hello everyone! long tiring day finally over
it was HOT HOT HOT
Lem did pretty well for his ITT, but his junior field was really strong
As for me, being my first ever ITT, it was an experience! and i think i could get used to it, kinda enjoyed it a lil, although it was one of the most painful ride in my life ever
came in 9th in a field of 21 females, 4th in South East Asia
thank God for the performance!
Jun Rong did well too! the steady motorbike...
we stayed on to watch vino and the rest of the 'monsters'
no surprise, vino won the ITT
it's back to Singapore tomorrow!
what an exciting, enjoyable, wonderful experience this has been
teammates, team manager, assistant team manager/mechanic/photographer were awesome
it's definitely the best trip i've ever had! thanks Dan, Jeff and Deanna!
thanks to sponsors Wilier, PassioneBicycles, First Endurance and Limar, not forgetting Nike for supporting me in cycling
and to teammates Chichi, Lemuel, Junrong, Jiwen and Junaidi, hope to have more trips together in the future!
Monday, August 17, 2009
ACC Part II
Day 4 – Men’s Elite Road Race
The day started nice and cool with the grounds still wet from the night rain
I woke up at 545am to spin for a short while on the trainer before having breakfast and following the boys to the race site
Anddddd…Vinokurov was really there! The Kazakh team had powerful riders like Fofonov Dmitriy (ex Crédit Agricole rider) and Astana riders Iglinskiy Maxim and one more other guy I forgot who
Basically they are power la
Me and Lem got dropped off on top of a climb so that we can do a standing feed for the boys
It was nice and cool for the first 2+hrs, and then it started to get rather sunny and hot
The race was exciting man! The stronger riders literally zooooomed past us on the climbs and made it look so easy! The Kazakhs relaxed for the first 3 rounds then made their move and they took the field from then on
1, 2, 3, finish for them (Fofonov, Vino, Iglinskiy) and a Hong Kong Rider (Wong Kum Poh) was 4th
The hk rider was powerful! He managed to follow fofonov and vino until he got attack badly by them
Our guys did pretty well! Jiwen 19th, Jud 23rd, JunRong 30+ and Calvin 40+
Calvin and JunRong worked really hard in the chase and attacked many many, really brave
Sat the broom wagon back to the finish line after that
My face was totally burnt man
Took pictures with the 3 race winners!!
Day 5 – My Road Race
It was nice and sunny when I woke up, had breakfast and got the new team attire!
It’s much thinner and more ventilation compared to the old one
Sat the bus to the start line with Dan
It was soooo hot man, so I stayed in the shelter until about 830am, then headed out for a short 20mins warm up with the boys who were having a short spin before packing their bikes and leaving for Singapore
The race started at 9am and off we went
A total of 39 female starters, riders from China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Syria, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam
The peloton started really slowly so I had time to warm up and relax… then we hit the climb.
First climb was rather painful cos my legs were not used to the pain yet….then down we went and PFSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT when my rear tire, just 20 minutes into the race
In my head, I thought that all was over as Jeff was changing my rear wheel, and even more so when I started to ride with my heavy Aksium training wheels
But with encouragement from Daniel over the radio, a lil drafting from the team car (which got us fined by UCI.lol) and God’s help, I managed to catch up with the peloton!
From then on, I just tried to stay alert and sane. The peloton was really slow cos there was a breakaway and most of the teams were represented there, so their teammates held the rest of us back. But on the climbs, I felt really good and was always ahead of the peloton
Thank God for his protection, it’s totally amazing. The 2 chinese Taipei girls came from my sides and just squeezed me, so I touched the left, then the right rear wheel and spun out of control to the right towards the road divider. Just when I thought I was going to crash, SOMEONE held my handlebars steady and I didn’t crash! THE hand of God (: lovely
I gave it my all at the end, but due to me not eating (cos I’m not used to eating during the race, but I really have to start learning how to cos I almost bonked!) I lost out at the sprint..my legs were starting to cramp!
So I was probably 15th or 17th but could have been top 10…but overall I guess it was a good race!
My back was sooooo achey after the race that I couldn’t even remove my clothes! Good thing it got better after that, and at night, the world’s-best-team-manager Daniel Loy gave me a ONE hour back massage.
Feel like a Queen here sia.hahaha
Day 6 – ITT
Couldn’t really sleep last night only slept 6hrs, and when the sun came up (at 6am), I couldn’t sleep anymore
Had breakfast in the lounge as usual and its Indonesia’s National Day! They had some mini flag raising ceremony downstairs
Then went down to check the bikes to make sure everything is in order and sent Lem off for his ITT
Slacking around now, will take a nap later before my race
1pm race! Hot hot! But….i see some rain clouds coming! Hope it doesn’t rain but just stay cloudy..
Okay more updates later! Pictures will be up soon when I get them cos they’re in the big camera and we don’t have the cable…
The day started nice and cool with the grounds still wet from the night rain
I woke up at 545am to spin for a short while on the trainer before having breakfast and following the boys to the race site
Anddddd…Vinokurov was really there! The Kazakh team had powerful riders like Fofonov Dmitriy (ex Crédit Agricole rider) and Astana riders Iglinskiy Maxim and one more other guy I forgot who
Basically they are power la
Me and Lem got dropped off on top of a climb so that we can do a standing feed for the boys
It was nice and cool for the first 2+hrs, and then it started to get rather sunny and hot
The race was exciting man! The stronger riders literally zooooomed past us on the climbs and made it look so easy! The Kazakhs relaxed for the first 3 rounds then made their move and they took the field from then on
1, 2, 3, finish for them (Fofonov, Vino, Iglinskiy) and a Hong Kong Rider (Wong Kum Poh) was 4th
The hk rider was powerful! He managed to follow fofonov and vino until he got attack badly by them
Our guys did pretty well! Jiwen 19th, Jud 23rd, JunRong 30+ and Calvin 40+
Calvin and JunRong worked really hard in the chase and attacked many many, really brave
Sat the broom wagon back to the finish line after that
My face was totally burnt man
Took pictures with the 3 race winners!!
Day 5 – My Road Race
It was nice and sunny when I woke up, had breakfast and got the new team attire!
It’s much thinner and more ventilation compared to the old one
Sat the bus to the start line with Dan
It was soooo hot man, so I stayed in the shelter until about 830am, then headed out for a short 20mins warm up with the boys who were having a short spin before packing their bikes and leaving for Singapore
The race started at 9am and off we went
A total of 39 female starters, riders from China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Syria, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam
The peloton started really slowly so I had time to warm up and relax… then we hit the climb.
First climb was rather painful cos my legs were not used to the pain yet….then down we went and PFSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT when my rear tire, just 20 minutes into the race
In my head, I thought that all was over as Jeff was changing my rear wheel, and even more so when I started to ride with my heavy Aksium training wheels
But with encouragement from Daniel over the radio, a lil drafting from the team car (which got us fined by UCI.lol) and God’s help, I managed to catch up with the peloton!
From then on, I just tried to stay alert and sane. The peloton was really slow cos there was a breakaway and most of the teams were represented there, so their teammates held the rest of us back. But on the climbs, I felt really good and was always ahead of the peloton
Thank God for his protection, it’s totally amazing. The 2 chinese Taipei girls came from my sides and just squeezed me, so I touched the left, then the right rear wheel and spun out of control to the right towards the road divider. Just when I thought I was going to crash, SOMEONE held my handlebars steady and I didn’t crash! THE hand of God (: lovely
I gave it my all at the end, but due to me not eating (cos I’m not used to eating during the race, but I really have to start learning how to cos I almost bonked!) I lost out at the sprint..my legs were starting to cramp!
So I was probably 15th or 17th but could have been top 10…but overall I guess it was a good race!
My back was sooooo achey after the race that I couldn’t even remove my clothes! Good thing it got better after that, and at night, the world’s-best-team-manager Daniel Loy gave me a ONE hour back massage.
Feel like a Queen here sia.hahaha
Day 6 – ITT
Couldn’t really sleep last night only slept 6hrs, and when the sun came up (at 6am), I couldn’t sleep anymore
Had breakfast in the lounge as usual and its Indonesia’s National Day! They had some mini flag raising ceremony downstairs
Then went down to check the bikes to make sure everything is in order and sent Lem off for his ITT
Slacking around now, will take a nap later before my race
1pm race! Hot hot! But….i see some rain clouds coming! Hope it doesn’t rain but just stay cloudy..
Okay more updates later! Pictures will be up soon when I get them cos they’re in the big camera and we don’t have the cable…
Friday, August 14, 2009
Asian Cycling Chapionships
Day 1 – Travelling to Balikpapan, Indonesia
The day started early at 5am as the flight was at 0755hr, so we had to be at the airport at 6am
Check in took more than an hour due to the number of oversized baggage we had
A total of 13 big boxes; 10 bikes, tools and wheels
The check in lady was really calm, cool and patient with us! I was so surprised at her superb service!
So we took pictures and all and Dr Low said byebye to us
Daniel Loy, Jeff Adam, Deanna, Jiwen, Junaidi, JunRong, Calvin, Lemuel and me
Twas’ a small aircraft and so when we hit the turbulence, it felt like we were taking a roller coaster ride!! I was enjoying it (ok la, freaked out just a lil) but junrong next to me looked like he was going to cry! Hahahaha!
Thank God we arrived safely in Balikpapan airport, Indonesia, where it was raining
We loaded our boxes onto an open air truck and good thing the rain had stopped, if not the cardboard boxes would have been soaked
The Korean team and one Hong Kong rider were on the same flight as us so we had to wait for VERY LONG (I think it was like close to 1hr) for another truck to come cos the Korean team REFUSED to load their cardboard boxes onto the open air truck
And so 23 people squeezed into a small bus and the up and down, left and right, bump bump 2.5 hrs ride started to our hotel
The rollings were NEVER ENDING man! And we all went ‘uh oh’ cos we knew our course would be like that too
We finally reached the Swiss-Belhotel Borneo after passing by a river..pretty nice. This town is rich cos of its timber and mining
The hotel is like WOW. We got the executive floor, which gives us access to the executive lounge that has food almost every moment of the day and computers with internet, although we have free wifi in our rooms (highly unstable)
After unpacking our bikes, we headed to a small mall nearby for a very late lunch at 4+pm and shopped around in the supermarket
Dinner, team meeting, then it was bedtime
Day 2 – Riding the route
I had a great sleep and woke up really early
We had breakfast at 8am and then it was out to ride the course at 9am
Weaving in and out of traffic before we finally hit the actual course
UPPPPPPPPP, DOWNNNNNNNNNNN times many many
So tired after the 2+ hrs ride
There was an upslope (not part of the race course but it was on the way back to the hotel) so steep that I thought I was going to roll backwards!
The course was rather intimidating to me with the many climbs, but the more I rode, the easier it seemed
we all had race radios too, first time for me having one. Very cool man
jeff our assistant team manager together with Deanna were in the team car, feeding us nice cold water and coke, and after riding, he cleaned and fixed our bikes
Not used to having someone clean and fix my bike. Thanks Jeff!
Then it was lunch and mall, transformers in lem and dan’s room, dinner, team meeting, sleep
Pretty boring day
Day 3 – TT bike
Rode the course and climbed 2 rounds on the road bike
Me and Lem switched to the TT bikes to try out the course and dan accompanied us while the rest went back to the hotel cos their race is tomorrow
Not bad, but really tiring man…then it started to rain on our way back! All our WHITE bibs and jerseys got dirty and the stain can’t come out!!! :(
I’ve been eating so much! Pineapples and watermelons especially
Just had dinner and I’m so full!!! Think I’ll put on some more weight again man! Bad bad….
But the climbs are so tiring that I’m so hungry and tired after the ride. Plus the hot sun! The sun rises really early here, like 545am, so by the time we head out to ride at 9-11+ it’s scorching
oh oh, Alexander Vinokourov is racing!!!! and a few other astana riders, all racing for Kazakhstan team! hope to get his autograph and see him!!
watching teevee now, the woman in the show so EVIL!!!! urgh.okay back to my show.hahaha...
Pictures plus more updates will be up soon!
The day started early at 5am as the flight was at 0755hr, so we had to be at the airport at 6am
Check in took more than an hour due to the number of oversized baggage we had
A total of 13 big boxes; 10 bikes, tools and wheels
The check in lady was really calm, cool and patient with us! I was so surprised at her superb service!
So we took pictures and all and Dr Low said byebye to us
Daniel Loy, Jeff Adam, Deanna, Jiwen, Junaidi, JunRong, Calvin, Lemuel and me
Twas’ a small aircraft and so when we hit the turbulence, it felt like we were taking a roller coaster ride!! I was enjoying it (ok la, freaked out just a lil) but junrong next to me looked like he was going to cry! Hahahaha!
Thank God we arrived safely in Balikpapan airport, Indonesia, where it was raining
We loaded our boxes onto an open air truck and good thing the rain had stopped, if not the cardboard boxes would have been soaked
The Korean team and one Hong Kong rider were on the same flight as us so we had to wait for VERY LONG (I think it was like close to 1hr) for another truck to come cos the Korean team REFUSED to load their cardboard boxes onto the open air truck
And so 23 people squeezed into a small bus and the up and down, left and right, bump bump 2.5 hrs ride started to our hotel
The rollings were NEVER ENDING man! And we all went ‘uh oh’ cos we knew our course would be like that too
We finally reached the Swiss-Belhotel Borneo after passing by a river..pretty nice. This town is rich cos of its timber and mining
The hotel is like WOW. We got the executive floor, which gives us access to the executive lounge that has food almost every moment of the day and computers with internet, although we have free wifi in our rooms (highly unstable)
After unpacking our bikes, we headed to a small mall nearby for a very late lunch at 4+pm and shopped around in the supermarket
Dinner, team meeting, then it was bedtime
Day 2 – Riding the route
I had a great sleep and woke up really early
We had breakfast at 8am and then it was out to ride the course at 9am
Weaving in and out of traffic before we finally hit the actual course
UPPPPPPPPP, DOWNNNNNNNNNNN times many many
So tired after the 2+ hrs ride
There was an upslope (not part of the race course but it was on the way back to the hotel) so steep that I thought I was going to roll backwards!
The course was rather intimidating to me with the many climbs, but the more I rode, the easier it seemed
we all had race radios too, first time for me having one. Very cool man
jeff our assistant team manager together with Deanna were in the team car, feeding us nice cold water and coke, and after riding, he cleaned and fixed our bikes
Not used to having someone clean and fix my bike. Thanks Jeff!
Then it was lunch and mall, transformers in lem and dan’s room, dinner, team meeting, sleep
Pretty boring day
Day 3 – TT bike
Rode the course and climbed 2 rounds on the road bike
Me and Lem switched to the TT bikes to try out the course and dan accompanied us while the rest went back to the hotel cos their race is tomorrow
Not bad, but really tiring man…then it started to rain on our way back! All our WHITE bibs and jerseys got dirty and the stain can’t come out!!! :(
I’ve been eating so much! Pineapples and watermelons especially
Just had dinner and I’m so full!!! Think I’ll put on some more weight again man! Bad bad….
But the climbs are so tiring that I’m so hungry and tired after the ride. Plus the hot sun! The sun rises really early here, like 545am, so by the time we head out to ride at 9-11+ it’s scorching
oh oh, Alexander Vinokourov is racing!!!! and a few other astana riders, all racing for Kazakhstan team! hope to get his autograph and see him!!
watching teevee now, the woman in the show so EVIL!!!! urgh.okay back to my show.hahaha...
Pictures plus more updates will be up soon!
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