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, April 27, 2008

Confidence in confidence?

Apr distance: 237 km

Holland Plain, 40 km. A pack of dogs bark at me at Bukit Brown Cemetary but I ride past them as the people around somehow give me confidence that the dogs won't attack. If I were alone, I'd have turned tail at the mere sight of the beasts. Somewhere in Bukit Timah, there is a trail that leads to another land. The trail bends about 45 degrees to the right and tilts about the same angle up. Twice, I assault it and twice I fail. The bend scrubs speed off and the stones uphill stall me. When I'm up there, my confidence falters. If I am faster, I might've picked the right line. Since I'm not confident, I don't ride fast enough and sure enough, I fail. Or is confidence over-rated; such that no matter how much I try, the slope is unassailable? Well, two tries isn't enough, given the low cost of the assault.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Colonial bar

Portsdown Road, 35 km. Wessex. Tangier. And a colonial bar ("Colbar") built over 50 years ago in a place that must've reminded the colonial masters of home. The bar is dismantled after an uproar from patrons when the bar was to be bulldozed to make way for progress, then is redesigned, relocated and rebuilt (with original weathered wood and peeling paint). It retains its original feel on the inside (including black and white photos) but a lot more space (and new building material) on the outside. Now, that's progress. Also making me feel good (despite my nasty sore throat) is the company for today.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Riding in "porridge"


Tampines, 35 km. The part of the trail named "monster mud madness" is part slush, part "porridge". This is historic; I've never seen conditions like this. Or seen an Olympian (Tinker Juarez) upclose. This is Singapore's longest mountain bike race: 100 km of "wheel torture". Somehow I (mostly) keep upright though the rear wheel slides when it loses traction or when it catches on a rock. Other parts of the trail are hard-packed, sometimes rocky, sometimes sandy. My team mate W falls on her face but is ok. I fall once and have a few other near-falls as I let competitors overtake me on single-track. What a day (which follows a sleepless night). It starts with me dropping a contact lens at home, losing a headband on the way to the race (left it on my bike on the car rack) and a back pocket tears such that stuff falls out. What went well: right tyre pressure and good lap times. The race ends with it being stopped because of thunderous rain. First I bake in the sun, then am chilled in the rain. But we have done enough laps to be considered finishers.
Photo courtesy of Freddy Foo

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Granularity and opportunity

Tampines, 49 km. Forecast: widespread rain in the afternoon. Nowcast: no rain where I am or where I'm going. The nowcast is updated every 15 minutes. It might rain later, but it isn't raining now. I note where it has been raining. Having gone deep into the data, I seize the opportunity to train on the race track. Aha. The trail last Sunday is different from the one today. Look at those narrow, slick planks! So we don't get splinters when we fall eh? I crash twice; once on the planks and once when my wheel digs into the mud as I corner downhill. Silly me, it's as if I left my brains in the carpark. Two laps, 1 hour 35 minutes (including crash time). I run out of water and have sudden hunger pangs. I'm so tired, I don't even bother to race the clouds. But I get home fairly dry; the only liquid falling on me is mud that falls up from the ground as my tyres churn.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Tired of tyres

Mandai, 35 km. I have three pairs of tyres. Slicks: the brand I use is prone to cuts and punctures (seems endemic to this brand, when I compared notes with world wheelchair racing champ William Tan). Semi-slicks: can't blame it for loss of traction in certain trail conditions. Knobbies: 13 years old and tough, but heavy. The last time I used it - and my Camelbak (which came out literally from cold storage) - was Apr 06 (both work fine despite the 2-year break). Also heavy on my mind: this weekend's race. Usually, I train several times a week for 2-3 months. This race, I barely have two nights to train. I do some urban off-road to build up tenacity and lacerate my arm against a bush. At least, weather and work permit me to cycle tonight.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Neither here nor there

Tampines, 43 km. Indecisiveness is terrible. It's like chasing my own tail - all that effort, go nowhere and get nothing but nausea. The known unknown is: is there going to be a certain marathon? The known known: a 100 km mountain bike race. The unknown unknown: can I take part in the bike race and the marathon (if it takes place) while training only for the marathon, and finish both? To reduce the unknown, I check out the bike race route today. It's not an impossible dream, but it's possible I don't make it. Because I've been training only for the run; I don't have time or energy to train for both. I want the bird in the hand and the one in the bush. I might end up tangled in the bush with bird shit all over me and no birds, or I might be singing like a lark. Foolishness, ambition, foolish ambition ... thin line, thin ice ...