Sunday Ride

John's Turner Sultan 29er

Sunday and this time it was me who 'caught' the PadyakPinoy

group while they were having their break @Zheng Hwa.

Good thing that I caught them because if not then I won't have any

thing to post for today LOL.

The first time I saw a 29er was when SK of Toykar bought

his Pivot Mach 429. My memory is a bit hazy but I think before

he got his Mach 429, he was riding a Jamis Dragon 29er as well.

That was a year ago.

Fast forward to today and now 29ers seem to be gaining

foothold in Singapore.

John (Hup Leong's mechanic) assembled a Titanium Dean's

Hardtail. But I have never seen that bike hit the trail and there

he was this morning riding a Turner Sultan 29er!

He told me that he has already brought his bike to this

rooty trail (we all shall call it Bf trail) and apparently,

it had made short work of all the evil roots in there....

note to self : maybe I need this bike? 

Equipped with Tubeless Stan's Raven 29

    John was using a pair of Tubeless Stan's Raven tires today.

These tires have very minimal knobs. They look fast standing still !

However, I don't think I will survive one loop in BT if I use these tires.

These tires (I think) is best used by more skilled riders.

New XTR XC brakes

    The bike porn doesn't let up! He was also using these new

30 Speed XTRs!

Lastly, I asked ReyToots to go and have a short testride

@Zheng Hwa while I go and record a short video.

My phone camera acted up again and all I got was lots of audio

which did not correspond to the hanging few seconds of video

that is showing on my phone screen.

I wanted to hit my phone with a sledgehammer but that

will have to wait for July so I can get another 0$ phone.

In the meantime, here's what I can salvage from this

morning's session.

DW Link

10 cogs on the cassette, notice carbon cage on new XTR RD and
the very shiny XTR XC hydraulic calipers

Benjie's Ti Eggbeaters. Not related to the 29er but I want this and
I think this is the closest I could get to it :-(

Lastly, as I was looking at the individual bikes of the other

PadyakPinoy guys, I saw these new Ti pedals on Benjie's

weightweenie bike. These pedals cost as much as my fork :-(



Sunday Ride

Kona Abracadabra

Today's ride is almost the same as yesterday.

Only difference is that I told myself I won't be such

a masochist and skip the BT loop.

I did go to T15 though before I went to

reverse S-trail.

I also brought two cameras with me as today

I plan to take it easy and just go and film today's ride.

My filming session was just about over when the

vanguard of the PadyakPinoy peloton caught up with

me at the stairs going to the BT Visitor Centre.

Good thing that I saw them today as I managed to see

two things that prior to today I thought existed only

in magazines / urban myths.

First one is Sonny's new Kona Abracadabara.

I took a photo of the magic link but did not manage

to get a complimentary test ride as their mobile phones

suddenly started ringing.

It turned out Raffy took a spill and had dislocated his shoulder.

The other part of the peloton is in the clearing that you can see

when you are in Rifle Range Road. So the whole group decided

to go opposite the flow of the track to see if they

can help Raffy.

This is when I saw the Second 'thing'. Bobot went

downhill on the side of the stairs on his bike !!! Fantastic ! 

He did it sooo fast that he was long gone even before

my digital camera could boot up!

I was shouting at him to do it again so I could

shoot the video but he was loonggg gone.

Ok, since I didn't get that video, you guys would

just have to be satisfied with this video.

Sunday Ride

Cloudy morning but no rain :-)

 Good news : Sunday morning and there's no rain.

Bad news : It rained in the afternoon yesterday.

Ahhhhh peace and quiet

 I went back to yesterday's route as I think I will

reach a state of Zen! Yup, climbing and concetrating on the

roots ahead, you will definitely forget whatever deadlines

you have in the office.

Anyway, that was not to be! I did climb that trail I was referring

to. However, I did not climb it with a Zen like trance and

feeling of well-being! I more of climbed it in panic! LOL!

... mushrooms

It went like this. I was on the wooden 'bridge' at the foot of the climb,

taking pictures of some mushrooms ... then I heard some rustling of leaves...

I thought I saw someone crouching, darting from one tree to another...

must be my imagination, right? There it was again! I ignored it....

 then I heard it 'ngork ngork ...' I turned around. No one.

'Ngork ngork ' .... then it was no longer 'ngork ngork',

I heard something like a squeal (?) and then

lots of footsteps were running towards me!

Wild boars!!! <== take note : plural

I hopped on my bike, flew onto the bridge, went to the climb

and just kept on spinning until I reached 3/4 of the

way up! If I was wearing my HRM, it would have

been beeping madly by then.

I fell down when I slipped on a root. I turned around...

no more pigs :-) I went down to the foot of the climb again

(but did not go to the bridge)... and started filming.

This tree @T15 has been there for sooo long there is already a path around it.

Bobot. He podiums DH races using XC bikes.
One of these days, I'll ask this guy to do a 'clinic' on MTB for
people like me who has (lots) of problems going downhill.

A few minutes after I got to the top, Bobot from PadyakPinoy caught

up with me. He told me the whole gang went to Pulau Ubin so he's alone.

.. and no, he didn't see the wild boars. He came from the 1st stream.

Also, he said, ContiComponents has opened a showroom at ... I forgot.

I'll ask him again next time.

Here's the video I took today. Didn't get any footage of the wild boars.



Sunday Ride

Fallen tree @trail leading to Zheng Hwa

I was on my second banana when I decided to check my 

phone for messages before I put in in its sealed bag

...and there it was. The two words that are meant to

dowse any excited adrenalin junkie with cold water.

It says : "pass ako" (as in rain check : i'll ride with you next time).

Hehehe dehydration and muscle pain also got NoLights Louie.

So I went on my Sunday Ride, as usual, alone.

My ParkTool Chain Stretch measuring tool-thing has decided

that my XT chain has stretched by approximately 1.0 something

(there's no unit, just a 0.75 and 1.0). I saw the XTR

Yumeya chain on sale @CRC for around 50$ and so, after much

explaining, my wife allowed me to purchase a few items.



I noticed lately, that I never get to the 32 teeth cog on my cassette.

By the time I get to the 32 teeth, I already resemble a clown

on a unicycle while balancing on a high wire. I think the last cog that

I find usable is the 28 teeth. Hence, I got myself a Saint 11-28

cassette.

Also, Brother Louie changed his whole groupset to XT Dynasis

and NoLights Louie and I became the recipient of an offer

that can not be resisted. I managed to get his XT RD and FD :-)

NoLights Louie got the XT Cranks, Cogs and KMC chain.

Yesterday, I went to Mike the Mechanic's place to put

my new cassette, chain, RD and FD in their correct places

and functioning properly and smoothly on my On-One Inbred.

I also got a thorough checkup which revealed one of the spacers

 on my headset to be inverted causing some wiggle

on my headset! :-O

Hehehe nothing beats having a (ex) bike mechanic as a friend!

Thanks Mike !! :-)

11-28 Cassette, Yumeya chain, XT RD and XT FD

New shoes :-)

 Today, I used my On-One Inbred with new 11-28 Cassette,

Yumeya chain, XT RD and XT FD... and all this topped

with my other purchase from CRC : 2010 Diadora X-Trail Evo MTB Shoes.

These are black and gold in colour. Not really my favourite combination

but beggars can't be choosers and for what it's worth, they

don't look hideous in person.

Toebox is quite generous and the rubber used for the 'spikes'

are quite soft. The 'tread pattern' seems to get rid of mud easily.

Also they are quite stiff which is very good as today is 'spin' day.

Lastly, my friends would testify that whenever I see some one with a

hardtail on the trails, I would say : "You know, that's my dream. To be

able to ride a HT (properly, with out a single foot dab)

in these trails of ours.".

I mean what's not to like? It's simple, it's light, plus

the looks on the faces of people you pass by when you nail a technical

downhill is priceless. Especially if said people could not do

what you did with their 140mm-160mm trail bikes!

I was washing my bike after the trail ride today when a girl

on a bike rolled in and washed her bike too. I didn't catch

a glimpse of her bike but after a while she came out a placed her

hydration bag and fox flux near where I hang my stuff.

She cleaned her bike inside ESSO and later on she came

out with it. At that point I asked permission from her if I

could take a pic of her bike. I was admiring the bike @Zheng Hua

earlier thinking I would get something like that if I hit Toto/4D.

Her bike is a titanium Titus Riddler (I think it's a Riddler).

She has Hope brakes (!!) and Agilis cranks !!! She even has those

Q Rotor chainrings!!! These chainrings are the ones shaped like an egg

(i.e they are not perfectly round). She has a new 2011 fox fork,

CK headset, etc. The stuff (my) dreams are made off!

I (as much as I possible) politely asked how much did that

dream set up cost... she replied, I gasped

and I won't repeat the sum here.

Also, she was made this observation about not

raining for quite some time and then suddenly raining in

time for the weekends making our trails muddy.

I told her, talking about mud, that we saw some wildboar tracks

in the mud yesterday. She told me those wildboars are quite harmless.

She sees those wildboars on her night rides!!!

We cycled together and parted ways at 6th Avenue.

Joni's Ti bike





Sunday Ride

Train tracks ...

 ... I don't know why I took that picture of the train tracks that goes above

Bukit Timah Road.... maybe it's the first interesting thing that I saw when

I was lugging my bike on top of the overhead bridge. Yup! I didn't do

a u-turn from BT Road to Dunearn to get to Rifle Range.

I was thinking carrying my bike over the overhead bridge is

good training instead of going to the gym LOL.

As usual, Sundays are for solo, relaxed rides. Today

I went to the second stream and did a u-turn back.

On the way back to Bukit Timah, I saw the whole PadyakPinoy

gang going to the end of the trail. FreeRider Erik apparently discovered

a new trail there. They asked me to tag along but my visa is up to

noon time only so I had to beg off. Anyway, Mike the Mechanic

was there and maybe next time he rides with us, he can

show us that trail :-)

Also, I saw Boom again on the trail. I saw him yesterday

at Ketam as well. Must be training for the upcoming races hmmm...

As usual again, since this is the first time I'm doing this trail

alone, I had a bit of brain fade which I paid for by leaving some

skin on that trail. Good thing it wasn't much.



Here's a short clip of what went on today.

Sunday Ride



It's a miracle! I haven't been to T15 for

quite some time now... and I think the authorities

were only waiting for me NOT to show up and

finally get rid of all the fallen tress in there.

Yup, that's right, no more fallen trees!

Here's today's video clip... but apparently

YouTube recognizes that I have imbedded a

song clip in the clip and decided to suppress it...

so no music :-(   ... I'll try to upload it somewhere

with less stringent checking and update this post.

Going Home

@the carwash

I was supposed to meet the PadyakPinoy group and 'StairRider' Deck

at the exit of BF Trail. Instead I saw Dennis C at Zheng Hwa Park.

He saw some of the gang coming home at around 8+ in the morning!

It turned out they went for the night jamboree in Malaysia.

I called Deck and good thing he did not show up or else he won't have

anyone to ride with in BT and BF.

Anyway, I showed the BKE exit to Mandai to Dennis C.

On the way home, we met Mike the Mechanic with two new riders

in tow.

So here's the video clip of me going home from the trails.

See you this coming Friday (Deepavali). Brother Louie says

we're riding Two Hills (Mt. Faber and Vigilante Drive).

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 !