MTB rocks: My OCBC Cycle Singapore 2012

Today's OCBC Cycle Singapore 2012 should have been my first road bike race but last week's Singapore Duathlon took advantage. However I would be enjoying the traffic free experience in express way in this race. So I paid for the road closure fee for a ride.

I woke up at 4:00am in the morning: it should not be a problem, it was just 1 hour earlier than my normal schedule. I have been training in the early morning for over a year since I committed my after work time to my children and family. I rode to the event site (F1 pit building) through Ubi, Gaylang and Kalang. I rode this 18km route with leisure and the average HR was just 105bpm, fell below the minimum training zone. The early morning traffic was light. Only in Gaylang, didn't know why driver's driving much wildly.

I reached F1 pit building at 6:00am.There already a lot people but organized orderly. People were queuing from Raffles Boulevard and moving to the start line in front of Pit Building. It took us about 10min reach the waiting area. I was allocated in starting wave D, and took another 15min to start (at 6:45am).

People here riding with all kinds of bicycle, road, hybrid, folded, MTB like me, I was not alone.
It was a unique experience when I rode passed starting line, just like being released from the deep sea, felt freed. The beginning of the route was not so easy for the beginner. There was a lot of loops and turns in the first 4km. People need control with care, especially when overtaking. The first accident happened around 3km mark at Marina street. A collision occurred at left side. But luckily the rider was fine and get back soon. Many rider stuck for this accident due to the narrow lane of this part.
After diverted to ECP, all was better. The road was wide and flat. We roared down Benjamin Shears Flyover in 45kph speed. My target was to maintain >25kph through out the race and kept HR below 160bpm because I didn't want it impact next week's training. But in ECP soon I found 25kph too slow and kept pedaling until feeling my feet could hardly stick on the pedals. So I geared up and reached to ~30kph and my HR fell to right ~160bpm. I kept this speed throughout the ECP part except the accident parts. The most serious accident took place just before the turing point in ECP. The ambulance was coming and saw blood on the road and the rider was in coma. Hope he would be fine. After the turning point, we were diverted to the narrow lane of ECP service road. because I had smoked a lot of rider in ECP, my journey in ECP service road was much smooth. There was no big turns, only the big slop when we backed to the Benjamin Shears Flyover, some people even got off the bike and push. I saw several rider run with  their bike. Down from the BSF was another enjoyable experience of 45kph! After a few turns I crossed the finish line. I crushed the race with my old MTB again, with a average speed of 26.2kph. I reached ~30kph in 30km long ECP. The old MTB made a new record!

BTW, My Garmin and iPhone (Runkeeper) recorded the route 37.25km and 37.35km respectively, despite the official anouncement 39km.
I rode back home through the same route, surprisingly, my HR only scored 123bpm with slightly higher speed than out. My aerobic capability was much better since I implement MAF training.