Puncture, Peel and Pain on the Deepavali ride

940pm we left casurina and decided to head coastal, the long route. In my mind i was wondering if i could make back for a midnight movie. After deciding coastal, it fell from my need list i guess. Adjusted my seat 1cm higher as i felt as if i was squatting as i spun to the FUP. Winz and Elgin was already there and after the quick adjustment to the seat cycled into the dark of the upper Pierce Reservoir Road...

As we headed towards Seng Kang, winz discovered that his ride was getting a little soft. We stopped to check and his turbular rear had a flat. 23km into the ride on the side of the road and jo refused to provide service recovery. But for good reason of course... babies not asleep and babies are definately above bikes.

No worries there was super E. Faster then the rolling O able to leap capital T in a single bound and before you knew it, she was there. That was the easy part. She brought the bike rack but failed to bring 2 important components... the straps. duh. No worries, we figured another way to fix up the bikes.

We gave winz a life back and on the way decided to get some grub. Found a coffee shop near Winz place and had one of the best tasting hor funs you can find at 1230pm in the night. They even provide delivery service believe it or not. Anyways... got home and discovered the2nd P. Peeling... i was sure i fixed the bike firmly on the rack, but obviously not firmly enuf. Cos it was off the rubber piece when i got home and the paint had peeled off 2 parts. That was when the pain came... arrrgggghhh stab in the heart kind of a pain.

sigh - my beautiful bike.

Time to do a little RND about the paint work.

No pain No Gain myth.

Had an afternoon nap after fetching the boys from berries. They knocked out in the car and made me want to do the same. So a nap i did take... then called gin and vic to see if they were keen on a ride in the night.

Elgin is getting stronger and thats great... will make a strong rider if he keeps going the way of the jedi - force is getting stronger.

the ride was super short and as much as i'd like to think its the bike, i remember that its really not about the bike... ok training is in order. lol. As soon as my popliteus tendon heals, it'll be build up time.

Every slope seemed longer then usual... nose was leaking, not sure if it were the cold, stomach was pretty full from the late dinner just before the ride... ok ok bad combination before the ride... well tell that to enthusiasm.

Learned something from physio this week... pain is very often an indication of the load we ought not to bear... sometimes we might over train and instead of getting stronger injure ourselves... so find out first. So much for all in the mind huh? Well perhaps not all the time... u need to know your body so that we ultimately don't kill ourselves whilst trying to have fun.

Another firsts... on the destiny.

destiny mileage to date: 75km.

On doctors orders to only spin on the bike, no standing in the saddle and gone is my hope for 70.3 next year as my popliteus tendon needs recovery. Last nights ride was pretty exhausting especially with Elgin who has been losing weight, gaining stamina and becoming more experienced... the force is strong with this one. It was great fun but tiring... hopefully all of us stay away today.

For the first time in 3 years that i travelled this crossing just before Kranji dam, we saw a passing train... we ended up having soy bean at the famous race course Tao Huay diagonally opposite peace centre. Boy was i tired. By the time we crawled home, it was about 1240ish.

Its really not about the bike...

Back in 2005 i remember a friend aged 22, who just recovered from cancer and passing me this book told me i should read it. I knew it was going to inspire me, but before i knew it, i was glued to the book which also eventually got me riding after 15years off the saddle. In those early stages of getting on the bike again... every time i climbed the hills or just trying to keep up with the guys on the front... i always reminded myself that it was really not about the bike and how i needed to get myself fit again. As craftsmen, we cannot blame our tools...

Thanks to some very encouraging and nice guys like rock & roll josh and ivan who were instrumental in assimilating me into a peleton - truly grateful.

Its been 3 years now and i'm trying to break out of another period of slackness... come join me wherever you are. Lets get out there and catch a little sun.

The road is calling.

Video Snippet..

I wanted to see how i looked on in the tri position so as to make adjustments... they said my back was pretty flat... is this too flat out? Was also wondering whether if it was natural to have my thighs hitting my stomach as i peddled.

Hope to sort out these things in days to come.

Thanks Winz, who was kind enough to shoot this short clip for me to take a look and hopefully make some adjustments.

On the road to recovery...

Knee wound was sweating quite a bit through the day. eager to get back on the bike. will have to do some fine tuning on the sitting/tri position though.

All athletes should have an accident plan - it is helpful.

failure is the stepping stone to success - now who came up with that? ouch. Guess life's lessons are always best learnt with some sort of pain. therefore the saying no pain no gain holds much truth. lol.

Crash dummy.

8october2008 - the only real bruising i guess was my ego... lol




today i volunteered to be the crash dummy.

I'm sure you guys are wondering how the rider faired and how strong titanium really is... lets see.

b/g...
Traveling along bukit timah road at 33-36km/hr at 1050pm trying to avoid being late (1045pm appointment) has its dangers.

Along bukit timah road, was in tri position, looking back to check if friend was keeping up. Split second when looking forawrd, road narrows and just as i turned, went straight into the pavement.... dang who put the pavement there. Ok bad rider don't blame the fast approaching pavement coming at about 36km/hr.

What hit me? was bike in 1 pc?

QUick check. Bike was in 1pc, but my heart was almost in a few...

1053pm check if bike was ok, thankfully, titanium is strong and only the left peddle really got the brunt of the crash.

last night we finished the rest of the ride and landed at malay stall near bukit batok MRT.

Ride#2 85mm Carbon Wheels from SOUL

5 October2008:

Sunday evening. Went out again this time taking the Joyriders wednesday short route but ending up at Adam road to have tei tarik. Ok this is not secret training hor. But if you really need to know... i've been having trouble waking up at 4:30am. Ok no more excuses... will make it a point to sleep early to join the joyriders once again.

Today, i feel the rims doing their thing... cool. the momentum is real-love it. 85mm Carbon wheels.

My first encounter with SOUL wheels were the 3.0s. i got a 2nd hand pair in 2005... they were a great set of rims. I started triathlons with those rims and they have helped me clock 40km in 1:13:43 in 2008 Bintan Tri. Was quite happy with the ride time but not so for the other disciplines...lol

hmmm wonder whether should bring this 85mm Carbon set of wheels to bintan next year??? will see...

Tei tarik: great
company: great (elgin, winz, vic)

distance: 40km

virgin ride...

1october2008:





Itching to go though at the back of my mind there was the fear of over straining the tendon behind my right knee. Slow ride... thats what we normally tell ourselves so that we give ourselves the license to ride yet absolve all responsibility when it injuring ourselves again... lol

Today is the first day i tried the yolo/soul fenix. Finally got a chance to ride it. Yipeee!!! A couple of guys who wanted to spin came along. Winz & Vic

We met at about 630pm @ carpark 7 along coastal road, snapped a couple of shots and off we went.

We rode for about 10min to warm up the legs and i began pushing a little harder to see how the carbon rims would perform. Could not really tell at first... ok my real last ride was at Bintan in May2008, so i felt like a boy opening my presie not knowing what to expect but honestly, excited and eager...

I love the titanium frame especially with the skin... i know self praise is no praise... but i do really like it.

The bike needs a little adjusting cos my crouch really hurts when in the aero position. Not sure if i should put a spacer for the aero bars to lift it slightly higher.

Overall: pleased with the bike. Except that the market in Changi Point was closed, so we had to settle for food that did not match our expectations.

Will share more about the other parts of the bike as i do more rides.

Distance travelled: 35km