Masher Short Night Ride
A truly rare occasion.
Gary, BP, Ben, Sam, Francis were all in this ride as well. Nice weapons display too and managed to see Gary's Pink SpeedVagen in action and later on Mark dropped by to unveil his SV. IMO, 2 of the most beautiful and unique road bikes to ever grace Singapore roads in recent history (!).
We met up at SAFRA had our few quick hellos and off we went. Ben took the lead initially on a 30km/h 1km warm up at coastal. I took over after than and pushed the pace bit by bit until 40km/h and led till mid-coastal. The intention was to set the 'tone' for the ride to come and get everyone to dump reserves early :) Like a good movie, you need to have a good in-your-face music and cool opening right from the start. I backed off midway, truthfully I wasn't used to night riding and experienced unusually high HR. Even leading at 40km/h I was pushing towards 180bpm....maybe its the excitement of actually riding in a group larger than 2!
Everyone took their turn to lead and by the end of coastal, Ben was back in front and pushed briefly the pace to 40+km/h. I led up Loyang till mid point but slowed down to see if I could get some of them behind me before I continued....just at this point, Gary shot right pass me. I like this and I gave chase. He was fast! I had huge problems catching up but eventually just did right before the crest. My Garmin was beeping as I reached him. 189bpm : been a loooong time since I hit this kind of HR (last was chasing Ryo up some other incline). Top speed reached while chasing on the 4-5% incline was 40km/h and crested at 37km/h.
I anticipated attacks on the 2nd steep slope in this course, the Selarang Hill. This is Gary's play area and I will not be able to touch him. Out of no where Ben attacked before the slope with BP at his tail, passing both Gary and me at high speed. However, not much into the slope, Ben gave up to release BP. I gave chase and so did Gary who sped past me like a lightning streak! He beat me to the top which I expect. All of us grouped up at a bus stop to wait for Sam and Francis. Apparently we left them behind right after Changi Village.....I thought they were still behind us at Loyang which was why I slowed down mid slope and check on the group.
The ride back was relative tame(r). Averaging 35km/h mostly except for the last part when Sam took over the lead and broke up the group. After a short while I did my part to break it further with a quick sprint but that was no match for Ben's sprint from behind and he passed me at hyperspeed and with Gary in pursuit. Gary passed Ben as he punctured and I caught up with him shortly after. However, Ben went for a 2nd sprint and everything repeats itself once again.
I have poor sprinting power! Its as if my muscle characteristics have changed for endurance, foregoing burst power.....probably attributed to my long distance runs of late. I guess riding with people is a good thing with changes in pace, something which I rarely get on my long solo rides although they achieve better average speeds, there are no bursts involved. Interval training perhaps?
Gary, BP, Ben, Sam, Francis were all in this ride as well. Nice weapons display too and managed to see Gary's Pink SpeedVagen in action and later on Mark dropped by to unveil his SV. IMO, 2 of the most beautiful and unique road bikes to ever grace Singapore roads in recent history (!).
We met up at SAFRA had our few quick hellos and off we went. Ben took the lead initially on a 30km/h 1km warm up at coastal. I took over after than and pushed the pace bit by bit until 40km/h and led till mid-coastal. The intention was to set the 'tone' for the ride to come and get everyone to dump reserves early :) Like a good movie, you need to have a good in-your-face music and cool opening right from the start. I backed off midway, truthfully I wasn't used to night riding and experienced unusually high HR. Even leading at 40km/h I was pushing towards 180bpm....maybe its the excitement of actually riding in a group larger than 2!
Everyone took their turn to lead and by the end of coastal, Ben was back in front and pushed briefly the pace to 40+km/h. I led up Loyang till mid point but slowed down to see if I could get some of them behind me before I continued....just at this point, Gary shot right pass me. I like this and I gave chase. He was fast! I had huge problems catching up but eventually just did right before the crest. My Garmin was beeping as I reached him. 189bpm : been a loooong time since I hit this kind of HR (last was chasing Ryo up some other incline). Top speed reached while chasing on the 4-5% incline was 40km/h and crested at 37km/h.
I anticipated attacks on the 2nd steep slope in this course, the Selarang Hill. This is Gary's play area and I will not be able to touch him. Out of no where Ben attacked before the slope with BP at his tail, passing both Gary and me at high speed. However, not much into the slope, Ben gave up to release BP. I gave chase and so did Gary who sped past me like a lightning streak! He beat me to the top which I expect. All of us grouped up at a bus stop to wait for Sam and Francis. Apparently we left them behind right after Changi Village.....I thought they were still behind us at Loyang which was why I slowed down mid slope and check on the group.
The ride back was relative tame(r). Averaging 35km/h mostly except for the last part when Sam took over the lead and broke up the group. After a short while I did my part to break it further with a quick sprint but that was no match for Ben's sprint from behind and he passed me at hyperspeed and with Gary in pursuit. Gary passed Ben as he punctured and I caught up with him shortly after. However, Ben went for a 2nd sprint and everything repeats itself once again.
I have poor sprinting power! Its as if my muscle characteristics have changed for endurance, foregoing burst power.....probably attributed to my long distance runs of late. I guess riding with people is a good thing with changes in pace, something which I rarely get on my long solo rides although they achieve better average speeds, there are no bursts involved. Interval training perhaps?
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