Sunday, August 12, 2007

Saturday morning ride - 11 Aug 07

I've been itching for a ride ever since i collected my bike from Chapter2cycle. Ned did a great job in servicing the bike, changing the not-comfortable-at-all bull-horn and aerobar handle to just plain ol' dropbar with Shimano 105 STI set courtesy of Hedgehog. I also fixed Cateye Astrale 8 Cyclometer with Cadence. After spending National Day and Friday slacking, I was relieved when Saturday morning came.

Got up at 530am, showered and put on my Elan Blue bike tights, Adidas Adistar Orange tee, socks and NB105. I carried my bike down and put on my helmet, cycled out to the bus stop at St 51 to meet Teelee. Managed to buy a bottle of H2O before starting the ride at 0640hrs.

The plan was to cycle 60km, doing a Hougang to Mandai and back. We cycled at a steady 25-27km/hr until we reached Thomson Rd/Casuarina via Ang Mo Kio Ave 5. Turning right to Thomson Rd, we managed to catch sight of Freddie, Dreamrunner, DO and Cheow running along the Animiles route. The undulating hills of Thomson Road varied my speed from as slow as 20km/hr on the climb to excess of 40km/hr during the descend. We arrived at the junction of Mandai Rd with Astrale 8 showing the distance covered being 8km.

We then cycled past the entrance to Mandai Executive Golf Course and headed for Upper Pierce Reservoir. Then was the downhill road towards the Zoo, where i could have reached a max of 50km/hr had it not been for a truck driving too close for comfort. We arrive at the KJE Mandai flyover and cycled past the Police Tactical Training Camp. It was then a right turn into Woodlands Road.

The heavy vehicles plying the route after that made me pay more attention to the traffic than the road names. Next i realised was passing by Sungei Buloh Mangrove area. Teelee then mentioned to me about going via an alternative route, which he was not sure of. I was enjoying the ride so i agreed.

We cycled on and came towards Neo Tiew area, where my chain came off the crank for the first time. Luckily there wasn't any breaks and i was back riding after realigning the chain. We cycled the curvy Neo Tiew area, passing by farms after farms. After a while, i saw a sign displaying Sungei Kadut camp. I then realised that i am at Lim Chu Kang area. We passed by the Armour Camp, Cemetaries, Civil Defence Academy and NTU before entering Jurong West neighbourhood.

Taking a bus from Jurong West back to Hougang would normally take me about 1.5hrs. Cycling was a different story. As Teelee was unsure of the route, i took the lead, cycling along Corporation Rd until we reached the flyover separating Jurong West, East and Bukit Batok. We entered Bukit Batok, passing by Millenia Institute and Bukit Batok Interchange/MRT. It was then a left turn further on and we made a pit stop at a Shell station at Old Jurong Road.

I loaded my bottle cage with a new bottle of H2O and also bought a can of Red Bull, as well as a bottle of mineral water to take my powergel with. We continued our ride, heading towards Toh Yi area and then down Jalan Anak Bukit before turning left to Dunearn Rd. I had a pee-break and then continued cycling until we reached the flyover of Adam Rd Food Centre where we turned left towards Lornie Rd.

Lornie Rd was busy with traffic. I was delighted when we reached Macritchie Reservoir/Andrew Rd area. We continued on along Thomson Rd and then opted for the gradual incline at Old Thomson Rd.

By then, we had covered 60km. As i had an appointment at 1130hrs, we decided to call it a day, cycling along Yio Chu Kang Rd towards Hougang. Teelee continued on to his house at Ave 1 while i did an extra loop of my block to make the distance 70km.

Great ride on a lovely morning. Certainly beats the dull and demoralising Coastal Road.

Distance: 70km

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