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 :))

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Relationships

Feb distance: 118 km

Sembawang, 31 km. I cycle to my friend's house for the annual new year visit, instead of taking the train. The change in transport mode is a break in tradition, to make time to ride. There are fewer people there this year compared to past years and I ponder about relationships.

Blood relations: we don't choose our parents. To be able to choose, we've to be around in the first place, right?
Work relations: generally, we don't choose our colleagues. We join a workplace and "inherit" the workers who are there. Sometimes, we can choose. For example, if we like a certain team and ask to transfer there. Or that team invites us to start employment there.
Marital relations: generally, we choose our spouse, except in arranged marriages. We don't quite choose our in-laws; they're part of the deal.
Friendships: this is where we have the most choice. Even as kids, we choose who to play with. This isn't as straightforward as it seems. We might want to choose certain friends, but those friends have to choose us too. And friendships, like all relationships, may drift apart. So, roadies tend to ride with roadies, ditto with foldies. Indeed, the prerequisite to join some groups is, you've got to have that type of bicycle first.

The above categories aren't mutually exclusive. Say, we join a group of strangers and make friends. One of them asks: "My firm is hiring. Would you like to apply?" and friendship becomes work relationship. A workplace romance blooms, which leads to a marital relationship. Or we could start with work relations and after resignation, remain friends / get married. So how does one start a blood relationship? Oh, when the relationship turns bloody, you say? LOL

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Over hydrated, over wrought

Mandarin oranges symbolise abundance. This crime scene
(littering, feeding wildlife) has abundant abundance.
Woodlands, 87 km. Today is my first ride in 2018. I don't mean it's my first ride in the Chinese New Year, I mean it's my first ride in Common Era 2018. I apply sunblock but I needn't have bothered.

Less than an hour after I start cycling, thunderclouds block the sun, from one end of the sky to the other. Instead of cycling on the road, I feel like I'm cycling in a stream. Water pours down on me from the sky, gushes over my shoes (that's how high the spray from the front wheel is), sprays me from the side from passing traffic.

At Sembawang Hot Spring, people sit in the rain, using wash basins as umbrellas, soaking their feet in hot water, as cold rain pours around them.

I get lost (literally). Thrills and (almost) spills, as a truck brakes behind me instead of running me over.

So exciting! This is my first ride since Jun 2017, a break of eight months. It's my longest break from cycling since I started cycling.

Life is unpredictable. Perhaps that is why I cycle: it is mostly predictable. It involves physics and engineering. It is physical: push / pull the pedals, it turns. Something squeaks? By the process of elimination, I can find the cause and eliminate the squeak. It may be tedious and frustrating, but diligence will do the job. Emotional stuff? That is a different world, with a whole new language and culture ...