#272 - Monday evening .....

 

Monday evening and I just got back from an 'easy' ride
in ECP. This coming Sunday is the WaCycles Jamboree and
I am soooo unprepared.

 

Unlike my first race last year (KipMart) where I had
around 4 years to train, this coming race I only had

3 weeks to get back in shape :-( ... and so, I had this thinking

that the best way to get back in shape was to climb

and climb Mt. Faber during the week night rides. After 2

sessions of climbing (Tue & Thu), I tried to do 2 laps of T15 +

1 lap of ButterFly Trail ... and I failed miserably!

I only managed 1 lap of T15, that is
without the hard climb from the Bukit Panjang side which we
call Personal Challenge and 1 lap of ButterFly. I also pretended
to be Absalon on his 1st race out on his BMC by throwing my
new Jamis Dragon (steel) into the bushes after I took a spill
for the ... 3rd time (I think).

  

I called our resident roadie, Roadie Rio and posed this
question : what do you do if you only have 1 month (or less)
but you want to race? You know the answer will be bad when

a cyclist starts to prevaricate like a doctor who doesn't know

how to tell you that you just got something incurable.

   

The answer : nothing much you can do.
So I said, please expound on that. The thing is, if you just
want to race to arrest the laziness that has been slowly but
surely creeping into your brain and body, then the only thing
you can do (with 3 weeks to go) is just go for looong easy-medium

rides. This will prepare your legs, your ass, your whole body

for the battering that it will get on race day.

 

BUT if you were NOT riding since the start of the year and all
of a sudden you woke up one morning and told yourself you want
a medal (Top 300?) in Wacycles ... then you need to get some
pixie dust, sprinkle it on yourself and think happy thoughts
so you can fly ... or pedal furiously. on a mountain bike.
you get the picture.

   

Sigh, so that's the verdict. So last week, we only went to
Mt Faber on Tuesday. Thursday was supposed to be a long ride
(Fort Rd - ECP - Changi V - back) BUT it rained, so no long ride.
I then went for the 2nd practice day of our group last Saturday.
It was supposed to be 3 laps of T15 ... and I could only do 1 lap
arrggghhhh. I swear those benches at Zheng Hua Park were calling
me! I even heard a voice when I was climbing Personal Challenge.
The voice was saying : Come on, get off the bike and push it.
Sooo much easier. Why are you doing this? It's so nice to sleep
late on a Saturday morning.

  

And so, it is now Monday night. Race day will be this coming Sunday.
It's not looking good .... and did I tell you that we're already
registered for the Iskandar Jamboree ? :-( groannnnn