Bonjour all! This blog is alive again after a long long hiatus. The past year had been really hectic, with my final year in university, the final year project, as well as a struggling year of racing and training. I will have lots to blog about in the coming weeks. This includes things like reflections for 2011 which encompasses university life, my cycling life thus far, family, friends and last but not least, God. So stay tune for this as well as my 2012 new year's revolution and my future plans!
Training Camp Day 1 - 28th Jan 2012, Saturday
The first day of training camp was suppose to be an easy ride for acclimatisation and to get over travelling woes and keep the legs fresh for the days to come. A 2.5 hours steady ride was scheduled for us. I went out on an hour's spin before the ride just to check the bike. After an hour, we rendezvous at our hotel lobby and set off. Wisut, a thai friend of Vincent brought us out on our maiden ride. It was nice weather, a little on the chilly side with temperatures around 13 degrees celsius. I just had a base layer and rode in the cold for abit until the body starts to warm up and it got better. The ride started at 10am. After awhile, I realized the air here was dry and it reminded me that I needed to hydrate constantly as I may not feel dehydrated until it's too late!
Halfway through the ride, we met the Seoul Cycling Team, another continental team from Korea. They had about 12-14 riders, did about 3 hours of riding before meeting us. We had 'special' permission to ride with them because apparently, these foreign teams do not usually like other teams to join their rides in fear that we may be dangerous or disrupt their training session. The Seoul Team were really smooth. I did not turn with them as I did not want to disrupt their pace line or intensity. They rode in double paceline, rotating clockwise as each rider takes their turn in front, like an echelon. They rode at about 40km/h, nice and smooth. It was nice to see how a team rode like that and every rider rode in synergy. This made me 'felt good' and I would eventually want our team to be able to ride like that, as a 'Team'. It made me realize that our team is quite fragmented at the moment, but I trust that things will eventually fall into place.
We broke off after about 2.5 hours and carried on to recce some other terrains before ending the ride. Unfortunately, I had a crashed after rubbing Junrong's wheel! He needs to be more aware of what he is doing, but oh well, things happen. Sore hip and shoulder. C'est la vie. I completed about 4 hours of riding, about 125km.
Besides riding, we rest and most importantly, EAT. I love Thailand because the cost of living here is really low, and we get to eat food that are cheap and good (freshly made from the heart). Looking forward to all the nice meals in the days ahead.
My room mate for this trip is Vincent Ang, a great rider and I am looking to learn more about him and from him as a cyclist and as a person. Sprinting and descending would be my priority, and perhaps some 'on the bike' photography skills.
Coming soon.....Training Camp Day 2 - 29th Jan 2012, Sunday, and pictures!
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