Highlander

Nov distance: 368 km

To Cameron Highlands, 168 km. Cameron Highlands isn't as steep as Genting, but it's 60 km uphill, punctuated with a few flat stretches. I'd tried to train for it, but work meant I was "cross-training" in the form of thinking, typing and writing. This one of my worst rides ever: last among the guys and just about overall last among the seven of us. My mind and my butt go numb as I climb. I eat all my Powergels and stuff the packets into an empty bottle to distract myself. Once, I even stop to walk. Going downhill at 40 km/h on day 3, two dogs a wheel length away lunge at me as I pass. I'm almost last again, as I brake round the hairpin bends. Perhaps I'm cautious as HC had offered me her jacket (so heartwarming!) to stave off the cold. Then, it's another 600 km car ride back to Singapore. With this ride, does it mean I've been up every major hill (Cameron, Fraser, Genting, Mt Ophir, Penang, with the exception of the highest - Gunung Tahan) in West Malaysia?

Too much of a good thing is bad

To Old Upper Thomson Road, 28 km. I'm back on slicks again, with a new Panaracer Pasela tyre. Having cycled with heavy fat tyres for months, today's ride feels so different. With less effort, acceleration and speed is faster. But I reckon that if I hadn't trained with my fat tyres and heavier shoes, I wouldn't be as speedy. Maybe that's what the saying means: "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". And maybe I shouldn't complain so much about life as a working stiff ...

Two is good, three is better

To Mandai Road, 38 km. I barely want to get out of bed today, but I do. However, instead of going off-road, I coast on the road. Until a roadie on a Lightspeed passes me. I hang on for a while but he drops me eventually. At least, I get my speed and heart rate up. Then a couple pass me by, with the guy on a carbon Kuota. I coast along until I feel I can do better, and blast past uphill at 44 km/h, then reach 46 km/h as I catch the draft from a truck. It's hard to train alone. Training - and living - is better with a friend. If no friends are available, helpful strangers will have to do.

Two weeks, two weak

To Tampines Trail, 53 km. What a difference two weeks makes. The first time I was here, the trail was a fairly smooth ride. Now, it's churned up in places, with mud and muddy water drowning my rims. Up to five cyclists are on the trail even in the noonday sun. The only people I overtake are two girls; everyone else passes me. I want to pass out after the third lap, but keep going non-stop until I finish my quota of five. I head for my favourite coffeeshop but alas, they're not playing Cantopop or anything this time.

Freedom fighter

To Old Upper Thomson Road, 24 km. Just 24 hours ago, I was in another world - Delhi, the land of freedom fighter Mahatma Ghandi. Back in Singapore, it's my off day. I think of going offroad but working day and night (and putting up with the nightly din from the hotel kitchen) over there makes me tired over here. So I snooze, then get back to office to sort out urgent business (and find more urgent business awaiting). It's only in the night that I tear up and down the road. Freedom.

Happiness is ...

To Tampines Trail, 57 km. Happiness is sitting in the shade, in the breeze, on a verandah in a little known part of Tampines, eating a big $2 meal, in a coffee shop, to the nostalgic sound of Hui cantopop. After going five laps non-stop round four new hills (with a dozen or so hairpin bends going up and downslope) in Tampines without a scratch on me (though I scratch my pedals a few times going over bumps). Knowing that I improve with each lap, from having to dismount in the first two laps to clocking 18 min 30 s in lap #4. Wearing a helmet liner and a thick pair of gloves, all gifts. I have work problems, family problems. I can't control all that happens to me, but I have choice over what I think and feel. And today is one of the happiest days of my life.

Weighty matter

Oct distance: 353 km

To Upper Thomson Road, 20 km. Obsessed with weight loss, I visit bikeshop man to cut off a cm or so each from my handlebars and bar ends. So my is a few grams lighter. And more aerodynamic? Not quite. As my hands are now closer, I ride a little higher. That's the law of unintended consequences in operation.

Direct or inverse relationship?

To Jurong, 98 km. I decide to wake up early today for a group ride with SWCT. There's just four of us and I find out how unfit I am, spinning my wheels chasing after a 55 year old roadie. A fringe benefit of the ride is going to a bikeshop in River Valley - a shop I never knew existed. I am mesmerised by a wheelset that costs about $1,700 per pair. I wonder how much my wheelset weighs. I know that the lower the weight, the higher the cost (inverse relationship). Or, the lower the weight, the lower the bank balance (direct relationship). Tonight, I'm in a BMW convertible. I wonder what it's like to own this set of wheels. I also wonder what type of relationship exists between the wheels and the work that makes the wheels affordable. Well, my wheels don't need COE or parking coupons - and they're fully paid for.

True impressions

To Changi, 67 km. The PSI reading on TV states 74, but I smell smoke. Turns out to be incense; my nose is  "right"; I did smell smoke, but not all smoke is haze. I hit the trail, making a detour at Tampines to check out the new trail (picture). At Changi, the trial seems to go on and on, and the trees look alike. I'm not sure where I am. I think I hear traffic, but it's just the wind in the trees. If I'd followed blindly, I'd be truly chasing the wind. By dead reckoning, I make my way out. I never thought seeing a lamp post peeking out from the trees could cause such happiness.

Smell test

To Upper Pierce Reservoir, 28 km. Triangulation is where I use three different ways to verify data to make a decision: is it safe to cycle today? My eyes tell me it's hazy. The PSI reading is in the 70s. I smell no smoke and head for the hills, doing laps. Joggers and monkeys are out in force. It's the right decision. Triangulation is what I use to decide about my work. I do a chart, talk to people and talk to God. Time will tell if I've made a right decision, but my mind - not just my heart - tells me it will be so.