#natchamps

For the second year running, the Singapore National Road Race was held overseas in Indonesia. This time we were in a circuit an Tanjung Pinang - different from last years Nongsa event. The hills and heat did remain constant!

My prep had gone reasonably well. A switch from evening sessions to lunchtime seemed to be paying dividends and the legs were strong and buff.

In Supermasters, we had Keiichi, Pete Bennett and myself representing with around 37 others. All teams only had max 2-3 riders so it looked pretty even on paper. Keiichi was our protected rider and we were watching Brian Johnson as a key competitor.

The circuit was 12km in length and we’d do it 8 times. The first lap was taken pretty easy with the Mavs doing a little test to see who was awake. With 3-4 climbs, there were some obvious points to launch attacks and it was similar lap after lap.

I got away on lap 3 with Brian Johnson, matador, IR and a Mav - the perfect break on paper. We did about half a lap together but then slowed to let a couple of others on which ended with us getting caught. I did another later with a Matador but we didn’t get far in the headwinds.

On lap 6, Keiichi instigated a break in one of the rises. He was quickly joined by 3 others including a Matador and Brian so this looked promising. The teams represented sat up and we let the gap quickly go out. The Mavs and 4T2 tried to close but it was a thankless task.

I waited till the last lap and attacked hard on the rise to the feed zone. I knew I could sustain for 4km so planned this a few laps earlier. I looked back to see a massive gap and hammered to the finish. I was thinking that I’d grabbed 5th only to find that 2 others had snuck off on the previous lap without anyone noticing!

Keiichi ended with 3rd after celebrating his sprint too early! I was happy with 7th. It had been a hard day but not ridiculously so. The break at the end gave me confidence that the legs were definitely good.

Looking forward to a few easier weeks before thinking about Kepri prep.

I went into this one with reasonable confidence of a TOP 5 result. My ITT has been in gradual decline as new joiners come into the category and I’ve seen my results fall from 2,3,3,5,7 over recent years...

That said, I tried changing the training up a bit. Rather than banging out full length TTs for weeks prior to the event, I instead focussed on shorter harder efforts above race pace. Whilst I hadn’t done much at full distance, the training did seem to be going well.

The first leg went well and I likely overdid it slightly but was roughly to plan with a 41 avg. on lap 2, the wind started picking up as a big storm started rolling in and I had a much harder outer leg. On lap 3, I was dying after overgassing it at the uturn. I then ran straight into a massive swirling storm wind just ahead of the impending rainstorm. I only managed a 34 avg in the crazy wind and it was a minute slower than previous lap. Only an increased tailwind on the way back made up for it slightly.

I finished 8th in the end. The 48:08 was a few seconds faster than last year which was a surprise given the crazy wind. I needed 3:20 more for the win which I was miles away from.

Having just landed from a UK trip the night before, I knew this was going to be a tough race. The UK riding had been Super cold but excellent - including a win in the local 10 Mile TT. However 24 hours of travel - including a couple of vomits on the plane were not the warm up that I needed.

I skipped the Quad event as I thought I’d be a liability to the team and did the Elite Duo with Keiichi.

The warm up went well and I took the start feeling ok. I failed to clip in and spent the first 20 seconds shouting at Keiichi to wait! Eventually I got on but it took more effort than I’d wanted. We took it down the straight into a hard headwind. It was 40km in one direction and 46km in the other. I was on the edge the whole way with an average HR of 175 and max of 180.

We caught our 1 and 2 minute men but were then caught ourselves 60% into the race by Ben/Bastian.

We did 30:06 and a 43km average but it was still only good enough for 4th on an exceptionally tough day. Even without the travel, I think the podium would have eluded us.

I rolled up to the first race of the season with a gut full of trepidation. My last attempt at CX had ended ignomiously with 3 crashes within 3 laps and I hadn’t touched the bike since. I even did a normal Sunday ride in the am as I was putting no real hope on getting any result.

A quick reccie of the course suggested it was better than Jungle Cross - being mostly flat with a lot of mud, some roots and maybe 4 places where I had to get off the bike. In total, we had maybe 20 in the field - 9 in Supermasters including Hish & Keiichi.

Against my wishes, I drew lot number 1 on the grid start so I decided to go for it and try to establish a GAP from the gun. The course was narrow so passing riders would be a big pain.

I gunned it at the start and was first to the mud. With a 175 heart rate, I kept the pressure on and could see that I had at least 20m GAP over the next best placed - Ames - with maybe 4 others in contention.

Ames caught me about 60% through lap 1 and Hish soon afterwards. I was decent on the grass but losing time on every obstacle - with the ditches and climbs being the worst.

I maintained the heart rate but could see Alan Grant slowly closing in. He finally got me about 70% through the final lap 3 and I didn’t really chase as the age cats were different and it didn’t threaten my second place. I crawled up the last hill and still finished a couple of minutes up over 3rd place.

In the Elite, it was a ding-dong battle between Iron Mike & Bastian for the gold - with Basti finally getting the win. PA had a similar fight for third and managed to grab it.

I love TTs. The simplicity, the fancy gear and the lack of corners!

We got 3rd in last years blue riband Elite Quad TTT and so we’re hoping to take a few steps up on the podium order. With few in town & Mike focussing on his birthday ride, we were down to 4 suspects - Pierre, Adam, Peter Bennett and myself.

With Bintan concluding in the previous weekend, there was little time for practise and none of us touched our TTT machines till 2 day’s before the race when we did a quick burn up the Coast Road. I loaned Adam my spare Cannondale but the brakes broke & he ended up borrowing another on the eve of the race.

Uncle Pete took control of the tactics and this turned out to be a crucial element as the margin between the TOP 5 teams was tiny.

We all neglected to do the UCI bike test on the Saturday and did it just before the race. This was stupid as we found that every bike was massively illegal! I’m not sure how it was possible as I’d had to do some massive changes to my set up at the last TT - only to find that I was still illegal to the 2.5 inch mark! Some aggresive modification was required and I literally couldnt adjust the bike more.

Elite Quad had 8 teams and standard was Super high. We rolled out 7th in front of good crowds and in great weather.

Pete took us out to Ensure that we didn’t go too fast - but we still hit over 50km/hr on the outward leg. We passed our 1 minute men at the 7km mark and caught maybe 2 more during the race.

1st leg was hard, 2nd leg was steady but 3rd leg was a bit of a struggle. I went from 1 minute turns to only 40 seconds by then. Pete B did a death pull about 2km from the end and then it was up to the 3 of us to bring it home.

Final average of 47.4km was enough for the win - by 9 seconds over a 3 man Mavs team. TWC were a few seconds further back with Matadors in 4th. All the TOP 4 did above a 47 average showing the level of the race.

Pete and I were meant to do the Masters Duo later but decided to skip that and take our medal for beers!

4th consecutive weekend of racing & I'm starting to feel it now. Sore neck, stiff back and permanent heavy legs. I rolled down to Seletar under cloudy skies with limited ambition. 

 A reasonable warm up and a scan round the Supermasters field and I was feeling more upbeat. The Mavs had a solid team but most outfits were just sporting a handful of riders. I was the sole Allied World representative with everyone else saving themselves for Open. I figured that the 24km would be a good warmup for the main event later. 

 The race started quick and I had a brief spurt off the front with Kenneth Tan after 2km just to see who else was interested. Soon after Pete Macca, Richard Paine & a Geylang took off and gradually built up a lead of up to 20 seconds.

 The Mavs set a slow pace on front to let the break go out. Only Dan Smith, Stroops and myself were willing to chase and we gradually closed it down - eventually getting them 2.5 laps in. An immediate counter was challenging to hold onto & was my hardest part of the race.

 I tried to go again on the 4th lap and then again with 3km to go when I did a promising bridge to Liam Mav. Both he & I were fecked and didn't have enough legs to sustain till the end. I ended up sitting up for the sprint after my break was caught. Kenneth Tan rode a smart race and took the sprint from Stroops. Good fun! 

 Raindrops we're falling as we finished Super masters. This turned into a massive downpour complete with lightning as we spent an hour waiting for Open to start. For a while, it seemed cancellation was in the air until the worst of the storm passed. 

 It was still raining when Open kicked off with about 80 riders. The rain had created some big deep puddles across the road in 3 sections and these caused a massive crash on lap 1. Around 10 guys went down hard - full on cartwheeling bikes and I saw a single wheel fly through the air and roll 50m down the road. I was so grateful to survive it unscathed that I found myself laughing hysterically with the adrenaline. 

 I was held up but managed to get back on pretty easily. Mike K wasn't so lucky and was someway back with a ripped skin suit. As one of our plans for the day was based on Mike, I sat up at end of 1st lap and waited for him. I then did 3/4 of a lap trying to bring him back to the group. He eventually got back but I was a burned out husk by then.

By end of lap 2, it was effectively over for me. But in the rain & uber sketchy group I was frankly thankful. A Changi home to a burger and beer was then swiftly ordered. A good fun days racing despite the weather.

Thanks to Lukman for the video clip.

Bumped into Ames & Alan Grant before the race & we were brainstorming our potential excuses - the roads not warmed up, the riders haven’t mixed the air up enough… in the end, it came down to me simply not having legs.

Previous years have seen me do 3-4 weeks of specific TT training to get used to the bike & (more importantly) get mentally zoned in to the effort. Due to the late announcement of the race & proximity to Tour Of Friendship, I didn’t do any practise this year. Last time I touched the TT bike being during the TTT race from 5 weeks back.

ToF would either be a blessing or a curse. I was totally dead for 3 days post race & only did 30km easy spin on the day before the race. I was hoping post race form would be sustained but felt decidedly average all today sadly.

Race bike check was a shock as I found my bar position was deemed illegal by 2 inches! This is despite it being checked on a different jig in the last month & also being passed at the TTT. An urgent change was made & frankly didn’t feel as bad as I expected. Pete Bennett position was also illegal and he was sadly DQd.

The outward leg was around a 42 avg and the way back closer to 39. It felt like a ton of effort for a 40km average which was weird. I caught about the 4 guys in front of me & kept my 4 laps within 10 seconds of each other. Simply wasn’t enough & I just couldn’t get it up to the speed I needed.

Kenneth Tan - Singapores greatest living cyclist - took the win in 36.59. DQd Pete Bennett followed, then Hish, Alan Grant and myself (37.36). Ames also in the running till he was taken out by a paracyclist in last lap.

 Whilst Pete & myself retreated to the cyclist cafe for some burgers and poor service, the heavens opened and a massive lightning storm commenced. Open TT was cancelled after just a few laps and so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with that.