Seeing red

Sep distance: 482 km

Lim Chu Kang, 73 km. A "red belt" is not what I wear, it is what I am in when one traffic light after another is red against me. This really scrubs my average speed, because I slow down gradually and have to pick up speed again.

I cycle one of the hilliest routes I can find on this little island. I shouldn't even call them hills; that would be making hills out of molehills. They are slopes. Without a heart rate monitor, I  monitor my breathing instead. I ride a tad below gasping level. The only time I stop is at traffic lights, to catch my breathe. 

At a Y junction, as I go straight, a red car cuts across my path within spitting distance to squeeze into the side road. "Bully!" The wind shreds my protest. I hope the passenger has seen enough to fear for her life in the hands of the driver. At another junction, I inhale sharply when I see a driver with a phone glued to her ear. I let her move off first. Better to trail in her wake than for me never to wake up ...

After cycling two hours, thoughts of ice cold Coke appears in my mind. I keep going. This is serious training, in the early afternoon, to prepare me for a multi-stage charity ride in Sarawak next month. Better get used to it boy! So, ice cold black liquid with brown froth in a red can, is only in my mind. As for the red belt, perhaps I imagine it too. Perhaps the number of red lights I come across today is about the same as before, just that with two red lights in a row, I pay more attention to  red lights today compared to past rides. What you pay more attention to, is what happens more often?