Cycling is like life. Cycling with no goal is meaningless. What meaning is there cycling in circles? Or living aimlessly? Meaning comes from direction and destination. Join me in my life's journey on a mountain bike :)

Blogging since 2003. Thank you for reading :))

Sunday, January 28, 2007


Jan distance: 936 km

Thu 25 - Sun 28 Jan: Hearts on Wheels
To Malacca, Malaysia, 549 km.

Are we there yet?
Day 1: Thu 25 Jan, Singapore - Batu Pahat (Johore), 159 km. It's a bad start: it's raining when I get up just after 5 am. And I lose a contact lens in my eye. It (the lens, not the eye) finally pops out and I promptly lose it. I ride to Mandai to meet S. There's supposed to be three of us going north, now there's two. I'd have biked north even if it's just me. S and I are fully loaded, with backpacks. The agenda for S: to train for Ironman. My agenda is more mundane: to see if my new pedals are "expedition proven". Along the Johore roads, I see signs of flooding; the roads are dry but the drains have overflowed, sometimes stretching into homes. But over 50 cyclists have signed up for SWCT's charity ride in aid of Club Rainbow, which starts officially tomorrow (they ride to Malacca - in a bus).

It is cloudy; good cycling weather. We have three breaks (excluding a detour to see the Shimano factory; alas, there's no warehouse sale). Three breaks is a tad too little for a long, fully loaded ride. Dealing with the hills at the "entrance" to Batu Pahat after 150 km is tiresome. Also tiresome is the noise at night, no thanks to patrons at the coffee shop downstairs and at the karaoke across the street. Of course, I'm in a rumah tumpangan in a happening part of town.


Close call
Day 2: Fri 26 Jan, Batu Pahat to Malacca, 102 km. I have breakfast in bed. Why spend time and calories looking for food in town? We stop an hour later for breakfast, part 2, when we come across a decent place.

The weight of a backpack is a real pain in the butt. To liven things up, an overtaking lorry bears down on us. It flashes its headlights. Like a deer frozen in the lights, I just look - and keep riding. S swerves, commenting on the danger. I veer offroad too. The truck whizzes by. This might be my closest brush with death in over 30,000 km of riding.

Weekend warrior vs triathletes
Day 3: Sat 27 Jan, Malacca to Batu Pahat, 105 km. For months, I've been cycling once, at most twice a week. The triathletes train six days a week, sometimes twice a day. I stick to the lead peloton until most of them breakaway to draft a police car (we have police escort). I'm too slow in the head to figure out what's going on and too slow to catch up as the gap widens to 300m and beyond. The lead cyclists then split into three groups. Total time elapsed is about 3.5 hours; the only break my group has is at the traffic lights. I arrive about 10 minutes after the second group. My butt hurts less; the hard riding (max speed: 53.7 km/h) must've taken some weight off my rear. The triathletes arrive about 10 minutes after me. Weekend warrior wins, so I think, until I find out that the triathletes run and swim after arriving.

Bringing a rainbow
Day 4: Sun 27 Jan, Batu Pahat to Singapore, 183 km. The first leg is supposed to be free and easy. K and I set off at a brisk pace - but where is everybody? We stop at a bus stop. When the "bike bus" of riders in two columns comes by, we "board" it. I find myself braking too often. This is three hours of non-stop riding, in a 50-strong peloton. We stop for lunch at my favourite coffeeshop by the Straits of Malacca in Pontian. The food dropping into stomachs seems to affect cyclists in a strange way; they start dropping things when the ride starts: tools, light, food. I drop off too, for a toilet break, than scramble uphill to catch up. At a stop to regroup, a roadie warns me about the wind that topples bikes. No worries, my mountain bike is twice as heavy as his.


My white jersey has turned as grey as the drizzly sky. The sun comes out and I'm glad. I'm also glad when the toughest ride (going from Mandai to Club Rainbow, negotiating the traffic and stopping at the many traffic lights) is over. The closing ceremony is simply touching. The charity auction of paintings done by the seriously ill kids of Club Rainbow, and the sale of calendars (featuring biker babes) raises $30,000; I hear we raise another $30,000 through our pledge cards. The money goes to help the kids. The guest of honour and head of Club Rainbow thank us, and we thank N (who conceptualised, planned and led the ride), the support crew and sponsors.

Riding home, a jaywalking pedestrian waves me away like I'm a fly. A car turns a corner and stops abruptly. Welcome to Singapore ...

Sunday, January 21, 2007

New toy, old problem

To Lim Chu Kang, 63 km. This is my last ride before next week's charity ride. I'm still not used to my new toy; it seems to change how I pedal. The problem is, is the pain real or imagined? To simulate a long ride in less time, I cycle with higher gears, stopping only at traffic lights and to adjust my saddle (again). The pain eases when I remind myself which plane my knees should move - which is what I told myself when I first got clipless pedals. To keep my new toy company, I have other new toys: a water bottle (sponsored by Rodalink yesterday) and a watch.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Water, water everywhere

To Mandai Zoo, 35 km. The roads are wet. I look at the night sky and see white clouds (so much light is thrown up by urbanites). It looks safe to cycle, rainwise (though not so safe that I cringe when heavy vehicles pass close by). I'm in such a hurry, I forget my water bottle. Water, water everywhere (on the roads) but not a drop to drink. Why am I cycling? Perhaps because I rode 1,794 km less in 2006 compared to 2005. It's as if I didn't cycle for over four months last year - that's how bad work was.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Like or dislike?

To Lim Chu Kang via Changi, 110 km. I look at the grey sky and feel blue. It's been raining all day, all over the island. When the rain stops in the evening, I hit the road. But it feels like a chore. Which spells trouble. Without cycling, there's no "cycle-therapy" and I'll go crazy (since I can't afford psychotherapy). If the cure is driving me crazy ... A family of pedestrians try to kamikaze into me. Then a bus gets so close. A a pair of cyclists weave into my path though the road is three lanes wide. Ah, I get it. I just dislike cycling in Singapore, not cycling as such. Proof: I'm looking forward to cycling in Malaysia in two week's time. And grimly satisfied that I log a century ride despite the weather.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Only time will tell

To Mandai Road, 35 km. I take my new headset out for a spin. It feels good, without that spooky tug on the handlebars as was the case with the old, pitted headset. I think of doing laps but the thought of training depresses me. So I ride for leisure, until I see a cluster of red blinking lights ahead. The chase begins. It's only at 40 km/h that I start to close the gap. I never manage to overtake the two lead riders, one of them on a mountain bike. Among the things I blame for my dismal performance is my seat height. I'd gotten it just right, after hundreds of km from consecutive days of riding. I marked the height but the mark was rubbed off when the seatpost got cleaned. While the height can be approximated, only time will tell if it's right - from the presence or absence of pain.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Weathering the weather

To Woodlands, 101 km. I don't want to cycle today as Saturday traffic is heavier. But it is sunny. Instead of being angry with the weather in case it messes up my traditional Sunday ride, I ride bike while the sun shines. I vow not to go home till I cover 100 km. In little Singapore, that's hard. I cycle to get used to my shiny new toy. I find that wearing thinner socks ($13 for 6 pairs! Branded too!) gives more pedal "float". My steering is messy - a pitted headset. As the bearings can't come off, I buy a new headset. And seatpost clamp. I don't know if my bicycle is lighter, but my wallet is.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

To believe my feelings or my eyes?

To Mandai Road, 43 km. I got a shiny new toy yesterday, made by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Being excited, I adjust my toy without reading instructions. A piece falls out, taking my heart along with it. It takes a while to put it back together, then install it on my bicycle. I take it for a test ride today: my first ride of 2007. The Q-factor doesn't feel right. But to the naked eye, it looks OK compared to the old component. What should I believe: my feelings or my eyes? Time will tell - when I test my new toy on a multi-day ride. Maybe I should've bought peace of mind by buying a branded (instead of OEM) version. But who knows if the former (which costs more and heavier) would cause me grief, or would I feel it's better since it costs more and is branded?