since i've some spare time tonight, guess i shall do a quite review on my trip while sipping some dutyfree hein i bought in jan.
on a whole i felt i've grown up quite abit during the 12 days away from home, both on the bike as a racer, and as a person. for the record, it's the longest period of time i've been away from home ever since. i can still remember that exactly the same time last year when i went for the egat tour, i missed home and wanted to get home just after the first stage. but this time round im really enjoying everyday in thailand, although i can hardly understand the spoken language.
egat tour was great. really great. i had focused alot on this race, one of the most important race i've highlighted for this season. got into a breakaway for an hour during the first day which almost killed me, finished 7th juniors on the second day mountain stage. im was so happy that i was grinning from face to face. i finally can climb the mountains alot better! i realised that when you can climb, with a higher power/weight ratio, you dont really need to use the 27t. i only used it for a couple of times when i want to raise the cadence higher, and normally i'll just mash it through.
third stage was rolling hills where quite alot of people dropped out, so i just sit in the pack. last stage was the exact reverse with the leading teams setting high tempo in the front to shake up the final gc a lil. tried my best to defend jiwen's 5th gc position and my own 7th gc. pace was really hard from the start and the group grew smaller. ended up with a group of 6 riders as we make our way to the finish. number 212 from thai air force was marked on my handlebar and was in the same group as me. about 1.5mins behind me. damn closed. so i was watching him carefully. but i guess the last 5km took the toll off me and he went quite far ahead. from the official results i've lost to him by 3 seconds overall. ranked 9th in the end. my timing from the 7th position was just a mere 27 seconds. but i've really worked hard so no complains.
transferred back to bkk chaleena hotel for a two day rest. i was really impatient during the egat farewell lunch and the bus transfer back to bkk. i just couldnt wait to meet natty. it has been almost 4 months since i last met her. it was late evening by the time we got to the hotel, and it was a mad rush for me to settle the bags and bikes and get showered and get dressed up the best i could with what i had in my luggage. a cheap and simple bbq dinner just outside the hotel with her and rest the team. i didnt eat much then. just couldnt bear to waste anytime that i can talk to her. oh ya. and the irritating kids that twist your neck and joints for you to get a stalk of rose from them for 20baht. grr.
the next morning we kinda sleeped in and did nothing. decided not to touch the chakrayan for the day. went for some simple shopping at the fbt tower and bought a red adidas shirt for less than sgd10! geniune of course. quick trip to the internet cafe nearby to check some mails and quick blog before heading back to the hotel for afternoon nap to escape from the heat. met nat and sis and friend for some paste and pizza at the nearby mall via the smelly river taxi to escape the jam. finally something different from the rice and tomyam.
woke up at 0530 the next morning for some spinning and intervals at the nearby velodrome. it was already very warm by 7am. did nothing but sleep for the rest of the morning and afternoon while the other teams and 2 of my team mates arrived from singapore.
next 5 days was some fast speed racing. the whole tour is really all flat. with speeds going 45-55kph. averaging in the low 40s everyday. even the longest day at 218km took only 5 hours. after racing the egat tour i was physically and mentally drained. all i could do during the heritage tour was just try to stay in the pack and objective is to finish the whole tour. at times the pace was really hard and i had to really push myself to the whatever limit to keep up. the tour took us to places like nakornsawam, uthaitani, tak, lopburi, sukhothai and atutthaya. it was great to be able to see different places in thailand besides the dams in egat.
ranked 7th from the last during the 12km itt and almost gotten the lantern rouge for the overall. last stage was dramatic. race started at 1pm and was freaking hot, adding on to the difficulty to get water from the neutral support. but it will real stupid to just give it up and dnfed after suffering for 4 days. a pack of cows cut into the peloton and i had to slowed down to avoid into hitting them. by then the gap from the peloton was opening and i had a tough time drafting and cutting through the vehicle convoys to get back to the peloton. it was red zone all the way. after the 2nd feedzone i got a plastic feedbag from the rider who dumped it on the ground and it got caught in my rear deraileur. no choice but to stop and remove it while the peloton was cruising. phew. lippy had a flat with 30km to go and never made it near to the peloton. arub decided to drop back to help him as he was the highest ranked gc in the team. with no one else in the team that was in the peloton due to crashes and fatigue, i dropped back together with him. but lippy was really far behind and we did a ttt to the end finishing rougly 5mins down the main pack. nothing magnificant but i'm glad i've made the right choice. i'll not leave my team leader behind.
after some nice dinner ceremoney with some nice pattai, an hour of transfer back to bkk chaleena hotel. it was almost midnight by the time we got to the hotel and there was hardly any night life or shopping to be done in the proximity of the hotel. had a simpel dinner/supper at a small cozy restaurent a stone throw away from the hotel. slept around 3am that night and woke up at 7am for breakfast and some final packing.
i guess everything has got to end some day. was really sad to leave thailand. im just in love with the friendly people and the culture. it's just such a nice place. and this time round i've spend 4 days more than i did during tos. was a tearful farewell at the airport with nat. not sure when we will get to meet again. i've really got no idea. even before i left for thailand, i've got no idea if we will get to meet. im glad that it happened.
still kinda confused with myself now. hope i'll be able to sort it out soon.
pom ruk koon.
thanks for reading. photographic evidence of the trip should be up soon.
on a whole i felt i've grown up quite abit during the 12 days away from home, both on the bike as a racer, and as a person. for the record, it's the longest period of time i've been away from home ever since. i can still remember that exactly the same time last year when i went for the egat tour, i missed home and wanted to get home just after the first stage. but this time round im really enjoying everyday in thailand, although i can hardly understand the spoken language.
egat tour was great. really great. i had focused alot on this race, one of the most important race i've highlighted for this season. got into a breakaway for an hour during the first day which almost killed me, finished 7th juniors on the second day mountain stage. im was so happy that i was grinning from face to face. i finally can climb the mountains alot better! i realised that when you can climb, with a higher power/weight ratio, you dont really need to use the 27t. i only used it for a couple of times when i want to raise the cadence higher, and normally i'll just mash it through.
third stage was rolling hills where quite alot of people dropped out, so i just sit in the pack. last stage was the exact reverse with the leading teams setting high tempo in the front to shake up the final gc a lil. tried my best to defend jiwen's 5th gc position and my own 7th gc. pace was really hard from the start and the group grew smaller. ended up with a group of 6 riders as we make our way to the finish. number 212 from thai air force was marked on my handlebar and was in the same group as me. about 1.5mins behind me. damn closed. so i was watching him carefully. but i guess the last 5km took the toll off me and he went quite far ahead. from the official results i've lost to him by 3 seconds overall. ranked 9th in the end. my timing from the 7th position was just a mere 27 seconds. but i've really worked hard so no complains.
transferred back to bkk chaleena hotel for a two day rest. i was really impatient during the egat farewell lunch and the bus transfer back to bkk. i just couldnt wait to meet natty. it has been almost 4 months since i last met her. it was late evening by the time we got to the hotel, and it was a mad rush for me to settle the bags and bikes and get showered and get dressed up the best i could with what i had in my luggage. a cheap and simple bbq dinner just outside the hotel with her and rest the team. i didnt eat much then. just couldnt bear to waste anytime that i can talk to her. oh ya. and the irritating kids that twist your neck and joints for you to get a stalk of rose from them for 20baht. grr.
the next morning we kinda sleeped in and did nothing. decided not to touch the chakrayan for the day. went for some simple shopping at the fbt tower and bought a red adidas shirt for less than sgd10! geniune of course. quick trip to the internet cafe nearby to check some mails and quick blog before heading back to the hotel for afternoon nap to escape from the heat. met nat and sis and friend for some paste and pizza at the nearby mall via the smelly river taxi to escape the jam. finally something different from the rice and tomyam.
woke up at 0530 the next morning for some spinning and intervals at the nearby velodrome. it was already very warm by 7am. did nothing but sleep for the rest of the morning and afternoon while the other teams and 2 of my team mates arrived from singapore.
next 5 days was some fast speed racing. the whole tour is really all flat. with speeds going 45-55kph. averaging in the low 40s everyday. even the longest day at 218km took only 5 hours. after racing the egat tour i was physically and mentally drained. all i could do during the heritage tour was just try to stay in the pack and objective is to finish the whole tour. at times the pace was really hard and i had to really push myself to the whatever limit to keep up. the tour took us to places like nakornsawam, uthaitani, tak, lopburi, sukhothai and atutthaya. it was great to be able to see different places in thailand besides the dams in egat.
ranked 7th from the last during the 12km itt and almost gotten the lantern rouge for the overall. last stage was dramatic. race started at 1pm and was freaking hot, adding on to the difficulty to get water from the neutral support. but it will real stupid to just give it up and dnfed after suffering for 4 days. a pack of cows cut into the peloton and i had to slowed down to avoid into hitting them. by then the gap from the peloton was opening and i had a tough time drafting and cutting through the vehicle convoys to get back to the peloton. it was red zone all the way. after the 2nd feedzone i got a plastic feedbag from the rider who dumped it on the ground and it got caught in my rear deraileur. no choice but to stop and remove it while the peloton was cruising. phew. lippy had a flat with 30km to go and never made it near to the peloton. arub decided to drop back to help him as he was the highest ranked gc in the team. with no one else in the team that was in the peloton due to crashes and fatigue, i dropped back together with him. but lippy was really far behind and we did a ttt to the end finishing rougly 5mins down the main pack. nothing magnificant but i'm glad i've made the right choice. i'll not leave my team leader behind.
after some nice dinner ceremoney with some nice pattai, an hour of transfer back to bkk chaleena hotel. it was almost midnight by the time we got to the hotel and there was hardly any night life or shopping to be done in the proximity of the hotel. had a simpel dinner/supper at a small cozy restaurent a stone throw away from the hotel. slept around 3am that night and woke up at 7am for breakfast and some final packing.
i guess everything has got to end some day. was really sad to leave thailand. im just in love with the friendly people and the culture. it's just such a nice place. and this time round i've spend 4 days more than i did during tos. was a tearful farewell at the airport with nat. not sure when we will get to meet again. i've really got no idea. even before i left for thailand, i've got no idea if we will get to meet. im glad that it happened.
still kinda confused with myself now. hope i'll be able to sort it out soon.
pom ruk koon.
thanks for reading. photographic evidence of the trip should be up soon.
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