Post 'race' report:

I was part of the OCBC 40km Challenge. Here's how it went:
I woke up an 40 mins later than intended due to poor sleep discipline (was online etc). It was probably a reflection on my lack of motivation for the race, having not trained for it. In fact, I hardly even moved the past few days, due to school work (although it was probably an excuse to hide my dysfunctionality). In fact, it was only thanks to my mom that I woke up, since my handphone alarm had already been ringing for the past 40 mins to no avail... Thanks to her again for preparing my instant noodles as I got my other crap ready. Luckily I at least prepped those the previous night...

Anyways, I got there quicker than I estimated, due to good planning/coordination on the organisers part to allow participants to enter stretches of the route not yet utilised by the race (they only strictly close it when the race is a bout to pass through). I was feeling less than stellar anyway, dragging myself at like 31-33kmh.

Anyhow, I reached the venue, saw lots of people with all kinds of bikes crowding around. But all i had in mind was to make it to the front starting pen. No way was I going to start behind man... True enough I found it, and well, my bib number wasn't scheduled to be in that pen cos I was honest during the registration process, fessing up to be in the 60-75 min for 40km range, rather than the <60min range. I believe only a handful of peeps can do 40km<60 mins, but according to numbers about a 100 said they could. But anyway perhaps they were not refering to an ITT time but rather a group ride instead, which would be more logical I guess. So anyhows I just told the marshall I was supposed to be < 60 mins and he let me through.

Eh, so I was literally at the starting line in front. They let us through 30 mins early. So we just stood/sat there over our bikes for 30 mins. Looking around, I only saw a few regular faces from the road cycling scene. There were no other passione riders around. Perhaps they were in the 50km race? Shrugs. As we were standing there, the 50 km peeps were finishing. OCBC Singapore cycling team led a sweep of 1-5th, or was it 6th position, with the 1st 2 riders coming in together after a successful break away by about 3 mins. Strange though, that few riders followed through after that. I mean, even if you were dropped in 50km, you wouldn't be too far back... I guess there were few riders in the 50km race then.

So back to the 40km race. I couldn't really see, but supposedly there were 3000 people behind / around me. That's a lot of bicycles, proving there is a bike industry here. Anyhow, the race started and quite immediately the more serious people started gravitating towards each other and picking up the pace. There were no immediate attacks, just some strong pacing, but alas, my engine was poorly tuned, I was having a little trouble closing gaps whilst moving at the low 40kms. Anyway, it's bad group riding to not close gaps, cos it cuts of those peeps on your wheel, irritating them as they'll need to launch themselves forward should you let the front group creep away. There were a few small attacks, but they were more like teases to set the peleton into action, to try and string out the field and make some initial selection between the pretenders and nonpretenders. Too bad they couldn't get rid of me, as I insisted at staying near/just after the front group to avoid the rubber band effect and avoid pulling also. Yes not much pride in not being able to actively participate in the race, but well, I was not planning to be dropped even though I was ill-prepared.

It became quite clear early on that the tight turns were going to be quite treacherous for a fast speeding bunch. I mean, you can't expect everyone to corner like a pro, and myself included I was still not used to cornering in packs at high speeds around tight corners. You only get those skills if you frequently race criteriums, which in the first place aren't all that frequent here. Yeah, so there was lots of braking and people feeling nervous, and me realising my legs were really lacking the snap for fast acceleration after the turns. Finally it came, when I think the guy behind or 1 or to places behind me clipped the barrier (or had his front wheel taken out by someone's rear) on a tight right hand turn, and I heard some chaos behind me. Looking back I only saw one guy chasing me after that... This is why cycling is a tough sport. You can crash, or the guy in front of you can crash and make you crash, or even if you're not crashed, you're held up and have to expend lots of energy just chase the pack, or else your race is effectively over...

The pace wasn't that brutal really, and i think people were simply taking it easy. Some stronger riders who started behind were moving forward, and joined the front pack. I think many chased back on. I wasn't paying much attention to the speedo, but I think it was in the low 40s most of the time, which is manageable and not even as bad as a hard Rodalink ride. But the repeated cornering, of unfamiliar corners, made things much more exciting. Noticeably though, there were not enough strong riders to split the field by attacking after the corners, because even my retarded acclerations could close the gaps to continue with the pack. Yeah, I leave some gaps as I corner cos I've not much confidence paddling through / banking all the time, especially when I see metal surfaces, sand, water.

Yup, so I think many riders like me were just contented to just keep pace and follow the pack, negotiating the turns etc. There was a motorbike camera crew filming the head of the race, and a lead car clearing the road forward, which was very important. Too bad I was weak, and had nothing to show the camera. No attacks nothing from me. There were a few attacks along the way, and noticeable some strong riders kept following / bridging up to each attack, hopeful for a breakaway. It was too bad for them, that there just weren't enough strong guys to work together to keep away. Even though the pack did not really go all out to chase, we still managed to catch the breaks as they lost steam on their own. Some parts became deceiving narrow around the corners, and I was a few times nearly forced off the inside of the road / into the gutter, but managed to keep my line.

Thanks to the recce the previous they, I decided to move to the front as we entered the ECP park connector. It was good in front, as the roads were really narrow, and I wouldn't like the stress of cornering so close to other riders, unable to see what's ahead, and then having to string out and chase back again when the roads widen. Perhaps it was a good time to attack, but anyway i didn't have the legs, nor did I really want to cause major chaos behind, with people taking risks to latch back on. I suppose everyone appreciated my change of pace at about 40-42kmh, hur hur. But I was tiring too. So when some one else took over the lead, I had to struggle just to keep pace again, as i tried to find a position in the group to slot back in. Cycling in the park was fine because the lead car was doing a good job of clearing the enter lane for us. Else it would have been nothing but chaos, which I suspect the later riders might have encountered.

Somehow, from then on, most riders seemed to be quite already. I didn't on my distance meter, so i was not sure how much we had covered, but perhaps about 30km. The pace was quite slow, and there were 2 solo attacks, the later of which I chased a bit then decided not to chase to save energy. Well, there was good and bad in that, since I didn't blow myself up but gave up my position in front, as we neared the final bit of circuit. I knew it would be a tight turn there, so I tried to position myself nearer the front, but it wasn't that easy to do so as there were a few like minded people too. Yeah, so in the end I did not get a fantastic position coming into the finishing bend / straight (especially since i screwed up the line for the last corner). But well, that was when i could see the quality of the field really was not that high, becasue i was able to pick off riders when I started my sprint (which has ALWAYS failed me in normal SACA criteriums and Rodalink rides) on the finals straight.

Anyway I'm satisfied finishing in the bunch, given my poorly tuned engine. It was a fun ride. Hope those who crashed (there was another guy who went over the curb, and I saw another ambulance being activated) weren't too badly hurt and have a speedy recovery....

Perhaps I shall go down to watch the criterium races later.... ZZzz....