#256 - Sunday

 It all started with me craving for some Eggs Benedict ...

hmmm actually, no. It all started when I asked Tabs to

plot a route for our long ride. I had an idea how long that

long ride would be but I wasn't prepared for it.

 

I woke up with sore thighs and when I looked at the

clock ... great! It was already 8:30AM... and we were supposed

to meet at Sembawang Hawker Center by 8AM!

 

Nevermind, this just means it's time for a leisurely ride.

I ate a banana and filled my smallest backpack camelback

with tools/pump/spares instead of a bladderful of water

and I decided to do a city ride.

 

I haven't even crossed Victoria St when I heard rumbling

sounds coming from my stomach and so I decided to have

breakfast at McDonald's in Boat Quay ... BUT ! Problem : where

do I leave my bike. I was thinking about that when I was passing

by the Crossfit gym near Lavender MRT when I remembered

there is this very very out of the way cafe which rents out

bicycles! There would be lots of room to park my bike there

and I can order food and eat without my bicycle leaving my

sight! ... and to top it off, just from the looks of that cafe,

I can tell that they serve good Eggs Benedict!

 

So, I went there and as you can see from the picture

above, they do serve nice Eggs Benedict. The pictures below

also attest to the fact that you can indeed eat there with peace

of mind as you can see your parked bike plainly in view

at all times. The clientele often have small 'yippy' dogs with

them. Well, if they are not bringing small dogs then they are

most probably roadies or fixie riders. I am the only one who

was there on a full sus MTB.

 

Anyway! I saw one guy came in on a bamboo bike! Yup,

see picture below. ...and it turned out that bamboo bike guy

was there to meet a roadie guy ... and get this : they were

talking about starting to manufacture bamboo frames!

I think I better start investing in state of the art

eavesdropping equipment .

 

So! What do I think about the Eggs Benedict? Very nice!

BUT it was VERY EXPENSIVE! I ordered Eggs Benedict +

Iced Latte = 17.50$ !!! It definitely wasn't worth it.

But the place is cool and there supposedly is a French

Japanese Restaurant upstairs and also a Bouldering wall !

Next time I go there, I'm going to eat some place else

and just buy coffee there. Or! I am still asking NoLights

Louie if she'll buy me breakfast and in return I'll

bring her to that place :-)

 

Lots of cyclists going to MBS

All the stuff for the F1 race is springing up all over the civic/financial district

 

After loitering at the Civic District, I decided to do a u-turn

and go back home the way I came. I was cycling along the

Kallang PCN, under the Sheares Bridge when I saw a DragonBoat

doing their 250m race piece near Tanjong Rhu and I noticed

that the farther bank of the 'river' (the Tanjong Rhu side)

seems to have a PCN that leads all the way to Marina

Barrage ? ... Since I still have a bit of time, I cycled over

to that side and I was pleasantly surprised to find out

that you can indeed cycle from Tanjong Rhu to Marina

Barrage now! The only 'bad' thing is that at the end

of the PCN, there is this gate that leads to the Barrage

and there is a sign there saying that that gate is only

open from 7AM to 7PM.

View from the PCN

View from the Barrage

 

See pic above? That is a TLR22 2WD RC Buggy.

That is the reason why StairRider Deck became Sleepy

Deck and was not able to join the Weekend Trail Ride.

He didn't stop working on this thing until the buggy

could finally be driven around. He told he finally slept

at 5AM hehehehe just like old times.

 

:-) URGE Helmets. Do you remember how you felt

when you first laid eyes on a Fox Flux? Yes, that feeling!

This is the new 'Fox Flux' for me... and so I owe you guys

two reviews : 1 Kali helmet and 1 Urge helmet hehehehe :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



#255 - Saturday

 

 

Cycling

 

Last Sunday I was at the Mandai end of T15 and

I was lying on my back looking under this coconut tree

and I heard these people saying that they are going to

Hungary to go Mountain Biking. Wow! Hungary?!

So this guy described what they will be doing in Hungary

 to this other guy. First day would be relaxed and would

involve wine tasting, second day would be a bit harder

and third day would be the toughest day... and since they

will be there for more than three days, the 4th day will again

be an easy day, so on so forth. ... and so while I have

my eyes closed, they were talking about mountain biking

in Canada and Kathmandu and Lhasa ... and I was thinking

wow these guys are loaded! Not just that. They seem to have

lots of vacation leaves at their offices ... and they're sooo

adventurous! I bet they don't miss going to Woodcutter

and Butterfly Trails!

 

Anyway, while other people are going to exotic places,

my friends and I have joined the Millipede XC Jamboree.

See the flyer above.

 

... and since, I am supposed to go for a 45km jamboree, I

told myself I better go and do some longer rides. I called my

friend Tabs as she has been doing long rides lately and asked

her to plot a route for us.

 

The route started with the usual cycle to Mandai via Upper

Thomson. The only thing was we were sooo early. I think we

reached the Mandai entrance to T15 before 8AM. We went

in to T15, did 1 lap and went out via Mandai again. We turned

left to Mandai and went straight to Woodlands. I can't remember

the route clearly as my mind is clearly oxygen deprived from

too much pedalling. I just know we passed Kranji, Neo Tiew,

Lim Chu Kang, Boon Lay, Jurong Town Hall, West Coast,

and finally went up to Henderson. All in all I did around

81km. My friend lives near Paya Lebar and most probably

she would have easily done 90+km.

 

 

 

We parted ways at Moulmein Road and I asked her

if she would still like to go to the trails tomorrow (Sunday).

... and both of us agreed that if our legs don't hurt too much

then we'll decide.

 

Technically, I found this last Friday (not Saturday). But

isn't that nice? Not all bikeshops have chamois cream and

here is a well-known brand and I found it in ... Guardian!

... and yes, that is the price there. It is 19.90 for a tub.

 

I used this on that 80km ride that I just described and I

was just using a triathlon bike short (lesser padding).

My nether regions did not make a single complaint :-)

Udderly Smooth is very much recommended!

 

DragonBoat

 

The Spanish Armada Race Crew - photo from Spanish Armada
Group page in Facebook

 

The team I currently paddle with, Spanish Armada have

joined the annual 10Km Challenge which is traditionally

organized by the AustCham DB Team.

 

Everybody was happy because it seems that they have shown

much improvement on this 2012 version of the 10Km race.

The Spanish Armada has water training on Saturdays and

Sundays and their Wednesday Land Training in Botanic

Gardens is very well attended.

Finals results of the 10Km race. Spanish Armada @ #12
and my friends at Mountbatten took the Gold - photo from
Spanish Armada Group page in Facebook

 

My friends from Mountbatten/SPC brandishing their newest
Gold Medals ... by the way, these girls are World Champions
in the Women's Boat DB hence they make it look so easy.

... and of course, my friends from Mountbatten/SPC were

clearly the favorites to win the 10Km race and they did not

disappoint :-) hehehehe sometimes I miss being in a winning

boat ... but SPC's training schedule is really hectic and ....
I can't just leave Mountain Biking :)

 

 

 



#254 - Tidbits

I think it started immediately after the last race. Everyone just

got soooo lazy after that. Nobody wanted to go for any long rides

and even now ... when there's a race coming up on the 16th of Sept,

nobody still wants to go for long rides.

So, in short, nothing much happening in the MTB front. Hence

the silence in this blog. My group finally got our own jersey designed,

by the way. See first picture above. I also got a matching helmet from

Kali Protectives. I bought it at "A Motorcykel Area" 

which is very near Whampoa Market.



Although the group that I cycle with have become

lazy, we still go for shorter trail rides though. Both

day and night trail rides.

But ... what actually prompted me to write this post

is that while I'm being lazy on the cycling front, two of

my past hobbies have started calling me again!

The first is DragonBoat paddling ... I don't think I can

commit to the racing schedule of Singapore Paddle Club

and so I decided to join the Spanish Armada DB Club.

They are more relaxed and I think their practice sessions

will greatly complement my cycling sessions.



 The second hobby and my most expensive hobby ever

is RC Car racing. Deck has been bitten by the bug and you

can tell that he has been bitten badly because he just bought

a Sanwa M11 Radio Controller. See pic below. It looks

like it can control a space shuttle launch. Unlike my

Sanwa M8, this is no longer an FM radio. It is using

2.4 GHz bandwidth and you actually bind it to the

receiver as if you are binding a wireless headset

to your cell phone. 

Apparently, the 'in' thing now is 2WD buggy racing.

Deck's car has been ordered... while I on the other

hand rummaged through my store room and found out

that I actually own two 2WD buggies !

The first (and newer of the two) buggy is an Associated

Factory Team B4. I bought this buggy in the early

2000's. I remember that this buggy had carbon composite

everything. You name a part that can not be made from

Titanium or Aluminum then it will definitely be Carbon

Composite. Now here is the thing. I chose this version of

this buggy because of the Carbon Composite thing. The lower

version 'only' had plastic parts. Everybody who was 

'knowledgeable' in RC last time said that this Carbon Composite

material is good because it is LIGHT and STIFF (hehehe

much like bicycles). THEN later on people started complaining

that being light and stiff, only the factory drivers have the

talent to control this buggy! The lesser mortals will find

this buggy to be a handful AND SO the solution is to

UPGRADE the Carbon Composite Chassis so that it will

have a little 'give'.... Can you guess what is the upgrade?

Hehehehe yes, the upgrade is you have to buy the chassis

of the cheaper version of the buggy.

So in short, if you bought the cheaper version, you

would have been ok.  

The second buggy is the Schumacher Fireblad EVO.

While the American manufacturers Losi and Associated

have all given the nod to molded composite chassis, European

manufacturer Schumacher have always had a thing for

fiber glass/carbon plates much like the

normal Touring Cars today.

I bought this car because I have always wanted to

'drive' a Schumacher. I have always found these cars

to be sooo exotic. According to local folklore, these

cars used to be common in Singapore in the early 90's.

But when the buggy fad faded away, Schumacher

faded away with it never to come back.

So! I drove this car for ten battery packs (less than 1 hour?)

and after that, I took out the electronics and then put moth balls

and kept the car. But I remember that driving this car was

a lot more rewarding than the Associated....

Maybe I should get the 2013 version of this buggy ?

That is if Schumacher is still operating :-(