I survived! My first super early morning & ultra ultra long ride!
Slept early & woke up rather fresh. Ate my triple decker peanut-butter-nutella-kaya-cheese wholemeal sandwich. Sounded like a mouthful huh. :) Meeting time 5am (but I got lost driving and we only started at 530am). Considering that I was a wreck of nerves yesterday, all jittery over the ride, I arrived in a decent shape. Last evening I managed to fix my bike sensor and put on brand new bike lights, all thanks to the wonderfully helpful chaps @ Rodalink.
HS led the way in front, and WH was the sweeper. I started off very tensed actually. The whole experience was new to me - cycling in the dark with early traffic, using my brand new Oakley persimmon lenses (thumbs up!), new route (I get super conservative in unfamiliar terrain). I think the ching-chiong-gan-chiong-ness kept me wide awake! But HS was very good, gave all the advanced hand signals, and kept a nice slow pace that I could follow. Felt so safe! Slow and steady. Hopefully also fat-burning HR zone? :)
Part 1 (25km) - We went from Upp Thomson Road -> Yio Chu Kang -> Hougang -> Old Tampines Rd -> Pasir Ris/ Loyang -> Changi Village -> Coastal Road. Toilet break ~25km near the start of Coastal Road.
Part 2 (cumulative 77km) - Then continued half the Coastal loop -> Fort Road -> another quick water break -> Kallang/ National Stadium -> Flyer/ Esplanade -> (met our Safra runners) -> Harbourfront -> up the long carriageway across to Clementi Rd/ Pasir Panjang -> West Coast Park MacDonalds for breakfast! That was my main motivation. I was hooked when HS told me yesterday that we would stop to eat. :) Now to find the next motivation....
Part 3 (115km) - After a good & much needed refuel, I brought the guys to "loop" around Tuas. West Coast Highway -> Jln Buroh -> Jln Ahmad Ibrahim -> Bird Park must be having some National Day promotion, there were so many taxis blocking the road! -> all the way straight to Raffles Marina -> Ecstatic when my speeedometer clocked 100! :) -> Tuas West Drive -> my favourite headwind section -> Power Station -> u-turn -> Pioneer Road -> Tg Kiling -> SPC for drinks. The "loop" unwittingly became a 40km loop, headwind blasting. Oops. We were far far away from our end point! And we set out this morning wanting only to ride 100-120km... WH said this section was very similar to Busso terrain.
Part 4 (130km) - Jln Boon Lay to NTU. WH's favourite loop so we had to do it. Everyone got a choice of a 'favourite'. Oh dear.... It was my first time going into NTU, not sure what to expect from the infamous hills. They did not disappoint. It was smooth sailing downslope until a sudden point where everything went uphill! The slope was endless, and the headwind, gosh! Gears dropped to the lightest possible and cranked my way up. The guys had long disappeared after the climb. We stopped at a bus-stop, got drinks from a vending machine, and contemplated the route back. Approximately 30km more between us and lunch...
Part 5 (160km) - NTU -> Lim chu Kang Tengah -> Now it was HS' favourite time trial section, to escape the stench from the chicken coops -> Neo Tiew -> all the farms and rolling slopes -> Kranji Dam -> Woodlands Road -> Mandai Road. Took a break at the bus stop opposite Shell. Whew... I was just 10km from home! How tempting! Then HS pointed out that I was also 10km from my car.... Aiyoh... Pressing on! Mandai -> Zoo -> Upp Thomson/ Columbarium -> Springleaf/ Shell -> Food!! Hallelujah! We stopped for lunch. Wolved down a platter of mixed roast and Ampang yong tau foo. Oh much needed comfort food. The ride back to my car was a little digestion exercise.
Ahh... what a fantastic long ride. The haze was useful for once in keeping out the sun for most part of the ride. We would probably do it a few more times, adding on sections or doing more loops, to clock the mileage for Busso. Slowly... never chiong-ed at all. But for now, my butts are aching and I need my deserved beauty sleep. :)
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