Low-Sugar on Carbon Wheels

I tried out my new carbon wheels today. I was suppose to ride with Henry and WH but I totally overslept. Oops. Alber had class and could not ride with me today. So I ended up cycling alone. I was a little hesitant because friends told me that a deep-section wheel catches more wind and is more wobbly. The brakes also take a little bit longer to be seasoned since carbon is 'slippery'. Great....

I headed for the only familiar route that I knew - Mandai. My aim was to complete 5 loops. The wheels were smooth and nice. Except that they were nice only above 30kmh. They picked up speed easily after that, but then I don't normally cruise at 30kmh so I did not benefit much from that. Uphill battle, downhill breeze. In fact the downs gathered speed so quickly, I was a little scared. The wheels had a nice zzzzzng sound when they free-wheeled. Ahhh... but that also meant I slacked off a lot. Oops. Ok, it's the rider's problem, not the wheels. My bike handling skill was not ace. And if the engine doesn't whoosh and zoom, the wheels couldn't whoosh and zoom....

The first three rounds were ok, but I started to feel hungry. Just as I pulled into the bus stop near Shell for a cereal bar, it started to drizzle. But it was a passing shower that stopped in 10 minutes. I only had one cereal bar, which was a mistake.

My fourth round was better, boosted by the cereal bar. I ambitiously thought perhaps I could complete 6 rounds. I saw Henry and Lucille jogging near the Mandai PCN. Wow, brick training, power!

Then trouble struck. I headed for the 5th round and just 6km after, I started to feel low sugar. Extremely low sugar. I felt cold, light-headed and could just go at a sustenance pace. I could feel the body shutting down, as if it was trying to conserve what little energy there was left. I had to fight to stay awake, and alert. To the extent that I stopped at the pedestrian path at the Woodlands-Mandai junction and stoned out for a while to recover.

I contemplated taking a cab home, but figured I should be able to last until the coffeeshop enroute home. So I skipped the rest of the loop and u-turned at the Crematorium junction and headed back. It was a lot of cruising and free-wheeling. I had another pit-stop at Shell, and recomposed myself for the last 5km to the coffeeshop.

That 5km never felt harder or longer. I had to stay focused and not drift off. Once at the coffeeshop, I polished off an iced milo, an iced lemon tea and a pau. It was another 5km home. Whew. Next time, I would bring more food on the ride.