Tour de Bintan 2011 -a gist on suffering
Finally, this is OVER. Anticipation of this event was quite bothersome (well, most events to me are anyway!) and I am so glad that I managed to complete this. Quite frankly, prior to the race, I was pretty confident on qualifying for Cat 3's 'Premier Top 80' since by last year's data, even a 6hr completion of Day 1 could have qualified. Oh, I WAS SO WRONG! What I did not anticipate though, was that this year, the participants ballooned more than two-fold. Veterans were also back for blood (training at site!) plus due to Cat 1 and 2 being filled up quite early, some super riders had to settle for Cat 3. So we really had a mixed group in Cat 3. Needless to say, I was happy to complete all 3 stages safely, still in one piece. The rolling hills at Bintan are B.R.U.T.A.L.....1411m ascent over 154km is no joke. To complete the route leisurely is already quite a mammoth task. To complete it in a race situation, it takes a lot of guts. So real kudos to RYO and BEN (aka STEFAN ...