Sunday, August 22, 2010

Solo Ride

I pulled myself out of bed (well, not literally since it was already 1030am) and made a pact with myself to go cycling. Not being able to run was getting on my nerves, daily. It had been an irritable week, and I could feel my fitness plunging.

Proven right, because when I got on my bike, it felt strangely heavy. Or maybe it was the weather, midnoon sun. I took Bt Batok Rd to Ten-Mile Junction and headed to Mandai. 12km. Then a loop. At the Seletar Reservoir, I managed to learn how to cycle in a straight line while standing on my bike. A cheap thrill of learning a new trick. Almost completing the loop, I went over an uneven road surface just before the Shell station, hard. And my toolkit flew out of its cage, and spewed its contents all across 3 lanes of the road. Luckily traffic was very light along that stretch. But I could not run in my cleats, so I had to go shoeless across the road and retrieve everything. My carbon handpump was lying in the middle of Lane 2, and a car came by. Arghhh! A hugh relief when it safely went under the car, rather than its tyres. Whew. I managed to pick up everything. 38km.

The weather was hot, and it would have been a mental 2nd loop. I decided to take Kranji-Neo Tiew, and cut through Brickland Rd to get home. 51km to the start of the windy flat stretch outside the cemetries. The headwind was strong, nothing to draft, no shade to hide. I was going at about 20kmh, on a flat. So encouraging... And meanwhile, my phone was beeping non-stop because I was trying to arrange some appointments, and it was very disruptive.

I got to BB West Ave 8, stopped at Shell for a drink, and made my way home. 67km.
Darn, could not even hit 70km....

No comments: