To buy a fat "peak"

Nov distance travelled: 313 km

To Changi Road, 24 km. To prepare for my furthest, highest expedition ever, I fall sick. It's all the stress at work, home and play. I've caught a cold now but to avoid catching a cold next month, I go to market, to market to buy a fat "peak". A Topeak trunk bag, to be precise, from a bike shop. Too bad I'm too sick to do a road test with it the rest of the weekend. I recall that it takes energy to fight disease, hence the lethargy.

Feeling the heat

To Woodlands, 64 km. I'm so tired, I want to sleep all day but am too restless to do so. I want to laze around at home but have to train. So I cycle at 11 am. The sun is so blazing, my top tube is warm. I head north, cranking up slope after slope and doing some "urban offroad". As my legs crank, my mind churns over higher order and lower order decisions. Is there much point ruing the outcome of lower order decisions when they are the reasonably forseeable consequence of higher order decisions? That'd be like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Unfortunately, who knew about the ice? At the surface, an iceberg looks like an ice floe. Anyway, the ship is unsinkable, no?

"My baby is loose"

To Kampong Kaki Circuit, 72 km. 11 Nov, 11-hour race. At the 11th hour, I still can't form a team, nor join one. The feeling is like being jilted. So I cycle with some friends to stay sane. I meet a guy who's on his feet and cycling a bit after breaking his thigh a month ago. I meet a girl who's riding in a car to lunch instead of cycling. I ask, "Are you not well?" The reply I hear, "My baby is loose." My mind churns but is unable to process the information. I ask, "What?" Her reply, "My BB [bottom bracket] is loose." Ah. Come to think of it, her bicycle is her baby.

$1 worth of stress

To Lim Chu Kang Rd, 84 km. Weary, wornout with weighty woes during the week, cycling has become toil but I'm on the road anyway. As my crank turns, my mind churns. I figure out some things but the intractable remain unsolvable. At NTU, I feed $1 into a vending machine. The coin keeps coming out and I keep shoving it in. When it stops coming out, the drink doesn't come out either. Grrrr! I wave to a security guard for help but he goes away. I slot in another coin (throwing good money after bad!) and it comes out alone. I fret, then realise $1 should buy only $1 of stress, no more.

Try a little kindness

To Lim Chu Kang Rd, 69 km. After running my longest distance ever last Sunday (15 km), I'm back in the saddle. The two-week hiatus takes its toll as I huff up the hills of Mandai-Kranji-Lim Chu Kang. A roadie on a Cannondale overtakes me and I draft, keeping a respectful distance away. He signals me to follow. I overtake as I'm embarrassed he's doing all the work. He overtakes me effortlessly and says in a heavy accent: "It's ok you can follow me." With my fat squishy tyres, it doesn't last long. His kindness is welcome after the hard road I've been on. I'm disappointed and tired. I want to stop to eat, but push on until I get home.

Black diamond

Oct distance travelled: 178 km

To Pulau Ubin, 65 km. When the alarm clock screams, I lie in bed thinking, "to sleep or to go?" Stress level rises before I'm out of bed. I decide to go for the "focus group" ride at Ketam Mountain Bike Trail. It is a ride worth waking up for. I like the trails marked "blue diamond" as they are a relaxing ride, compared to the black diamond. One part passes a drop to oblivion. My tyres scrabble for traction and at one point, I hold onto a tree. Semi-slick tyres and road pedals not recommended, but front suspension is optional.

Rainwear

To Woodlands St 81, 48 km. I have a white, expedition jersey. Whenever the team wore it during the 2005 expedition to Kuala Lumpur, it rained. I wore it a few days ago, because someone wanted rain - and it did. I wear it today, and am caught in the rain - thrice. Of course, I'd waxed my bicycle. But at least, I find the vegetable garden that was officially opened by a government minister, see Singapore's newest polytechnic and ride down a hill about three stories high.

Fit for purpose

To Lim Chu Kang Road, 65 km. Yesterday, I saw two types of bicycles. The first type is big, to attract attention. Its saddle is adult height, with each frame comprising two frames welded together. It belongs to some clowns. The second type is the compact type, with 20-inch wheels. They were designed with distinct purposes in mind. And that's why they work. It's a terrible waste when a screwdriver is used as a hammer, and vice versa. A good workman knows his tools and - most importantly - what he has to build. Also hard a work today are workers felling trees and clearing land - to build a "sand bank" by the sea at Kranji.

Ride like the wind

Sep distance travelled: 908 km

Kampong Kaki Circuit, 68 km. "Is that it?" asks a guy who appears by my side. I'm clocking 47 km/h. "Yep", I say. "See you later," he says and cycles ahead. Not a good start as I head for my time trial start point. When it's time to go, I go. My chain slips a few times as I cycle uphill, though it was fine on the way to the start point. I guess the load is heavier on the actual route. A taxi blasts me three times though it's a three lane road with no other traffic. At Bukit Chandu, my mind starts to give way. More hills to go. I tune out and just keep riding on the edge between pacing myself and blowing my heart, lungs and legs out. At Mount Faber, I slip past a roadie whose heart rate monitor beeps furiously. He thanks me twice at the foot of the hill. I'm grateful too, that the sun is out today and I've clocked 63 min 57 sec. Woohoo!

Clink clink, think think

To Old Upper Thomson Road, 38 km. When the transmission goes "clink", it's time to think. After installation at shop #1, shop #2 says the cassette isn't loose and sells me something else to fix the shifting problem. Shop #3 agrees with me that the cassette is loose, disassembles it and puts it back. Presto. When there's something as obvious as a clink, the ears simply can't be wrong. But since the cassette feels firmly in place, the mind naturally thinks the clink is caused by something else. It's sometimes easier to solve the wrong problems than to do the right thing. Unless there's a man who, just by listening to clinks, can tell the problem is with a cog not rear derailleur alignment. He even remembers how my old cables were routed compared to the new ones ...