#258 - Tampines Trail

I think this is the 6th straight day without rain.
Trails should be nice and dry!

 

 

Oh, right! I remember I have a blog !

It's been quite some time since I updated my blog.

I only remembered it because there will be another

Jamboree in Malaysia (Batu Pahat this time) and the

last post I did was for another jamboree.

 

Anyway, I am not posting on my blog lately due

to (1) being busy with work and (2) sometimes, pure

unadulterated laziness on my part. I still haven't written

my helmet reviews ... which reminds me, I can actually

do a helmet battle royal seeing the number of helmets

(either cheap or mid-priced ones) in my play room.

 

Lots of things happening in the MTB scene in Singapore

as well. If you haven't found out yet, there is a new organization

that was created to cater solely to the needs of Mountain Bikers

in Singapore. Here is their website. Be sure to check out the

explanation of why the 'S' on their logo has 2 blue bands :-)

 

MBA Sg also has a page dedicated to Trail Etiquette and

clearly does not condone irresponsible behaviour on the part

of Mountain Bikers. However, they are also the first ( and only?) 

ones who explain the behavior of Mountain Bikers to the

general public (see Oct 15 entry in their News Section). 

Unbelievable! I got 'lost' in Tampines Trail ?!

Attack the Jungle Trail!

Lately, I have been going to Tampines Trail.

My teammates told me that the jungle is very nice

now and so are the Upper and Lower Kidney (that is

if they are still called that). There was even this short

trail called Ewok Jungle!

 

We've been doing our Night Trail Rides there lately.

No neighbors to complain and the place is really well

kept. Kudos to the guys who maintain this trail.

 

... but the thing is, we all know that Tampines Trail

will be gone in two years time ... I'm not sure if the

Jungle Trail will be included in the redevelopment

or just the YOG area. Anyway, just to be safe, I decided

to make a short video as a remembrance before Tampines

Trail is finally turned into a Condo or whatever.

 

 

 

 

 



#257 - Millipede MTB Jamboree

Me at the finish line of the Millipede MTB Jamboree
- pic courtesy of Kennt Ho

Top 3 are from Singapore... but I don't know their names. My friends
came in at #9 - Ng Kim Kwee and #10 - Nick McHugh
- pic courtesy of Kennt Ho

#9 Ng KK from Singapore
- pic courtesy of Kennt Ho

#10 - Kiwi Nick McHugh
- pic courtesy of Kennt Ho

The food was great!
- pic courtesy of Sam the Mailman

#275 - Tabs
- pic courtesy of Kennt Ho

I rode with these guys for much of the race ... but couldn't
keep up in the end :-(
- pic courtesy of Kennt Ho

Brother Louie enjoying the trail
- pic courtesy of David Kew

Don't tell me you don't know this guy?
CrestPursuit Owen had a flat which messed up his race.
- pic courtesy of Derek Kew

Now why didn't I think of doing this? Actually, when I got here
there were organizers at the bridge shouting for us to sloowww down.
There must have been many endos/spills here?
- pic courtesy of Derek Kew

 

Me! At the last checkpoint... and that is not a smile.
That's a grimace. I was feeling the onset of cramps.
- pic courtesy of ReyToots

That was a very nice race ! ... and that is the summary of the
Millipede MTB Jamboree that I attended last Sunday (16th Sept 2012).

 

Ooppss! Of course, I'll tell the details.

I'll spare the account of how we got there as the Millipede Jamboree
starting / finishing point was quite near to JB Shell. To be exact,
it was supposed to be only 16km from JB Shell ... which made me

 wonder how the bus driver got lost ... first time that happened.

Since the jamboree was quite near Singapore, it was no surprise

that there were lots of cyclists from Singapore who went for this

Jamboree. The Filipino contingent alone numbered around 70 cyclists.

In all I think there were around 600+ cyclists who participated in the race.

We don't see this kind of numbers in Singapore but Malaysian organizers
see this as the norm and so the registration and collection of
goodie bags and race numbers went smoothly.

 

One other nice thing is that the organizers decided to give out
a towel among the give aways in the goodie bag. A very useful thing
to have.

  

And so, after the Malaysian National Anthem, we were all released
and everybody pedalled furiously to get to the trail head. The announcer
did mention that we need to cover 2km of road first before we enter
the trail.

 

As usual, while on the road, I kept looking at my speedometer. The road
was flat (unlike Muar which was going down hill a bit) but I can feel
that we were going faster than normal. I saw I was going at 40kph and
of course, as always, I got nervous because this is a mass start. I
feathered the brakes a little until I got to 36kph. As I said the road
section was just 2km but even before we reached the trail head, I saw
some one already took a spill ?! Arrggghhh that's why I always keep
saying inside my head 'ride safe, ride safe, ride safe'.

 

We entered the trail and the first thing that greeted me was that
on my right, IronMan Randy was off his bike and was looking at

something on his rear wheel. That sucks, he normally is in the top 100

but it now looks like very early on and he has a mechanical failure.

 

Apparently, Sugar Rush Rey also pinched flat very near the entrance.
I just didn't see him. Also, first time racer Tabs was bumped
by another bike from behind sending her flying like Supergirl. Again,
I didn't see this. It was actually Sugar Rush Rey who told me this when
he caught up with me before the 3rd Checkpoint.

  

But I did see another girl lying on the left side of the trail. Some guys
were off their bikes and attending to her. She had long hair, was wearing
black jersey and SIDI shoes. You might ask why I remember so much detail?
The thing is she reminded me of Tabs and so I made sure that was not Tabs.
Tabs also has long hair, was also in black jersey and was also wearing SIDIs.
Anyway, since the girl was already being attended to by around 5 other cyclists
I continued riding.

  

I cycled until I reached this singletrack and then, as expected, people
started to bunch up. I think there were some people who decided to walk
the short downhill section leading to this steep climb. I decided to spin
on low gear and just waited for my turn while half pedalling half balancing.
It was finally my turn and I went down the section and didn't bother to
touch my brakes hoping to get some momentum for the impending steep uphill.

I reached the First CheckPoint and did not stop to dowse myself with water
or to get some rest. I was even moving a bit when one of the organizers punched
a hole on my race number to signify that I passed by the First CheckPoint.
This turned out to be a good strategy since I left behind some of those
who were 'chasing' me. I also didn't need water to pour on my head as I
brought my own waterbottle filled with water just for that reason.

  

There were lots of singletrack at this stage. There was a time when I
noticed there some guys who were coming from a different trail and yet
were 'merging' with me on the trail I'm on. Hmmmm ... I wonder which trail
was longer? The one I'm on or the one they came from?

 

Also, by this time, I have already realised that I should let go of my
brakes even if the downhill parts of the trail were rocky or rutty because
definitely it will be followed by an uphill section.

 

I saw my friend Gerald who was looking good for a first timer. I cycled
along side him for a while and he told me that just in front of us,
maybe 4 riders ahead, is my other friend Tabs. I told Gerald to follow
me and we'll try to catch up with Tabs. I caught up with Tabs on a downhill
section that turns to the right. I decided not to announce my presence
as she might lose concentration. I passed her and saw that I was pulling
away from her. ... and then Sugar Rush Rey came from behind. He told me
that he got a flat tire and when he finished fixing it, he was the absolutely
last rider. There was nobody else but him and the sweeper motorcycle.
He said he got lost a few times and the motorcycle rider would tell him to
go left or right. It was here that he told me that Tabs got rear ended
and took a spill. After that he said bye bye and took off ... ahhhh
apparently everything is effortless when you're on a carbon 29er hardtail.

   

After a few minutes, I heard Tabs say "Hey, Monjie!".
Huh? She's behind me? We exchanged war stories while pedalling and

 this was when we finally saw the Second CheckPoint.

 

I reached the Second CheckPoint and here I took a cup of hundred plus.
I started pedalling with Tabs and Gerald behind me. A little girl told
me that I was #274. So Tabs was #275 and Gerald #276.

Here also I realised I was more or less cycling with the same bunch of
people. Apart from my friends, there was this small woman dressed in a
downhill jersey, riding on an AM bike and using flat pedals. She is
definitely from Singapore. I always see her in Butterfly Trail back in
the day. There was another girl wearing a white and yellow jersey.
She was using a Hardtail equipped with a Lefty fork. There was a guy,
who I think is also a Singaporean, who was on a Full Sus 29er (Specialized
I think?). Lastly, there was a Malay guy wearing a Yellow and Orange
jersey who was on a Hardtail.

 

I realised I lost Tabs and Gerald by this time and from out of the blue
it was ReyToots from PadyakPinoy who was chasing me. ReyToots and I reached
the third checkpoint and he dismounted from his bike and took a picture of
me. Me on the other hand was already noticing the early stages of having
cramps. So I took out my YokoYoko and proceeded to apply it on both my
legs. I also took a banana and 2 cups of 100+ ... this was my longest stop
and I noticed the guys and girls I was riding with took off much earlier
than me. I told myself, nevermind, next should be all flat. I would catch
them.... and so when I started cycling again, one of the organizers said
"Go all out! You only have 8km to the finish line !" .

 

I took off like a scalded rabbit ! ... and stopped after 3 pedal strokes

because I'm going to cramp! Hehehehe I pedalled like an on-off switch.

This means, maybe 10 strokes hard pedal and when I feel the cramp

coming, I just coast...

 

Meanwhile my riding 'buddies' were nowhere to be found.

I thought to myself that now is the time to splash water on myself

and go all out. I reached for my waterbottle on the downtube of

my frame and ... felt nothing but air ??!! I looked down and

saw that my waterbottle was gone. Sigh...  

 

A guy in blue jersey overtook me just before we got to the road section.

He was on a hardtail so I was thinking "Aha! Drafting opportunity!".

I saw the girl on the AM bike, the girl with the Lefty fork,

the guy on the Specialized and the guy wearing the yellow/orange

getting smaller and smaller on the horizon.

I hope the guy I was drafting would be fast... But no... he was also
wasted already :(  He was just going at 16-18kph. I overtook him and
I went at 25kph, I signalled for him to draft me but either he didn't
understand my signal or he was already really too tired to follow.

 

In short, I didn't catch-up with those guys I was riding with for
majority of the race. I reached the finish line and the organizers
said I got #249 ! Hehehehe nice! I thought I was going to stay at #274.
They gave me a bronze medal with #249 engraved at the back and I was
surprised when they took my picture with the Millipede 'poster' as a
backdrop.

 

A very very good race indeed from the Organizers of the Millipede jamboree.
The trail was nice. The weather cooperated and stayed overcast. The
FOOD was nice! The lucky draw prizes were nice. The atmosphere was festive.
Everything about this race was nice. If I had to nitpick, my only
complaint was that there were only 2 toilets which is really insufficient
considering that there were around 600+ racers. But as I said, that was
not such a big issue and we will definitely be coming back for the next
edition of the Millipede MTB Jamboree next year!

 

 

 

 



#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 :-(



#253 - DragonBoat

One for my InstaGram

Guess who's the noobie :-)

The left side of the boat showing some charm

This is the new pontoon for kayaks. Those 2 guys serve as
the anchor.

After Saturday Trail Ride last weekend I joined my group

for the (usual) after ride drink(ing spree). So after a few bottles

of beer I learned a few things :

1. We were drinking because it was Neil's last trail ride

with us. Good luck to all your future endeavors, Neil!

2. Gambling in wakes in the Philippines is a

really lucrative business.

3. IronMan Randy runs 10-20km in the afternoons after

our usual 50km trail rides in the morning.

4. Fast Pao has taken up running ??!?!?!

5. and I was reminded that another friend, Efren,

swims as a form of cross training.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Those were alarm bells ringing

in my head! So! My friends are all having some sort of cross

training without telling me! It took them 5 rounds of beer

before they spilled out everything.

... and so, Podium Louie and Tabs put to action this thing

we had in our minds for the past 3 weeks. Tabs called a friend

of a friend belonging to the DragonBoat group Spanish Armada.

She said we were total newbies BUT we are fast learners hehehe.

Our contact told us to show up at the Kallang DB place at 8:45am.

... and so the night before, I smsed Podium Louie (who's a real newbie)

of what to wear so she'll be comfortable for 2 hours in the boat.

Next morning ... she showed up looking like the picture above ...

and she forgot her water bottle ... it doesn't look good for her hehehe.

Anyway, after a few minutes of basic introduction to paddling,

we were off. Tabs and Podium Louie were put in the back part

of the boat and I was put in the front right side of the boat.

After a while, the coach/steer told Tabs to go to the front of the

boat, beside me because the guy in the white cap (AKA me!) needs

some instructions LOL. So she went beside me and both of us

were giggling at the thought of her teaching me paddling :-)

Anyway, we were off again and this time the coach apparently

thinks I have grown by leaps and bounds paddling wise. He asked

Tabs and I if we were married as we look good paddling together.

.... followed by more giggling on our part. We said I am just a

very fast learner.

So, after the two hour session, I asked Podium Louie if

she's coming back. She said instead of her core hurting from

the exercise, it's her butt that hurts! Come on! I'm sure the first

time anyone cycled, it wasn't the legs that hurt but the butt from

sitting on an unfamiliar shaped object we now call a saddle !

Me? I think as long as this DB thing is relegated to Sundays

and nobody asks me to race, I think I should be ok joining the

Spanish Armada... and yes, my wife 'okayed' the quarterly fees :)