I think. Went for a run yesterday morning and had to settle for my court shoes. Its ok I guess but may not be a good idea for too many runs and the padding really is bad (build for floor feel ans agility). So need to get a new one and quick! Tomorrow will be off for a day trip to KL and next week, pretty much most of the week in Korea. I should target to run once at least at the hotel gym in Korea. Next weekend will be the Bike Rally. I will need to pull in some long m

I was physically terrible last week...basically caught a mild flu, had bout of fever and sore throat. MC on Thurs and Friday (but I took only half days on both occasions and worked from home still). Ignored the antibiotics given for my sore throat on Friday. I did not think it was necessary and thankfully I was right...the throat is much much better now. Did 80km West Loop with KL on Saturday. I left home at about 5.20am....meeting point at AML 5.30am. We did the route in pretty good time and I believe it to be one of his fastest if not the fastest. Still shy from my huge solo effort last week though! It was a nice ride as I got to rest a bit more and also pushed a bit more. Stretches at West Coast and Jalan Buroh I was pushing 40+km/h mostly. On Sunday, I did a short 1.5hr 130bpm HR ride. So called base training ride....and I'm pretty much confused about this. Do we only do this is we do not have the 'base'? how can I tell if my base is 'ok'? Does it make sense for

Did quite a fair bit of riding. Had holiday stretched from Wed - Sun... On Wed, did a short 30km (and did my personal best for ECP-Coastal-ECP) before coming home and settle stuff at home and prepared for the CNY holiday. Gave myself a treat by not exercising on Thursday but on Friday, managed to catch up with Ryo on a short 30+km ride....it was obvious that he has not been cycling much! Saturday....did a solo 80km West Loop and made ave speed ~31.3km/h. It was a good ride as not much cars on the road and great weather to boot. I drafted a really fast group doing about 40+km/h at Jln. Buroh (with headwind!) but got dropped soon after the turn into West Coast Road when they immediately picked up pace to 48+km/h! Did good speed doing solo up the elevated section (~40km/h). Sunday....SS day out with KL for 80km West Loop but in the clockwise direction. This way I find to be harder...Mandai is tough in this direction as its basically going upslope. We came back via Jalan Kayu - Eunos Rd di