#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 :-(



661 Filter

No water/mud got into these shoes even though I walked on mud today.
The cleat area is a mud magnet ... and the mud stays there rendering your
cleats almost useless.

I laced up my new 661 Filters this morning not realising that today

is one of those days that I should have worn proper XC shoes.

Let's have the 661 Filter review out of the way so we

could go on to today's ride.

If you want non-football boot looking shoes for biking

and still have the benefits of having cleats, you only have

3 choices (as far as I know). You either get Shimano MP66,

661 Filters or Mavic (I forgot the model).

Have you seen RoboCop wearing shorts? Not a nice picture. That's

what I see in my mind whenever MP66s are mentioned. That is why

I chose 661 Filters instead.

661 Filters don't just look cool. They also have a strap at the top

of the shoe lace area of the shoe to combat the dreaded heel lift

which seem to plague budget Shimano shoes (e.g. MT34). The area

where you screw on the cleats is also very stiff. Very good for

XC bikers disguised as AM bikers.

See the right side of the cleats? This is the bottom part of the elongated holes
where you fasten your cleats. You can't use the lowest part of the hole
unless you trim the soles of the shoe.

Those are the pros. Let's get down to the cons.

1. MP66 has a higher inner cuff. These shoes don't.

2. Never ever use these shoes when you know you will

push your bike at some muddy parts of the trail. It's

like having bars of soap on the sole of your feet and

then trying to walk on a wet toilet floor.

3. You can not use the lowest point of connection for your cleats.

If you do, the cleats won't engage the pedals. If you really must

use the lowest point, then you need to trim the sole of the shoes.

4. The cleat area is easily clogged with mud rendering the cleats useless.

So, are the shoes good or bad? I think #1 is nitpicking.

#3 is a very real issue for some people who likes their cleats

a certain way. #2 and #4 can be rejected as these shoes were

never meant to be used for walking on mud (there are better

shoes for that purpose).

Would I buy these again? No... I think I'll try Mavic shoes in

 the future instead.

Saturday Ride

@Sc Trail

Some guys went to Kent Ridge, some went to ECP and some had to

work this weekend ... So this Saturday, only me and one other rider went

to T15 and Sc. We were supposed to do one fast and furious lap and

straightaway go home. But 'NoLights' Louie ran out of breath after

Rifle Range and so the "fast and the furious" became not so fast and

and not furious lap but we still managed to get to the gasoline station

by 11:30am. A far cry from last Saturday.

Anyway, I uploaded a short clip of the ride in Vimeo as I normally

see Vimeo clips having nicer quality... but after uploading, I see it having

the same quality as a YouTube upload.

Also, here's the clip in black and white. Don't ask why. It's just me testing

out some arty-farty stuff.

Sunday Ride

Rainy Sunday Morning

Today's ride started with a very heavy downpour, thunder and lightning greeting me.

Good thing I met ReyToots and another rider on the road to BT. The ride to the trails

seem easier (and safer) when there are lots of you on the road. We saw all the other

Filipino riders camping at 7-11. They hollered at us to go and wait the rain out with them.

But we have to ignore them as we were riding with another person which will not be named :-)))

Anyway, the ride was quite fast as the rain really has banished all the effects

cycling in a tropical heat could bring. Every climb was easy and all the flat bits were

really taken very fast. Here's a really short clip of today's ride.

I went out of the house @8am and by 11:30am, I was already at our front door

with my wife looking at me disapprovingly because it looked like I played in the mud .... wellll ...

I did :-)

That brings the weekend to a close. See you next weekend !