Going straight takes you on to West Coast Road. Pandan Reservoir will be on your left. This is a narrow single carriageway road, reasonably well lit but shared with public buses and some good vehicles. Riding in the middle of the lane will probably result in many motorists flashing their lights and honking but better they see you than run over you. Follow this road until the junction of Penjuru Road . Left turn (junction) on Penjuru Road . Much better road here, wide 4 lane road. As a result of this most of the attacks will come here. Continue down until Jalan Buroh . Left turn (slip road) onto Jalan Buroh. There is some construction here but the road is in excellent shape. (I have the word of the construction supervisor that he sweeps the roads before our ride on TTT) It is well-lit and 3 lanes wide. What more could one ask for? The wide road combined with the strong headwinds discourage all but the strongest to break away. Some one always will so watch out for this. This is an ideal stretch of road to practice group riding especially when you have the incentive of catching the errant hare.  There is a sprint prime at the top of the last bridge so keep something in reserve for it. Stay on Jalan Buroh until the West Coast Highway junction where you should take a left turn back onto West Coast Road. One lap down and many more to come.

We find that immediately after the turn on to West Coast Road., the lead riders will look back to try to pick up more support before taking off again. So if you can stay with them until here, you’re in good shape for the next round.

If you’re gassed, the take a right turn (junction with turning arrow). Head back along West Coast Highway until the West Coast Highway ,Clementi Road junction. Take your time, as this is the recovery part of the ride. With the sprints coming up, you’re going to need it.

PART TWO B (aka Tuas Loop)

This ride is usually a real hammer fest so the warm up is a little longer. Well, that is in theory. Route is the same as part Two A until the junction of West Coast Highway, Jalan Buroh and West Coast Road. Instead of going straight onto West Coast Road, we make a left turn onto Jalan Buroh. Over the first bridge, the other side of which was the sprint prime for Loop Two A. Pandan Reservoir is now on the right. This is a wide, well-lit road with some cross winds. Like I said earlier, this is suppose to be part of the warm up. Depending on which of the riders are around, the ride can also take off on this road. The combination of short climbs and traffic lights can result in a pretty clean breakaway for those who are brave enough to go for it! The rest of us mortals will be stretching our legs and getting ready for the pain to follow. The route continues past the Jalan Buroh/Penjuru Raod junction, across Jurong Canal. The route is pretty straight until the round-a-bout at Jalan Buroh/Jurong Pier Road. The regroup point for this ride is just before the round-a-bout on the return route. Take the three o’ clock exit and brace yourself. It is short climb along Jurong Pier Road until the Ayer Rajah Expressway junction. Don’t worry, we don’t get on the expressway, it against the law anyway.

The rest of the route runs parallel to the expressway. There are many turnoffs available along the way, so if you get too tired you can always turn back and head to the regroup point and wait for us. First turn back is at the Pioneer Road junction. Next run around at Benoi Road. Last turn is at the Tuas Road round-a-bout. The ride then heads onto Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim. The turnaround point is at the last turn before Malaysia.

Again, if you decide to bail halfway, please let someone if you’re heading home or to the regroup point. Like I said before, we don’t leave anyone behind, and we will go back to look for you if you’re not at the regroup point.

This is a hard and fast ride. Group riding skills are a must. Simply put it is a race to Tuas and then back to the regroup point. If you are new at this or not in peak form yet, you can still get a good ride out of it. Stick with the pack for as long as you can then turn around and try to get back to the regroup point before the pack catches with you and runs you over on their return loop! Kidding…

After all are reassembled at the regroup point, it is another slow ride back across the bridge at Jurong Canal until the junction at Jalan Buroh and Penjuru Road. This part should look familiar as it is the same return route as Part Two A. Sprint prime still stands at the last bridge over Sungai Pandan.

This is the recovery part of the ride. Well, the last round is anyway. We ride this road until the end and then loop back onto West Coast Highway (slip road) and then to the junction of West Coast Highway  and Clementi Road then back onto the Harbour Drive. The road is four lanes wide and deserted. It is well-lit and is free of cross winds. With West Coast Park on the left and The PSA Container Terminal on the left, the beginning of this leg results in some vigorous bargaining for ‘lead out’ and ‘decoy’ riders. Many an unholy alliance has been formed on this road for the sprint finish. The finish line is the traffic light at PSA Vista. But wait that’s not the end. After the sprint, the ride carries on through then next round for more sprint finishes. The trick here is that if you can get close enough to the front to stay with the sprinters, you can carry your speed on to the West Coast Highway and get away from everyone. While it is good to win the first sprint, it is so much better to grind everyone into the ground by being so far off the front that no one can catch you. Beware though, if you’re thinking of cutting corners, because there are always those who bail after one round and will count the number of times that you have gone around! One other bonus to getting way out in front is that you are in a position to call the end of the ride. What better motivation to get out front?

Sometimes (too often for some) we take a gander up Mount Faber. Why..because its there. So part one, and sometimes part two, are abandoned in favor of the climb. Part three remains the same.

LATEST ADDITION :

As mentioned the pivot point is a good place to wait if you have had mechanical or cardiovascular problems along the way. It is critical for all to know where is ride is going as the regroup point is different for each ride type.

Regroup for the Pandan Loop is at the junction of Jalan Buroh and West Coast Road, if you plan to go another round. Or after making the right turn at the Jalan Buroh/West Coast Road junction at the bus stop. The return to the container loop is usually at a pedestrian pace to recover for more paceline riding  and sprinting on the container loop.

Regroup for the Tuas Loop is at the old bus stop on Jalan Buroh after the round-a-bout along Jurong Pier Road.

Regroup for The Container Loop is at the far end near the traffic lights on West Coast Highway. Hang around there and we’ll be by soon.

This one is a little harder to describe but in short, on the eve of  some public holidays, we get together for a longer but more leisurely ride. Usually this means starting from the same place, heading out to Changi Village via Telok Blangah Road, Nicoll Highway and then back via Tampines, Upper Serangoon, Lornie Road, Holland Road. This ride usually covers about 80-100 kilometers and takes about 4-5 hours to complete. This includes two feed stops, one at Changi Village and the other at the BP station across from the Westlake Hawker Center. There are only two hard riding sections on this ride, at Coastal and on the return ride from the last stop (no one seems to mind the rush home). The rest of it is pretty leisurely as we always seem to get lost!