#289 - Frankenbike

 

Ahhh, the perks of being jobless ;-)

Yup, I have way too much time on my hands

and so I didn't just create one Frankenbike, I also

updated my blog!

 

Anyway, as you can see in the first picture, I

created something that cyclocross enthusiasts

would abhor and mountain bike fans would loathe.

But my defence is that nowadays, I never go to

BT ... Woodcutter is just a distant memory and

we do not even know if we will still be able to

set foot in Butterfly trail. If am not in T15, or roadbike

ride with my friends, then I am most definitely in

Green Corridor.... and a bike like this is just

nice for that trail.

 

Enough of my being defensive. Let's go to the build!

 

I elected for a 1 x 10 drivetrain to keep things simple.

There is no left shifter and the right shifter is a TT 10-speed

shifter. I do not know whether this is an Ultegra or

DuraAce item as I got it from Hup Leong's sale bin.



 

Crankset is an SLX 175mm item. I took out

the 44 teeth and the granny ring and just left

the 32 teeth ring. I used a set of short crank bolts

I got from ChainReaction Cycles.

 

I also started out with XT trail pedals but I find

that I prefer my old Shimano M320 pedals and so

I am using those now instead of the pedals in the

above picture. 

 

Front and Rear brakes are mechanical disks

from Shimano. I don't know the name of the Shimano

units but I guess they are the cheapest ones available

because they come with my 2008 aluminium Jamis.

 

The wheelset is from my old Giant 2011 Anthem and

the 160mm disks are from Obbit (?).   

 

This is what gave me the most head scratching moments

in this project! I was intent on using a Deore Shadow Plus RD

since it was 10 speed. 10 speed Shimano TT shifter should

mate with a 10 speed Shimano RD (MTB) right? Wrong!

I cannot get it to shift properly and in the end I surfed and

I learned that 10 speed Shimano MTB RDs and Shifters

have a different pull ratio from the Road shifters.

 

The funny thing is that if you use a 9 speed MTB RD then

all will be right! So in went my spare SLX RD ... lo and behold

the shifting is very good.

 

 

You might ask why is this picture here when there's

already a built bike picture at the very beginning ...

Well when I first build the bike, I used an On-One steel

fork. I loved how it looked ... but my hands get numb

from all the vibrations ... and we're talking about

Green Corridor ONLY.

 

So even if I liked that fork I can't enjoy the ride

if my hands are numb all the time and so in went my

spare Manitou R7 80mm fork :-)

 

After that everything was alright ... except for ....

 

Notice the carbon seatpost LOL.

 

Now everything is alright .... but my carbon Focus

Raven bike is a lotttt faster than this bike ...maybe I

need a more comfortable frame ?

 

See you in Green Corridor !

 

 

 

 



#288 - Butterfly Trail is history ...

 

 

 

It's been a long time since I updated my blog. But before the day ends, today is May 19, 2015 by the way, I have to write this. That is because Butterfly Trail is gone :-( Here is a link to the news article : http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/end-the-road-singapores-popular-bike-trail-20150519

 

 

The closure of Butterfly Trail closes a chapter in the Singapore Mountain Biking 'book'. I would just like to share this short video I did a few years ago and I hope it reminds everyone of what we lost today.

 

 



#287 - 99.9 MTB Jamboree

 

 

 

Hey there stranger! I was busy procrastinating and planning

on how to come back to my blog ... and I thought what better

way than to tell you guys how the 99.9 MTB Jamboree went.

 

Funny name, isn't it? 99.9 ? Anyway, the organizers' promised

that the course will be made up of 99.9% canopy trail. Nice!

Also, they promised 99.9% no chicken ... not sure what they

meant by that since lunch provided came with chicken.

I interpret it as the course is easy such that there is no need

for a 'chicken line' 99.9% of the time.

  

And so! My friends practiced in Lorong Asrama, went for long

road rides while me on the other hand cycled to the Marina Barrage

on to Kallang Wave and back home most of the time. Hehehe I hope

I wove my excuse seamlessly in that statement.

Finally, the day came. But of course before we get to Masai

I will have to give props to 'The Man' Alan of AlanMark Bike

Transport. Alan was on time (4:30AM !) on race day. This surprised

me because even the bus drivers we engage from Malaysia during

our past races are seldom on time. Every thing that we needed to do

was done very smoothly. He did his research well before he fetched

us and the GPS coordinates of our destination was already on his

phone. In fact, we reached our destination in record time.

It was still dark when we got to Masai!

 

As a result of us getting to the race site early, we got to

the front row of the starting grid. We could have literally

started on the front row but we didn't want to be seen as

'eager beavers' and so we settled for the second row. That means

we left the front row open even if we were first to come to

the grid.  .... and then we had to wait for close to 2 hours

... tick tock tick tock.

We got to Masai so early that the marshalls were not yet at their
designated posts.

I didn't know this at the time I took this pic but the
trail to the right is where we will be climbing from on the
 way to the finish line.

We started just to the left side of this football field

 

At first I thought the racers will be around a hundred only but

people started pouring in. TKL who was registered for Batu Pahat

Jamboree was there to my surprise (and he finished in 20th place!).

BYX mechanic (sorry, I didn't get his name) was there and we

were chatting away. He mentioned that it seems many fast riders

were not present. I agreed and said that he may well take

first place (wink wink).

 

Everything became lively when the National Anthem was sung.

Later on a group of ladies went to the stage and did some aerobic

exercises which was supposed to be mimicked by the cyclists.

I think this was a good idea since some of us have been just

standing there for more than an hour ... and so I followed their

movements (that is, I danced).

 

My friends who are all anti-social just stared at me and

slowly walked away so as not to be identified with me.

They only came back when the count down to the Race start

started. Yes! We started from a football field! There was no

5km of road sprint towards the trail head. Looks like the organizers

were serious with providing 99.9% of off-road trails. Everybody

hurtled towards the right to an unpaved pebbly 'road'

and within a few meters we turned left and the

canopy trail started.

In the end, there were more than 600 cyclists.

From left : Paolo (Bolo), Efren (Alfred), BYX mechanic (who
eventually came 1st) and me (who can't fit into my race kit)

That was the good part. The bad part was that I can't remember

much of what happened since the whole course looked the same.

I remembered the water crossing where most people waded

in waist deep water. I stopped and looked at where all the people

were going and there was general pandemonium. I managed to snap

a few pictures and then put away my phone quickly for fear of

dropping it into the water. I approached the part where people

were wading in knee deep water ... I waded in and I can't remember

how my bike got into the opposite bank. I think the other racers

were helping me carry my bike and pulling me up! Thanks a lot guys!

 

Next that I remember was that whenever there is loonnggg uphill,

the checkpoint will definitely be at the end of the climb. This is

good for the organizers because the cyclists are going sooo slow

that they can just take their time attaching the stickers to our

race numbers. Hehehe also due to the climbing part, there are always

lots of cyclists sitting at the check point which is very well stocked

with water and bananas. They give out the water bottles unopened.

You don't even have to open them. Just gulp it all down.

 

Lastly, I remembered one of the organizers PUSHING ME UP

a climb! I must have looked like I was dying for him to come and

push me ;-). 

 

Even getting out of the stream was not easy.
I crossed to the left of these guys.



Pic from 99.9 MTB Jamboree FB site.
Deck saw a big catfish and instinctively tried to catch it.



Pic from 99.9 MTB Jamboree FB site.
Efren (Alfred) on the way to the first checkpoint.

Although I am unable to recount most of the trails don't get
the impression that this is a bad course. In fact I find it to
be very good. Next time I come here, I will make sure that I 
am fit as this is the kind of trail where you can just open up
and let it rip!  The lunch provided was delicious. There were
lots of places where you can wash your bike. There were places
where you can take a bath. What more can I ask? This place is
perfect.  .... and when 1PM came, ever dependable Alan came
back for us and sent us back to Singapore.

 

That was 99.9 MTB Jamboree and I think they have really fulfilled
their promise. The organizers did a great job and I hope they
do it again next year.

 

 



#286 - Kota Tinggi MTB Challenge 2014



 

First jamboree of the year for me and my friends.

First time wearing the all new team kit as well :-)

 

pic grabbed from Pinkz Ladyz FB page

 

 

pic grabbed from CycloMotion's FB page

 

 

pic grabbed from Kitty Sue's FB page

 

 

 

It's been a few months since I last joined a jamboree.

It's getting harder and harder to prepare for these

jamborees especially when you have other activities

like DragonBoat and Outrigger Canoe paddling.

 

It's a good thing that Podium Louie (Finisher #6

in Women's Cat) is always there to take care of

Registrations, Deck is now ever dependable to

get us a bus which will fetch us from Novena,

drive us to the race site and back again to Novena,

Efren takes care of designing all Team insignia's

and race kits. All that's left for me and my other

teammates are just to pay the requisite fees and

cooperate with minimum fuss ;-)

 

Ok, so for this race, we cut it quite close by

arriving at the race site with only 20 minutes before

the flag-off. I blame this on us forgetting that there's

usually some kind of traffic jam going to JB on

Saturday mornings. Yes! I think most Malaysian

jamborees that we're scheduled to attend will be

held on a Saturday instead of the usual Sunday.

 

Anyway, I didn't have much practice and so

I listened attentively to the race DJ (he's the usual

skinny guy with the goatee) so that I won't

have any 'surprises'.

 

The race DJ mentioned that the sticker checkpoint

will come first BEFORE the water point. He is very

specific that these two points will be separate. This

is odd as last 2 years, all jamborees combine the

'sticker' checkpoints with the water/food checkpoints.

By the way, I have this fixation with the water

points because it was a very very hot day last

Saturday and I wouldn't want to get dehydrated.

 

And so off we went! I would like to say that

this route is very nice because there is very little

road section. We started on grass and we immediately

went to the loose gravel section. Hehehe it is in one

of these loose gravel sections that our team Ace,

Randy Vega took a spill very early in the race.

Me? I didn't practice so, just finishing this

race without getting beat up is my main priority.

 

At the start people have lots of energy and

most want to overtake everybody else. Hence, I

just let everybody go. I am quite sure I will

overtake most of them later on once the

cramps set in.

 

Anyway, unlike what the DJ said, the water

point came first! I took some water and doused

myself on the head and the back. After a

few clicks more, the sticker checkpoint came.

Nowadays, the Malaysian volunteers have really

gotten to a point where you don't have to stop

and yet when you get out of the checkpoint

you will surely have a sticker, a bottle of water

and a banana stuck in one of your jersey 

pockets. Well done guys!

 

... and then after a few clicks more, I saw

another water point! So it seems that the

organizers have realized beforehand that people

may just faint from the heat and so ADDED

a water point before the actual one.

That is a very nice gesture on the part of the

organizers !

 

En route to checkpoint #2, I arrived at

a place that looks like Butterfly Trail ! You will

definitely know who is from Singapore because

(I kid you not) lots of people were heard whooping

with glee .... until .... I (we all) found out that the

singletrack is just going UPHILL !!! and so

the long, slow slog started. This is the part

where you start to question what were you

doing on that place when you can be sleeping

at home. Anyway, the checkpoint is where the

climb finished.

 

Now going to checkpoint #3, this route is

characterised by a very long climb. I mean

checkpoint #3 itself is located at the highest point

in that area. But even before you get to that steep

climb, it felt like we have already been climbing

for ages !

 

After I finally got to the highest point, that is

checkpoint #3, I doused myself with a full bottle of

water, ate two bananas and admired the scenery.

Too bad I didn't bring a camera.

 

After looking at the 360 degree scenery for

a while I started to go down ... and met Podium

Louie on the way up ! It turned out she got lost

and was cycling for 2km before she realized she

was lost. How she got lost, I don't know. There

were times when I was also alone at the trail but

the trail was well marked and not for a moment

did I get lost. Of course, it meant that I had to slow

down whenever there's a fork at the road and check

where the trail markings are.

 

After that climb to checkpoint #3 (from here on

to be referred as UPHELL), everything was smooth

sailing.

 

Lastly, I noticed this before in other jamborees

but am only going to mention now : at the finish line,

there is a fire engine that pumps water up over the

coming finishers offering a welcome respite from

the heat.

 

After I have exchanged war stories with my

friends, we all took our free lunch made up of rice,

soup, chicken and some pineapples as dessert.

 

Sigh, it is really nice to attend these Malaysian

MTB Jamborees. If not only for the fact that I

hate waking up sooo early, I would go there

every week.  

 

 

 

 



 

 



#285 - All Hawker Food Friday

 I think the haze 2 weeks back and the sudden

changes in the weather have given me the worst

flu of all time. So last Friday, I finally decided

to surrender the fight and went to the Polyclinic.

 

The line at the Polyclinic was surprisingly short

and I was seen by the doctor and was released with

an armful of medications earlier than expected.

 

The doctor promised me that taking said medications

will result in me being very drowsy ... heh that's not

good right? I better do things before I become very

sleepy.

 

So I went to Vertex and decided to check out what 

10$ can buy me LOL. It turns out I can't buy much

with 10$ ... and so I decided to just pig out. Food is

always there to make one happy :-)

 

Anyway, off I went to Lavender area, to be precise

the Army market at Beach Road.

 

Lunch was at the Thai Experience hawker. This

hawker is difficult to miss since it faces Golden Mile

and is always surrounded by Thais which seem to

be content with the cooking here. Needless to say

the food is authentic Thai and you only need to

see all the Thais eating at this place to believe me.

 

 

 

 

Next is Dessert at the Ah Balling Peanut Soup.

There are lots of 'pretenders' to the throne BUT this

is THE King !

 

I always, always order the Yam balls with peanut

soup. I always order five pieces as well since they

are just 2$ for 5 pieces.

 

 

After dessert is coffee.

Have you seen this Blog Post ?

Well, I have and I had to see for myself since

I'll be taking bus 145 home anyway and I will

pass by the North Bridge Hawker on the way

to the bus stop.

 

To be honest, when I first read that blog, I thought

to myself : "coffee with butter ??? yuck ".

 

But I thought I could always just don't finish the

coffee if it is really yucky, right? Well, when I

finally tasted it .... it wasn't bad .... actually it is

nice !

 

The thing is, that blog really hit the nail on the

head. That coffee shop indeed seemed to be stuck

in the 60s/70s. Even the old uncle who serves

coffee is still wearing the same white singlet

and stripped pajamas. It seems time stood still

and so I sipped my coffee like I was in Starbucks.

But the atmosphere in that coffee shop is much

better. Just you, your coffee, your thoughts

and nice people whose greetings is not :

Good Afternoon but 'cha pa bueh?'.

 

After a few minutes, I finished my buttered

coffee bought a bottle of mineral water and

took my medication. That should ensure that

I sleep immediately once I get home :-) 

 

 

 

 

 

 



#284 - Last Instalment of Roadbiking for Mountainbikers

From left to right, top : 2 tire levers, 1 inner tube,
1 tube of glue, dessicant, "sand paper", 2 tire patches,
water bottle (to keep them all in).
Bottom : multi tool, 1 lezyne CO2 cartridge, 1 adaptor,
2 more CO2 cartridges

Tool 'water' bottle on the seat tube. Real water bottle on the
down tube

 

8. Change the way you bring your Spare tires and Tools

For mountain bikers, it is simple. If you need spare inner

tubes, tools and water, that's easy. Just get a Camelbak

in the required size and off you go.

 

But for roadies ... Lugging a camelbak is a no-no!
Even those popular saddle bags are a no-no! For complete

enlightenment, I advise you to go and read THE RULES.

While you're at it, pay attention to rules #29, 31, 32

and 52.

 

So to prevent being the object of ridicule by the

roadie community, I bought a pair of matching (they have to

be matching!) and color coordinated bottle cages and water

bottles. Since my bike is blue, black and white, my bottle cages

were black and blue and are attached by lightweight blue

aluminum screws (hehehehe). My bottles are white
with black letterings. One bottle carries water and the other

bottle carries SPARE TUBE AND TOOLS! So my jersey

pocket only contains a phone and a wallet.

 

This is the cheapest version of Speedplay Zero.
There's a Stainless and Titanium version there's the
race day Nanogram version ... but I can only afford the
cheapest. So Chrome Moly for me ;-)

 

9. Choose your pedals

When I bought my bike, I also bought Shimano 105

pedals for it. I was thinking I have used Shimano and

Crankbrothers on my mountainbikes and I always go

back to Shimano XT pedals because they are bombproof.

 

So it should be the same for roadbikes, right? Yes,

that is right ... BUT the thing with these roadie pedals is

that you can only clip in on one side of the pedal.

 

I tried to love these 105 pedals, I really tried.
But whenever the traffic light turns green on the
junction I am on I swear I am mentally prepared that
I get honked at (or sideswiped?) by cars for being soooo

slow in clipping in AND all the while looking down to
see if my pedals were right side up and why I am STILL

not clipped in.

 

I actually had an epiphany while going to T15 on my

MTB. It was early (6AM?) in the morning and I was

at Velocity in Novena. I was going to cross Thomson

Road to get to IRAS (and on to Bukit Timah Rd).

I saw two roadies going to the direction of Long House.

The lead guy clipped in easily. But the second guy has

already crossed Newton Rd and yet he is still trying

to 'find' his pedal !?

  

This won't do. It's an accident waiting to happen.
So I got myself some lollipops AKA Speedplay Zero
Pedals. There's a lot of reviews about these pedals
online and I may do a review as well. For now though
I am not so nervous in the junctions anymore. I don't
miss my XT pedals. When the light turns green, I stomp
on my pedal and that stomping motion will generate a
satisfying click which means I'm already clipped in.
Simple and safe.

 

 

10. Always ride with a Group

Last and definitely (as the cliché goes) not the least :

Always, always ride with a group. I'm not talking about

getting a ride buddy. I am saying really go and ride

in a group !

 

In the same way that I am such a coward whenever

the trail heads downhill, I am also a coward when cycling

on the roads of Singapore ALONE.

 

You can call me a chicken and stick feathers on me but
I will not leave the pavement when I am cycling alone.

So the best thing here is that you go cycling with a group

of friends.

If you don't have friends or your friends are not available

then you create a new set of friends. There are many road

cycling groups here in Singapore but I contacted JoyRiders

because they are very visible and I see that they cater to

both the really fast riders as well as the newbie riders.

 

You may head to the JoyRiders FB Page and inquire
how to become a member.
 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 



#283 - Cycling in 'slightly' hazy conditions

 

 

 



#282 - Kallang PA

April 20, 2014 Update : I was cycling on the way
to my Dragonboat practice and this time I saw Kallang PA!
The building still stands! It's just that it seems to
blend in with the surroundings. Also the gate is
locked and I could not get in. Anyway, here's a
pic I took this morning :

These past few weeks / months I've been attending

Dragonboat practice in Kallang. We're preparing for

the first race of the season AKA MR500.

 

I go to Kallang using my bike. I normally go out

of the house at 6:30AM, cycle to Kallang and go

through the closed-off roads/construction area to

East Coast Park. I'll cycle to SAFRA and then

do a U-turn, go to Kallang KFC, have porridge

for breakfast and then go to Kallang Dragonboat

nursery at 9AM to meet up with my team.

 

I've been doing this for quite some time ... until

... it struck me ... where is the Kallang Airport Tower?

I can't find it ! Is it still there? So one morning I

brought a mountain bike instead of a road bike and

cycled around that area .... I still can't find it !

Has it been demolished?

 

Sighhhh ... anyway, I managed to find the gates

to Kallang PA. I remember that when the car / taxi

that I am riding in goes through the gates, the

surroundings was cool due to the shady trees.

 

You might ask why this place is special to me.

Here goes. Do you notice that Remote Control

Race Track at East Coast Park? The one where

RC Car addicts race their 1/8 on-road gas cars?

 

Looonnnnggggg ago, it wasn't there. Also, loonngg

ago, I was one of those RC car addicts. We didn't

have any place to run our cars. So there we were,

having toy cars that cost thousands of dollars and

can reach speeds in excess of 80kph and yet we don't

have any place to run them.

 

Until Winnie of Swan Models whispered to me that

there is this place in Kallang where like minded

people meet to run their cars.

 

That 'place in Kallang' was actually the big lot

behind the Kallang PA. I went there one Sunday

morning and saw people make a 'race track' with

corner dots. Then more people will come and then

they will contribute more corner dots.

 

These meetups were a very relaxed affair. People

come with coffee in plastic bags. They will sip their

coffee, hang them by the string on their big bags

(we used luggages last time, yes, complete with

Samsonite markings) and drive for a tank or

two then come back to their coffee and chit chat.

 

You will always get help tuning your engine,

truing AND gluing your tires, repairing your car.

You can even buy some parts from those who

carry lots of spares.

 

I started my RC addiction with a Tamiya TA01

car. But my FIRST race was in Kallang PA using

a Picco RS600. The race track was deadly to our

toy cars because it was made up of unforgiving

4x4s. I think I finished last. I didn't even finish

my qualifying heat as I refuelled very early

so as not to be a victim of the dreaded pitstop

traffic jam. But my refuel was so early there

was not even a pitstop! So while my car was

refuelling, another car came and hit my car!

My car went back to the unassembled kit

form and broke some aluminium wishbones.

(Yes, those times, Picco had aluminium wish-

bones! Not plastic like today).

 

So 1 wishbone back then was 50$ and I

didn't have spares. Come on who could break

an aluminium wishbone on a toy car? Hehehe

I could. So my race day was over and I went

home.

 

That was the LAST Time I went in Kallang PA.

 

So last Sunday, I took pictures of the gates of

Kallang PA and said goodbye to another Singapore

landmark :-(

 

 

 

 

 

 



#281 - Road Biking for MountainBikers Part 2

Gel to be put under bar tape
- pic grabbed from Goggle Images

Fizik Bar Tape with Gel.
I've seen this in CRC.
- pic grabbed from Google Images

 

 

4. Choose your Grips
Mountain bikers are spoiled in the choice of grips.

You can have thick grip, thin, sticky, short, etc.

There are soooo many combinations.

For road bikes, there are just long strips of tape.

I know that these tapes come in gel, cork, etc. but

still it is difficult to get the right tape which will

prevent my hands and by extension, my brain, from

being jarred by the rough road. That is until Roadie Rio

told me to use 2 tapes. One on top of the other. It worked!

Alternatively, you may also use gels under the tape.

 

 

See the black thumb screw near the brake lever?
Screwing in / out that screw would adjust the
distance of the brake lever from the handle.

 

Compare the MTB solution to this rather crude solution
for the same situation. Above piece is the 10mm shim.
Below piece is the 5 mm (stock) shim.

 

The shim goes at the notch

 

5. Adjust the Distance of the Brake Lever
Mountain bikers are again spoiled in this area.

Most of the disc brakes that mountain bikers use

have an adjustment for the brake levers.

 

There is a screw that you can adjust so that the

brake lever can go out or in depending on the

size of your hand. Now for road bikes, the brifters

are so expensive and yet this very simple adjustment

is nowhere to be found!

 

What you need to do is buy a 10mm shim (most

probably what you have installed in your brifter is

the 5mm shim) that goes inside the brifter.

 

Take note though that different brifters will

require different shims! John from Hup Leong

had to rummage around for the precise shim that

will fit my 105 brifter.

What this shim does is to act like a 'door wedge'.

The brake lever can not return to it's normal

position properly because the 10mm shim is there.

 

 

 

6. Change your Brake Pads
Again, mountain bike win here. The hydraulic disk

brakes that we use on our mountain bikes really give

meaning to the cliche 'stop on a dime'.

Road bikes will never get this kind of braking power

(of course unless you have hydraulic disc brakes on

your road bikes). So, the best thing you can do is go

and get Shimano R55C3 brake pads for aluminum
rims (I'm assuming you have aluminum rims). I have

used the very popular KoolStop Salmon brake pads ...

 BUT I think the R55C3s have more bite.

 

 

7. Change your tires
Normally, bike manufacturers, be it on mtb side or road

bike side skimp on the tires. That alone should be sufficient

grounds to change your tires to a better gripping one.

 

A little bit of a warning here, roadies
talk about a tire being grippy ... BUT I don't think they 

are referring to the same GRIP that mountain bikers are

used to.

 

If you have cycled in Butterfly Trail AFTER a downpour

and you find your tires are so grippy that you were able

to shrug all (or most) of the roots there THEN we have
a REALLY GRIPPY tire!

 

Do NOT expect this same "grip" when talking about
road bike tires!

  

Anyway, I have two recommendations : the currently

very popular Continental 4000S and the

'lagging in popularity' Michelin Pro 4.


#280 - Paddle Wednesday

 

 

 

Went for a nice, easy paddle from 6pm to 7pm @ Tanjong Beach :)