OCBC Mens Open Criterium

At the startline

Time flies. It wasn't long when I just joined Bikelabz and we were focusing on our training in preparation for OCBC in a few months time. It suddenly struck me, when we were lining up at the startline, that this was it. This was what we had been training so hard for as a team week after week.

The waiting time was surprisingly shorter than most of the other races that I've done. Soon we were off! This time I was lucky to clip into my pedals on my first try! Relieved. As usual it was chaos at the start and the first few bends. There were no proper lines and everyone was zig-zagging around trying to get to the front. So many near misses. One crazy guy took the corner in the tunnel from the inside to the outside, almost wiping everyone out in the process. When we're into our last corner heading to end of our first lap, my rear wheel skidded! It suddenly occurred to me that I might be in trouble for the remaining of the race. If the 150psi that I pumped this morning wasn't a mistake, failure to release some air knowing the road will be wet is. And in the next 3 laps, my rear wheel skidded another 3 more times. It was a nightmare! Seriously. My confidence in cornerings also dropped to rock bottom. As a result, I took it slow and wide every corner and had to play the chasing game on the straights. I know it would be too dangerous to even go hard at the front and attack the corners. I know for sure that if I were to test the limits of the tires, it's 100% chance I would go down. This would not only put me in jeopardy, but the rest of my team and riders. So even though the race wasn't over, psychologically it was for me. Not being able to go hard and fast enough in the corners meant that I was spat out from he back of the front pack and reduced to riding alone before I got picked up my the second group.

There were about 10-12 riders in the second group, including Michel (Fuji), a Cannasia rider, a Cyclone rider, a couple of Orbea guys, some ang mohs and Yeow Chung (DB2-Bikelabz). Chung was doing a lion's share of work at the front together with a few others while the rest, including me, just sat in. We were told the front group was just 15secs. The tactic here is not to catch the first group as we already have a number of guys and our main riders in it. To catch them would complicate things as more riders who joined in would want a piece of the action towards the end.

In the second group

Towards the last 3 laps, I moved to the front of the group and stayed in this position. I wanted to win from this group even though there's almost nothing to fight for now. Also in a way to ensure Chung's work in the pack was worth it. On the last lap coming out of the tunnel, the front few guys slowed somewhat. So I used my momentum and went straight to the front. I took the final few corners, with caution as usual, and launched from far in the final straight. There was nothing to think about but to go full gas to the line. So I went as hard as I could, just like our weekly motorpacing/sprint sessions, but extended version of course! I could see an Orbea guy trying to come around me on the right towards the line after sucking my wheel from the start of the sprint. But I kept pushing to the line. I think I came across ahead of him by a tire length. 17th position overall.

Final straight to the line

Finishing ahead of the Orbea guy

After the race, I felt rather depressed. As if I let the team down, not being able to hang on to the first group and help them when they needed an extra guy. With 12 riders, our best results were 2nd, 3rd and 5th. If you look at it, this wasn't a bad result at all. But I felt that only a victory could justify the strength of our team for this race. I guess the strongest guy won today. Tjarco Cuppens of Team Fuji Singapore. So I respect the victory and hats off to him. It was also a good result for his team, my former team. Tomorrow's Super Challenge would be another day and another chance to fight again. Might be a race that suits me better. Trust me to go all out and give everything! Full gas!