Back on the saddle

Joined mipoint for a leisure ride again after about 6 months. Went up Mt. Faber and could barely make it. Used to be able to do 5 loops in a night but could barely survive after finishing 2 loops last night.
Have to work on my stamina.

But still, it was nice to join the group again for a ride. They are super fast now. We used to ride at about 30+km/h to Faber, but this time we hit 47kmh/h. Everyone has been improving while I was away!

Back to Midpoint

Joined Midpoint for a ride again after a long hiatus. Really big group this time and everyone now seems to be going really fast.

Mandai Shell


Yishun Dam

Riding the PCN

Did a leisure ride on the PCN for the first time yesterday. Met up with Kian Wee and Jun Jie at ECP Macs before heading towards Changi Village. A nice leisure ride.
Think I need to adjust my saddle forward alittle. Rode without cycling tights and my butt was getting sore.

Relax lah..

Illegal tent village

Kian Wee was saying he used to cycle down to Kallang from Boon Lay, coach, then cycle back home. He even went to Mersing and back. Hardcore lah.
My commutes and Malacca trip pales in comparison.

A weekly affair?

Its the 3rd time in a row that I've gone for the Monday hill climb up Mt. Faber. Quite a change from the cycling I normally do. Used to go for distance rides, long but at a comfy pace.
Climbing Faber actually works the heart, can feel it pounding. There's been improvement though.
Starting out with only 2.5 rounds the first time, I then did 3.5 rounds on the second week, followed by 5 rounds on Monday.
Pumping up the tires seemed to have an effect, climbing was not as draggy this week.

Also to make the most out of the climbs, I've been trying to improve my bike handling. What I've been doing is going down the bends with minimal braking, taking the corners at speeds of 25-30km/h.

Having done this, the fear of slipping while cornering on a mtb using slicks seems irrational. Im doing turns using 2cm tires, while they use 1.5inch tires. Rubbish.

Draggy climb

Monday came and the Team Midpointers are climbing Mt. Faber once again. Slower ride to Faber this time cos Terrence wasn't around. Unfortunately, the tires were slightly soft and I forgot to pump it! Felt quite draggy going up.
Was thinking to myself that it wasn't so hard climbing up the last time. Still, I managed to do 3.5 loops and hit a max speed of 64km/h. Awesome feeling, awesome workout.

Initial D

Just back from a Mt. Faber ride organised by Team Midpoint.
Only one word to describe the experience.

SHIOK!

By the time I reached the top, I was totally drenched in sweat. Awesome feeling.
The downhill part was definately worth the climb.
There are 2 "M" shaped bends though. Quite dangerous.

But still, I managed to clock a max speed of 60km/h on the way down! Damn good feeling.
The downhill part really reminds me of the movie Initial D. All the curves and bends.

The bike handled great at those speeds, very stable. Probably due to the weight. I reckon its about 10.5kg when I add my bottles and pouch.
I think I better adjust the brakes a little though, they werent that effective at those speeds.

After all that climbing at Mt. Faber, cycling on flat road was relatively easy. My speedo showed speeds in the high 30s most of the way to Balestier where we had tau huay.

Bike Extremists?

Saw this on the Togoparts website.
If a huge group turns up, I can imagine a bunch of extremists, cycling slowly in town. Secretly happy they are pissing off drivers.
And we have the drivers who dont expect them to be there getting pissed off at these cyclists for jamming up the roads.

But hey, no such thing as bad publicity right?


Ride of Silence - Singapore
17th Apr 2009 3:16 PM - NewsAgent

Join cyclists worldwide in a silent slow-paced ride in honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways.

The event will be taking places in hundredths of cities across the world.

In Singapore, it will takes place on May 20, 2009 at 7:00 pm, starting from Merlion Park

The ride will be 19Km, slow paced ( <20km/h>

You can see the detailed map here: Google Map

Dress in White - Helmet Mandatory

For more information:
rideofsilence.sg@gmail.com
www.rideofsilence.org

Hell of a ride

Finished my exams yesterday and decided to join Midpoint on their Friday night ride.
It was just a simple west loop about 75+km.

Things went bad right from the start. I got cramps in my left calf on the way to Toa Payoh. We then set off and things were ok for the first 50+km. My calf muscle was tight, but it wasn't much of a hindrance.
During the rest stop at AJ Mart in Sungei Kadut, I bought a bottle of 100plus, my asthma acted up after drinking. Had some difficulty breathing.
I went along slowly so I wouldnt exert myself too much and pretty soon, my breathing was back to normal.
Unfortunately, my seat post was not fixed on properly after I cleaned it and it was rotated off towards the left abit. I think this caused my legs to be in a slightly awkward position and I ended up having cramps in my right thigh. Was reduced to cycling at 20-25km/h, incredibly slow speeds.

Need to start cycling more again...

On a more brighter note, I may have found a less hilly route back home from school.

Slow Riders In Hougang

There's this group of riders in Hougang that formed a group in the Togoparts forum. They are the "Slow Riders In Hougang" and they do ride slow. Bunch of nice people and relatively slow.
They go at 25-30km/h at the beginning of the ride and slowly tire out till they move at 20km/h somewhere from the middle onwards.
Agonizing if you want a speedy ride, but great if you just wanna chill out. Which is exactly what I wanted today, a slack and slow ride.

At ECP

We started from Hougang MRT bright and early at 6am in the morning, headed to Changi Village for makan, before going coastal, ECP and back to Hougang using Still Rd. The entire thing lasted 4hrs and we covered 48km, a real slack ride.

Met some guy who rides a $16,000 bicycle 0.O Can probably buy a nice motorbike with that amount. Its only 7kg though. The saddle is full carbon! Very cool.

Family Bonding?

For the first time in many many years, I did an activity with my sister. Cycled a total of 20km from home to Punggol End and back. Slack ride before coming home to do my assignments and sleep.

Yet another one...

Did round island cycling again, this time with the Midpoint gang. Mixed group of MTBs and roadies, but the MTBs were on slicks. Pace was fast compared to the scout group. Speed was about 30km/h most of the time. Only slowed after I bonked out at East Coast. Need to load up on food these few days in preparation for the trip. Seems I bonk out after 60km or so. Was feeling just fine till then. The powerbar gave me a temporary boost till I reached Changi Village for Nasi Lemak.
Got no reserves to burn for long distance.

Round Island

Did my first ever round island. This is actually to prep us for the upcoming Malacca trip. Jia lat, I dont think I have the mental drive to complete it. Kinda got bored after 50-60km. The fact that I skipped dinner didnt help much either. Bonked out at the 50km mark. Lucky I brought gatorade.
Felt much better after makan at Lau Pa Sat but by then knees abit aching from repetitive movement. Back also strained due to the set up of my bike.
Will have to try removing some spacers so I can get into the drop position more comfortably. Right now its set up so that the handlebar is same height as the saddle for a more comfy position when holding on to the hoods. Convenient when commuting as I can easily engage the brakes.

It took us 5.5hrs to complete the 118km. However, all of us are fresh save for Varun who did 100km yesterday.
Have to try riding tomorrow to simulate day 2 of riding . Will do 4 Punggol loops totalling 80km.

At Lim Chu Kang


My dinner cum supper

At Changi Beach Park

Speedo reading

Ride with SMBF cyclists

I wanted to gather some Sengkang, Hougang pple for a ride and organised a ride to Changi Village on the SMBF forum. 13 pple ended up coming!
When we reached Changi Village, the newbies probably didnt feel much of a kick. We were going at about 20km/h the whole 16km to CV.
We decided to go to Changi Coast Rd to try speeding before heading to ECP. This prolonged the ride by another 20km or so. Still not fit enough to use the big chainring for spinning. Max speed only 37km/h after drafting a guy riding at GT Avalanche. -.-" End up getting cramp somemore. Paiseh.

Most interesting bike that night was a Surly Pugsley with super fat tires. Like a motorbike!

Night Snack

Went cycling with Benny... The original plan was to pedal to Punggol End, let him smoke and pedal back. But he really got no experience riding on road and had difficulty hitting at least 20km/h. Ended up eating supper at Selegie Soyabean.
Saw a bunch of young punks with expensive downhill bikes there too...

Experimented with the gloves and the rubberized palms make my palms really sweaty. Shouldn't have thrown away my old sailing gloves. Sigh.