115km Solo in the Rain and with a Puncture
I did not get to cycle long distance last weekend due to my return home to Ipoh for Ching Ming so this ride was more like 'make up for lost time' ride. I was looking forward to this all week and knew no one would come with me and I did not bother to ask....
Had an early start around 5.10am and the skies looked grey (even at night!) but I said hey, maybe it would rain but likely only for a while or in certain stretches...still good to go and so I did. All was good until I hit the Esplanade when it suddenly started to pour...I could see a blanket of rain approaching me at the opposite direction. Got hit a bit and found shelter at the bus stop right outside the Esplanade...waited for about 10mins before it look subsided and I went off again in the 'medium' drizzle. As soon as I hit the via duct at West Coast Highway, it again poured! I just told myself to go on, no point to stop now, just need to be more careful. After about 10mins in the rain, somewhere along Jalan Buroh, my rear Superflash ceased working (shitty water seal, none!) so I stopped to put my front light to the rear.
It was pretty challenging to ride in the rain, with a speed target in mind. At LCK, I intended to move towards 40km/h the entire stretch BUT there were a lot of cars parked at the side and I had two near brushes when a car suddenly decided to cut in front of me. Braking in the rain on carbon rims is really no joking matter! Pleasant ride through Neo Tiew, Kranji and the rain subsided at Mandai. Everything was going pretty smoothly until I was going into Pulau Punggol....I suddenly heard a weird 'twang' sound like when a metallic rod is hit or something...I stopped and my worst fears confirmed- A FLAT TUB!
Had a good part of 20mins trying to remove the darn tubular...luckily I managed to emply the help of my RoadID to pry the tubs out. Had 2 blisters doing this on my thumbs (the rain made my hands all soggy so it was not difficult to get blisters!). After that, I simply mounted on the new tubs and pumped up to go. It was plenty secure as I completed the 60km or so left with no dramas (even sped up to 53km/h at some point) just need to watch out for those corners!
It was a good ride out solo, having faced the elements alone and a bit of bad luck with the tires and lights! I pretty happy with the average speed as well!
Had an early start around 5.10am and the skies looked grey (even at night!) but I said hey, maybe it would rain but likely only for a while or in certain stretches...still good to go and so I did. All was good until I hit the Esplanade when it suddenly started to pour...I could see a blanket of rain approaching me at the opposite direction. Got hit a bit and found shelter at the bus stop right outside the Esplanade...waited for about 10mins before it look subsided and I went off again in the 'medium' drizzle. As soon as I hit the via duct at West Coast Highway, it again poured! I just told myself to go on, no point to stop now, just need to be more careful. After about 10mins in the rain, somewhere along Jalan Buroh, my rear Superflash ceased working (shitty water seal, none!) so I stopped to put my front light to the rear.
It was pretty challenging to ride in the rain, with a speed target in mind. At LCK, I intended to move towards 40km/h the entire stretch BUT there were a lot of cars parked at the side and I had two near brushes when a car suddenly decided to cut in front of me. Braking in the rain on carbon rims is really no joking matter! Pleasant ride through Neo Tiew, Kranji and the rain subsided at Mandai. Everything was going pretty smoothly until I was going into Pulau Punggol....I suddenly heard a weird 'twang' sound like when a metallic rod is hit or something...I stopped and my worst fears confirmed- A FLAT TUB!
Had a good part of 20mins trying to remove the darn tubular...luckily I managed to emply the help of my RoadID to pry the tubs out. Had 2 blisters doing this on my thumbs (the rain made my hands all soggy so it was not difficult to get blisters!). After that, I simply mounted on the new tubs and pumped up to go. It was plenty secure as I completed the 60km or so left with no dramas (even sped up to 53km/h at some point) just need to watch out for those corners!
It was a good ride out solo, having faced the elements alone and a bit of bad luck with the tires and lights! I pretty happy with the average speed as well!
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