.... the jackal rides and run....

I don't know what got into me......so Mr.Ti just got an Olympic Colnago and I just had to have one. So over the CNY weekend, I did a little bit of search (whilst ripping my audio CDs to Apple Lossless Format so that I will free up my car audio system from CDs!) and chanced upon this little gem... Here's how the ad went ... ITALIAN VINTAGE BIKE FRAME COLNAGO MASTER PIU' + FORK A storic frame, 1994, from the great ITALIAN artisan ERNESTO COLNAGO So, this is a very storic and important frame! VERY ARTISTIC! Wolderfull! USED BUT VERY VERY GOOD!! BRAND : COLNAGO MODEL : MASTER PIU' COLOR : VARIUS....LOOK THE PHOTOS FRAME MATERIAL : COLUMBUS STEEL "GILCO DESIGN" PROFILE 84 COSTUMIZED FOR COLNAGO FORK : BY COLNAGO IN STEEL!! SIZE TOP TUBE : 55,5 CM C/C SIZE SEAT TUBE : 55,5 CM C/C REAR SPACE : 130 MM Sounds a little bit broken isn't it, the english i mean....I hope the frame ain't. Well it a funny affair....I put in a max bid of USD480 for this

Finally, we decided to take a slight detour close to the end of our usual 80km route! We went up Mt. Faber via Morse Road. It was tough.....but not quite as tough as the build up stories that we heard so far! The toughest part is getting from Morse Road to the 'loop'. Its long up-slope that require some planning and lots of spinning in the beginning. At the loop itself, its a short but very steep slope all the way to the summit. I really can't spin anymore on my 25T cog! I guess my formula is simple, as far possible, spin with high cadence and only resort to standing and power pedaling when its absolutely required, and that's normally close to the top....if I did otherwise, I would not have reached the summit as all the power pedaling would have sapped my leg strength! Here's some pics @ the peak. Come on, Mt. Faber is hardly a mountain.....its hill!

Did the fastest 80km west loop yesterday with Mr.Pina Alu. Was supposed to kick off from Marine Crescent at 5.30am but I realized I had a flat (leaky tube) so we left at 5.45am. Still Rd-Eunos Link was a pain cos we had to stop at nearly every traffic light!! We made it to Lor Chuan at about 6.15am which was slow. Mr.Ti was not joining this ride so we went straight AMK Ave 1 and up Old Upp Thomson Road. Did a steady 26-27km/h on the gradual uphill along this road. We went really fast along Mandai, hitting average of about 34km/h I believe and passed 2 groups of cyclists. At the end of Mandai road, we stopped for a quick drink and breather at Shell and went off towards Kranji. We reached halfway point (40km) in 1hr 28mins....not bad considering we had to wait on quite a few lights when we started off. Stopped at Shell along Jalan Bahar for a good rest and stock up on 100-plus. Along Jalan Buroh we caught up with a lone tri-bike which was going quite fast. Though I pushed passed him up t

After a long 2 week wait, here are the stuff I got from CRC. MET Stradivarius 199, Look Keo Carbon CrMo, Blackburn Mars 3.0, Met Replacement Pads (Transformer toy not part of the deal but my 3 yr old son insists that it must be in the picture so....) Blackburn Mars 3.0 (super bright! with side indicators!) MET Stradivarius 199 '20th Anniversary Edition' (reputedly 199g but for L size its 245g...comes with kevlar straps!) Nicely packaged Look Keo Carbons (comes with bio material cleats and cleat protector!)

Apparently they are still building stuff, albeit a little bit more low key and shipping to specific shops (eg. condor in UK). Hope they can make good....even got their location!

Finally the Alu Pina joined Mr.Ti and myself on this one. Started off at 5.30am from the East. We made good speed up till 40km where we averaged 27.8km/h. Mr.Pina is a fast rider so its good to have him lead the way. However, Mr.Ti got some knee problems along the way and later pulled a hamstring...we went slowly from Jalan Buroh onwards. The entire ride took 4hrs and I think we had at least 45 mins of rest time in between which is not good! Anyway overall good ride but Saturday ride is not as pleasant as traffic build up starts early from 7am onwards. On Sunday, I went alone on my usual ECP - Changi Coast Road loop. Started off early at 6.50am cos needed to be back by 8am. Took a while to warm up as I went along ECP service road at only 26-28km/h. Upon reaching Changi Coast Road I tried to push myself but the headwind was quite strong! I started out with 32km/h but slowly and surely reduced to 28-30km/h until the end where I usually u-turned. After the u-turn, the wind was behind me a

Finally....the Mavic OPs + Ultegra is alive! now with DT Swiss 14/15/14 Double butted spokes. LBS did not charge me a cent for the re-build but I did have to pay for the spokes though...BUT he will refund the rest of the Phil Wood spokes when he gets back the dough. Apparently, he has quite a stock of 15g Phil Wood spokes that he intends to return to them. Ok, time to try and break spokes again!!! Must say that DB spokes are tough to see....you can only slightly feel the taper and its very very gradual. Makes a heavier wheelset though!!!

This is THE trip that I promised to myself that I would need to complete by 2008 at the point I did up the Saronni and what a way to do it; on the last day of 2008. Mr.Ti and myself decided its now or never and did the ride. Met up with Mr.Ti below my block at Marine Crescent at around 6am and we set off on a leisurely cool morning ride to Changi Village. We reached early so decided to have a cuppa. There were lots of people with bikes already starting to gather around the area, part of a huge group that chartered 2 boats to Pengerang. The left at around 7am. We went into the terminal and placed our passports on the counter at around 6.50am and proceeded to wait. Luckily we were on the first stack (of passports, they leave when 12 is collected) and by 7.30am we were motioned by the boat man to proceed to the boat. Mr.Ti brings his companion on-board Me, looking all tired due to lack of sleep Only 2 bikes on this boat! Enjoy the sunrise... Reaching Pengerang Ferry Terminal.. Reached Pen