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

Arranged to meet up with Ryo at 5.45am and do a loop of Coastal before meeting up with Ben and the rest. It rained cats and dogs on the straight and we were forced to take refuge at one of those rain shelters along the park connector. I think we must have waited for like 45 minutes or so! So there it was, my first longer ride and the Parlee was christened with rain. On Sunday, arranged to do 80km with Ryo (his idea) and I was game. Set out at 5.45am and did a rather quick, non-stop ride....we reached Geylang kopitiam around 8.20am (after about 75km). My Garmin registered an average of 31.1km/h and thats with tons of red lights along the way....could have easily be 32+km/h I think. The overhead stretch along west coast, we did 40+ km/h all the way which to me was like wtf??? So I dare conclude now that the Parlee is a better bike than the Colnago, and by that I mean a better road racing bike. I would rate the following... 1. Ride Quality - Parlee Z3 rides like a steel bike! Its smooth b

I was initially going to build it over 2 or 3 days. Started after the kids went to bed at 9.30am and had everything removed from the Haze, cleaned and mounted on the Parlee by 11pm. I lie down on the bed for awhile and decided..heck..just finish the damn thing. So finished up the cable cutting, alignment, adjustment etc etc by 1am. Was still fiddling with the seat post as even at 4nm, the post was slipping (I used talcum powder, but now I know I can go up to 8nm max). I was so excited that I went for a short test ride at 5.30am......wow.....this bike is quite light and it felt really nimble and responsive. Most importantly, the ride quality; it is amazing. It really feels like a steel bike (my Colnago & Ciocc have this same feel) when rolling. Its not 'dead' or 'muted' at all. Its comfortable too, yet responsive (I guess stiff where it matters). The handling is pretty sharp and instantaneous (some may call it twitchy!). Not sure if it'll help me in faster speeds

Sent from the Netherlands on the 20th, arrived Singapore on the 26th. Total shipping cost : 34Euros. I swear that a good deal for postage from TNT priority airmail. The frame arrive in good condition, no visible cracks (fingers crossed) and the lacquer look to be in good condition as well. Frame (with headset & seat clamp) weighs in at 1211g and the fork is at a ridiculous 367g. Total frame + fork = 1.578kg not that light compared to a Cervelo R3. I'm so excited and can't wait to build it up myself!

So no thanks to Ben, who got his Archon 'Ruler' (wat a shitty name! he'll tell you no thanks to me as well as I was the one who sent him that ebay link) made me think a lot about a new frame. Initially I was looking for the likes of Cervelo R3 or RS.....I'm interested in Italian carbons (yes, carbon!). Those of you who may not know I was the guy who said a lot of bad things about carbon and I still will but truth is, you have to really sit on one to be able to judge. Cervelo has good reviews and a long string of pro-approvals to support their products. For the life of me, I've not ridden one! But then I stumbled upon some post saying that "nothing beats a Parlee".....and I went "what's that?"...that was the beginning of the end. I scoured the internet to find that Parlee is really a 'boutique' level shop offering low volume, highly hand-built carbon frames, using high quality tubesets and proprietary layups. They are really made by ha

Finally....fever, cough, loss of voice, flu etc etc is gone (well mostly!) and the 115km loop cleared up the airways quite a fair bit too. We had a nice ride (Mark, Ryo & Francis) and took a slight detour by going pass Sands Resort....wow...I've not been there yet but the place looks huge! Quite impressive I must say! The ride was mostly on a moderate pace but we did some high speed one at LCK and end of ECP straight...my right knee was hurting a bit after LCK but recovered towards the end. Well, finally I whipped out my phone camera and took some shots! First long ride since BnB2010! You can't miss those shoes! A Brilliant Cyclist and A Masher Relaxing @ Yishun at end ECP straight....

Got sick over the weekend....sore throat, fever, etc etc and some shoulder ache. Guess its my body telling me to get enough sleep! So sleep I did! both days I slept in, no 4am wake up calls, no getting ready to hit the road. It was nice to be 'normal' again and I think it did my ailments good. I recovered mostly by Monday. I did a short 4km run on Sunday afternoon....boy it was tough! Hadn't run in at least half a year so .... I kinda miss its simpleness and toughness now! I'm planning to do 2 runs a week of similar distance....sacrifice one or even 2 of the morning rides that I do. This morning I got up for a ride on the haze...was coughing and clearing as much phlegm as I can prior to the ride. Guess I'm not 100% yet. I went anyway.....as soon as I got to the ground floor I was dismayed to see wet grounds though the rain has stopped. Oh well, I thought, just do it! Managed an ok 31km/h or so averaged over 30km so was pretty pleased with that. Will a Cervelo help m