We will dance on their chamois

First race since my semi- retirement (from work) and its burning hot. The temperature hit 39 degrees on my way to the race & the app says it feels like 43. Seems like the definition of insanity to be starting at 4:30 in the afternoon in such heat. The rationale is that we’re finishing on the Sang Kraeng climb up to Uthai Thani temple snd the lookout is allegedly spectacular at sunset.

Retirement has been good. I’m training more and hitting some PB numbers that I haven’t seen in years. My booming confidence took a dent on Thursday when the youngsters dropped me on the local petrol station smash fest.

Got a lift out to Uthai Thani & the flags are really blowing in the strong wind. Arrived to find the stadium empty which made me think it was going to be an easy race. Around 35 riders eventually turned up including all the strong Nakhon Sawan boys.

We started with 5km down a fast straight road & it was immediately obvious that around 10 of us were up for a hard race. I pushed on the small uphill rise to try reduce the hangers on before we turned into the smaller roads but they clung on.

Into the skinny roads and the attacks started. Usually just 1-2 guys and rarely getting more than 50m in the wind. But it required constant attention to make sure none of the riders bridged into something dangerous. I stayed in the top 3 places throughout & did too much work.

At Km 20, we hit the bendy road which was a bit dodgy with sand and holes. I got involved in a break and we managed to lose maybe 10 riders. After the break got caught, Dennis H appeared on the front of the bunch on his TT bike & pulled the group for a few fast KM. As far as I know, he was just there for fun but it was a bit weird!

One of the NS boys got off the front & no-one seemed keen to chase so I bridged over to him. He looked fucked so I pushed on myself. I quickly realised that the wind was too strong and there was no way I could make the 20km alone to the end. But no-one behind was closing the gap and i had a few hundred metres. I sat in zone 2 and cruised along trying not to expend too much. I was put there for 7km before the pack caught me. In retrospect, i wonder what would gave happened if I’d pushed it.

I got into another break about 5km later & this one gad real potential as all 3 of us were in different categories. The much reduced bunch caught us with about 10km to go. From then in there were 8 of us. Constant attacks that didn’t stick and every one looking fucked!

I had nothing left and almost got dropped on a few of the attacks. I took it up the hill into Uthai Thani in first snd was passed by most of the group over the summit.

8 of us cane onto the Sang Kraeng temple climb together. There was an attack by the Y1RS dude at the bottom and i had nothing and just let it go. I crawled up that climb but did pass 1 guy from my category. Id guess i was 5th overall.

Good fun race but crazy hot. My Zwift numbers look great but real world performance is not aligned. Either the local kids are super strong or my power meter is off.

150 bhat for a great day out with a few drinks thrown in. 38.5 average to the climbs & then 37 for the whole race.

Its my 20th Wedding Anniversary so I immediately left and headed home for dinner. Received a frosty reception…evening races on a major family occasion are a risk 😃

My first time at MTCM in 9 years. It used to be a semi regular event - joining the 1st edition in 2012, 2014 and then 2016 but not in a long time. With my retirement to Thaikand, I can now drive to the race so hoping it becones an annual trip from now on.

The trip up took 6 hours over nice roads. Hotel De Chai Oriental was small but ok. We have about 10 Quantum Racers spread over the categories so looking forward to a good race.

Stage 1: 77km

Woke, had breakfast, cycled to meet the boys only to find that my DI2 was completely dead. Tried a quick charge but nothing working. Really strange as it was working when I assembled the bike on previous night.

Tried a couple of bike shops & had Jacky Bike fix in about 5 mins with a change in battery and straightening of the rear D hanger.

Took an easy spin up Doi Suthep to celebrate!

Back at the real race, the boys had a stormer and are leading both 30s & 40s. The price of having the wife drive me to the race was that I have to do touristy stuff every day. Today was the Long Neck Hill tribe…

Stage 2: 38km

Stage 2 was the standard criterium around CMRU. I was dreading it as i remember the fast downhills not being to my taste.

I rode the 30km out to the course for an 8am start & was super happy to see the course was much more refined than when I last rode it in 2012. Still didn’t love the corners but it wasn’t that bad.

We had 6 laps of 6km rollers. The 50s was was only 25 riders and we took the 1st lap easy. 2nd lap also pretty tame but it finally detonated on lap 3 when Fred Clatworthy took off. I found myself quickly out the back - maybe 15 seconds behind Group 2 with everyone all over the road. I kept it steady through Lap 4 and eventually reeled in Group 2.

I went on lap 6 at the midway point but it didn’t really work. Went again on the 2nd last hill and crested with a couple if seconds gap. I then lost confidence on my cornering and let the others pass me before the finish. Could have got 5th if Id kept sprinting but was happy with 9th.

A much better day than expected. Boys took 1.,2,3 in 30s & won 40s. Tourist trip for the day was a paper umbrella factory & a silk shop.

Day 3: 76km

Queen stage with a 55km out and back on the highway followed by the legendary Sameong loop.

50s rolled out on their own and it was initially a pleasant tempo ride. There was huge fog making it challenging to see what was going on. I saw Fred take off solo at 15km but didn’t really care about it. Its only later that I heard there were 3 off the front & he was bridging up…

I dud at little as possible. Only getting involved when I felt a break might be happening.

In the loop itself, I launched the first push off the front on the 1st decent hill - just spinning away!

The group splintered and were down to about 8 of us. The strongest 3 gapped me. I mostly kept them in sight but only caught one of them.

Its a cruel set of hills. You think you’re done - such as at the KoM and then there’s another hill straight after it! My back starting hurting on hill 2 but I kept pushing to the top. Dying all the way.

I finished in 6th - had I known then might have pushed harder to catch the Thai guy in front. My time was same as 2012/2014 so I was pretty happy. Looking forward to the ITT now.

Tourist tat off the day was Chiang Mai zoo and Snow world!

Stage 4: 11km

The classic last day ITT up Doi Suthep. As i missed Day 1 and am not a GC rider anymore, Im off first in 50s. This sucks as means I have no minute men to chase down but also no real pressure.

I went off at a good pace and was holding maybe 260 watts average for first 2km. I lapsed in the middle and watts fell be 10%. My lack of hills training showed and I started to feel it in the back. I had a good shot at the low end of the podium but blew it. Came in at 38:02 - a minute down on my best time and 30s off the podium. Another 7th place!

During the race, Id got a call from Kyle that Reuben had a technical issue & needed my wheel. I immediately descended, found out I was too late, climbed again and then descended for a 2nd time.

Enjoyed the race and was good to be borderline competitive without a lot of training.will be back again.

I went back to Singapore after the ITT, had a good nights sleep at home snd the came back in the Saturday with my road bike. It was more expensive but much less faffing than travelling with 2 bikes.

We had a huge Quantum team representing across all categories. The banter was good at Saturday night dinner and a strong whiff of optimism in the air.

The Duolos Phos ship hotel was awesome but 35km from the race start. To overcome this, we’d hired a set of buses to get us to the race which was a genius idea.

Dan Forster kicked off the winning streak before my group rolled out - taking 2nd in Masters.

Seniors was rolling with juniors, masters B and a few other groups resulting in a huge peloton of 125 riders. It was 37 degrees as we rolled out at 10:30am and i wasnt feeling in the mood.

The race took off immediately on the red road and I was struggling from the beginning. Really should have warmed up the legs I quickly realised!

I hung back as wasn’t keen on getting involved in such a huge group. Gaps appeared very quickly and all the PNS and Rapha riders went out the back. I was on the wrong side of a gap snd as the front (Poon) was pushing i simply couldn’t close it. Within 15km my race was effectively over.

I hooked up with an IR & a Garcia and we tempoed around the 43km loop. The heat was unbearable & I pulled the plug at the end of Lap 1. I had 2 ferry tickets and decided to catch the early ferry.

Poon ended up winning Seniors from a solo break with Keiichi 2nd.

In Seniors A, warren ended up 2nd which was a great result.

A fantastic weekend for the team. Great boys, nice race and lovely hotel. Hope they keep doing it on this course.

Due to the ongoing Terminal 5 construction at Changi, closing SG roads is getting even harder. The upside of this is a more exciting Nationals calendar mostly happening over a long weekend in Bintan.

With complex logistics of multiple bikes, i decided to skip the criterium on Saturday. Instead I raced the ITT on Friday, went back to SG to collect a bike and the came back for Sundays RR.

Training wise, i focussed my efforts on the TT. The actual course was completely different from Changi so not sure how useful this was.

We stayed in the Ship Hotel next to the feert tetminal. This was pretty cool as it was literally a 60s passanger liner now on land and less than 500m from the ferry. Rooms were small but adequate. The 6:45 taxi was too early for breakfast so i ended up eating a cold club sandwich that id stashed in the fridge. Without coffee, it was a pretty depressing start.

The circuit itself was a 10km loop. A few chicanes of turns, a 4km backstrsight and then 4km of rollers and turns. It was a tough circuit. With our late arrival, there was minimal warmup in the searing temperatures.

Id won the ITT last year but Ppon was in my category this year due to a registration screwup. At best, i knew i was riding for 2nd.

I rolled down the gantry and felt i took the initial turns section quite easy. On the bumpy back straight, i hit 48km which is when i realised I was overdoing it. The rollers section proved much harder than expected snd I couldn’t settle onto a routine as terrain kept changing & you couldn’t really get your bearings. Didn’t even think about the usual stuff like hand positioning!

Lap 2 i was really feeling it and the power was down. I caught my one minute man - just as his bottle popped out on the bumpy roads. He kept me in sight and actually passed me just before the finish. I held on and was only around 20 seconds slower for the second lap.

I felt I hadn’t done as well as i should but at 175 average heart rate, it was hard to say more could have been done. In the end, i got second - about 45 seconds up on 3rd place. As expected, Poon blitzed the course with the fastest time of the morning - putting 3 minutes into me.

We got lucky with weather. A mini hurricane blew back at hotel caving in all the windows in the restaurant! Went back to SG on the ferry a happy man. My 11th national champs medal!

The thai dogs start their work early. 4:45am and they’re already up for a sprint.

Im also starting early and racing something more exciting than the street dogs. Its a race I never expected as am meant to be in Krabi Tour of friendship with the boys. Circumstances change. The wife was hospitalised expectedly and so I’m at home helping her recover.

Fortunately I found an alternate whilst Im here. A weird 4-man TTT type event over 100km out near Uthai Thani. From Google Translate, I think theres a solo category so I’m out here at 4:45am riding 46km on unknown roads to try find it. I spent 6 weeks building good ToF legs so don’t wanna waste them.

The ride in countryside with no street lights took longer than expected so I made it with about 15 mins to spare. $15 (400 bhat) entry and I was in. A refreshing registration process where I didn’t even give a name.

There was a briefing in Thai and then around 100 riders rolled out of the football stadium. We soft rolled for 2km including an NTU sized climb that I later found out was the finish.

It started full gas with a dude on the front pulling on his TT bike. Initially about 10 of us were involved and the fast pace continued for about 5km which finally reduced the group to 4. Roads were pretty flat and super smooth.

The course was out and back with a little loop at the midway point. We dropped another rider at 40km which left me with 2 strong lads from the same team. One guy was pulling for 5 mins in each turn whilst the other would only do 30s. I felt long turn dude was the strongest of the 2.

I was feeling the 45km ride to the start even before the midway point. Legs were tired and could feel a hint of cramp. I kept the hydration up from the motorbike, continuously poured water on the legs and ate all my food to fuel up. It kept me alive but not sparkling.

With 3km to go, i attacked whilst the strong turn dude had just got on the front as this had the other guy boxed in. I got about 50m and was extending only to see the NTU type hill pop up in front. I pushed up here and could see the short turn guy bridging over. Was fortunate to see the finish was on the KoM of the hill so I gassed it & had enough time for a proper hands in the air celebration.

150km day including the ride there.

39km average for the race. I was happy as it was no easy race and Id worked hard throughout.

They gave great food, a big trophy and a box of cakes. Amazing considering the cost of the event! Id definitely come back and support these races.

Trifactor was the 1st race I ever won & so always holds a special place in my heart. With a 3.45am wake up time though, it really tests that love!

I thought I’d last ridden it in maybe 2019 but the blog suggests this is the first time Ive raced since 2016!

Waking up was surprisingly easy as I was in age group. Had I gone for Elite then it would have been an obscene 2:45 start.

Age group was 49km - 7 laps - with the 40s/50/60 group together. There were a few other races on the course at the same time so I expected it to get messy quite quick. Thankfully it worked out & the concerns were mostly unfounded.

We started with about 60 in the peloton. Matadors were the dominant team with at least 6 riders & then just ones and twos for the rest of us. We put the speed down from the start and immediately reduced the group to ~20 which made it much safer.

Keiichi and 1 Matador got a gap on lap 1. This was ok for most of us, so we sat up and let them build the gap up to 1 minute. No one else had numbers so couldn’t really make a concerted effort to close it. We cruised round at a 38 km and most were happy.

Naert went on lap 6 to grab 2nd in the 40s category. I tried twice on the final lap bridge and into the uturn on the hill but couldn’t get anything meaningful. I sat up with 200m to go to be safe.

Keiichi got the win and I was around 6th.

Nice fun end to an enjoyable season

This years race seems to be cursed. Signups were notoriously sluggish - with only 35 riders committed a week before starting. A last minute spurt saw sign-ups hit 85 but still only a fraction of what it normally gets.

Someone smarter than me dubbed it the Fyre Festival of cycling. There were minimal updates, distances kept changing, sketchy route maps and almost no infrastructure upon arrival. Its really weird and no-one seems to be organising the chaos.

I came across on the Friday lunchtime with Keiichi. The hotel is alright so treating it like a training holiday!

Stage 1:

We were woken at 3:50am by the hotel announcing that a small breakfast was available in the foyer. FOMO of there being only limited food made me get up & it proved perfectly adequate. We left the hotel & got a scooter escort to the bottom of the hotel hills as there were zero streetlights. We then had to ride in pitch black 4km along the road to find the startline.

Start times & arrangements were confused. The UCI event was due to start at 5:30 but the UCI raised concerns as the sun doesn’t come up till 5:45! The race started around 5:50 with the fondo going soon after at 6:00. No age category or gender split - just 1 big group in the end. Just before the start, a race official admonished us for not wearing the official free race jersey & it genuinely felt like he wasn’t going to let the peloton ride!

We started up the Nongsa loop hills and the group immediately split. I bridged over but maybe 25 were gone out the back. I sat on the back till we hit a roadworks gravel section at 14km. I got gapped on the dodgy surface & someone at the front gassed it. On a road in heavy traffic, I couldnt make it back on despite chasing for 10km.

Being just behind the peloton was a nightmare as there was no protection from traffic and the motorbikes would pull in front at the junctions. By the red road, I stopped chasing and cruised along waiting for the group behind to catch me.

Eventually they caught me at 50km mark. My average was still 38.5 here so Id clearly been pushing. I hooked up with a group of 6 mostly IR riders and started working with them. Signposting was shit & we managed to ride past the uturn point.

On the way back, i caught up up to a small group of 4 in front & then dropped all the IR riders. Was fortunate to meet this group as the traffic on the way back was much worse. We got stopped at junctions full of motorbikes and navigated a huge roundabout with no marshals. Was literally like racing through city centre traffic whilst having no real idea where you were heading.

The NBAS lady was being ganged up on by an Indo female rider & her male team mate. I set the pace for the last 20km - navigating bad traffic at the gravel section and managed to drop the Indonesians with 10km to go. Sign posts at the final were terrible - jumping from 5km, 4km to 1km within the last 2km of the race!

Keichi ended up winning his age category and getting 10th overall. I came in 20 minutes down and yet still 5th in Age category. It was a shit-show of a race.

Stage 2:

Stage 2 continued the shitshow theme although maybe less the organisers fault. We went to bed on Saturday not knowing what the actual start times might be. Due to the likelihood of peletons being merged, we were cautious and went down early for a potential 6am start.

The skies were black with torrential rain & lightning starting just as we arrived. There were maybe 30 people at the start and universal confusion. At one point, there was talk of the 45+ groups all starting together at 6:30 and just doing 1 lap. However as most of the 7am riders weren’t there, this was postponed.

Eventually a combined peloton rode put at 7am. There were maybe 30 riders and it was still raining. I rode to the hotel and went for an early ferry. With the huge puddles and sand everywhere, i just didn’t think it was worth risking.

Sadly Keiichi punctured on the circuit and lost his yellow jersey.

Was a shit race. Won’t be back unless theres some big changes to the organisation.

A fast little road trip over to Iskandar for the boys. Snuck out of the office at 3:30 and taxied over with Morgan. Eventful trip where our maniac driver managed to rear end another car whilst in standing traffic at customs. Aidan, Kyle, Morgan and I in a AirBnB whilst Ross, Poon &Roy found other lodgings.

The AirBnb was interesting - a weird 4 room resort cabin type thing surrounded by a gocarting track. An absolute monster storm woke everyone at 2am with the cabin literally shaking in the wind.

The wind and rain continued for the whole race making conditions sketchy. The sketchiness was multiplied by a very narrow starting straight with 2000 riders of very mixed capabilities. The 8km neutral zone was a shit show and one of the least enjoyable times I’ve ever had on a bike. By the end, my objective of the day was just to stay upright in the dodgy conditions.

By the time neutral finished, the race was already gone and I was in the 4th or even 5th group. There was a long climb up a bridge at 25km and I used this to move up massively. I made it to the 4th group and then bridged with 1 other guy all the way over to the 3rd peleton. My legs were actually feeling good and I was chuffed with this effort.

For the next 50km, I just sat on the back of the group to avoid trouble. The roads were decent but the wet conditions and grit required concentration.

At 90km we hit the bridge going the other direction and I absolutely gassed it. I passed over 100 riders and bridged over to 2 riders off the front. Eventually a group of 8 of us took off the front from the peleton and got a decent gap. We maintained this to 5km to go before the charging peleton got back on. I sat up and soft pedaled home as didn’t want to risk anything just to get 200th place.

No idea on final result but it was a decent race once we were past the hellish neutral. 38km average for the 120km. I won’t rush back for these mass start Malaysia events - but it was a great trip with the boys.

With only 4 weeks passing since the ITT, it wasn’t too challenging to retain some of my TT form.

A couple of weeks of training and a few Zwift Volcanos and I felt good.

Keiichi and myself did the Seniors Duo this year. We initially trained for2 laps but found out just before that we were only doing1 hot lap. Keiichi didn’t have his TT bike so we were a bit limited on aero marginal gains.

I got there with an hour to go and managed a decent warmup in the blazing heat. Keiichi got stuck in traffic due the yellow ribbon run and only arrived 20 minutes before we started. The prep turned into a mad dash and he got literally zero warmup before we hit the start.

We aimed for a 46 average and managed to maintain this rolling speed despite an oscillating headwind on the way out. Our biggest competition were Integrated Riding and we could see that we were catching them at halfway. We were both slightly cooked on the return leg but still managed to raise the pace. 1 lap is too short to hit max heart rate but I got to 176 which is pretty high!

Practise had been a 90/10 work split between the two of us. Was really pleased to get more help on this run and it was more like 70/30 in reality.

We finished first - 20 seconds up on second place. Super happy with the run with a 45.4K. speed for the lap.

The Quad team were on track for a record time but thwarted by Francois dropping his chain midway. After losing time in the dismount and fix, the boys were sadly only able to grab3rd on the podium.

A super hot day out but rewarding. Looking forward to getting back onto some normal training ahead of Batam.

Time Trial remains my favourite (best) discipline. It’s been many years since I was a consistent part of the podium following my string of results from 2013-2016. Last year, I was fifth so I could see a positive upturn in performance. For 2024, I purposely targeted the event putting in 4 weeks of TT specific training.

Training was trending up on last year so I had some confidence. I’d also done a lot on other factors - narrowing the front-end of the bike, getting the new Specialized TT helmet and drinking beetroot juice for 2 weeks. My toilet was not thanking me for the beetroot diet…

I rolled out in the middle of my two highest threats. Brian Johnson in front & a Mav behind.

It was the first time I’d ridden the Specialised helmet and it was sagging forward and really limiting my field of view. I had to do some tightness adjustment on the go to make it safe. However due to the combination of Darth Vader visor &the super bright sun, I couldn’t really see the Garmin to monitor power or speed.

At the midway, I could see the Mav had put some time into me & Brian was also going well. I’d paced conservatively and managed to find a bit more in the second half to get some time back. I caught my 2 & 3 minute men - but not Brian.

I came in with a 43.9 average just enough to take the victory by 2 seconds!

Super happy to see the planning come together successfully. Thankful also for some of the big hitters that missed the event. Definitely helped me!

I left after the podium just as a monster storm rolled in. Sketchy ride home & glad that we didn’t have to race in it. The Master was shortened to a single lap as a result.

Someone asked me how many bike races, I’d done in my life. I guessed 80 but admitted I had no idea.

I started writing this blog in April 2013 when I started getting a bit more serious about riding but had been racing before that - albeit mostly ineffectively. I started riding a bike in 2008 and my first race came soon after in early 2009. My recollection of the early racing is sketchy but have tried to figure out what I did in those first 5 years of riding.

From online results & photos, here’s what I can recall.

2009:

OCBC Cycle - 40km. Organised an OCBC team and won the internal team race

Tri factor - 5th. 1st proper race & remember doing well. 2 of the OCBC conti-team and 1 Cannasia were ahead of me so was pretty chuffed with that

Changi TTT duo - did thiswith my boss (AJ), the man that got me riding. Really enjoyed the TT and went out and bought a Felt DA TT bike the following week. 9th out of 14

National Road Race - remember racing on the super hard circuit at the Kaki Bukit Viaduct. Super hard & 1st DNF

Tour de Bintan - 1st ever TDB and there were maybe only 60 riders involved. I came 5th overall after a great stage 1. The results were sent out & then immediately withdrawn due to disputes. I still have them!

2010:

Due to some family health issues, I don’t remember racing much in 2010.

OCBC cycle - remember nothing about it

Changi ITT - came 8th from 40. About 1 minute from the podium.

Changi TTT - 1st time that the word Mavericks appeared for a SG cycling team. Kevin McGregor acknowledged that he stole my Anza Mavericks team name for the Mavs…

Tour de Bintan - went in poorly trained after taking a trip to Australia for the 2 weeks prior. Crashed badly 20km into the race and snapped my bars

2011:

Changi ITT - my lowest point in terms of training. 30th from 60 riders.

Changi ITT - 11th from 40. Gradually starting to improve.

Tri factor 40km - won the race through a sprint - only to find the time was based on time racers crossed the start line. Got 2nd behind Andrew Cherriman from memory. These are still the days when Trifactor was at Changi.

Tour de Bintan - first one where I trained properly and put in the effort. Top 20 I assume.

2012:

Started riding much more consistently in 2012 - lots of riding with the Fast ANZA group.

Tri factor 40km - lesson learned from previous year but the race was timed properly on gun time. Won the race in a sprint. 1st ever victory!

OCBC Cycle 60km - we raced all the way to end of Changi straight in this edition. 1st time I could stay with the front group

Illegal Kranji ITT - this was 6 laps round Kranji farms roads. I was just outside top 5 from memory. Endre Peterson blitzed it and won. The organiser got a visit from the police and that “race” never happened again…

Tour de Bintan - raced with the Anza guys like Pierre, Sebastian Bo & David Cox. Had huge issues with cramp and double-cramped 4x on the queen stage. Fell off and remember a local massaging me in the middle of the road. We came 3rd in the team category!

Tour of Chiang Mai - 1st ever edition of TCM and 4 of us went up. Steven Wong, David Cox, John Bateman and myself. Was a small race and very different from what it would become! Remember a crit round the university where a dinner table was used as safety barrier. Also doing the ITT in an open public park where part of the course was on a 50cm wide path through bushes. Dave Cox came 2nd behind Peter Hope.

There were likely others but those are the ones I can recall.

112 bike races to date!

Following last years sojourn to Bintan, there was a lot of rumours about where the Nationals were going to take place. Nichol Highway was an early favourite. In the end, it was a disappointing trip back to Changi Coast Road - albeit with a extra 1.5 k. Tagged on for novelty.

The Seniors B (50-55) was initially in a mixed peloton with the ladies, juniors and Seniors A. At the last minute, Masters B was added which considerably swelled the size of the peloton to 105. That turned out to be a lot of people squeezed into a relatively slim amount of road - leading to some dodgy moments on the day.

We had 5x15km laps up and down the strait with the uturns looking like the only place a break could getaway. We rolled with a 39km into the headwind and 45km+ with the tailwind - making it a fast day!

With the narrow roads, moving up the group was a challenge - compounded by the cones in the middle of the lane. I saw the cones get hit maybe 5 times so they were a constant hazard. I mostly stayed at the back - only taking 2 trips to the front to support. Once to disrupt the chase for one of our guys & once when I was mistaken that we’d missed the break and needed to work to close the gap. Reuben loudly informed me to get off the front so I retreated to the rear of the pack.

The race was sketchy and we had 5 crashes with around 20 riders out. I saw one where a young girl literally rode over a bike like a BMX ramp and caught some big air! I was happy just to come in safe with the pack.

The team had amazing outcome - taking the top 3 places across the line. Jay won his 3rd consecutive National champs with Aidan and Ross also both winning their age categories. Later in the day, Francois took 2nd in Elite & Michael M took 2nd in Masters! A huge day for the team.

A 3.15 alarm clock is obscene in any world. The race kicks off at 5am but the organiser necessitates that riders are at the start by 4. Thankfully I have a Champions Wave ticket (earned at the Speedway) so I’m in front of the 8000 other riders but I still follow the rules and get up at stupid-o-clock.

The champions wave feels a bit light with many choosing not to get up so early. We have 10 Quantum racing, the overseas national teams and a few of the corporate teams - but very few of the usual Matadors or Mavs.

The race kicks off at full gas with Quantum pushing the pace. By the time we get to Swissotel, I think 20% are gone including most of my OCBC colleagues. With a lot of bridge climbs and tight uturns, there’s a lot of hard efforts required to hang on.

We head out and back on the West Coast Highway and the rolling speed is close to 50. I’m hanging on but absolutely not able to contribute in any way. Attacks keep pinging off the front and I need to close a gap out of the MCE tunnel which puts me close to the limit. When the race goes again on Sheares Bridge, I can’t recover and get gapped. 6 of us (Keiichi,IR, National riders) get together to minimise the losses but we end up losing close to 45s in the last 5km to the stadium sprint.

Great ride & really enjoyed it . At 54 mins for the distance, it was a hard 43km pace.

Ate some breakfast in the OCBC lounge and waited for the other OCBC boys to finish. Was sad to hear that Wai Mun had gone down & was in hospital with a fractured shoulder.

The rest of us snuck onto the 20km loop and enjoyed open roads for the first 10km. We then took pictures with the masses on Sheares Bridge. A truly great experience and weird to see the route in daylight. A lovely morning out!

The OCBC team came into speedway with some corporate pressure on our shoulders. After winning last year,there’s expectation internally that we’ll do it again. Structurally the team has had a few changes - including the addition of ex-National rider Joel Foo - so we’re hopeful of a good result.

The race itself has shrunk with only 6 teams signing up this year. Old adversaries SCDF are here but joined by powerful teams from AWS and Eastern Pacific. Due to the limited teams, the format has changed and we’re riding with 6 teams on the track with 1 team removed in the first 2 rounds. This turns out to be a bonus for us and actually made it easier than previous years. The new goal being to ensure that at least 1 rider gets dropped from the group so we can all progress.

The qualifier was busy with 6 teams on the track. The first pair of riders immediately saw one of the teams get distanced. So there was minimal pressure on Joel and I to do anything. We agreed with AWS to keep the speed high so the dropped team couldn’t get back on. Tribal crashed out on the uturn and it made it even easier!

Semis was similar. EPS were distanced in the first pair and we only had to maintain the gap to go through. We did this easily & could see that AWS were the real competition as the other teams seemed on the limit.

For the finals, we were ready for some proper racing and we knew some attacking would be required. However luck was on our side. In lap 3 of the first pair, there was a touch of wheels and all the riders bar 3 went down. Fortunately Wai Mun & Jason avoided the carnage and were clear. The rest of the teams were in a mess and 1 AWS had to literally walk his broken bike all the back to the start. Joel and myself decided to hammer our ride anyway and ended up actually lapping the 2nd place team. We sat up at the end for a money shot celebration for the staff magazine. A bad way to win the race but a win is a win!

In the Club Speedway, Quantum Racing smashed it and we got both our teams through to the final. The boys dominated the race and had a 10s gap with 4 laps to go. Amazingly Matt Brittany closed the gap alone but we still had enough to win the sprint and make it three-in -a-row!

A good fun day out.

ToF used to be my goto race of the season. 5 stages racing on good roads & usually pretty close to my Thai house made it super convenient. 

With Covid & excessive work, this is my first time back since 2018. A lot has changed. The total race is shrunk to around 100 riders only now & we’re now racing in Krabi rather than around Kanchanaburi. On the plus side, the resort is quite decent with better than normal rooms.

The flaky organisation has also reached new levels - but it still seems to work out in the end!

Stage 1: 82km

50s has the 2nd largest peloton of the race with 30 riders. No teams are big enough to dominate - with Matadors (3), Quantum Racing (keiichi & I) and 3 US guys being the largest. 

The temperatures were super hot - it hit 46 yesterday but Day 1 speeds not so much. The race felt like an easy bunch recovery ride for the first 10km so I attacked out of sheer boredom. An excellent noodle, US & Matador came over so I thought a good group mix but it lasted only 5 mins. 

I went again at 25km and we stayed out for 15km with just the Excellent Noodle for company. The signposts were not well marked and we hit a junction with no marshalls and had to stop - letting the peloton get back. 

I made a few more attacks later to drop a few off the back of the bunch. We ended with a super dodgy bunch sprint along the beachfront. Keiichi took 5th and I rolled in 15th. Happy with the start.

In 30s, Dom took 2nd so we’re looking good as a team.

Stage 2: 13km ITT

Having 2 stages in a single day is nuts - especially at 4:30pm in this heat. 

After a gentle 7km spin to the start, I was met with the superb last minute news that aero bars were banned. As I hadn’t brought any, i thought this change was fantastic (and fair)!.

The course was 13km out & back with slightly more climbing on the return.

I felt great and averaged a 39.8 for the race - catching 4 people before me. Despite losing 10s on the junction, i still managed 5th on the stage. My best ever ToF result - 1st podium in 32 stages!

Keichi took 2nd on the stage and is now 2nd overall. I’m in 6th on GC - 1 second from the podium.

Stage 3: 83km

Legs felt ok but not as sparkling as Day 1. Fortunately the day started out easy with a 30 average for 1st 10km. Excellent Noodles and the German took off and quickly were out of sight as we all felt it was too early. They got lost at a roundabout and we collected them 5km later.

After 20km there was another missed turn & Dan Smith took advantage with a sneak attack. Noodles and I jumped over but that lasted for only a few km before the yanks Made America Great Again.

We hit the rollers at 40km and the group splintered then - with only 8 hanging on. The climbs were punchy and Bintanesque.i went for the KoM only to find it was the next hill along.

As we got back to main highway, Mike Pryde suddenly appeared after getting towed by a motorbike!

The sprint appeared unannounced and i ended up in 7th. Retaining my GC 6th. Keiichi still in 2nd overall.

Dom had hired a pickup so we were safely on our way back to the hotel within 5 mins of finishing. Good marginal gains that hopefully pay off tomorrow. 

Stage 4: 83km

The legs felt even less sparkling today. Overall it felt like rerun of Stage 1 but at a slightly faster pace. We averaged closed to 38km and even caught the 40s peloton with 30km still to go.

I had a few digs but nothing that stuck. The race ended in a huge sprint with the 40s group. Given the dangerous finish, it sat up and rolled in 13th position. Keiichi got 3rd in the sprint.

Im still 6th GC. Tomorrow has a hint of a big hill on the profile so lets see how the legs recover.

Stage 5: 53km

Originally slated for 112km, the stage was dramatically slimmed down overnight to a short fast stage.

The course was easy so there was little opportunity for attacks. I launched the first on the slight rise out of the ITT dogleg. I got a 100m and then brought back pretty quick. Nothing else stuck & no-one else seemed motivated to try.

We hit 55km on the road back into town before degenerating into traffic hell at the sprint. I sat up and cruised in with the bunch. I retained my 6th GC but disappointed not to take a few seconds out of Dan Smith to get on podium.

My best ever ToF result & first time I’ve ever made the stage podium. The joys of a depleted peloton compared to its glory days! Ultimately I did not enjoy as much as previous years - due to the dodgy sprints, lack of marshalling & courses that weren’t really selective. If 2025 really is the last edition and back to the classic Kanchanaburi course then I’ll be back

A race to forget. After focussing on the TTs, i had 3 weeks to get ready for Batam. With a packed work schedule, it wasnt looking good and my Training Peaks fitness was at its 5 year low point!

Fridays TT was 15km done on wet oily roads. I went off at a tempo pace and was caught by winner Mark Jansen within 4km. I then though Fock it, took it down a notch and cruised home safely. Many others weren’t so lucky especially at an oil-slicked roundabout! Strangely there was a local lady in full White Wedding dress taking photos in the middle of the road as we TTd round her.

Saturday was the 150km queen stage comprising the Batam 6 Bridges road and extras. I stayed in the bunch on the way out taking a few turns on the front. Could see early on that the legs weren’t great. I got gapped in the 3 rollers before the uturn & couldn’t make it back. I then had a bad 10km where i was on the verge of messing my bibs with an upset stomach. I crawled home 30 mins down on the leaders - struggling in the heat with many stations out of water!  I took a lot of sun - including a buzzard burn through the jersey dimples giving me cool snakeskin effect!

A lot DNF so I was ok with the 20th place.

Sunday started well and the legs felt good. I sat at the back of the pack & had 3 little pings off the front. As we came back to the starting loop, the heavens absolutely opened. I pulled the pin at that point as it wasn’t worth the risk on dodgy roads. Mark J ended up taking his 3rd stage of the tour - breaking away from the neutral zone!

Was good to get away from SG and have some laughs with the boys. Didn’t enjoy the racing so much. Glad this season is over as i need a rest and to start getting some proper training in again.

Nationals ITT was initially set to take place in late June but was postponed due to SCF failing to request the road closure in time. I’d been peaking for that one so it was a bit of a shitter to see the training go to waste. It didn’t work out too bad as I was able to keep the TTT form for a few more weeks to make it to this race.

Training had been ok but I still couldn’t find motivation to really push in the way that I can in the TTT. Was also having an issue with the bike BB making noise like a MF - which 2 bike shops has failed to fix.

The race was at a reasonable 9am start so it at least wouldn’t be as face meltingly hot as the Team event was.

I rolled out a bit hot and spent the first 1km trying to cool my beans back to a more sustainable level. The wind was a hard side wind so both legs were pretty similar paced. With Naert in front & Janus behind, I didn’t catch my minute man and was lucky not to be caught. They ended up 2 and 1 respectively.

I ended on a 42.2km avg - good enough for 5th. Almost a minute off the win but overall relatively happy with the outcome.

Tour de Batam is next & looking forward to getting some bigger kms in on the road bike finally.