My favourite ride

My favourite ride of the week has got to be the Saturday morning ride with the Anza riders. It is the main reason for my gains in cycling strength the last couple of years.

In the past, I used to ride by myself all the time. Since mid 2007, I have been joining the Anza riders on either their Kranji or Changi rides. Depending on my level of fitness and motivation level, I will choose either the steady or the FAST ride. I have to say that if the FAST ride is chosen, then I better be prepared to be in for a lot of hurt!:) Riding with Anza has also improved my bike handling a bit; I do not freak out as much now when another rider is close to me, and I am able to stay pretty close to the rider in front of me in order to benefit from the drafting effect. In fact, sometimes the gap between my front wheel and the back wheel of the rider in front can as close as, or less than 10cm! Though I am usually the only Asian in the group, the Anza guys have been pretty welcoming, and I really look up to most of them as they are much stronger bikers than me! A lot of them are holding senior positions in the corporate world, have families, yet they are still keeping fit and having fun.

Above is data from this morning's ride. It was one hell of a fast Kranji! From Longhouse all the way to Orchard, we averaged 37kph! There were a couple of times when I thought I was going to get dropped, but luckily the pace dropped, and I was able to recover and hang in there:) I even managed to put in a brief spurt up SBV, but the climbing legs just weren't there....yet:)

Below is the trailer for the documentary Chasing Legends that I watched recently. It gave me a greater appreciation of professional cycling and the hardship they go through to finish the Tour de France. Watching the whole video gave me the inspiration to want to do a cycling race for the first time this year. I really want to try the cycling TT in Mar/Apr and probably the Tour de Bintan the second half of the year.


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A preview of my new bike:)