#ocbc cycle

[bigmacsg]

OCBC Sportive 40km 2024

A 3.15 alarm clock is obscene in any world. The race kicks off at 5am but the organiser necessitates that riders are at the start by 4. Thankfully I have a Champions Wave ticket (earned at the Speedway) so I’m in front of the 8000 other riders but I still follow the rules and get up at stupid-o-clock.

The champions wave feels a bit light with many choosing not to get up so early. We have 10 Quantum racing, the overseas national teams and a few of the corporate teams - but very few of the usual Matadors or Mavs.

The race kicks off at full gas with Quantum pushing the pace. By the time we get to Swissotel, I think 20% are gone including most of my OCBC colleagues. With a lot of bridge climbs and tight uturns, there’s a lot of hard efforts required to hang on.

We head out and back on the West Coast Highway and the rolling speed is close to 50. I’m hanging on but absolutely not able to contribute in any way. Attacks keep pinging off the front and I need to close a gap out of the MCE tunnel which puts me close to the limit. When the race goes again on Sheares Bridge, I can’t recover and get gapped. 6 of us (Keiichi,IR, National riders) get together to minimise the losses but we end up losing close to 45s in the last 5km to the stadium sprint.

Great ride & really enjoyed it . At 54 mins for the distance, it was a hard 43km pace.

Ate some breakfast in the OCBC lounge and waited for the other OCBC boys to finish. Was sad to hear that Wai Mun had gone down & was in hospital with a fractured shoulder.

The rest of us snuck onto the 20km loop and enjoyed open roads for the first 10km. We then took pictures with the masses on Sheares Bridge. A truly great experience and weird to see the route in daylight. A lovely morning out!

[bigmacsg]

OCBC Corporate Speedway 2023

OCBC Cycle time again with their first full size event since pre-COVID.

As usual, I was asked to organise the OCBC Speedway squad & I was blessed with an abundance of riches this year - with 6 solid riders being available. I went in with some confidence that we could go well & potentially have a chance at the top step of the podium.

Round 1 saw us up against our long term rivals SCDF and newcomers Dyson. A Dyson rider got dropped early so the race turned into an easy spin. We agreed with Civil Defence to save our energy and rode it easy. Dream start!

Semi finals saw us up against SCDF A and B, Baden bank and AMD. Victor was able to get in a break with SCDF A and so came in 5 seconds ahead which gave Collin a good head start. I managed to catch him quite quickly with Michael Naert behind chasing for Baden. Naert eventually caught us but couldn’t really get a gap. SCDF B got gapped and we worked together to keep them off for last 3 laps - another relatively comfortable round!

Finals drew us with SCDF A, Baden and AMD again. It stayed completely together during the first pair of riders with everyone in together. At the changeover, Collin & myself got a gap with one AMD & the SCDF boys. Naert was 5 seconds back with the other AMD and Baden. He eventually bridged over but his partner couldn’t make it. With 2 laps to go, Naert attacked as he clearly needed more time to balance his lagging partner. The AMD guy managed to hang on but one SCDF blew up & the other looked troubled. Collin and myself managed to keep the leaders within 10 metres as we could see we were going to win if we kept going. AMD won the sprint and I took 3rd. The team won for the first time ever which was amazing.

AWQR had 2 teams in the final of the club championship. Sadly Poon had a mechanical at the changeover which scuppered his chances. However the team dominated the race with Dan & Bedard taking the 1-2 in the sprint - resulting in us retaining the overall crown for 2nd year in a row!

It was a long day but a great laugh and very rewarding! We did a ton of media and huge amounts of complaining about the team jersey quality! Hopefully next year, we get something better!

Sunday started with a 3:15 alarm call for Champions Wave. It was hammering down outside and the rain radar showed no respite till around 7am. I went back to bed along with half of the peleton. They eventually ran a shorter race at 6am in the rain but I was happy to miss it.

A great event from OCBC.

[bigmacsg]

National Championships 2022

Work has become a lot more intense in the last 18 months & training has been suffering as a result. Couple it with the lack of group riding confidence since COVID and I went into Nationals in underwhelming form.

My TT prep was poor and I didn’t even ridden a full course TT at race pace during training. The big day came and I went out overly hard with a 43 avg for the 1st lap. Had an issue with the back wheel and had to get off on lap 2 - only to discover I also had a slow puncture on the tub. I took the long way home, only to get caught in a massive rainstorm which was terrible with no brakes in the back. A day to forget!

Road race prep went better & I felt alright prior to the event. I’d tapered and hydrated properly.

The Seniors rolled out with the masters & veterans in a huge peleton of 80. Seniors had Keiichi, Jay and myself representing. It was a simple 7 laps of Changi straight but compounded by some exceptionally tight uturns & a load of cones. The race was mostly hard tempo - averaging a 42 avg over the 77km. I sat at the back for the first 4 laps and then came down front for a few little attacks on lap 5 and 6. Legs were ok but definitely not strong enough to get a gap.

On last lap, I got caught behind a bad crash with 2km to go and had to stop. I rolled in about 20 seconds behind the group as a result. Discovered that Jay and Keiichi had taken 1 & 2 respectively so it turned out to be a great day!

The day got better in the afternoon when Francois took home the win in the Elite Roadrace. Amazing day for the team!

[bigmacsg]

OCBC Cycle Speedway 2022

With the covid restrictions finally eased, it was great to see OCBC cycle back after a 3 year hiatus.

The OCBC team were getting old so we needed to put out a call to find some new riders. A few sets of decent new legs showed up which gave me hope for future years. For this outing, Sheng Lim stepped up for his very first race. His age dramatically pulled down the team average as everyone else was 50+.

Heats: the first heat was quite Low pressure. The Resmed team had an issue on the first leg & so it was obvious that the 3 other teams would go through with little effort. I sat at the back for the first 1.5 laps but then felt I should contribute to the pulling. Coming through, I saw that I had an immediate gap so I just decided to go for it. I drilled it full gas and rapidly got over 10 seconds on the group. I held this to the last lap where I then sat up for some good photos for OCBC staff magazine. My only regret was that I’d been wearing a GoPro on the chest but hadn’t switched it on properly.

Semis: this time there were 3 teams - with top 2 progressing. The 3 teams came into the changeover together. Due to a clash in the transition, Shimano got an immediate gap of 5+ seconds and we were on the back foot. For some reason, the SCDF boys weren’t really chasing - likely assuming that they could beat us in a sprint. I decided to attack so we weren’t reliant on the sprint. I went on lap 3 and was able to get about 5 seconds which I held to the end. Victor stayed with the pack and so we were through!

Finals: tough competition with SCF (incl national rider Ang Kee Meng), Shimano, GSK and ourselves. Again, the group came in all together at the halfway point. Victor got gapped during changeover and was about 5 seconds back. Realising that we were screwed, I took the risk to drop back and help him get back on. I had to absolutely drill it for 1 lap to close the gap but we made it was 1.5 laps to go. I was over the limit at this point - hitting my highest HR in years (189). Fortunate fate smiled on us as one of the leading GSK riders slipped out. We also managed to catch SCF Dr Siong but didn’t have enough to get Kee Meng. After a nail biting count back, we found we’d secured Second!

A great day out and an unexpected result for the team. Was happy with my 3 rides and some solid power numbers

[bigmacsg]

Singapore Nationals 2018

In a bizarre but welcome twist, the SG Road Nationals 2018 were held in Batam on the excellent Nongsa circuit.

AW-Treknology3 fielded compact teams in Open (PA, Will, Guillaume, Reuben, Sofiane) and SuperMasters (Hish, Pete & myself). For Supermasters Hish was our protected man with Pete & myself focussed on helping him out.

Supermasters was run with the juniors and ladies race and this proved problematic. As soon as we entered the circuit, we sat up to let the juniors race themselves as the peloton was sketchy with them around. They took off but never really got any distance. We ended up catching them during the trio of 3 big hills. This ended up being a recurring event and really disrupted the rhythm of the race.

I took us up the high hill for laps 1,2,5 and 6 and was TOP 5 for most of the others. It was my first time on a hill with the Emonda and it climbed like a dream.

The race was steadfast and nothing allowed to get away. The constant attrition reduced the pack to about 20 by the end. Hish made his move on the hills of the last lap after Pete strung the pack out. Hish got a GAP but then slid out on the corner afterwards - thankfully bouncing back up.

I attacked and got a gap with 1km to go but I ran into 2 cars and out of steam! I got caught with 500m to go and rolled across the line in about 15th.

In Open, PA attacked from the gun and stayed away with 3 others. Sadly he was edged into 4th in the sprint.

It was a Long day - taking another 8 hours to get home but great riding! Time for a break and some tempo for a while.

[bigmacsg]

OCBC Car Park Race

Another innovation in the Singapore racing scene in a cunning attempt to bypass the ongoing challenge of getting road closures. Today’s event is the first in a planned series of 6 which will see riders racing up some of the tallest carparks in the city.

Today’s race is special for me as the finish line is literally 10 metres away from my OCBC office desk which directly overlooks the final sprint.

The course itself doesn’t suit me in the slightest. 15 pretty technical corners - peppered with grates and speed bumps. I go in with low expectations and the day is really about supporting the local scene, having some fun and hopefully getting some nice photos! 

 The car park is 7 floors and approx 700m in length. There’s a 30m straight into a corner repeated 15x. Riders go off in pairs but due to the corners, the majority decided to let each rider go separately with a 10 second gap between for safety.

The corner and speed bump corners freaked me out and I took it relatively easy. I didn’t feel like any power could be applied as the straight only lasted about 3 seconds and so I seemed to be coasting the whole way up. First race ever where I’ve not even been out of breath at the top. 

 I did a 1:39 - 12th in my category and about 15 seconds off the winner which was fair given the minimal effort.

On the plus side, the race was really well organized and had a great atmosphere. Was great to see so many out and supporting the event. Looking forward to future editions which hopefully might have a climb that suits me more.

Congrats to Cycosports and Scott Bales for organizing and keeping the scene alive.

[bigmacsg]

OCBC Stationary Bike record attempt

OCBC Cycle 2016 was launched today with the festivities taking place at Orchard Gateway. As part of the marketing, Ocbc decided to put on a 24 hour cycling challenge where they aimed to break the Singapore records for longest distance cycled on a stationary bike in 6 hours and 24 hours. The 24 hours was to be done as a team relay but the 6 hour was an individual effort.

As one of the most prominent riders in the bank, I was immediately called to assist and thought it sounded like fun. I was wrong.

The existing Singapore 6 hour record stood at 142km and I felt sure that I could smash that. I’ve done 4 hours on a trainer before and felt 6 wouldn’t be much of a stretch. However, we were out in the midday sun for this and with no entertainment being provided, it was going to be a tough slog mentally and physically.

I was up for the 1st session from 12-6pm - coinciding with the media launch event. Lining up with me were reps from New Moon, Geylang Cycling (as a team rather than individual) and Alan Grant representing the Mavs.

The first hour went well and I had a 800m lead over the next man at 1 hour. It was hot and I probably went out a bit hard but was feeling ok. The Wattbike seat was going to be an issue and my ass was burning but legs felt OK. There was a huge crowd and I spent much of the 1st hour taking photos with the crowd, Ocbc CEO and doing press interviews.

To cope with boredom, I’d downloaded the American Psycho audiobook. However my headphones packed in about 1 hour into the event. Fortunately my Racing teammates Raoul and Victor turned up and saved the day by getting me some new ones. The fact they chose the pink ones was also appreciated.

The 2nd and third hours got harder. The seat was painful and I had to regularly get out of the saddle to cope with the pain. My knee was starting to hurt from the new position and the twinges of cramp were starting to hint at some misery on the way. 

 A lot of Ocbc colleagues came along to support and I was grateful for the iced coffees. Laura Gordon was an angel providing me some coke too. 

 On the 3 hour mark, my first huge cramp came on and I got off the bike for 5 minutes to try walk it off. Probably a bad move as getting back on was agony. My average speed rapidly fell from 36.2 into the 33 range. After Bintan, someone had convinced me to try mustard as a cramp cure. I gave this a shot but it only helped me get some weird stares from the crowd! 

 I couldn’t hold down my food by this point and had a little bit of vomiting. I got the Ocbc guys to get me some ice lollys and I found this helped matters. I kept going but with a cramp roughly every 15 minutes. Hours 3-5 I was frankly a grumpy bastard. 

I passed the existing record at about 4:15 hours. My target was at least 200km so I ramped it up for the last hour to try pull back my gap on some of the others and make sure I hit target. Mavs and New Moon hadn’t got off their bikes in the 6 hours so I needed to pull back my huge gap. 

I ramped it up in the last hour and made it to 200.7km. Alan G did a grand effort and hit 217km! Dying at the end, I was so happy when the hooter went for Patrick Tan to take over from me. I hobbled to the stage and lay there cramping for 15 minutes. It was a bloody hard day! 

 A cold bath and proper recovery food sorted me out. I would not do it again!

[bigmacsg]

OCBC Race Series 1 | Open Cat

The inaugural OCBC series opener is the first real race in Singapore for about 3 years. Despite the course being little more than a super sized crit, it’s great to see such a huge turnout for the event. Open Cat had at least 65 and was packed with a lot of new local faces.

The course was on the exposed coastal road down at Seleter. A 3km out, followed by a uturn and. 3km back to the start. The start had a kicker though as it involved a climb up a bridge followed by a dead stop uturn and then another climb up the bridge in the other direction. We’d do this 7 times for a total of 42km. I should add that we kicked off at 10.45am and it was hot as hell.

With Pierre suffering all week from bronchitis, the team hatched a cunning plan around the talents of Will Pratt and for once, all seemed aware of the plan and our roles.

We had a strong team lined up - with the majority ready for the following weeks sojourn to Phuket. In Open Will, Pierre, Hish, Raoul, Alex and myself lined up. Competition was strong with a lot of the old Ocbc team, Geylang, a depleted Mavs team and a lot of local teams that I barely recognized.

The first lap was quick - maybe a 47 km average - but the race soon settled into a standard pattern. Each lap was solid rolling pace around 43km but the real action was the two uturn points. Both were relatively narrow, 180 degree turnarounds and caused the peleton to stretch out over 100m. At each repetition, the field would string out, people would chase madly and a few would drop off the back. The uturn also caused the only crash of the race - on lap 3 when a couple of riders had a slo-mo embrace with the Tarmac.

Despite being poorly, Pierre did a massive attack on lap 1 - taking former OCBC rider Calvin Sim with him. The two of them held the field off for 75% of the race. Having PA off the front enabled us to largely sit in and follow any moves. A blessing for me as I was capable of hanging on but little more.

PA was reeled in with about 2 laps remaining - which Will counter attacked immediately as the catch was made. Around 5 riders went with Will and a couple of Mavs bridged up at the uturn. However he was strong enough to drive the break and then take the sprint up from the front. He held off a charging Craig Cameron for a well deserved win by a couple of lengths.

I rolled in with the main pack about 10 seconds behind the winner. We finished with maybe 30 of the initial starters and it had been a hard hour with a 41km average speed.

The course itself proved to be excellent and the event perfectly organized. The huge crowds on the bridge being especially welcomed. A very promising start to this new race series!