Singapore Cycling recently opened up nominations for National squads and the 2014 Asian Champs across all disciplines. Here’s the link to their website for the announcement of those who have been selected.
http://cycling.org.sg/announcement-of-athlete-selection-results/
Congratulations to everyone to has made the squads and the 2014 ACC team
Filed under training updates
It’s almost a month since I last raced in Shuzenji and things are looking good in the training department. I got in a motorpacing session last week where the main aim is to ramp up my top end speed. Ideally I would want to do it as part of my regular schedule, but in the not so ideal world we live in, at the moment, I can probably only afford ($) to do them twice a month.
Other than that, I’ve pretty much settled in at Solitude of Strength, a new-age, avant garde, strength training facility. Somehow, SWF didn’t quite feel like home. The people are great but I didn’t quite fit into the vibe. When National Weightlifter, Lewis told me he was going to open his own gym, I had a good feeling about it. I wasn’t in town for the opening, but as soon as I got back, I dropped by for a visit.
One of our very few national athletes who is now giving back to Singapore sports, wants to encourage more athletes, regardless of what sport you do, to see strength training/weightlifting as a fundamental component to all sports. With that in mind, Lewis allows all under-18 national athletes to train at SoS for free, senior athletes at half the price. He recently did an interview for Fitness Sutra. Read it here
http://www.fitnesssutra.com/2014/02/05/lewis-chua/
If you’re looking for a place to start an exercise/fitness regime, get fitter/stronger, train for that next sporting event, drop by to have a look.
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I need to be more prompt in penning down these race experiences, even though its still rather fresh in my mind, like it was just last week. Those psych sessions with John from way back certainly did me some good.
International teams didn’t stay at Cytel. We were put up at a cottage-like hotel, Olive no Ki, 30 mins by bus away from the track. Better facilities and amenities, but I would have preferred convenience over comfort. Of course, Cytel would be meant for local teams and technical officials.
There were reasonable expectations going in. In a country where the keirin is professionally raced, you can only expect a huge depth of really strong riders. I started out conservatively with regards to gearing. Bad decision. After the first lap, I knew I was in trouble as I was already running out of leg speed. So I kinda threw that one away. Shucks. Then I rode big but it was clear I still didn’t have enough horsepower to ride side-by-side with the big guns yet. Leading up to this, bulk of the work has been focused on strength gains. My 200m time was nothing to cheer about either. There is still quite a long way to go.
Apart from that, it is the familiarity I have with my bike at high speeds. At 60km/h and above, the slightest twitch gets magnified. I followed for as long as I could, but it felt like I was fighting the bike as soon as everyone throttled. I kept losing momentum in my legs as I fought to stay in.
The coaches at CCC Shuzenji could see improvement. The standard of the race was simply too high. In spite of that, I still took plenty of lessons back home. I’ve gained some first-hand knowledge on what is physically required to race at that level and that is something I can work on on the road. One thing’s for sure, motorpacing sessions are vital for me. So if anyone knows of anyone who does it, give me shout. I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks to Noda-san and CCC Shuzenji for the support. It definitely made a difference knowing that I was looked after. I envy teams that go to races with an army of support staff. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a race with even just a coach/manager. Big shout-out to MSTI for the entry and race kit, as well as the continuous and unwavering support of Maximuscle, Rudy Project, The Sufferfest, Compressport, G8 Performance and Solitude of Strength.
Photos by MakotoAYANO
https://www.facebook.com/cyclowired.jp
Filed under training updates
Because putting a year end post is too mainstream, I decided to reflect on 2013 a week into 2014. Not exactly. 2013 did not end on a high note at all. The thought of hitting a slump at the end of the year did not seem appealing to me at all. But when it comes, it comes, and it hits you hard. So hard it knocked me down for almost an entire month. In all aspects of life, emotionally, financially, physically, mentally. The worst I have ever been. The thoughts that creep into your head start to overpower you. It starts to mind-f*** you (mind the language). You question everything that you do in life, everything you believe in, everything you have done. In short, you lose yourself.
There have been a couple of pleasant moments in 2013. Ride the wave, but never take it for a free ride. No matter how good it/they may be, I always remember all the other bad experiences that has put you down. Crappy races, dealing with dodgy characters, money woes, just to name a few,. Yes, a few. When the bad experiences outnumber the good ones, that’s when you should re-evaluate things, and in my case, a little too late. That is also when you will only start to see who your true friends are: when you’re down. Sometimes, they are just round the corner, without you even realizing.
A turning point was when I seeked solace at Solitude of Strength (Facebook here. Website is still in the works) There’s something calming yet engaging about the place. Maybe it’s the vibe the Buffalo brings to the place, maybe its the people. There is belief all around. Walking in at 7am in the morning, barbell on my shoulders, looking down the row of platform, I could focus once again. I found the energy I have been desperately looking for all year.
It’s the people who still believe in you when you’re down and/or not at your best who matter the most. Thank you to the CCC Shuzenji family for taking me in.
Always make time to say hi to the people who matter to you and so will the people whom you matter to. I spent my last day in Perth riding in 40 degree weather to the Wibbs’. I never really got a chance to catch up properly at the track as Friday nights are always hectic. Ken could see the disappointment in my eyes after State champs. “Don’t worry about it Wai, keep going at it. You’ll come back again and smack it.”
Sometimes, just a few words and simple gestures can have a powerful impact. We spend so much time getting caught up in life that we miss out on them. Life is an ever-changing journey, but one thing remains, the people who were once there to help you get back up on your feet, are the friends you can always count on.
Filed under training updates
It’s been one heck of a roller coaster the past 4 weeks. I have had time to reflect on my time back at the CCC Shuzenji training camp but recently I find myself trying to keep my mind free of anything training related when I have any bit of downtime. Maybe it’s because there hasn’t been any exciting developments to talk about, just plenty of what-ifs.
I definitely kicked some goals at the end of my two weeks at Shuzenji. We were fortunate enough to be allowed by the JBCF to do a flying 200 and kilo time trial in an actual race setting. Having to go through the proper race proceedings was good practice for me. The result however left me quite deflated. I was all over the place in the kilo and couldn’t hold my line. My flying 200 was just as disappointing. I made used of that second week to nail those key aspects of my riding that really needed to be addressed: posture, leg speed, handling. I stuck at it, and my training times consistently went down as well. At the end of it, I definitely came out a better rider and I have the coaches at CCC Shuzenji to thank for that.
Coming back to Perth was a good test to see how far I have come. I started out at the Speed Dome, and the locals will be able to see if there is any improvement, or not. The first thing that hit me was that the pace has definitely stepped up a lot from the last time I was here. I had a quick catch up with Travis the first few nights at the track and he mentioned it as well. It took me about a week to find my race legs as well as get used to bunch riding on the track again, which meant I didn’t do too well in the Keirin at the State Championships. Disappointed yes, but I knew I had focus on the coming couple of weeks. I started the week really well, kicked plenty of goals at track sessions and was looking forward to the weekend to finish up state champs with something to cheer about. But my luck ran out and I had to wake up in the middle of a Thursday night scrambling for lacteol fort and panadol. Friday was a complete wipe off as I slept the entire day, waking up at 3 hour intervals just to eat and take meds. Fortunately, all was not lost. I still rode the sprint and the kilo. Though I was still a little woozy on Saturday.
I’ve got another week of track sessions and a Wattbike test with Andrew on Wednesday which I’m really looking forward to. Apologies for the lack of photos. When you travel to train and race solo, it’s not quite as convenient to go around snapping pictures with my phone. But I’ll try to get some cool visuals up.
Filed under training updates
I’m glad I’ve made it back to Izu Velodrome for CCC Shuzenji’s second training camp for the year. The past few weeks have been a little crazy. There was certainly no resting after a less than satisfying display at the Track Asia Cup. I’m still looking for that breakthrough on the bike I need to mix it up with the big boys. I remember my time at Mercantile with Sandy, when I finally started to feel some blade work and actually move the boat properly. Not quite the same equipment, but I’m determined to find that same element which will get me the speed I need on the bike
The sessions with Louis on the road definitely helped upped my game. Working on acceleration on the road with a racing track bike isn’t exactly the easiest thing to put together, in particular the logistics, considering I do not own a 4-door vehicle. With the recent videos of cyclists circulating around the Facebook hemisphere, location was our main concern. Huge thanks to Louis for taking time out to put it together. I owe him heaps.
The CCC Shuzenji training camp was initially a no-go for me. I just haven’t been working enough to save up moolah for it. I decided to move on and I’m looking elsewhere for a more supportive work environment. Fortunately I managed to pull together enough in the nick of time and so here I am.
One thing is for sure, it’s going to be a cold two weeks.
Filed under training updates
I was certainly looking forward to getting some quality time at the CCC training camp prior to testing my legs again at the Track Asia Cup. Couple of hours north of Bangkok is Suphanburi, where one of four velodromes in Thailand is. The hotel we stayed in, which would also be the official race hotel, is about a 10min bus ride. It’s a nice quiet town. Little distractions, only problem were the mozzies at night. There was no way of sitting still for more than a minute without one flying in your face or attempting to put a stinger in you.
There was a vast improvement from the first time the CCC Shuzenji coaches saw me. I’ve always preferred doing interval sets as compared to a 4hr ride. Now i can focus on a lot more things on the bike rather than just chasing the set and/or distance: posture, leg speed. Every effort was the opportunity to feel the different elements. The program was the same as in Shuzenji, so it was all about leg speed and chances to practice some all important standing starts.
A CCC Shuzenji camp would be not complete without a roller session.
As the training camp came to a close, I started to shift towards thinking about how I wanted to race the Track Asia Cup. It was a large turnout. 10 countries. Things had to be done differently from my previous race in order for results to change as well. I entered the sprint, kilo and keirin. The sprint was more for me to try my hand at the flying200 and track my progress. Unfortunately, both that and kilo didn’t turn out to be anything to celebrate about. To be honest, I really wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong, or what was I not doing. My last chance would be in the Keirin. It was only after my heat, when I was chatting with Bom that I understood what I needed to change. However the weather gods decided to show their presence and the last few events of the night were cancelled, which included the 7th-13th place final, so I didn’t have a chance to give it a good go. At least I took something back.
Going old school in the kilo on the standard bars. Thanks Kee Meng again for the race wheels. Really appreciate it. I really need to have my own.
Photos courtesty of Thai Cycling Association.
I’m in the midst of sorting out my next (hopefully few) race (races). No point spending on race wheels if I don’t get a chance to use them. I did see a set of FFWDs on a fixed along east coast park bike path this arvo.
Laters
Filed under training updates
Some recent happenings the past couple of weeks. The most talked about event in Singapore cycling would have to be the National Road championships. It’s where all the big roadie boys come together to flex their leg muscles, for not just bragging rights, but the right to have the red and white on their team jersey for the year. Whatever happens during bunch rides is secondary. This is where it all counts.
With outstanding performances in all their UCI Asia Tour races, the OCBC team was by far the favorite to take out the individual time trial, team time trial and road race. And so they did. JR was deservingly crowned National Champion in the ITT and the team smashed it in the TTT.
The road race would see a few challenges coming from Lapierre Asia, Mavericks and solo rider Boon riding for Melburnian team African Wildlife Safaris, but from where I was (at the back of the bunch), OCBC team was taking the race by the horn. It came down to a sprint finish, JW being crowned National Champion. I have had the pleasure to spend quite a bit of time with da man as colleagues and I’m just really happy for him.
Less than a week after my painful road race experience, 3 days to be exact, I was due for my strength test with Louis. A massive increase in protein intake along with constant stretching, foam rolling, trigger ball and all still couldn’t get me back to a 100%. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with what I lifted, but I’ve certainly improved a lot on range and speed of movement and stability so that’s still something to be happy about.
Since i’ve started on the bike, my numbers in the weights room have seen a much more obvious increase. Except for my bench press, which I’m rather pleased hasn’t gone down too much. The much longer hours and significantly more revolutions on the bike compared to strokes in the boat definitely magnifies the importance of form, stabilty and flexibilty.
I’ve been on my next phase of training for a few weeks and the addition of the program Louis has got me on now is just absoultely killing it. Its going to be a full-on build-up to ACC Track Asia Cup
Filed under training updates
I definitely need to be more prompt with my race updates. Good friend Wille got his up in a week. Mine is two weeks ago. Better late than never. Cliche.
A few months away from the track and as usual I was raring to go. This would probably be the first time I’m competing proper and there was quite a lot I had to take in. Just like back in the day where I traveled to rowing regattas alone. There’s so much to learn, experience and enjoy. Experience on various tracks is something I’m building up at the moment, so there were new things I had to take in while riding an outdoor track is. Ironically, I have definitely spent more time on timbre indoor tracks, enough to make me rather uncomfortable riding on outdoor ones. On top of that, it didn’t help that I realized my rear tyre had ripped open a little after practice, the day before racing commences. I asked around on how much a tyre would cost me. I decided on the hush hush, ‘just ride with it’ approach to prevent jinxing it. I’m glad I stayed upright.
My equipment remained modest with a trusty set of training clincher wheels. I didn’t have aero bars, so I took on the kilo with my drops. I finished 8th out of 10th, with a massive 4 secs away from 7th place. I haven’t quite gotten my crank arm position at the gate to where I am capable of getting a good start. Then there is gear selection. Initially I thought that I had it spot on. After that kilo performance, I started wondering and asking around whether one gears differently from an indoor track.
Next was my sprint qualifying flying 200m. I felt that I had gone through the process rather well. But my time was far from satisfying, with the slowest qualifying time. As I was about to pack up for the day, I was told that there would be 1/4 finals, after the last event on the program. Yes, this wasn’t on the program. It was dark by the time we got on for the sprint 1/4 finals. This would be my first time doing a match sprint. Another lesson learned: always ask how many laps. I assumed it was 3, which was also what I saw at the start line. A few thai sentences were exchanged and I found out on the second lap that THAT was the bell lap. You can imagine how that looked. Those who didn’t make semis had to race for placing. I finished overall in 5th place
I lined up for the Keirin the next day feeling rather relaxed, not as nervous as my past few attempts. At least I’m taking steps forward. I knew that when the motorbike pulled off, that I was either under-geared, or I just didn’t have enough horsepower. It was probably both. I didn’t make the finals and finished with 8th place.
It’s a good reflection of the training I have done, a gauge to where I am at the moment and what is the next step forward. Thanks Siripong for helping with the translation of the race proceedings and all the Thai riders for looking out for me. It’s always great racing in Thailand.
Photo courtesy of Siripong Injai
Filed under training updates
I was meaning to write about the rebirth of criterium racing in Singapore last weekend. Procrastination got the better of me. One thing led to another and here I am, a week past and I’m waiting to board my flight to Bangkok for round 2 of the Queens Cup, which is the Thailand National Track Cycling Champsionships.
Rewind a week ago, Singapore saw the rebirth of criterium racing, courtesy of the people at Rad Events. What I would estimate would be a 100 over riders, gathered at Tampines Industrial Avenue 2 for Round 1 of the Singapore Road Cycling Criterium Series. The turnout was wonderful: teams with tents, photographers sprawling all around, spectators at the critical U-turns to catch the action. I can imagine the many other riders’ hesitation and were eager to see what it would be like before signing up. Round 2 will be a blast.
I’m definitely no crit expert, but I’ve had my fair share of racing, all learning the hard way. I wasn’t particularly comfortable with the two right U-turns, but so were all those in B grade. If you’re wondering (more like questioning) WHY I’m racing B grade, like I said, I’m no crit expert. It’s the socially responsible thing to do. I’m not able to take the U-turn at speed and getting stuck with the A graders is just a disaster waiting to happen. I went on full gas with 2 laps to go but it wasn’t to be. I didn’t take lap times, so I obviously had went too early. I was caught at 3/4 lap to go.
On to more exciting things this weekend: Track race! I can’t wait to get on.
Here are links to some photos from the crit series. I won’t insert any into this post, but if you have Facebook, get on and check them out!
Sports Snapshots
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.499876116759716.1073741833.369289756485020&type=1
Rad Events
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.492982487456300.1073741830.411801865574363&type=1
Filed under training updates
Believe 