Cycling is like life. Cycling with no goal is meaningless. What meaning is there cycling in circles? Or living aimlessly? Meaning comes from direction and destination. Join me in my life's journey on a mountain bike :)

Blogging since 2003. Thank you for reading :))

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Riding upstream

May distance: 565 km

To Clementi, 38 km. I was wondering which jersey I should be wearing to keep cool in the afternoon heat, but I needn't have worried. In mere minutes, the sky turned dark. Now I know why rain is called "shower". Riding up Lornie Road, the pouring rain gushes down the side of the road. It's as if I'm cycling up stream. For all my trouble of cycling 1 hour in the rain, it turns out the training ride was cancelled. No one told the six of us who showed up until one of us called half an hour later. We should've stayed home snug as a bug in a rug. Since I'm already on the road, I stop at a high-end bikeshop. Bikeshop man looks at my bicycle. "I've never seen an Iron Horse on the road for a long time," he says.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Trashed

To Changi, 91 km. Another university training ride. This time there are a few more new faces compared to last week, but still a far cry from the targetted 40. We head for East Coast via West Coast. East Coast is jammed with cars and people. Instead of taking a break, I cycle for home via Changi. A roadie passes by and I sit on his tail at a humane 35 km/h. He peels off and I'm alone again, but not for long. A mud splattered guy shoots past me; he's so splattered, I can't make out what make of bike he cycles. He thrashes me, speeding up Loyang Avenue on knobbies and a filthy drive train. And I'm on my slicks ... My headset is trashed too; it gets loose after a few bumps on the road. The long term solution will set me back at $700, for a new frame, fork and seat post, since spares for 1" frames are hard to come by. I stop by a bikeshop for a look. A girl asks me how to attach a light to her helmet. I tell her, then move on. A bus cuts in front of me. Like a rag to a bull, I race with the bus, leaping ahead at 46 km/h.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Back on the road again

To Clementi, 84 km. The National University's centennial ride to Kuala Lumpur is on again, after going nowhere since Feb. Today is the first training ride since the organiser left the university. There's just a dozen of us, the lost momentum is not surprising. I wonder if they can rustle up 40 cyclists now. What we lack in numbers today, we make up for in speed. There are two roadies with us and we tear up Mandai road, going downhill at over 50 km/h, including the giant on a full-suspension Giant. There's another guy on a steel rigid: D. He, too, is looking for a new frame. I try out a 17" Giant; it's too big for me, but the next size down is 14".

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Farewell that never was

To Mandai, 40 km. I remember helping to deliver a crate of oranges to him just before Chinese New Year in the early 1990s. Yesterday, former President Wee Kim Wee was cremated. Today, I cycle to the columbarium in black and white to pay my last respects. But that was not to be; there are so many blocks and so many with flowers, I don't know where to go. Unlike the usual Chinese cemetary, the columbarium, with the sound of gurgling water, feels peaceful. I don't get to say goodbye and reluctantly cycle away in the night. The first time I went to a president's funeral was in 1981; Dr Benjamin Sheares' sister had taught me. He was an old boy of the school too. As if my weekend isn't bad enough (I work tomorrow), I get chased by dogs too.

Monday, May 02, 2005

Oldies are goodies

Sat 30 Apr - 2 May
To Sedili Besar, Johore, Malaysia, 312 km. Old friends (old among my bike pals anyway) on old bicycles on old familiar roads, cycling to a new place (for me anyway) is the way to fond memories.

Day 1: Far from the maddening crowd
It's been four months since I last toured with non-roadies. Today's ride has mountain bikers, touring bike riders and one solitary roadie, all from Bike Aid. It feels good to be the lead rider for a change, compared to cycling with the roadies. We're on a pincer movement towards Sedili Besar, which I've never been to. Eight of us head across the causeway. Another eight go by sea to Tanjong Pengelih then ride north.

Sedili Besar is close, yet so far from the maddening crowd. Away from city lights, the stars seem brighter and nearer. At the Sedili Kechil ferry point, a little girl cradles a little kitten in her hands. In a coffeeshop hangs a photo of the King (royalty, not Elvis). All over the little village, people sit and chat. This is the life.

Also special are the bikers and their bikes; among my group are three retro steel steeds: a Heron, a Bridgestone XO3 and my Iron Horse (of course). As if to protest my treasonous thoughts about changing my bike, two inner tubes blow, including one of my spares. It's a protest with some heart, as the blowout happens after I reach the Le Club hotel.

Day 2: Sleep, then speed
The seafarers head for home in early morning, while I sleep over 10 hours to catch up on a few weeks' sleep deficit, then have a long, languid breakfast. Three of us cycle to Tanjong Lemang while the other five bask at Jason's Bay. RA pretends his Heron is a single-speed and cranks up a mean pace. I too, ride at my own pace and admire DH with his canvas shoes and semi-slick tyres, powering away. They get by with no lunch, while I stuff my face - again.

Day 3: On the road with roadies
I cycle at my own pace, comforted by the thought there are others on the road. As I stand and wait, some familiar faces streak by - roadies. I cycle with the stragglers part of the way, then rejoin the others.

Tech note I've been thinking about kicking roadie butt by getting a road bike, but this ride reinforces my decision to stick to a mountain bike. It's more versatile. And I outpace some roadies anyway even when fully loaded, as two roadies ride at sub-roadie speed in the scorching heat to Tanjong Pengelih for the boat ride home.

This ride is done with a reset bike computer. It seems to have "hung" just like some !@#$ desktop computer and I wipe out the hard-earned 20,000 km on it as I reset it to 0.