Vesak Day Short Ride & New 100mm Stem

Swapped out my old 110mm stem with a new 100mm stem (Same brand and series from Oval Concepts, love their bars!). This setup : hands on hoods, the front hub is blocked. Feels more comfortable from today's trial ride. Only time can tell if this will solve my elbow problem.

Today, I made arrangements to meet Ben for Faber but he did not make it so instead I went alone for the usual ECP - Loyang - Siglap route. As usual, I just told myself to "take it easy" and as always, this was not the case. I did pretty good speed at ECP, average speed was 31+ km/h prior to Coastal. I was 'following' 2 caucasian guys, about 4 bikes away, to try not to draft. At the turn-off into Coastal, they went ahead and I stopped for traffic (safety first). So, solo on Coastal, I did a modest 36-37km/h average and caught up with these 2 guys again. Had a bit of rest drafting @ 35km/h. Its amazing that they were doing this side by side and chit-chatting at the same time plus there was headwind! I overtook them after a while and went on to the end of Coastal. As I slowed down at the turn, couple of guys went passed me...first a group of 3 tri-bikes with fancy headwear (think : TT) and then soon after the 2 guys again....I drafted at the tail.

The tri group was pulling well at 38km/h but after CV, the 2 guys I was behind turned it up and overtook them, naturally, I followed. At loyang slope (at this point average speed was about 33.9km/h) , they did very well and I stayed close to them until I cranked up a little towards the end to finish in front at the top. I waved thanks to them as they continued towards Pasir Ris. Great draft.

I continued alone and managed to maintain 33.5km/h average speed until Bedok Camp but from then on, the route to Siglap kopitiam was littered with red lights. This slowed me down a lot. Ride average was 33.1km/h and moving average was 33.5km/h upon passing the 32km mark (Siglap Kopitiam).

Garmin details below..