#247 - Tampines Trail

Green Trail. Nice!

View from the top of Teletubbies (not sure if it is still called Teletubbies)

View from the top of Teletubbies (not sure if it is still called Teletubbies)

View from the top of Teletubbies (not sure if it is still called Teletubbies)

There are five water points where you can wash your bikes.

HobbyLink's Uncle Sam with his RumbleFish.
I have a time to beat now : 5 laps in 1 hour :)

I have started heeding Roadie Rio's advice to not
flog myself doing two consecutive hard rides. So Saturday
was a hard ride and Sunday, I cycled to East Coast Park.

On the way to East Coast Park, I passed by Nichol Hiway
and saw a few stragglers from the last night's Sundown
Marathon. Hehehe these guys really look spent. I even saw
one girl who seemed to be on the verge of tears (Really!).
Anyway, a few minutes more and I saw this marshall on a
motorbike telling the runners/walkers to go to the sidewalk
as the lane is going to be given back to motorists' use.

Anyway, I cycled all the way to Changi Village even if it
was very boring. I wanted to do a u-turn and go back to
Fort Road but just imagining the mind numbing ride
back was enough to make me think about other routes.
.... and then it hit me! I haven't gone to Tampines Trail
since (around) New Year of 2011. Why not pay a visit?

... and so I went to Tampines Trail and signed in.
Instead of going full throttle into Trails A, B and C, I went
into the green graded trails first.... it was sooo nice. It might
be that the day was overcast and the sun was not beating on
me so fiercely but the place is sooo green. There are no visible
signs of the green trail being overly used. The green trail
eventually led to the carpark ... but before I reached the
carpark, I saw an area where you can play PaintBall wargames!

After looking around a bit in the PaintBall Area, I went into
Trail A (the old Teletubbies?). I used my granny gear all the way
...and surprise, surprise, I saw Uncle Sam doing his laps on his
RumbleFish. I have always thought that 29ers would be "slow"
in Tampines Trail because it is all twisty singletrack. But seeing
Uncle Sam with a 29er... he doesn't look slow at all !

I finished Area A and was going to Area B when I saw
Uncle Sam and he was telling me to go to Area C
(the old Ziggurat?)  and chase him! No thanks!
I went to Area B instead and continued doing the trail
on my granny. I must say that although there are lots of
switchbacks in Area B, the trail still flows nicely!

I finished Area B and went to Area C ... still on my
granny gear, Uncle Sam passed me!??! That was fast!
Since it was his last lap, he talked to me a bit. He told
me he normally does five laps in 1 hour and then quickly
cleans his bike, because as I said in my last post, he is
"paying" for 25 years of RC racing "debts" hehehehe.
So yesterday, he was again in a hurry because he needs
to run some errands. Too bad because I wanted to try
his RumbleFish and satisfy my curiosity about 29ers.
Next time maybe.

I cleaned my bike leisurely in one of the five
available water points ... free of charge :)
While cleaning my bike I chatted with another
cyclist named Anthony who was on a Jamis Dakota.
In hindsight I should have begged him to let me
try his Jamis Dakota as I really wanted to know if
the Carbon Fibre seatstays make a difference in
taming trail chatter.

Anyway, we talked about how well maintained
the trail is. Actually, the trail is not just well maintained,
it really does flow nicely and once you are very familiar
with the trail flow, I imagine it is very easy to attain
Zen on this trail.

... And lastly! 
1. I noticed Uncle Sam was wearing a Bontrager RXL
2. I bought threadlocking compound from him to
attach SPD cleats to my own Bontrager RXL
3. points 1 and 2 should be enough hint for me
to post the review of the Bontrager RXL :)

#246 - Threadlock

This threadlock compound could be used in place of  Loctite Blue

Sam Cheng of HobbyLink @ 3rd Flr Far East Plaza

See the 1/8 buggy @ $930? Expensive toys!

Today's post was prompted by my having misplaced

my threadlocking compound AKA Loctite Blue.

 

 

The first thing that baffled me when I was learning

how to assemble mountain bikes is that grease is always

required whenever you screw something to something.

This is the exact opposite of the standard practice in

building remote control cars. For RC cars, you put

threadlock whenever a screw needs to be screwed in

to a metal part.

  

 

So when attaching the cleats on my new Bontrager

RXLs, I looked for my threadlock/blue Loctite. I can't

find it in it's usual place only to remember that I left

it in the office.

  

 

I went to HobbyLink at Far East Plaza to get a

small bottle of threadlocking compound. Once there,

I had a chat with old friend Sam, the owner of HobbyLink

and he told me that he now rides a Gary Fisher RumbleFish.

He said he prefers this more than his Trek 29er HT

and his Nicolai 26 FS. The RumbleFish is apparently

a lot kinder on his lower back. He normally rides at
Tampines MTB Park and so I asked him if the
full sus 29er RumbleFish is "slow" in Tampines
knowing that that place is mostly twisting singletrack?
He said it's ok and he doesn't have any problems.

After talking about MTBs, the topic then went
to why we normally ride alone and seems to be always
in a hurry to get home... and we realised maybe it's
because we are 'paying' for all those times that we
spent RC racing instead of going out with our families.
So now that we're out of RC, we cycle and then
quickly, without any delay, ride home. I asked him
how much does he need to 'pay' for, he said 25 years
of racing. Ahhhh, I only have to pay for 10 years.

Hehehehe this is what keeps me going back to

HobbyLink even if I'm no longer racing RC. Talk

about old hobbies (RC) and new hobbies (MTB). 

#245 - Kulaijaya MTB Jamboree 2012

Oooohh bad idea to do on a night before the race : cramming

View from outside the bus. Around 6AM at the JB Gas Station
where everyone from Singapore assembles before heading on
to races in Malaysia

Nice! The sun hid almost the whole day in Kulai.

My friends fixing up their bikes.

  55Kilometers of trail ! That is what the Kulaijaya

Extreme MTB Jamboree promised us! Actually, we

found that out after we registered. But that's not the point :)

Anyway, this race was made as smooth as possible by

CrestPursuit Owen and StairRider Deck who took care

of all the transport arrangements AND also Edward C.

from PadyakPinoy for helping us with the registration.

I'll spare you the blow by blow account of our travels from

Novena to the race site. However, I continue to be amazed

at how much fanfare the Malaysians could inject into these

bike races. Before the MTB race started, we saw the flag off

for the 120km bike race. There were definitely lots of racers

from Singapore for both the road and MTB race.

So, after the Roadies were sent off to start their 120km race,

we lined up for our MTB race. All the girls were asked to go

to the front and they will be given a 2 minute headstart. We

said bye bye to NoLights Louie as we realized that she's a girl.

Whereas the announcer in the KIP Mart race told us that

there will be no marshalls/medical support if ever we meet

an accident on the trails, the announcer for this race told

us that the trails are wet due to recent rains and that he thinks

we should not run our tyres too hard ... I slowly looked at my

rear wheel ... and before I even saw the Presta valve on my

rim, Roadie Rio emerged out of the fog and told me : "I

know what you are thinking... don't do it. If you do it then

you will have doubted yourself. Believe in yourself. "

... After saying that, he melted away into the fog ... errr
I mean he went further in front because that is his race
strategy.

... and so 2 minutes after the women set off, the announcer
finally let the GU powered peloton take off !

I saw all my friends jostling for position. Me on the other
hand don't want to be in front of people who can go downhill
faster/better than myself and so I literally let everyone go.
I was telling myself : I have 55km to pick off each and
everyone of you one by one ... teeheeheeheee.

The first bottle neck. This is the left side.

... and this is the right side

See! At this stage of the race, I was taking pictures and

conserving energy. BUT it all changed when we

encountered the first stretch of singletrack. Would you

believe everybody, and I mean everybody was pushing

their bikes?! The singletrack was not even technically

challenging. It was just narrow. If you've been to Rooty

Trail here in Singapore, you will be wondering at what

the fuss was about. ... and so I couldn't take it anymore

and asked one local why we were pushing our bikes.

He told me because that was a technical section. Huh??!?!

Really?? I thought there's an accident in front. He

assured me there's no accident. Just that the front

guys can't ride that singletrack. Arrggghhhh!!!!

After emerging out of the singletrack, we went out

into ... something like a plantation ... I tried to catch

some water coming out of the sprinkling system and

the guy in front of me had the same idea. Well bad idea

it turned out as the water hit us while we were going

downhill and the guy in front of me slipped and he rolled

with his bike. I almost ran over the guy. I braked and

asked the guy if he was ok. He told me he's fine but I told

myself no hydrating from sprinklers from now on.

When I reached CP2, I saw two team mates of mine,

Ronald and Neil having a picnic. Their helmets were

off and they were eating bananas and exchanging war

stories. I think they only realised the race is not yet

over when they saw me. I told myself : Aha! My strategy

is working! See these two?! I will overtake them now!

Mwahahaha!

I let them go first and followed immediately behind.

... and while I was planning my next move ... I noticed

I was no longer pedalling! I was swimming in mud!

Yup, it happened that fast. I didn't even have time to

unclip from the pedals. I stood up and said "I'm ok!

I'm ok" ... and then realised nobody cares hehehehe.

So, my two friends cycled thinking I was just behind

them and listening to their conversation.

So, I cycled alone until I got into this verrryyyy long

downhill section. I was off the brakes. The guy in front

of me was quite a long way ahead ... until I couldn't see

the guy anymore. Alarm bells rang in my head and I

started braking ... at the bottom of the section I saw the

guy was trying to wipe away blood from his knees.

It turned out the downhill section ends into a sharp

right turn and he couldn't turn in time. I asked him

if he's ok and he told me he's fine. Good thing

mountain bikers are a macho bunch :)

I caught up with my friends again on CP3. Their

helmets are off again and they were eating more bananas!

I said hello and proceeded to take a leak at the side of the

road thinking I hope I don't get fined for doing that.

Then I think my friends thought I was going to chat for

a while since I'm off my bike but I decided to be

sneaky and took off nyahahahaha.

... Only to find out that the next section is road

and it was damn boring when you don't have anyone

to talk to when cycling on road. But the first surprise

of the race greeted me! After the road section, CP4

was there! Huh?! was that 15KM already??? Can't be!

But who am I to argue? So I doused myself with water

and cycled furiously. I was thinking those people

I let go were not yet dropping like flies to my

superior stragedy , er strategy.

... and while thinking about this, I saw the 2nd surprise

of the race! There on the ground is a stake with a sign

saying "1Km to Base". HUH?!! I'm quite sure I haven't

cycled 54Km yet! If this is 54Km, then there will be

lots of really weak people on the floor nursing their

cramps , at least that was what I was expecting.

But the sign was there and so I stopped for a while

and ate my last GU and Endurolyte capsule and pedalled

as fast as the mud would allow me. I think I passed

6 to 8 people who no doubt are wondering why am

I pedalling like I was after a podium place LOL.

In the end, I got the last sticker that said I was 195th

finisher awwwwwww!

 

Nice view near the end of the race.

Me at the finish line showing some signs of 'buying' some land
in Kulai

A few top 100 finishers in my group.

#244 - A few more days to go ...

My friends have all been bitten by the racing bug

and so they are all back for more racing ... and this time

they did not even care how long the racing is going to be.

Everybody signed up for the Kulai Jaya Jamboree and

everybody were all equally surprised when it was finally

realized that we all signed up for 55KM instead of the usual

45KM race distance.

For those who are thinking of going at the last minute,

the organizers must have known that there are always

last minute entries and so they are accepting entries up

to the day of the race itself (20th May).



#243 - WeekEnd Ride

DirTraction @Zheng Hwa Park

See the guy wearing black on the right side of the picture

above? I didn't get his name but he is from DirTraction.

Last week, a friend of mine, Sam, posted in our FB group

page that DirTraction would be in Zheng Hwa Park in the

morning and Tampines MTB Park in the afternoon to talk

to mountain bikers about the current state of our trails and

the plans for mountain biking in the future.

The only time I ever hear/see DirTraction is when there

are races in Singapore... and if you notice, there are hardly

any more MTB races in Singapore now. Of course, lots of

people, don't think they are doing such a good job as we

tend to compare the racing in Malaysia versus here.

However, hearing this guy talk was an eye opener. He is

level headed and he is very realistic. He explained what

triggered the recent illegal trail usage hunt. He also talked

about what's going to happen to the trails that we are using.

He explained why there are few races now and why the

races in Singapore are so expensive. Too bad I didn't get

his name but my friends from PadyakPinoy/MTB Brothers

know him. Anyway, I left the session with a totally knew

outlook and even admiration for these guys who are fueled

by nothing but passion.

So, the things that I heard are the following :

1. Stop going to illegal trails. Scorpion is illegal.

ButterFly is illegal. WoodCutter is illegal.

2. Bukit Timah will be maintained in the near future.

Hopefully this will put a stop to mountain bikers

going to illegal trails.

3. More signages will be put up to warn trekkers/

trail runners that they are encroaching on trails

designed for mountain biking.

4. Tampines MTB Park will only be there for

the next 2 years.

5. It's ok to ride in T15 and Gangsa.

6. I might have to start going to Kent Ridge and like

that trail as it is one of the legal trails.

7. For 2012, the only place where races can be held is Ketam.

So, I might want to start going to and liking that place.

8. Lastly, if riders could donate a bit of their time

for trail maintenance, it would be very much appreciated.

I think a Facebook page will be created where DirTraction

will put the where and the when for trail maintenance.