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 25, 2008

Surprises


May distance: 341 km

Sun-Sun, 24-25 May: Surprises
Tanjung Piai, Johore, Malaysia, 220 km. This is the third time I've cycled to Tanjung Piai, but the first time I've stayed overnight. It's been more than a year ago since I cycled to western Johore. It's a journey of surprises. #1: a new row of shophouses, new roads and junctions. Sometimes, things don't change for a long time, but when they change, they change beyond recognition. #2: riding on knobbies is fun because they hum. I keep up with the "fixies" who can't coast; they pedal even when going downhill. But as time wears on, knobbies wear me out. #3: a bikeshop in Pekan Nanas (turn at the junction with the huge stone pineapple) that has Jamis, Da Bomb and Iron Horse bicycles. #4: an official at Singapore checkpoint who opens up a lane just for us six cyclists (we're among the first Singaporeans in Malaysia after the International Court of Justice rules on 23 May that Pedra Branca flies the crescent and five stars).

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Highway to hell or stairway to heaven?


Mandai Road, 44 km. Explorers want to go there because it is there. Economic refugees want to go because where they come from sucks so much, it's worth the risk to get away, to get hope. Escapists just want to forget. But I remember being chased by a pack of dogs here, at Lorong Lada Hitam, years ago. Still, I hope they're no more there. I cycle on, until the road runs out, then I start riding beside a drain until I come across a stream that plunges into the drain. The water flows copiously, I wonder where it comes from. later on, I see a bird that reminds me of a kingfisher. It's hard to photograph it, when the sun is bright and there is no viewfinder. For a while, I escape.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Sweet vibration

Mandai Road, 44 km. I feel the sweet vibration of knobby tyres with my feet on the pedals. I'm rested after 10 hours of sleep and a 2-hour nap. Three roadies pass me and I fail to catch up, but I did catch up on sleep. I thought of struggling to arise but, instead of fighting hard against my body, I let it be. I still get to cycle, albeit in the afternoon after lunch. It is the easy way out, but doing things the hard way doesn't mean it'll be the right way. The hard way may be the easy way to not getting things done. Being deaf to what's going on can be dumb. I test my bicycle, feel another kind of vibration and visit bikeshop man to get it fixed - for free. Today, my wheels roll over the 39,000 km mark.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Asleep, awake

Lor Halwa, 33 km. I'm asleep for 10 hours, awake to eat, then go back to sleep. One news report says it takes a week to recover from a cold. For me, a month is normal. At 3 pm, I start cycling; this late hour must be a personal record. Unlike cycling in the morning, I know that with a late start, the longer I ride, the cooler it gets. Awake, I ride into the land of the dead: Bukit Brown Cemetary. Some graves are meant for 2-3 people. One grave is particularly well-tended; it has to statues of Sikh guards by either side. Others fare less well, being swallowed by the undergrowth. Some must've disappeared, totally unseen, totally forgotten. Outside the cemetary, a man lies beneath a vehicle, working to bring it to life.