And God took her away... too soon and too tragic.

After an initial and intense love affair that started on the 12th February, its suddenly and abruptly ended on the 28th Feb. Just one day shy of my 40th Birthday.

She was so beautiful when I first laid my eyes on her. There was no lust, there was no craving, it was a very communicative kind of love affair. The ones that would usually last. I wanted lightness, stiffness and speed, she was all that and more. I was strong, but she made me stronger, and she wanted to be brought to places and go the distance, and I relented to all her requests... together, I felt unequivocally invincible, the world was our oyster, together, the world seemed so small, together, we will no longer be... God took her away. May her soul rest in peace.

It happened all so suddenly... after a blistering ride back from Changi Point to NSRCC ( averaging 33km/h), I slowed down once I connected to the cycling path at NSRCC. I had to do that, because the rest of the group was so far behind... my speed was down to 26, easy for them to catch up with me, it was also time to load up on my electrolytes, took a swagger on my 'secret formula' and watched the joggers whizzing pass me, ah.. Chia Wee boon was jogging, so nice to see him back in singapore again! as I approached the winding bend, I saw a large peloton of cyclists, i slow down even more, and decided to go to the left hand side... as I went down the bend, there 4-6 errant riders from the peloton, coming onto the left hand side of the road, 2 cyclists especially fast, one of them came to close.. and he killed my darling.

It was a sickening 'çrack' sound, the sound you hear when someone breaks his bones. The cervelo guy took a tumble, I was ok, but I decided to go lie on the grass. I looked at my bike. Amazing. Nothing was broken. No major scratches and no major breaks, even my fork was intact. I was furious at the duo.. as cyclists they did the worst thing ever, negotiating a curve and going into the wrong lane and worst! Clipping at another cyclist. His friends sheepishly admitted that they were going too fast.

I picked her up, she seemed alright. I went all the way back to the redenvous point. About 15 km more. On the ride back, it was usual. Her lightness and stiffness was still evident. On the speed humps and even on the speed stripes, I couldn't feel that her life was actually ebbing away. She took a hard blow on the head. And her neck has been cracked. But my darling, didnt knew how to fail me, least of all, she just wanted me to reach my destination safely. She held up. on the way back, I cursed the rider that hit us, then a voice in me told me to be thankful that I am still in 1 piece and that nothing serious had happened.

Upon arrival, I was still the first to reach the carpark. The rest were still catching up. I related the whole scene to the guys when they finally came. And it was Ronald who saw the death marks on my darling. The crack stretched from one end to the other. She's a goner. I was furious, but there was nothing that could be done.

In the afternoon, I brought her in. And there is only but a sliver of hope that I can get my warranty claimed. I do hope that God will give her back to me. All day long, I felt as if a huge part of me had died. Indeed it had. I'm still strugling to get on my feet again.. I stil have my Titus and she's another favourite of mine.. but its just not the same anymore... its will never be the same again either... Good bye, Gal. It was absolutely brilliant, while it lasted. I thank God, that He provided all the wonderful times we have had. The training, the safe long rides that we had. I have learnt the finer points of how to handle a high percision engineered machine. Although it left a bitter taste in the seperation, but it has also heightened my senses and my cravings for highly engineered machines. May you rest in peace.

OCBC CYCLES... part 1

same time, sort of same place.. different excitement, different preparation...

over the last few months of blood, sweat and tears and a small part of my LIFE savings! :P... this was what it was amounting to..

Out with the Kula and In with the Argon... it definitely saved off many precious minutes.. but more importantly, I wasn't hurting so much (you think?!)

This is it.... just a few more moments, I will be en-route to what was I deem, the 'greatest' event of my life.. for 2009... hahaha... from a physical activity stand point... I don't even feel this sort of rush when I was representing RCC in the Inter-league games... and that was involving cash and status... this is just a CHALLENGE! Not even a race! Gosh, the mind does play tricks...

well... here's wishing myself all the best......

From Prince to Pauper... hahaha...

65km.... that was how long this ride was...
this was to be my second ride on my Gal, and what a ride it was...

32.5km each way... from my home to changi point.. and then back...

en-route to changi point along the coastal, there was this young chap, Pinarello Prince. Aero wheels, those dimpled zipps, with aero bars... I was going through the speed humps and he cut me on those humps, I was pretty pissed, why can't he wait to cut me after the humps.? I give chase but the strange thing was, it was effortless! He soon realised that I was on his tail, and try as he might, he just couldn't shake me! The amazing thing was, I was on my largest in front and 4th on my back, and I have lots of power to stay with him! He tried his aero position, he tried to standup and stride but all I didnt was just quicken my cadence and I was never more than 2 ft from him... he was exasperated! He swung several times to the right, thinking that it was the drafting that made me powerful, he was wrong, because I was strong! Hahaha.. the poor young chap was hurting... in the end, he made a U-turn at the lights and I carried on towards CP.. I hope he caught a goooood glimpse of my bike.... just a normal carbon bike with alu wheels...
made my evening! To turn that little spoilt Prince into a pauper! I believe he must be hurting tonite.. kekeke... Our average along that stretch was probably in the 40's.. because I registered a top speed of 47.... one thing's for sure... I am so glad that I bought this bike. Its really fast and there is no need for me to get aero bars or aero wheels.. its really more about me, the engine.

The ride from town to CP was tough.. but fun... lots of cars.. lot of stares.. but lots of fun. Poor Kin was not having so much fun! But I was so glad he came along. After Nicholl highway we went across the new bridge at Mounbatten Road. It was scenic!

On the coastals, there were several cyclists, but there were more on the way back... amounting to 20-30 cyclists.. of course not in one peleton. Perhaps it just that everyone is training for the OCBC... Anyway, I had a great time. Can't wait to try it again....

Goodbye my friend...

Its only been less than a year.. and yet.. the end was inadvertable. Bought on 13th June 2008, as a Father''s Day present to myself.. it rekindled much of my childhood or maybe even my teenage passion to ride. It was to power me through to my first Bicycle competition. And it had served me well on the trails both at Tampines and Bukit Timah as well. Then came the Titus and now the Gallium. It had no place in the small stable. Fast as it may be, it can never be a match to the stiffness of carbon and in terms of weight, there will be little advantage in keeping her.

Sad as it is, the decision has been made to sell her. The wheelset was the first to go, and Wilson has been really kind to allow his Mechs to stripe out most of her parts. One by one they will be sold. The Chris King headset, the crankset, the brakes, slowly going to new homes, where hopefully, they will be able to serve well and continue to be of use.

The end of an era is the ushering of a beginning of a new one.. and this is where the Gallium PRO will come in... honestly, I was more of a Cervelo person, wanting like crazy to order it from the US, but in the end, common sense got the most out of me, perhaps thanks to the ever cynical Ronald, who never failed to blast me with fire and brimstones, making it more bearable when compared to Sodom and Gomarrah! (ha!) anyway, many factors sublimed into this choice and one of them was Wilson from TEF. Nice bloke.. and from how the deal was finally transpired, I've decided to lend him my fullest support.

I wanted to Gallium Pro not because I wanted a PRO bike, in fact, I didnt even know what the heck was a PRO bike.. eventually, I found out.. that a PRO bike had very demanding geometry.. CRAP! I wanted the Gallium Pro, more for its weight! Anyway, its weight is bloody amazing.. the scales were out of batt at TEF! So I would have to weigh it another time.. BUT as it is, I need to go back there again, when my saddle arrives.. right now, I have the ugliest test saddle on the sexiest bike that I have ever laid eyes on! The Fulcrum Racing 3's are ABSOLUTELY killer looking! 18 spokes in the front and 24 at the back.. how they still feel stiffer than my mountain bike ones.. I can only imagine...

Still, getting onto a PRO geometry bike, would be a step up from normal road bikes, but not as demanding as a TT or Tri-bike.. so I guess, its about getting used to and training.. great.. with only 5 days to the OCBC.. not very wise..

Push up day 3....

This is day 3... I find that its easy to go through the sets after at least 1 min of rest... can tell that I am getting the hang of it.

Each time I finish the push up days, I am usually sore the next day... so its really working..

set 1 = 12
set 2 = 12
set 3 = 15
set 4 = 18
set 5 = 13
set 6 = 10

Total : 80

IPPT...

One of the best feelings that you get, is when you are able to accomplish, physically, what you set out to achieve. And when you achieve your target, your goal, against odds, against the nay sayers, against your own beliefs and experiences, the feeling is all the more sweeter.

Having been brought up with the belief that flat footers cannot run. Having been through all the pain and tears of the shin muscles when I ran too much when I was young, only proved a unsurmountable obstacle, for me to ever be able to like running long distances.

Life has its usual twists and turns, and only at the age of 39, that I realised that this unsurmountable obstacle was just that, an obstacle. Obstacles are there, to make us stronger, only if we were to challenge ourselves. Challenging ourselves, we are able to focus on our weaknesses, training our own bodies, to get stronger, to bring our threshold for pain higher, our endurance, longer.

Well, I trained really hard for the IPPT. And finally, the results as shown. Perhaps it was the terrain. Perhaps it was the pills... perhaps, perhaps perhaps... but the point was, I did it.

6 flat rounds... brought all my barang barang... and guess what? I forgot the watch! hahaha.. stress!

6 rounds in the multi-storey car-park...

Push up log... day 2 only... sigh..

ok... push up log seems to be a lot harder... mainly because of the IPPT week last week... no time to concentrate on that...

Ok.. day 2... actually.. I feel that I am alot stronger.. even though I didnt follow the program, but I on and off will "knock it down"... 10 or 20 a day...

ok.. day 2... 7th Feb 2009

set 1 = 12
set 2 = 12
set 3 = 10
set 4 = 12
set 5 = 14

total = 60