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A race like no other – the Tour of Friendship R1

7/28/2014

One of the highlights of our year is a bike race in Thailand, the Tour of Friendship R1. Having lived in Thailand for four plus years in the 1990s Alan Grant has a special affinity for the country and its mai pen rai attitude. The Tour of Friendship somehow embraces that laid-back vibe while putting on what many consider to be the best amateur stage race in Asia.

Click below to read the PDFs of a recent feature we wrote for Spin Asia mag. Or better still, go out and buy a copy.

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Everest or bust ... on a bike!

7/23/2014

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Some 30 minutes after midnight on July 19 I set off from home for Singapore's Mount Faber with the intention "to Everest" it. What a great new verb, the meaning of which is to climb the height of Everest on one hill or mountain in one single ride. That's 8,848 metres. And I somehow managed to accomplish my task, finally rolling to a stop at the summit just after 9pm, having completed 330km and 9,116m of vertical elevation.

I arrived at the 7-Eleven at the foot of the hill at around 12:45am and started my crazy adventure. I'd chosen the Pender Road side, the easier of the two roads up. The climb is 1.7km long with an average gradient of 5 percent. It comes in two distinct parts, with the first 700m a steady 7 percent before it flattens out for some 200m at 1-2 percent. It then kicks up again via a series of steep little steps to the top. The descent, half of which is on a way-way road, is about 1.3km long, giving a 3km loop and some 81m of elevation according to the Faber 7-11 Lap segment on Strava – http://www.strava.com/activities/167959207/segments/3907763599

The first lap was surreal. Heading up the hill into the darkness knowing that I'd be repeating the process continuously until at least 7pm was a bit of a mind f#*k. Especially as I was really tired. I'd been out the night before for farewell drinks in honour of a departing Mav and the effects of a slight hangover were still lingering. I'd unsuccessfully tried to grab a quick nap on a few occasions throughout the day, and then after watching Nibali decimate his rivals on the Tour, I sent myself to bed at 11:30pm hoping to get an hour or two of sleep (or even just rest) before starting. But the sleep wouldn't come, my mind was just too wired at the enormity of what lay ahead, so I gave up on that idea at midnight and started the final preparations.

Click here to read the full story.

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A race like no other – the Tour of Friendship R1

Everest or bust ... on a bike!

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