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

Did about 160km this weekend....~65km on Saturday with Ryo (Ben & KL on 2nd loop) and 93km on Sunday with Ryo. Sunday ride was a non-stop affair (only at traffic lights) and it was quite tiring no thanks to the labour from Saturday (some sprints, hill sprints, high speed drafting etc). Still we managed good speed....about 29km/h moving average for 93km, average HR of 149bpm for me. I must say Ryo has improved leaps and bounds in a very short time! I used the Rydons for both days and I must say they are pretty good, especially with the photochromic lenses. I can start at 5am already wearing it and as sunlight increases during the course of the ride, the lens darkens appropriately. So far, the filtering is good for me as I never really liked super dark lenses. Its very comfortable, despite small contact areas at the nose bridge but I think the light tightness at temples make it a good fit. Still have to adjust/optimize the positioning though. Had a bit of fogging problem though yeste

Back from 2 days MC. After the ride with Ryo on Tuesday, some pain increased again on the left rib area (was just a short 12km on straight coastal, doing average speeds of between 35-39km/h). Decided that since its been over 2 weeks and the pain seems to be persisting (although it has somewhat reduced), there seems to be a slight uprise in the pain....especially when trying to get up from a lying down position. Got and X-Ray done and the Doc gave me an assortment of pain killers (which I did not touch, yet) and some medical ointment. On Thursday, went with Ryo for 10 x Parbury loops. I was not too keen as I knew sprinting up those hills will require me to use some upper body strength; hence straining my chest a little....I was right, although I basically burned out my thighs by the 4th round, I felt a little bit more difficulty in breathing towards the end. As a result I got dropped when Ryo led on 2 occasions (by the way displayed his strength, despite being over 2 weeks off the bike!

Did some solo rides this weekend and a short one with Ben on Saturday. Main thing was to get back into the groove of riding normally after TOP and the traumatic Genting. Highlight was on Sunday's 80km solo ride, covering 2 loops of ECP - Coastal - Loyang - ECP. First loop for pretty uneventful but 2nd loop has be chasing a group Tri bikes + 2 Roadies. Nuff said, at Loyang, I sprinted up to what remains to be the fastest ever over the 1km slope for me. I passed the entire group and then motion with my right hands for people to follow. Well guess what, the roadies responded and one of them screamed passed me with 100m to go on the slope....impressive, as he came from quite far behind. At Coastal straight, the same roadie pulled the entire group over 5km, maintaining speeds of 40-45km/h....the guy deserves respect! I drafted the group and had no problems keeping up pace for the 5km....I did think about sprinting towards the end but decided that I really do not want to stress too much

Ah, after TOP, everything for my wheel came in....the components :- - NOS Dura Ace 7800 Hubs (circa 2003, got em' cos it complements the 7800 groupset, btw, this is the set that Lance used for the last few times we won the TDF!) - Silver Mavic Open Pro rims (Have em' on the Ultegra set, and my fixed gear....gotta like the light weight box construction of these classic rims, which btw suits the bike and my style of riding) - SAPIM CX-Ray Spokes (for weight savings and apparent claim to fail at a much lower rate compared to even DT Swiss spoke....individually forged) - Velox Rim tape (have em on all the bikes, have held up well) Got it built up at TEF Biker's Junction (Thomson Road) by Jasni (btw, great guy, very helpful, no bad vibes, I'll hire him if I ever open a bike shop!). Very reasonable price and collected the wheels in under 2 days. Very well tensioned, trued and wow, bladed spokes 3x cross-laced still looks pretty good! Finally a complete full silver wheelse