Sunday, July 31, 2011

#183 : Sunday Ride


One for my InstaGram page while waiting for the peloton to arrive



This pic courtesy of NoLights Louie's FB page

Sunday came and luckily for me I woke
up feeling more energised than yesterday.
There were 10 cyclists in the peloton including
myself. There was also Ryan and Rummer
who went for their first ride at Bukit Timah.
There was also Efren, a 'returning' cyclist
who did not touch his MTB for at least
2 years? I remember he was with me when
I first had an endo at BT !

As usual, after a leisurely breakfast at
6th Ave, we all went to enter BT trail
from RRR. From there we went on to the
Visitor Centre Carpark and off we went to
continue the BT Trail.

We then went left to ZH Park, Rooty Trail,
Personal Challenge, Reverse Flowy Trail, Summit,
then on to Streams #1 and #2. While at the #2 stream,
there was a brewing mutiny as there are members
of the peloton who cringe at climbing back the
same way. The mutiny was quelled with me
saying that climbing back is 'part of growing up'.
I think SR Deck even promised to let them
have 'vengeance' next week.

So after appeasing the peloton, we then made a
u-turn and went to T15 via that grassy singletrack
I found yesterday. I deliberately went to that
shortcut because every time the trail points up,
the peloton would say 'climbing again?'.
Too bad Bal was not around. He would have
had a nice time jeering everyone with :
"You want to mountain bike right?"

Lunch was at Bukit Panjang and after that, we
continued with the rest of the BT loop (stairs)
and had our bikes washed at Esso.... surprise
surprise, when all was said and done, it was already
4pm !

At first, SR Deck and I did not like the
idea of having Fast Paolo being the point man for
the cycle trip home. However, seeing the time,
we let Fast Paolo loose and we got home
to Balestier in 20 minutes' time hehehehe.

Until next group ride [wave wave]

Saturday, July 30, 2011

#182 : Saturday Ride


Just squeeze in between these trees, turn right ....


... and you'll get to this big open space with singletrack ...
best of all, it points downhill ... Too good to be true? Yes!
There's a fallen tree blocking the way. Watch out.


There was supposed to be a big group ride
today. However, I think almost 100% of the
participants are still nursing a hangover from
last night's party. As usual, Bal's and Brother
Louie's birthday party is well attended because
it never fails to deliver on it's promise of
never ending booze and very good food!

So Fast Paolo, rescheduled the group ride
to tomorrow. Good thing that. I woke up
and went to Bukit Timah but from the
very first few pedal strokes I knew that
today would be an 'off' day.

I went up to RRR and went straight to
ZH Park ... and I was right! I haven't even
reached ZH Park when I already did a reverse
endo (endo'ed while climbing). I thought that was
very stupid of me and when I was approached by
one trail jogger and asked if I was ok, he saw
me laughing to myself and I saw relief on his face
 The reverse endo must have looked
spectacular to him?!

Anyway, I went to Rooty Trail and when
I got out, I went up and went to the direction of
T15. But when I was in this wooded section
just before going out to T15, I noticed some
crisscrossing trails... of course, I've noticed
those trails before. But today, I decided to
explore a bit.... and it was nice :-)

Suffice to say that now, I know where
that trail with all the pottery leads :-)
... and funny thing is now I know that there
is not just pottery there. There are some
roofing materials as well LOL :-O

Ok, that's it for now. Hope I have more
energy tomorrow.

By the way, below are some shots I uploaded
to my InstaGram (it's addictive!)











Wednesday, July 27, 2011

#181 : Sneaky Ride







What else do I call a trail ride on a Wednesday
when all of my friends are working? Sneaky ride
seems to be a very apt title :-)

Anyway, I was on leave today. The first part of
the day was spent walking along Orchard Road for
the sights and any shopping that is on offer.

I went to the Mountain Biker's favorite store at
CineLeisure ... I don't see anything that catches
my fancy ... and when I was just about to leave
I saw it! They are selling 661 XC shoes! I checked
the price. It was 135SGD... hmmm... not cheap.
But not expensive too. My wife looked over my
shoulder and saw the price tag. She told me to
drop the shoe and come back for it 2 weeks later :-(

Fast forward to 5pm. I was cycling up Rifle Range
Road when I saw one mountain biker coming down...
Looks familiar...
why it's our good friend Sugar Rush Rey!!!

So SR Rey has been here for 2 weeks now! But
he can't come to the group rides as he works on
weekends ... for now :-) So after telling him that
I'm going to tell all our friends that he's back he
waved goodbye and I went to Zheng Hua Park.

From ZH Park, I went to Rooty Trail to get my
trail fix. After Rooty Trail I went to Bukit Panjang
exit and went out to Rifle Range Road exit
via the stairs.

#180 : Tuesday Night Ride


Very soon I may start changing the title
of the Mt. Faber Night Rides to NoLights Louie's
Climbing Progress Reports :-)

StairRider Deck was supposed to go with us
but he has been a victim of the 'establishment'
lately. So instead of cycling, he has been doing
over time work at his office. Tsk tsk tsk poor guy
hehehehe.

Nowadays, our first lap starts at Telok Blangah
Rise (instead of Pender Road). The 2nd and 3rd
(or sometimes 4th) laps then start from Pender Road.

Actually, I seldom write about our Mt. Faber nights.
There were two things that prompted me to write
about what went on tonight. First, NoLights Louie
has an iPhone4 which takes better pictures than
my iPhone3GS on lowlight conditions hehehe.
So since I have a picture, might as well write :-)

Second, I didn't miss SR Deck at all ! What do
I mean by this? While climbing, we normally talk
about what's happening at Tour de France, why
we must build a monument for Julien Absalon,
or photography. So tonight, I was pleasantly
surprised that I wasn't bored with my 3 laps
of climb. NL Louie was able to keep up and
we were talking about why nobody likes my
MTB pictures in Instagram hehehe.

So there you have it. NL Louie as leveled-up
and she's invited to Saturday's No-Stop ride!





Sunday, July 24, 2011

#179 : Sunday Ride







Yep, I said yesterday that today is supposed
to be filming day. But a ride hungry NoLights Louie
sms'd me late last night asking where will I be going
... and that where ever it is, she's tagging along.

So, today turned out to be a proper ride
day. We went up Rifle Range Road and cycled up
to ZH Park. From ZH Park, we went into Rooty
Trail ... surprisingly high number of vehicles at the
entrance of Rooty Trail ?!

After doing Rooty Trail, we went to T15, all the
way to the end of the PCN at Mandai. We then 
did a u-turn and did reverse Flowy Trail.

The ride ended with us going to Esso to wash
our bikes and ... Lo and behold, the remnants
of PadyakPinoy/MTB Brothers are there having
'lunch' with a few rounds of beer !!! Of course,
those guys never fail to yank my chain as for some
reason they know I'm inside the trails in that area
but they could never find me hehehehe.

And! By the way, I still used my On-One Inbred
today even if I knew I was going into Rooty Trail.
But, of course, I changed the handlebar from my
normal 560mm Ti straight bar with barends to
a 680mm CrankBrothers  lo-riser bar.
I also changed the stem from 65mm to 50mm.

Day and night difference! Now, I won't be
scared to bring my steel HT into Rooty Trail anymore :-)




Saturday, July 23, 2011

#178 : Saturday Ride




StairRider Deck is getting addicted to this
"No-Stop" long rides. Friday night and he has
already sms'd me that he wants the kind of riding
we did last Saturday. Actually, I was feeling
weak ... but hey, I won't be a mountain bike
"fanatic" if I let a small thing like flu to stop
me from riding today LOL!

Anyway, today Roadie Rio was not around because
he had to take some all important beauty rest as he
will be accompanying Fast Paolo to JB tomorrow
on a MTB Jamboree. Fast Paolo is getting addicted
to these jamborees as of late. Last week he just did
that Muar Jamboree.

If I am a 'fanatic' Fast Paolo should be labelled as a
'lunatic' as he will be cycling from Pasir Ris to the
Woodlands checkpoint where he will meet Roadie
Rio and the other guys (who also will be cycling
to get there) and they will all cycle to the race start.
They will then race for 40km, all off-road and
afterwards they will cycle back home. Ahhhh ...
I am not worthy!

Ok, enough about that. Today's ride started from
Balestier. Yes, Balestier! That's because both SR Deck
and I had breakfast at our respective homes. So from
Balestier, we cycled to the BT Visitor Centre, went
to Zhong Hua, Rooty Trail, Personal Challenge,
T15, Reverse Flowy Trail, Gangsa, Summit
and ended at the Mango Trees.

Last week, our timing from Visitor Centre up to
the mango trees was 2hrs 15mins. Today, we started
timing from Rifle Range Road entrance and we covered
a longer distance but we still clocked 2hrs 15mins.

We were faster today... but, it didn't feel like it.
We were complaining of being exhausted and
we were having aches and pains whereas last week
everything was fine.

Must be the hot weather today?

For tomorrow, I will be taking it easy
as I have learned my lesson last week.
If you see an uncle on a red On-One Inbred,
setting up cameras inside the jungle and filming
himself, that would be me! Do say Hi and
don't run over my cameras :-)




Sunday, July 17, 2011

#176 : Sunday Ride


Fallen tree at Rooty Trail, there's a detour on the
left side (if you're going the right way. right side, if you're
going reverse).
Rant #1 :

You just know this will be a long-ish piece when
I start numbering my rants.

Anyway, I went home at exactly 12midnight last night
due to our company's Dinner and Dance. I got to see
all my usual riding buddies in 3-piece suits. I also got
to see NoLights Louie in her glamour girl disguise complete
with warpaint and itsy-bitsy purse. But I digress!
I woke up quite late but still quite happy and
elated because as mentioned in yesterday's post,
we were sooo fast hehehehe.

My wife fed me some wonderful hotcakes and off
I went to RRR. I made the trip in record time ...
remember this ... because I pumped my tires at 20PSI in
front and 25PSI at the back. They are tubeless Kenda
2.1 Nevegals, by the way. So the climb to RRR
was really easy. Hehehehe and I was congratulating
myself for being such an endurance machine :-)

I went straightaway to ZH Park and then to the
entrance of Rooty Trail. ... here we go now....
you know all those piles of logs jusssttt before you
really, really go inside Rooty Trail? I cleared them yesterday.
Today? I keep stopping at the top of all the log piles...
lots of head scratching followed.

... and so I continued on inside Rooty Trail...
and all the while obstacles that I can easily clear
yesterday stopped me today. Hmmmm... the last straw
was when there were these 2 chaps wearing the jersey
that exhorts motorists to give cyclists "1.5m to the right".
Those two just passed me! Nevermind, they seem
to be fit.... then later on a girl on a pink On-One
Inbred Steel HT also passed me?!

I just smiled and when I can't see the girl anymore,
I got off my bike and jumped and hopped and kicked the
nearest fallen log. By then I already knew what's wrong!
I deflated my tires until they became really floppy and soft
and then I started chasing those 3 who passed me.

I managed to catch-up with some ang-mohs from
Singapore Bike Hash (that's the jersey they were wearing)
and when I finally caught up with those 3 who originally
passed me, they were already exchanging war stories.
I wanted to take a pic of that girl with her pink Inbred
but I'm afraid the other 2 guys will mistake me for
a stalker and so I went straight to the mango trees
and dropped dead.

By the way, there's a fallen tree inside Rooty Trail.
There's a detour to the left of the fallen tree but it is
still unrideable due to the overhanging vines. I know this
personally because when I got through the detour, I heard
some gargling sounds coming behind me. I looked behind
and saw one tall ang-moh being clotheslined by a vine.
Hehehe, apparently being short saved me from
being clotheslined.




New Fox gloves from CrestPursuit Owen
Rant #2 :

This is not actually a rant but just a heads-up for you
guys looking for nice XC gloves. CrestPursuit Owen
has new Fox gloves .. which for some reason I don't
think he posted on his SMBF For Sale thread.

They're everything an XC glove should be. Simple
and they get the job done. The Fox logo and the nice
colour are just icing on the cake. Ok, if you want
me to nitpick, the only thing missing is the terrycloth
thumb that you can use as nosewipe. But that's not
too bad. You can use the sleeve of your jersey instead ;-)







Rant #3 :

I was literally down when I got to the "mango" trees.
I was lying down and waiting for clouds to make some
kind of formation so that I can take some pics for my
InstaGram... no such luck!

Anyway, while I was lying down there. It finally struck me
that "No-Stop ride" we did yesterday was too much for an
uncle like me. ... While I was under the shade I saw those
3 who orignally passed me and those ang mohs from Singapore
Bike Hash go up the trail that leads to that nice trail
that leads to Casuarina. I wanted to follow them but
this time I decided to be realistic :-(

Realistic means I need to go to Bukit Panjang, have lunch and
go home via RRR. No carrying my bike over the BT Staircase
for me today.

BUT! after lunch, I remembered I've always
wanted to go back to D-Loop! So I went to D-Loop,
and took some pictures. I was going really very, very slow.
My excuse was that trail is for hikers. But in reality,
I was just very tired. Who am I kidding? I've never seen
hikers there at noon! In fact, If you stop and look at
the mud patches there, you'll see MTB tire tracks
(and they're fresh!!!).


Ok, that's it. Before I sign-off, I leave you with
this video which Roadie Rio showed me. It shows
you / us how we should ride our XC bikes in general
and the Giant Anthem in particular.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

#175 : Saturday Ride


Going into Rooty Trail

Going into Rooty Trail

Heh! Those two can have their action shots, I have this :-)

The past few days leading to this weekend,
people have been verrryyy quiet. Nobody wants to go
out and ride. All because of our company's Dinner and
Dance which is ... tonight !!! Everybody
seems to want some beauty rest ?!

Anyway, I don't think resting for a few days
is going to give me back my youthful looks so I went
out for a ride with StairRider Deck and Roadie Rio.
Fast Paolo is going for a race in Muar tomorrow
so he's going to need all the rest he can get.

Today's ride is quite and fast and there were
literally, and I mean literally NO stops at all !!!
We went into Bukit Timah via the Visitor
Centre Carpark, went to Zhong Hua, Rooty Trail,
crossed over to the Bukit Panjang Exit and went
up the Personal Challenge, went to T15 up to
Mandai, u-turned, went to reverse Flowy Trail,
went to Gangsa, went up to the Summit,
went to the trail that leads to Casuarina,
went back to the "mango" trees, crossed
over to Bukit Panjang Exit again but this time
we had lunch at Bukit Panjang. Whew ! All that
took us 2 hours 15 minutes

Roadie Rio was very pleased with our pace
and so he said something that I will use as quote
of the day : "Ang bilis natin !" (We're so fast).
LOL. Ok, I'll try to see if I can do all that
again tomorrow :-)