SIC Kencana Bikeathon 2012

New family photo of 2012!

Last year, I came for this race with my previous team, Fuji Singapore. It was a tough but fantastic race won by Hariff Salleh (Terengganu Pro Asia), with his teammate then, Anuar Manan, in 2nd spot. I managed to finish in the bunch at 38th place.

At the start line

This year, this race would be the first race I'll be racing together with my teammates. We have been training together for quite awhile and we are really starting to gel as a team. Before the start, we pointed out 2 of our best men and they would conserve for the last sprint. The rest of us would try to get into the breaks. I was feeling confident at the start line, knowing that I have done my trainings conscientiously and was feeling good the past few days. Perhaps a little too confident that I neglected all about my nutrition. The weather in Sepang was very hot and I was losing too much fluid without realising. I should have been taking sips of water before the 3pm start time. But by the time we got to the start line, it was all but too late. (At least this was the conclusion I came out with for my poor performance)

 

The pace went straight up from the start and we were all hanging on for our dear lives. AGAIN, I could not clip into my pedals the first try. And almost immediately, I went from the front row to the back row. To my disgust, I could see the pack growing thinner and thinner and then it snapped right in the middle. Great! Now Im stuck at the back. I did not turn over to realise there were still quite a number behind me. Instead of dropping back to the back of the second pack and let the rest do the chasing, I hovered about at the front, taking all the strong winds. Out of desperation, people tried to attack out of the group in an attempt to breach to the front. After some hard efforts, we managed to join the first pack after 2 laps. I was relieved for a moment, but spent. Another mistake I made, instead of getting to the front of the pack immediately when the pace slowed somewhat, I hovered at the back of the group. When the pace picked up again, I could barely hang on and this is where I got dropped. A lack of warm up could be another reason for my jammed legs during the race. Anyway, I wasn't the only one who got dropped thankfully. I knew my game was over, but worked with the riders around me to try to finish the rest of the 7 laps. We picked up some riders along the way and was picked by some groups. On lap 8, we got lapped by Samuel and Raymond's group. Samuel shouted at me as they passed us to go to the front the pull. So I latched on to the group and went straight to the front. I went with them for around half a lap, doing a few turns at the front. Then I got dropped off again when people started attacking. I was running out of water too by then, another mistake again by bringing only 1 bottle of water. On lap 9, I was caught by the main bunch. I decided that I would just finish the lap with this bunch and call it a day. I will survive to fight another day. There's really no point in doing the last lap other than ego as I have ran out of water and also Yeow Chung has to leave for Singapore straight after the race.

Working with Loi and a Cannasia guy after we got dropped.

Pulling at the front for Sam and Raymond

I am really glad when I came back to the pit to hear that Seh (one of the two strong guys that we pointed out earlier), had came in 2nd! He was actually ahead of Anuar Manan going into the sprint but Manan just managed to pit him at the line! Im really impressed with this young boy and he is only 19. Anyway, it was still a good trip even though I did not prove much in this race. Thankfully it was only a tune up race and hopefully it's a one off bad luck. Time to redeem myself in OCBC!!

Sprint finish

Podium: 2nd DB2 Bikelabz, 1st Champion System, 3rd Avanti Pure Black Racing

Training Tips #7: Ice Baths

The fancy name for cooling your muscles as you are doing with the cold bath is "cryotherapy" (from "cryo" meaning cold, not what you do when you first lower your body into ice water). There are several methods and reasons for cryotherapy and there is some accumulating evidence for some and against others, so when your buddies tell you that they read that ice-baths "don't work" be sure to ask them specifically what they don't work for.

This is an evolving field with no one best protocol determined yet, but here's what we think we know: Cryotherapy doesn't help with routine "recovery" or mid-event. Cooling muscles makes them weak until they warm up again, so you wouldn't to cool working muscles between closely spaced events. Cooling does help when over-heating is an issue, so cooling other parts of the body as a way to reduce overall body temperature on hot days can support performance. Cryotherapy generally doesn't help with next-day performance unless the prior day's workout was soreness generating, but does reduce next day soreness.

To be effective against soreness, your cooling period needs to be long enough for the cooling to reach the interiors of the muscles that would otherwise become sore. That means that if you are a big guy with massive muscles, you'll need to cool for longer than a small, spindly guy with string-bean muscles.

Having said that, 5-15 minutes is probably long enough for any given muscle. One way to achieve the same end without wasting water is to give you an ice-cube massage. Rub your calves and thighs post-ride with an ice-cube at a time, replacing them as they melt. Keep the pressure moderate, enough to make a depression in the skin, but not hard enough to hurt. I've had good results with 2 large ice-cubes per calf and 4 per quad plus hamstring.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/cyclingnews-fitness-q-and-a-february-16-2012