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

Been so called riding a lot namely with Ryo, he's really very fit guy and I'm struggling to cope everytime we are out on the bike or run (yes run!). I guess its good for me (if it doesn't kill me first!). So last weekend, we had a quick ECP-Loyang ride followed by a 4km run. Wow the run destroyed me....I was so tired and although he was not running that fast, I couldn't catch up. All in all, still a very good exercise day. On Hari Raya Haji Wednesday, we went to try interval at Old Upper Thomson road....we did a pursuit race...2.5 loops. This involved 2-3 slopes that hit 12% gradient on at least one of them and the idea was who'd get from the secure hill top area to the gates and back. The first round he killed me after the 2 slopes....he was in sight at all. The 2nd loop I did a lot better but only because he was better so he finished maybe 15 seconds faster and I was always in sight. Geez I really need to lose 10kg at least to be on par with this guy! Still, very

We were just thinking of what to have for dinner yesterday and my wife chanced upon an add for Microsoft's KINECT road show at Plaza Singapura. 'Just to have look' turned out to be a buy decision within few minutes. It was SGD229 for the KINECT unit + 1 game. Wife bought another 2 games (Joyride and Dance Central). Setting up was easy enough, lots of easy to follow instruction on-screen as the unit calibrates etc etc. My kids loved it....though Josh was still a little small for it, he loved it as well, mimicking Keith as they jumped and leaned for the Kinect Adventures game. I slugged it out with my wife on Dance Central which was very very cool and fun. The camera sensing it not perfect IMO (hopefully yet) but holds lots of promise. Its not as accurate as I would like it to be but an Engineer, I'm just fussing about it.....make no mistake...I'm impressed and remain very positive what this little tech can do in the very near future!

So the season of rain is upon us and its giving my Parlee a hell of a wet time. Well, basically it rained or drizzled everytime I took it out for a ride. Did some pretty tough rides with Ryo....last week we pushed an interval on Thursday morning and on Friday (Deepavali), we went on a 70km ride, also pushed at Mandai but otherwise rather relaxing ride. We explored Old Upper Thomson Road area. There were a couple of short slopes with gradients hitting 10% so it was quite fun riding on those roads (which do not have street lights btw). The Parlee really seem to climb quite well and feel very good standing up on the climbs. I think perhaps the power transfer is very good compared to the steel bike... Had a 6km run on Saturday and it was refreshing, and it rained then also. Weather is shit and while rain don't bother me much, the wet roads do. I swapped the SS stem with a shorter 100mm one making the setup pretty similar to the Parlee but about 1cm lower on the handlebars. Well, this l