Growing fat

I miss Ride the Lobster. It was fun in a "kill myself riding up insanely steep hills" sort of way. But what it did do was that it improved my fitness and muscles to a huge degree.

Nothing was so evident as when I just came back from RTL and could ride up "hills" (there are no true hills in Singapore) that I previously couldn't.

Imagine my chagrin when I tried the same hill yesterday and could actually feel my thighs starting to burn. I'm growing fat.

Nothing would ever be able to replicate the sheer amount of exercise that I got in RTL. 5 days of pretty much non-stop cardio. I miss that.

RTL reflections

RTL was tough. Real tough.

Could we have been better prepared for it? It's kind of subjective. The hills were the like we had never seen, but if I can recall correctly, Malaysian terrain is similar. We could have tried to train in Malaysia except we would probably be run over by a speeding truck before we got past the first turn.

Which was one thing I rather liked about RTL. There is a very clear campaign for them to share the road with cyclist of all varieties. They gave you a wide berth. Even when you were riding in the middle of the road, they made a point to overtake you carefully.

However, some of them were a bit too friendly. I know they mean well and were trying to show their support, but when you're riding along and a car blares it's horn at you from behind, it's scary.

Anyway, back to RTL.

Day 1 was tough. I think it was partly due to us not being conditioned for it, partly because we have never rode hills like those and partly because we just did not know what to expect. Our strategy for changing riders was totally off. We were planning to ride 1 hour stretches, roughly 18km per rider. But we got tired too quickly and the hills didn't help.

Day 2 was better in the sense that we were more conditioned to cold, except that it had to rain. Riding in the rain was no fun. Riding in the rain at about 10 degrees Celsius is worse. Riding in the rain at about 10 degrees Celsius wearing only a t-shirt and pants is the stuff of nightmares. But we were more accustomed the the hills and had a better strategy and we got much closer to finishing on day 2.

More to come when I have additional writers juice.

(One)der Woman

I'll probably watch this when it comes out. Not sure if it'll get to Singapore though.

Anyway, it's really cool to watch and gives people an inkling of why unicycling and why Ride the Lobster.

I'm getting really really psyched about RTL now. Can't wait. Only 11 more days before I fly!

Now I know

Why Ride the Lobster is called as such.

Nova Scotia, the place I'll be riding is supposed to be shaped like a lobster.


Lobster

Nova Scotia

Ta Dah!

Ride the Lobster qualifying ride report

Route

The route that I am taking is based on the Eastern Park Connector in Singapore.

The length of the whole route is estimated to be about 42km. This would allow me to achieve my objective of riding 84km on the first day and 89km on the second day by riding 2 rounds around the park connectors.











Day 1

I woke up on day 1 feeling nervous. The longest I had ridden prior to this attempt was 42km when I wanted to see how the route was like. Now I was about to embark on an attempt to ride 171 km over 2 days. Not something that I was particularly looking forward to.

The day started with me checking out the weather forecast.

Humidity 89%
Temp ranging from 26 - 32 degrees Celsius

Not particularly cooling either. Plus the humidity can make things really difficult.

Partaking in a bowl of cereal, I got my gear together in preparation of the ride.


Gear

Bag to carry stuff
Hat for protection against sun and maybe rain
Sponge for groin protection
Shades to look cool
Water bottle for hydration purpose
Handphone + Earpiece for entertainment
Wallet for money





With my gear all set, I set off at 8.30 am with the words "I AM GOING TO DIE" screaming in my head.


Why was I looking so happy?

Siglap Park Connector

The first part of the journey was the Siglap Park Connector. It was relatively short and painless, although the route was a bit winding with numerous ups and downs. There were some pot holes here and there which made for a slightly more difficult ride.


Start point.

Going towards Bedok Reservoir Park

Signpost showing where I was

Photo to show I was there. The signpost was correct!

Does this count as elevation?

Bedok Reservoir - SunPlaza Park

Next part of the journey was to Bedok Reservoir. From here I was to proceed to SunPlaza Park

Bedok Reservoir is just across the road

Bedok Reservoir proper

Bedok Reservoir

Track inside Bedok Reservoir. It was actually closely packed gravel, though there were some parts that were still loose, which did make some of the riding feel very slippery.

Next part of the journey - Towards Pasir Ris Park 6.7km away

Map showing where I was

Part of the riding track to SunPlaza Park

SunPlaza Park

Waiting at a traffic junction

SunPlaza Park - Changi Beach

This was one of the more painful parts of the ride, mainly due to lack of objects of interest and also due to the road seeming like it'll never end. From SunPlaza park, I rode up to Pasir Ris, made a turn and headed up to Changi Beach park.


Signpost showing where I was

Riding across a bridge that spans the canal. This canal leads to Pasir Ris Park.

Reaching Changi Point

Taking a much needed break

Changi Beach Park - East Coast Park - Siglap Park Connector - Home

I was at the North-Eastern end of Singapore. I proceeded to turn South and rode the Coastal
route, which brought me to East Coast Park. Riding along the beach, I would come back to Siglap Park connector and home, thus completing one round.


At Changi Beach Park

Just in case no one knows they are at Changi Beach Park

Coastal Route. The longest, most boring part of the ride. You just can't see the end.

I was lying. I can see the END(of the Coastal Route)

Enjoying a packet of sugar cane juice.

DAY 1 PART 2

After a quick lunch of instant noodles, I had to set of again. I was feeling ok. A bit saddle sore, groin hurting quite a bit. I set off once again at 2.20pm having finished the first round at 1pm. Didn't have the mind to take as many pictures this second round as all I wanted to do was to finish this and get home to get some rest. I finished at about 7pm. Was feeling sore, dehydrated and quite a bit crazy. Total time taken for day 1, 10 1/2 hours.

Rating calculation:
Distance ridden: 84km
Subjective rating: Extreme Temp: 42km

Final Rating	Objective Rating	Subjective Rating	Prev Day Carryover	Next Day Carryover
148	118	30	0	24.5

Starting from home

Start point of Siglap Park Connector

Bedok Resevoir

SunPlaza Park

East Coast Park

Siglap Park Connector

Day 2 Part 1

Start of a brand new day. I decided to start the day much earlier so I woke up at 6am and started off at 7.20am, after a breakfast of bread. Also, I decided to do things differently as I was getting slightly bored with the route. For day 2, I rode the route the otherway. Also, for the first part, I would ride one round around Bedok Reservoir to account for the 5km increase in total distance for me.

Weather forecast for the day:

Humidity 94%
Temp ranging from 24 - 30 degrees Celsius


Starting from home

Reaching East Coast Park

Taking a break

Reaching SunPlaza Park

Reaching Bedok Reservoir

Reaching Siglap Park Connector

Day 2 Part 2

I was pretty much gone in the mind. Wasn't thinking and pretty much zoned out by this point of time. It was all about putting one leg in front of the other. I reached home at around 12.30pm and had a lunch of Wonton noodles. I set off again at 1.30pm. I decided that I was too tired to try to navigate anymore, so I changed the route again. This time I would ride only part of the Siglap Park Connector (2.2km), the East Coast Park (8km), the Coastal Route (7.9km), the Changi Beach Park (3.9km) and then turn back and ride the same route again. This would give me a distance of 44km. The reason I chose to do so was that it was long straight routes most of the time. It would allow me to zone out.

I finished at 6pm.

Rating calculation for day 2:
Rating calculation:
Distance ridden: 91km
Subjective rating: Extreme Temp: 42km

Final Rating	Objective Rating	Subjective Rating	Prev Day Carryover	Next Day Carryover
162	132	30	0	28

Not very happy that I still had so much to ride after riding so much.

At East Coast Park

Sugar Cane Juice to reward myself

Taking a break at one of the shelters along the Coastal Route

Beautiful day.

Aftermath

I was sore and tired but elated. I had complete the ride. I managed to do something I had doubts I could do. I pushed myself to my limit and maybe even beyond. I was so dehydrated, I kept drinking water.

I was also late for a birthday party. Opps.

Ride the Lobster qualifying ride

84/84 km completed for day 1.

89/89km for day 2.

More to come.

Balls hurting.
Balls smashed and battered.
Can't feel my balls.
WHO NEEDS BALLS?! I AM CRAZYUNICYCLIST! DEVOURER OF MILES! CONQUEROR OF RIDING TRACKS! OVERLORD OF THE EASTERN PARK CONNECTORS!

ed: We are sorry for the outburst by the blogger. He is not in the right state of mind to be blogging. The report will be up as soon as he is sufficiently rested.