My favourite National Day video:)

Solo Adventure:)

Last Friday, I drove up to Desaru for the half ironman race. I had to do the trip solo as Emily had to run in the inter-constituency race on Saturday. I was really excited about the trip up as it was the first time I was driving for such a long distance, and in unfamiliar territory, and alone!! Well, I tried to prepare as best as I could for the trip; reading up driver comments on the route on the forums, going through my route on google maps, making sure that my spare tyre was pumped up, and keying some emergency roadside assistance numbers into my hp just in case I met with some trouble.

I have to say that I really enjoyed my first "long" drive up to Malaysia, though it took just a 2 hr journey to reach Desaru from my house. I felt a sense of freedom and adventure very much like the first time I hopped onto my road bike. Reading those newspaper reports of Singaporeans dying in car crashes in Malaysia made me drive cautiously and alert for any road hazards. But once the traffic thinned out after I left JB, I just could not resist going faster:)

The drive there was pretty straight-forward; just had to make sure that I was in the lane after I came out of the checkpoint. That led me onto a busy road with many intersections, but I just had to keep driving straight till the turn-off to Desaru. It was very easy! Just follow the street signs!

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I had been planning to do the Desaru half ironman since the beginning of the year. In fact, this was supposed to be the last tri race of the season - the culmination of half a year's of training and preparation. I had high hopes for this race; I had fantasized about myself putting in a solid swim, bike and run and finishing high in the placings. This was to be a good build-up to next year's Langkawi. But all these were not meant to be. After a controlled swim, I was having a relatively good bike ride, just focussing on myself and not getting caught up with some guys speeding away from me. I told myself I had to be patient, and that those guys would come back to me. I had done some decent bike rides recently and I knew that everything was in control.

But coming off a long downhill about 20k into the first bike loop, I suddenly heard a "piang!" coming from the rear. The guy behind me told me that I had a flat. I stopped immediately and felt for the rear tyre......it was still rock hard!......no flat! Then I saw that broken spoke on the drive side of the wheel. I knew my race was over. There was no way I was going to ride the remaining 70k on that wheel. There really was nothing I could do. If it was a flat, I could change out the tube, but what can I do with a broken spoke?? The rim was rubbing against the brakes even when I opened up the brakes to the fullest. Then I thought that maybe if I released the brakes completely - no brakes, I might still be able to roll a bit. So I managed to wave down a passing Ang Moh rider and he was kind enough to slow down, back track and lent me his allen tool. After I released the bike cable totally, the rim was only rubbing slightly, but I realised that the tyre was also rubbing against the inner stays. Moreover, I tried to wrap the dangling piece of broken spoke around another good one, but it still hit against the stays. I did not want to risk damaging the frame and made the decision to stop completely :(

Now, I needed to get myself back to the transition area. A race marshall came by on a motorbike and I told him I had to pull out. He asked me to hop on!........with my bike! So there I was, sitting pillion behind him with my bike carried over my right shoulder. It was ok when the motorbike was moving off slowly, but once it gained speed, I was having trouble holding on to my bike as it caught a lot of wind resistance. Finally, after something like 500m, I asked him to stop cos I could not take it anymore......any further and I will drop my bike! Thankfully, the recovery vehicle popped by and I managed to get a ride to the transition area and I gathered all my things quickly and left......too embarassed that I had to DNF.

Though this is not the first time I had to DNF, it is the first time it had to happen due to a mechanical.....and that is most frustrating. I really wanted to use this race as a morale booster and a build-up to next year's Langkawi.

Up to now, I am still a bit upset that the spoke broke. These are top of the line alloy wheels from Easton. I had only bought them last November, and have probably only ridden on them not more than 10 times.........they are my race wheels! Maybe the roads were a little rough, but it shouldn't break so easily.

If you look at the pics of the spoke below, you can see that it did not happen in the usual location, which is at the head of the spoke. Rather, it is further away, near the transition point from tubular to bladed surface. It was as though it was so brittle that it just snapped off! :( Maybe mine was a defective spoke from the manufacturer. There would be no way to know this unless a break took place. I dun think I will ever ride this wheel again. Though it may be an isolated incident, I just won't know if it might happen again. I will probably get the spoke replaced and sell it off cheap. Maybe it's time to get the Mavic Carbones that I have been eyeing:)
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Well, shit happens......but it always happens for a reason right? Emily helped me to gain a different perspective on my misfortune. She said that maybe God was trying to protect me from something.....perhaps He let the spoke break now that it would save me from further heartbreak down the road.....can you imagine what it would be like if this happened in a big race like the ironman? Or perhaps He knows that my legs are still pretty weak for running and by ending my race early......injury will be kept at bay. I really dun know but life still goes on, and I will live to fight another day :)