Comics

Rain.  ... and being cooped up at home ...

That's what made me do this... Let's start.

When I started working and started to have (a little) bit of

disposable income ... I started collecting comics. That should give

you an idea of how little my disposable income was back in 1993.

One comic book was 80PHP and I could only buy

 1 comic book  a month. Due to this predicament I thought

to myself that the comic that I started collecting should be different.

I don't want any of these Supermans, Batmans, X-Men comics which

had very convulted plots such that each plot had it's own comic book

... and we are not counting the crossovers yet!

One day I was browsing at BookSale (a second hand bookstore

in Manila) and found a comic book that was unlike any other comic book

that I have seen. For one, the characters are drawn in a funny way.

If DC and Marvel are the comic book equivalent of Disney movies

in the way the artwork is presented. This comic book that I had in my hands

is the equivalent of season 1 of the Simpsons or season 1 of SouthPark.

The drawings are very crude. The hero did not even conform to

the usual mould of superheroes like Batman, Captain America, Superman, etc.

I think that comic book that I was looking at was from

Dark Horse Comics. There were only four issues for that storyline

and I eventually bought the complete series.

It was the first time I got introduced to the concept of an anti-hero.

Finally! I found the comic book that I wanted to collect! Something

different! The comic's title from the anti-hero's name : Lobo.

Hehehe and much later on, I found out this guy Lobo was a bit like me.

He wanted to be different. However, I only wanted to be different

in my comic book collection. He, on the otherhand, caused his

home planet to explode so that he could be unique. Nice chap huh?!

Eventually, DC acquired Lobo and below is the first issue

of Lobo with DC. The belt buckle is embossed and silver foil.

Nice!

Issue #1 of Lobo from DC ... those days, this is not actually
'issue #1' as there is an Issue #0 (yup, I got that too).

Long before ION was there at Orchard MRT, that place was

dark ... and the biggest occupant was Popular Bookstore.

If you enter Orchard MRT from Orchard Boulevard and enter

Popular Bookstore, the first thing that you'll encounter on the

left corner is a Comic Book Store.

That Comic Book Store had figures, shirts, manga ... and lastly

they had cool stuff like DeathDealer, Satanika, Igrat, DevilMan, etc.

It starts with a 'Conan the Barbarian' kind of guy getting
into a deserted castle and finding a mysterious helmet
guarded by a saber-toothed tiger. He dispatches the tiger but
the helmet sticks to his head, sucks his brain juice, and took control
of his body.

The unwanted daughter of the demon Dalkiel.
She goes about generally being a pest to his father.

I got my issues of DeathDealer and Satanika from them...

What makes me scratch my head up to now though is how

i bought these comics from them....

These are just my observations, ok?

It's like buying dope! They never sell these to 'newbies' and

whenever I or other 'serious' comic collectors buy these from them,

we had to whisper (hehehe) and of course these comics are not

included in their displays :-)  Ahhhh the good old days...

Group Ride

Fallen tree @BT

Big group. 8 riders including me.

Hah! I did not forget to take pictures :-)

There's a fallen tree in the BT loop today no doubt

due to the heavy rains we have been experiencing

lately.

The proposed route today was a killer. We will

be entering BT loop via the carpark at BT Visitor Center,

go to Zheng Hwa, Sc, 3rd stream and then turn back

to complete the rest of the BT loop. Just typing that

sequence has already given me leg cramps hehehe.

However, when we got to the trail entrance, it became

evident that I was not going to do any long trail rides today.

The mee pok that I ate for breakfast at 6th Avenue wanted

to come back out of my mouth (arrghhh) !

Good thing Roadie Rio and StairRider Deck did not

show up or else I'll be really doing the full trail. So since those

two slave drivers are not around, I went with the rest of the

group and had lunch @Casuarina.

Immediately after lunch, it rained heavily! All of us

decided to go home even if we were being pelted by the

heavy rain. The logic was that the cold wind and rain

will 'wake' us up and make us pedal faster.

A lot better than employing the mindless pedalling

technique.

By the way, since I was 'sick' today (euphimism for slow),

our cameraman for this ride was AirTime Mark.

He's surprisingly fast given the fact that the trails

were very slick today. Click here for the video.

Mt. Faber Climb

Rain !

After the rain, on bus 23

@Henderson Waves

It rained last night (Tuesday) and it rained almost the

whole day today. However when early evening came,

the heavens decided to let up. I actually had a chance to get

to Mt. Faber for a few laps.

The roads were wet and slippery and near the intersection

of Henderson Rd and West Coast (?) there was a mini

stream... I managed to cross the mini stream very slowly so

that I won't get drenched.

I started my first lap and when I got to the top, I realised

there were no other cyclists? So I slowly went down to start

my second lap ... all the water that drenched Mt. Faber is

flowing down creating lots of mini streams! I think most Mt. Faber

veterans know this and this explains why I was alone there.

Anyway, I was already there so I did 5 laps, every time

inching my way on the downhill section scared that

I might slip... and now the weekend is almost here.

I hope the climbing sessions pay off :-)

Group Ride

It's old age. That's what made me forget. I forgot to

take even one single picture for today's group ride.

Funny thing is I've always wanted to take pictures

at Sembawang Hill Hawker Centre. I just feel that place

is a quaint, little place offering not just a varying

selection of food but a bit of ambience :-)

Anyway, after breakfast at Sembawang Hill Hawker

Centre, we proceeded to go to T15. This is the reverse

of our normal loop.

There are lots of climbs in this loop. However, the climbs

did not seem to be that difficult. One of the group suggested

that maybe because we tackled the climbs first. If we go our

normal route ... and then at the end of it come back to T15

then that should make us vomit our lungs out!

Hehehe next time, I think we'll do that :-)

Also, we're hoping to do a night trail on the 1st day of CNY.

That's a Thursday. The start of the loop is the reverse of the 

BT loop exiting Rifle Range. This night trail route will not

be that difficult because ... it's at night! We don't want to

dial 911 and guide an ambulance to some far off

jungle in Bukit Timah, right?

Ok, here's the video for today and I hope the video

makes up for the lack of picture today.

BarEnds

Ok kids, here I am at home because I don't have anyone

to go with to Mt. Faber. StairRider Deck is missing in action

and NoLights Louie is climbing a molehill errrr... ahem.. a hill (???)

in Bedok Reservoir (??)

So, with nothing to do, I go and write about barends...

hehehe now that should give you an idea of how bored I am.

Anyway, I started mountain biking on August 2008.

Like any newbie, my greatest weakness is climbing.

I read through MTBR.com and went through the expensive

routine of upgrading/lightening my bike. After all the upgrades

were done, I realised I only needed three things to climb

decently : 2. SPD pedals and cleats, 3 light wheelset and

4. barends. That's it! Ok, no. 1 is missing. No. 1 should

be fitness and practice climbing but that's beside the point

because we are talking about equipment.

From left to right : Ergon, Cane Creek attached to an ODI grip,
and KCNC barends

My first barend is from Ergon that I bought from Hup Leong.

My second is a Cane Creek that I bought for 5$.

My third is a pair of KCNC anorexic barends.

I didn't bother publishing the actual weights because with barends,

weights don't matter. What matters is it's effectiveness in 

giving you comfort and additional leverage when climbing.

If you also notice, I grouped the 3 pairs of barends together.

This is because although they look like very different from 

each other, they provide almost the same hand placement

(for me). That hand placement is always near the end (side?)

of your straight handlebar.

Although I get addtional hand positions for climbing,

I always ask myself  'what if i could place my hand on top

of the handle bar'? Roadie Rio told me one night @Mt. Faber

that I need to get a Colnago roadbike for that because

the handposition that I am looking for corresponds to the

top of the hoods of a roadbike (!!!).

Long, curved barends. There's a screw at the base of
the 'horn' part of the barend which enables it to be angled up.

Now enter these cheap, old school barends which I bought

at this bikeshop at the basement of SM Megamall for 300PHP

(less than 10SGD).

I have been using this barends for my Sunday Trail rides since

last November. I put my hands at the top end of the barends

and I climb Rifle Range Road... and it's bliss :-)

I climb Mount Faber... sigh ... nice feeling :-)

I will not tell you that these barends gave me more comfort

or more hand positions or more leverage or that it opened

my chest area so that I could breathe more. No, you won't get

those from me. I could not feel those. The only thing I could

feel is that the handpositions that there barends provide

are the 'correct' ones.

Of course, these observations are purely from my point

of view alone. If you interview StairRider Deck about his

CaneCreek barends or CrestPursuit Owen about his Ergon

barends, I'm quite sure they'd think I'm smoking pot :-)

Left figure shows how I feel when I use Ergon, Cane Creek and KCNC.
Right figure shows me using the cheap, old school barends

Sunday Ride

@T15

 I stand corrected. Not all the fallen trees in T15 have been

cleared. See picture above for an example. There are lots

more @the PCN that connects Mandai and T15.

It seems the fallen trees are being cleared in a 'first in, first out'

fashion. Also, today's mud consistency is porridge.

Yesterday's mud consistency was clear soup (i.e. like

those served with chicken rice). So today's ride was

more slippery than yesterday.

Resting @Zheng Hwa on the way back

Guess who 'caught' me @Esso

I got 'caught' by a handful of riders from PadyakPinoy in

Esso while cleaning my bike. After the clean-up and post

ride bite/drink, we all went to Tay Junction for some

windowshopping and eventually, everybody went their

separate ways while calling out to me that next Saturday

is the RedBull DarkKnight Downhill Race in Kent Ridge.

Apparently, 2 guys we know will be taking part.

Hehehe yup, only two guys but I'm quite sure

that the Filipino MTB community will be watching in full

force. You definitely can't miss them. 

I might go and try to 'cover' the race... if my cameras

can take pictures in low light conditions ahem ahem...

i need cough cough new camera cough !



Group Ride

@Casuarina during lunch

There were only five of us for today's group ride.

Apart from that, there was this consensus that today

would be a shorter than normal ride because

most of us need to be home earlier than usual.

With that in mind, there was no choice but to skip

the BT loop. We went up to Rifle Range and went

straight to Zheng Hwa. On the way, we met a lone rider

doing his laps. The rider was Sam Cheng, my friend of

countless years and owner of HobbyLink RC Shop

in Far East Plaza.

From Zheng Hwa, NoLights Louie realised that the

guys she rode with today were really set on going home

early as nobody rested. Everyone straightaway went to

T15 via Bukit Panjang PCN and went to Sc.

Still no rest at Sc and when Sc was cleared,

everyone rushed to the exit trail that leads

to Casuarina.

But before we went to the exit trail, we went first

to this little secret trail that is supposedly an extension

of Gangsa. Don't go in there! There were lots of

fallen trees and it seems the trail has been forgotten

already. I'll try to go in to that trail every now and

then to see if the fallen trees have all been cleared.

...and finally! We all went for Chinese food today

instead of the usual chicken briyani. I forgot the
name of the restaurant but their roast pork is
really very nice and the skin is crispy
and crunchy.

All these adventures were done in record time

as we finished eating at 12:45pm.

Ooops! Almost forget. Here's a short video

of what went on today.

Mt. Faber Ride

Only tonight I realised that this leads to Henderson Waves... hence the sign hehehe

Henderson Rd

The Saturday Group Rides are getting longer and

the rich food I had in the Philippines as well as the

recent long holidays spell doom for my fitness.

There's no other way to get back on the groove but to

go back to climbing Mt. Faber.

Tonight I only did two laps ... I was actually on

my third lap when I realised that the sign to on the left side

of the road that reads "Henderson Waves" meant

that that point was the start of Henderson Waves (duhhh).

I took a peak inside... and then I walked the bridge with

my bike and ended in the Telok Blangah Hill side of the Waves.

I told myself two laps is not such a bad thing for a start

and so I took the downhill ride from Telok Blangah Hill up

to Alexandra Rd and then back home.

Maybe I'll do the customary 4 laps next time :-P

Sunday Ride



It's a miracle! I haven't been to T15 for

quite some time now... and I think the authorities

were only waiting for me NOT to show up and

finally get rid of all the fallen tress in there.

Yup, that's right, no more fallen trees!

Here's today's video clip... but apparently

YouTube recognizes that I have imbedded a

song clip in the clip and decided to suppress it...

so no music :-(   ... I'll try to upload it somewhere

with less stringent checking and update this post.

Group Ride 2011 Jan 8

Obligatory photo of the quarry

As i said before, the group ride on 18th Dec 2010 would

set the tone for the next group rides. True enough everybody

wants that particular loop... and I mean everybody!

We even got NoLights Louie going for the Bukit Timah part

of the ride.

We did miss AirTime Mark, who woke up late (Paolo

does not believe this excuse though), Sherwin who

had to bring his son to a soccer game and Rio who is

battling a cold from not biking for 1 month

(withdrawal symptoms).

However, instead of those regulars, Mike the (ex)Mechanic

showed up today. There is also Jun who volunteered to be the

 sweeper. So today we were a little bit more cavalier in the way

 we treated our bikes as we had a bike mechanic with us.

No problems in fixing anything on the trails :-)

Lunch was @Casuarina... we have to find another

place to eat guys! Chicken Briyani is nice but I'm growing

feathers! Also, we finally found a place to wash our

bikes @Upper Thomson.

Also, I almost forgot, we met these guys on the trail.

We inquired about their carbon frames and the

price seems very competitive. I have added them as

friends in Facebook. Who knows? My wife might

get me something for my birthday! Ahem ahem...

Anyway, here's today's vid. ... and since there are

lots of scenes there where NoLights Louie is pushing

her bike, let's see what happens to her next week...

New reality show? Stay tuned !

Bike Lights

7$ for one :-)

10$ for one

My friend Owen has brought these bike lights in and selling

them quite cheaply. I have been meaning to get a smaller

red light to fix on my helmet. I think the red one on the

first picture would do just fine.

Anyway, as I was surfing at the CrestPursuit thread,

I realised Owen is able to bring in a matching set of jersey

and tights for just 80$. See all of the current selections

here.

1st Group Ride of 2011

Finally! After a very long absence...

First group ride of 2011 and so the gang is still not
complete. Some are still on holiday in the Philippines.
Since there are just four of us on this ride, I took the
opportunity to be the slowpoke of the group today.
I went with the group to Bukit Timah loop and of course
after that we went to our new 'exit'.

This is the problem with me, I am in shape for almost
a year, then I go on holiday and one week later, all
my conditioning is gone! ... or I may be feeling the effects
of old age LOL.

Here's today's video and for those who were not
around today ... don't worry we'll be doing this loop
from now on :-)


New Year's Day 2011

I didn't do any bike stuff and it was raining so all I have are these pics from NTUC :-P

It's the first day of 2011. I think I may have to wax lyrical

about life in general and my hobbies in particular... uhhh that will be

boring ;-)

So today, me and my family went out to Orchard Road (yay!).

It has been quite some time since we last went there... and

guess what? The Christmas lights are already gone!

It was raining quite heavily today... So all the people were

all cooped up in the malls. Good thing that in Singapore,

the mall 'network' is such that you may spend as little

time as possible out of the sun (or in this case, the rain) and
still get from one mall to another.

We were able to make our pilgrimage from ION to Takashimaya.

Speaking of Takashimaya, I went to Books Kinokuniya to browse

for a while and look what I found!

All households need one... really.

I browsed the above book and it, indeed, teaches the reader

what to do in the event that the world gets run over by zombies! 

This means I can write a book about totally bogus stuff

and pass it for the genuine article? Something like :

10 Rules to Survive a Martian Attack.

Apparently, the book is a best seller ... which

means the author is now rich ?!?!

Sigh, some guys have all the luck...

Anyway, I was rummaging thru my backup CDs and found

a clip of me (in blue singlet) climbing a rockwall @Climb Asia near

RaceCourse Rd.

Now, that is one thing that I miss. Rock Climbing is a fantastic

workout. I used to do that as a cross training for my

dragonboat training. The logic was it helps me stretch all

those muscles that are heavily used in dragonboat

paddling. However, the exercise is very bad for the wallet

as one session costs 8SGD! ... maybe I'll do it again

and limit myself to 1 session per week ?

Ok, enough rumbling from me. Happy New Year, people.

Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be able to ride with my buddies.