Monday, March 10, 2008

I like Carrots

I thought I was done blogging from Singapore, but here goes one more....I set out this morning thinking I would just do a reasonable tempo on my last day...but there were too many expensive carrots here.
You all know the feeling (Fisher, you get it on almost every ride)... you see it, you HAVE to catch it.
First I saw a group of roadies...so I decided to move things up from tempo to threshold (BTW, I have NO idea what, speed, heart rate, wattage, or otherwise that corresponds to, I just know how it feels). They didn't like the pace so I was alone again.
Then I caught a group on tri bikes...and the biggest carrots of all, TTX, BMC carbon racer, litespeed among others. We played together for the rest of the ride...really nice guys and one of them was good friends w/ the guy who runs Eco Seagate (my New Zealand trip a couple years ago). Its a small world.

What I learned? They had computers, and I need a bigger ring if I want to go any faster than 49km per hour=)


Sunday, March 09, 2008

Homesick...but homeward bound

I am starting to get very homesick...3 weekends have gone by without seeing my family. I am sure my little dude has grown up a lot. The good news is that I leave here ~6am Wednesday and arrive home around 11 am Wednesday...22 hours of travel, but backwards over the date line.

Either way, it has been a great trip, and assuming I ride tomorrow morning I will have ridden every day. That will be 17 days straight of riding...some hard, some not.

My bike has kept me sane when I really start missing home.
Thanks to Rochester Cycling and Fitness for the breakaway fuel idea (Matt) and for helping me out with the bike (Deb and Charly)! I won't have to leave home w/out it now.
Thanks to Jen Meyer for letting me borrow her rear shock (the one on the bike blew up after the first ride).
Thanks to my wife for letting me buy yet ANOTHER bike=)
Thanks to my son for being my motivation.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Circumnavigation

Saturday, I headed out w/ the goal being to circumnavigate and entire country in 1 day. Well, it only took 3.5 hours in the end and was 65-70 miles. About 2 hours of the trek was in the driving rain, which takes its toll.
I was planning on mountain biking Sunday, but with the humidity here, things take for ever to dry out. Instead, I found the biggest hill in Singapore and climbed it multiple times. After that I proceeded out to Sentosa Island (a resort island just off the Singapore coast). I pretty much was just cruising and exploring at that point because I almost tossed my cookies from the hill sprints. Again, it started to pour. I don't think it has been sunny since I have been here.
This morning, I rode easy because I could barely turn over the cranks....I never dreamed I would be riding this much or this hard here.

Pictures:
What I see every morning...no cars
A better view of the skyline from my hotel
How humid? Hill sprints in 80 degree dew points....
View from highest point in Singapore
I don't know what this means
Sentosa Coast