Such has been the growth of the Southeast Asian road cycling scene over the past decade, that the region now supports a long list of fantastic amateur races throughout the year. Riders flock to the likes of the Tour of Phuket, the Tour de Bintan, the Tour of Friendship, the Masters Tour of Chiang Mai, the Taiwan KOM Challenge and the Etape Thailand from all over Asia and beyond, with most competing as part of groups from cycling clubs and racing teams. But a large number of entrants to these events travel as individuals and it’s perhaps surprising in such a vibrant market that more hasn’t been done by some of the region’s cycling tours operators to attract these solo racers with enhanced packages.

​SpiceRoads Cycling, one of Southeast Asia’s leading cycling tours company for over 20 years, has actually dabbled with this concept before, but they’ve recently decided to go big and have launched what look like fantastic deals for three of the biggest events on the calendar: the Masters Tour of Chiang Mai, the Taiwan KOM Challenge and the Etape Thailand. All three races take place in October and the official websites each offer fairly straightforward online registration processes, but the people at SpiceRoads Cycling are betting that there are a lot of cyclists out there who are willing to pay a bit extra for the luxury experience they are offering. Click here to read the full article.

The Haute Route brand of competitive cycling adventures took a first step outside of its comfort zones of Europe and the United States in March of this year with a foray into the Middle East for the Haute Route Oman. For the 200+ riders who travelled from all the world to the three-day event, it delivered a unique cycling adventure set in a culture and on terrain most had never experienced before.
 
From a cultural point of view, the gracious hospitality of the Omani people, their elegant clothing and the fantastic local food will be the abiding memories, while from the cycling side of things, it’s the sand, mountains and wind that stand out. The sand was expected and what’s a Haute Route without mountains? But an unseasonably strong wind brought an unforeseen extra element of challenge, as it whipped the sand into eyes, ears, noses and throats, and messed with drivetrains, bearings and bottom brackets. High up in the mountains the wind was an even bigger factor. On occasion it provided a helping hand and pushed the riders up the steep slopes, but when blowing head on, it had the effect of adding what felt like an extra degree or two to the already severe gradients. Click on this link to read the full feature story.

The unique and exciting OCBC Cycle Speedway Championships returned to the Singapore  Sports Hub last Saturday and after six hours of thrilling action the national team of the Philippines were crowned Southeast Asia champions, while the Specialized Roval Mavericks retained their title as top local club. 

What makes the OCBC Cycle Speedway Championships unique is that it combines criterium racing with a team relay. Each of the rounds of racing took place over 10 laps of a hotdog circuit skirting the northern edge of the Singapore National Stadium. Significant this year was the presence for the first time of not just one all-female squad, but two; the Anza Women’s Cycling Team and the Fahrenheit Performance Development Team were the pioneers. 

​Click on this link to read the full race report.

Flat Spoke Media's Alan Grant recently took a spell off the bike to "race" auto rickshaws up the west coast of India. As well as having fun with some old mates, he raised well over $3,000 to help some local children who will probably never be able to afford such an indulgent holiday. Alan provided daily updates on the week-long madness which you can find by clicking on this link.

​If you get any entertainment from his words or maybe you just want to help the cause, please consider donating. No amount to small. Thanks. https://www.globalgiving.org/fundraisers/29123/

The Tour de Bintan started its ninth edition last Friday with a few big changes but one thing that remained the same was a weekend of exciting racing that threw up a plethora of memorable storylines. Many of those tales will no doubt be centred on the weather, with two days of nasty tropical storms doing their best to ruin one of Asia’s premier three-day festivals of amateur cycling, but the epic exploits of the Tour de Bintan’s class of 2019, such as the comeback triumphs of Nol van Loon (Specialized Roval Mavericks) and Yann Kai Oh (Project 852), will also live large in the tour’s history books.

After eight years (plus the test event in 2009) headquartered at the Nirwana Garden Resort, the Tour de Bintan moved its HQ to the Bintan Lagoon Resort this year. The switch brought benefits such as a direct ferry service to the resort from Singapore, a bigger accommodation capacity that allowed more racers to stay on site, nine food & beverage outlets to keep them sated, and a course revamp for the concluding Stage 3 on the Sunday morning that, tough as it was, was a resounding success with the competitors. Another big change for this year was the introduction of bonus seconds of 10, 6 and 4 at two sprint points in each of the two open road races. This had a considerable impact on the tactics and some of the general classification standings. Click on this link to read the full race report.

​The big crowd who gathered at The Karting Arena for the third edition of the Odlo Cool Sprint Challenge powered by HolyCrit last Saturday witnessed a fitting end to an exciting night of racing as Muhammad Shafiq Muslim (Mayhem) out-manoeuvred local hero Elyas Yusoff (Cycleworx) late on the last lap to emerge as champion of the Road Bike Men’s Open after a real ding-dong battle.
 
It was Shafiq’s second successive time in the HolyCrit winner’s circle having won the fixed-gear race at the last Odlo Cool Sprint Challenge in September 2018. But the Kuala Lumpur-based rider’s decision to go roadie and not defend his title didn’t take any sheen off the fixed-gear division on Saturday night as the latter had its own dose of international star power in the shape of Jonas Fischer (Canyon Rad Pack), a member of the famous fixed-gear outfit Rad Race. Click here to read the full race report.

After three days of hot, hard and exciting racing in southern Thailand, Thomas Thrall (Matador Racing) and Chelsea Tan (BikeLabz Racing) are the new king and queen of the Singha Tour of Phuket.

The fourth edition of the Tour of Phuket was without a doubt the biggest and best yet, with bumper fields across the different racing groups, plus the race organisation was taken up a level; assisting Cycosports this year were media partner Unfound, local ground logistics partner Nich Cycling, Champion System supplied the race leaders’ jerseys, and of course, Thailand’s premier beer Singha came on board as title sponsor.
​Click here to read the full race report.

The sport of cyclocross in Singapore took a giant leap forward yesterday as a bumper field of participants and a big crowd of spectators enjoyed a thrilling afternoon of action as just the second-ever CX national champs took place at Kallang Riverside Park. 

The big winner of the day at the 2019 OCBC Singapore National CX Championships was Bastian Dohling (Specialized Roval Mavericks) as the German outduelled the Aussie Mike Koreneff (Allied World Treknology3) to claim the men’s elite title after five laps of a fast but punishing course laid out along the banks of the Kallang River. With neither man being Singaporean, the title of national champion went to local cycling legend Junaidi Hashim (Team Awano Treknology), who finished fifth on the day.  Click here to read the full race report.