Went for Rodalink West today... It's been more than a month since I last did a group ride here. The bike shop relocated round the corner to along the main road and it looks well-stocked from the outside. But I as usual chose to wait across the road, and keep myself unassociated with the riders. I think to most I just seem to appear out of nowhere once the ride starts and dissappear once it ends. Today there were about 25-30 riders, and at the start I noticed 2 familiar faces from NUS as well as 2 ladies. Well, the pace started increasing mercilessly even before we hit Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim and I think the poor ladies probably ended up riding alone, like 5 mins into the ride..... Perhaps they had a company of a few other riders? *Shrugs. Well, I'm sure they were half expecting this to happen anyway.

There was truck that was perpetually spewing sand into the air, and it created literally a sand storm behind it. It wasn't nice huffing and puffing at 45kmh with sand hitting your face, eyes and entering your lungs...

Immediately, I felt the effects of the speed and my legs were burning. It felt like sudden running a 400m race from standstill with no warmup. I knew I was in for a tough time.... True enough I was just struggling all the way right at the back of the group. There were times when I just couldn't close the gap, and but was always saved by the traffic lights ahead. Pushing my aerobic capacities to the limit just to keep pace behind the group of 20 didn't feel very nice. The fiorst 3rd of the ride was probably at 46kmh, with the following buts at around 43kmh. The speed dwindled to 40kmh.

On the return leg on Jalan Bahar back towards West Coast road, there was this L plate car that was creating some slight inconvenience for us. Well, the car was moving at speeds of like 40kmh, which meant it was perpetually moving with us. But sometimes it tried to overtake, but overtook so slowly and only a mere half a meter away from us (it was in lane 2 and we took up the whole of lane 1), only to be over taken by us on the descent / traffic stops.

There was no sprint for me today, as the final few kms turned utterly brutal. Instead of the usual cat and mouse game of waiting and saving legs for the sprint, the front few (maybe about 10) exploded and basically rode everyone (yes I was like last wheel...) into oblivion even before the final incline before the finishing straight. I was basically just pedaling as hard as I could but losing them, while those who were immediately infront of me had given up the chase...

Brutal..... =)

(picture from www.cyclingnews.com)

This bike weighs 3.35 kg (vs my own 7.3kg). But it's practicality is really questionable. Not just in terms of the cost, but the function and durability are all definitely subpar when put against any other bike.

I think it would probably snap under my weight.