#270 - Chase the Sun

 

A friend of mine sent me the invite to this event.

A race in Singapore ! Yesss !!!

All that is known at the moment are all there

in the above flyer ... the only thing that intrigues

me is that it is written there that this will

be a MTB SERIES ?

Verryy Niceee <== Thumbs up and say it like Borat

 

Anyway! Go and like the page for RAD Events and

you will find the Chase The Sun race as the only event

currently there.

 

Hold it! Disclaimer - I am in no way related to RAD Events.

My sole purpose in posting this is to inform like minded

individuals that there's going to be a race in SG come June.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



#269 - Rainy Day Trail Ride

From ZH Park going to Rifle Range Road

 

A vidcap from Ghed's video of their ride back
from Gangsa to Mandai

 

Sunday started bright and sunny and I was actually on

my way home due to the fast approaching rain clouds

and thunder.... but who did I see at the end of T15 just

completing their lap #1 ? It's all my teammates !!! and

they were all asking me to do another lap with them!

 

Sigh ... ok... last time we rode together was last year.

I rode with them for another lap ... and that was when the

heavens decided to open up and let it rip.

 

Weather like this, it's scary to be still in the jungle

because you may get hit with falling trees/branches.

It's also scary when you are out in the open (open space

going to RRR) because of the lightning ... don't laugh!

Lightning is not a laughing matter here.

 

Anyway, apart from the heavy rain. Everything was fine.

I even saved 3$ because I didn't have to wash my bike

at Esso ;-)

 

 



#268 - Back to the Trail

This was taken today (Sunday). I just put it here
because I don't have a 'cover' photo for this entry.

So, let's start biking again.

It is normal for Malaysia Jamborees to be 45km

in length. Bearing this in mind, I thought of starting easy

since I still have Dragon Boat practice in the afternoon

(hehehe) ... But the thing is there's nothing to inspire me

to go mountain biking. No new bike, no new crankset,

no new anything at all ... sigh.

 

Never mind, I have a new iPhone 5 and I just jumped

from Starhub to M1 .... and so let's test if M1 signal is better

than Starhub ;-)

 

Off I went to hunt for a cycling app in the Apple App Store.

There are the usual apps like BikeMate, MapMyRide, RunKeeper

... and then something caught my eye ! Cyclist Ultimate! That must

be some really powerful app, to call itself Ultimate. Anyway, I'm

not reviewing the app. Just wanted a little something to keep track

of my bike rides.

 

I started here. I'm looking back. I'm actually going to climb
RRR which is behind me. In this pic, left side is exit of Durian
Trail and right side is the RRR entrance to BT MTB Trail.

So off I went. I turned on the Cyclist app at the RRR

entrance to BT MTB Trail (see pic above). I climbed

RRR, went to Zheng Hwa Park, went to T15 via Chestnut

BUT instead of going to the PCN (which is on your

left hand side when biking towards Mandai), I turned right

to this grass patch which eventually makes a U-turn back

towards the direction of Chestnut Ave.

 

I came out of T15 via this exit that leads to Bukit Panjang.

... and then I bumped into Sugar Rush Rey with his wife in tow.

After a few minutes of chin wag, I went back to Zheng Hwa

Park and then up to RRR again and finally I turned off the

Cyclist app once I got near this wine shop at RRR (see pic below).

Phew ! 

Summary of the ride. That was just 15.5km ?!
I'm in trouble.

I then proceeded to see how I did ... and I was

disappointed. Not at the app. But with my route.

That was just 15.5km ?! I was exhausted! ... and

it was just 15.5km? Tsk tsk tsk and I want to go

for a 45km jamboree? Sigh, so again, I need to

train more or throw more money at the bike.

Hehehehe but since all I can afford for now is

just this free Cyclist app, most probably I will

take the training route and not the throwing

money at the bike route :-)

Map of the ride. Notice that I didn't get to Mandai.
I made a right turn near the entrance to the PCN in T15.

Notice something in the map above?

There was never a time when the GPS signal

got lost? M1 signal is great huh?

I finished here. I'm looking back again in this picture.

 

 



#267 - USE Sumo XCR ShokPost

I had to nick this pic from ChainReactionCycles.com
as I don't have a close-up picture of my suspension seatpost

 I have learned this long ago (during my RC days). Constant racing

normally forces you to look into your technique and endurance. This

means you (I mean me) tend to spend on just the necessities like gels

and recovery drinks.

 

No racing means boredom and no training ... and hence more time

checking out stuff in ChainReactionCycles.com

 

To make the story short, I ordered this suspension seatpost

from USE through CRC because I wanted to use my aluminum

hardtail more. Especially in Malaysia Jamborees.

 

It says here that I did get the USE Sumo XCR ShokPost
27.2mm in diameter, aluminium, 390mm in length and
medium spring

I ordered the one with Medium spring rate because it says

there in the CRC website that it can accommodate a person who

is 120 to 170 pounds (or 55 to 80 kg). I am around 66 kg, so just

nice. Anyway, without further ado here are the pros and cons of

the seatpost :

 

PROs



1. bouncy bouncy boing boing boing - supposed to be 2.5" of travel !

I used it in T15 and Tampines YOG Trail and you really can

pedal on the places with small stones and your butt will

thank you for it.

 

2. relatively cheap - I get the impression that the alternative

for this seatpost would either be a Syntace P6 Carbon Hiflex

or a Lynskey Titanium Seatpost 

 

CONs

1. very heavy - this is the price you have to pay for comfort.

How heavy? I didn't even bother weighing. Just heavy. Trust me.

 

2. When you mount this on your bike, be prepared to give some

allowance for the saddle height. Remember that this is a suspension

seatpost ... and therefore there will be some sag. So when you are

NOT on your bike, there's no sag ... when you seat on your saddle

then there will be sag. How much sag? Not sure ... there's nobody

to measure it for me ... but maybe 10mm?

 

3. Related to #2, imagine you are seated on your bike, pedalling

happily along T15. In this situation there is sag on your seatpost.

You then see a downhill section and you go and stand on your

pedals and get OFF your saddle. What happens? The seatpost will

extend. Now, pretend the DH section is over. You want to get back

to seating on your saddle ... just remember that the saddle is now

higher than when you left it and that your shorts may snag on it.

 

4. Related to #2 and #3 ... this is not so bad ... pretend you are

spinning. But you are a bad spinner. If you are on your full sus bike,

maybe the bike would begin to bounce. BUT if you are on your

full sus bike, the distance from the saddle to the BB does NOT change.

Using a suspension seatpost, that distance from your saddle to the

BB changes when you bounce ... I didn't feel any negative effect

but know that this might play havoc on your knees.

 

 

So with sooo many things going against this suspension seatpost,

will I use it again? Hmmmm I already bought it, so most probably

I will play with it. But now that you know all these things, it's up

to you to decide if this seatpost is for you.

 

By the way, I first thought of buying this seatpost when I saw

one of my friends have a seatpost on his Ragley hardtail with

a rubber accordion on it. I immediately assumed that he had

a USE ShokPost on his bike. I didn't even ask him about it.

Now that I wrote this ... did I really see a USE ShokPost on

his bike or was it a Gravity Dropper Turbo ??? Both have

rubber accordions?! Argghh

 



The USE XCR ShokPost mounted on my aluminium Brand-X frame.
... and yes, it is mounted backwards




Do you guys still see this at the PCN in T15?
I haven't been there for a while.

 

 

 

 



#266 - MTB XC Jamborees

Rochelle and me at Zheng Hwa Park last Sunday.
Pic taken by Cheryl of PPSg Girls

I haven't been blogging as much as I would like to and

there are two reasons for that ... three actually if you count

laziness.

 

Anyway, Reason #1 being that if you noticed last year,

Nusa Iskandar Jamboree was held on February. Followed

next by Kip Mart Jamboree and WACycles. This year I

did not hear of any Nusa Iskandar Jamboree or KIP Mart

Jamboree ... and WACycles Jamboree will only be on June.

So nothing to look forward to ... me and most of my friends

have neglected 'training'.

 

Reason #2 is related to Reason #1. Since there are no

jamborees, I went back to dragonboat paddling. So my

focus nowadays is training for dragonboat. Not so much

on mountain bikes.

 

Anyway, finally the jamborees have begun trickling

in. Yong Peng in mid-May. Plentong is end-May and

WACycles is end-June.

 

I don't think I will be ready for Yong Peng seeing my

endurance is back to zero now. Plentong ... now if you

go to their FB page/invite, I read some one said that we

should take note that this is not a jamboree. It is an EPIC

ride! Why does that make me nervous. I have heard/read

of numerous river crossings and bike portages on the past

versions of this Epic ride. I wonder if the organizers have

'tamed down' the route this ride will take or is it as tough

as ever?

 

Most probably, I will go to WaCycles Jamboree as it

is very near Singapore. So if you  have been slowly turning

into a potato ... it's already 2013! Go get your training

sorted and done. <== actually, I'm talking to myself ;-) 

 

 

No dates on this flyer but their FB page says
the Epic Ride is on 26th May 2013

Flyer for WaCycles Jamboree

Flyer for Yong Peng Jamboree