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

The Soles Looks like my arsenal is increasing rapidly, especially for running! The strangest thing about running is that I sort of went extreme by going Barefoot directly, moved into minimalist shoes like the Puma, and now I'm back to padded shoes! I think for me, a heavy guy, I will need some padding especially for those long runs, hence the Kinvara 2. It still promotes midfoot strike with its low profile sole/padding design. For maintaining running form and technique or just for kicks, barefoot and/or the Pumas are the way to go, no question. It looks like I got it all figured out :) So my short 6 month journey in to serious running taught me a couple of things - barefooting is good for form and technique sharpening (midfoot strike, balance, feel) - minimalist shoes like the Pumas gives some measure of protection and is almost as good as barefooting (and they look good too!) - shoes are absolutely needed for trail running, plus a stiffer and less padded sole is ideal to a...

Post 42km Run.....had a well deserved rest on Sunday and brought the kids for breakfast treat. I wore my Zoot compression shorts for recovery and looks like it worked. I was ok to start running again on Monday. Monday Starts my 12 week Marathon Regime. First one is to do 2.5km tempo pace x 3 with ~1km recovery jog in between. Legs were still off but managed to complete with tempo pace at 5:15min/pm. Not too bad. Tuesday I look forward to my barefoot runs. Met up with Ryo at my block and we went for a 'chat pace' barefoot run. Only for the last 2km or so did we pick up the pace. He went off pretty quick and it was quite a struggle to catch up! We covered quite a fair bit....10.5km. Had a quick drink after that and off to work. Wednesday My very much delayed bike ride. I've not gotten on the bike since the Bike Rally 2 weeks ago. I prepped my SS over the weekend and decided that I should put some distance on it this week. Did about 31km/h average for the E...

Caught the flu, fever, sore throat bug on Friday and had to give all cycling activities over the weekend a miss. It was miserable but on the flip side, I got up early and took my kids out the KFC for breakfast....they absolutely loved it. Not possible if I cycled! Felt better on Sunday so I went for a short morning run. Intended to do 5km but at the 4.5km point, high tide! I had to detour to take a leak at Macs. Such a shame...I was doing like 5.53min/km average before the tide! Anyway, all that rest over the weekend was really to get myself in ok condition to ride Desaru with JM. Monday morning, felt much better at 5am. It was raining. Not too heavy. I rode to the jetty in the rain....was pretty much determined, rain or shine. Good thing was : JM was also game. I believe most would have chickened out at the sight of rain but not this guy. He's mad. Just like me. I could feel that my legs were not 100% and sore throat still bugging me (had strepsils with me! contains sugar ...

Hopped on the Ciocc Single Speed on Saturday morning and went out for the usual 112-115km route (clockwise Singapore loop). I did not mount the extra bottle cage so took along a small 500ml bottle of electrolyte water in my back pocket, on top of the 750ml bottle on the bike bottle cage. It was nice weather all the way. The SS just felt so smooth and comfortable as well. I really wanted to do a 'back by 9' ride so kicked off at 5am and started at a quite a high pace, achieving ave speed of 30km/h upon hitting Jalan Buroh. At Jalan Buroh however, tummy ache struck! I tried to 'ride it off' but could not hold my shorts on and just had to detour at the Shell station at the opposite side of the road to take a dump! Weirdest thing....there are no stations on the side moving north! anyway, this penalized my average speed and this dropped to 29+km/h. It was a huge relief to unload and I continued on with a lighter feeling! Very pleasant weather, many riders on the other side g...

Couldn't get anyone to go with me so yet again, a solo ride. Got about 5+hrs sleep last night so it wasn't soooo bad. Started with good speed but headwinds started right about west coast area. Did not gain speed at LCK as I was hit with headwind there as well. Along the way got to chase down couple of small groups and lone caucasian rders but promptly lost them as they ran through a couple of red lights! I'd rather limit on such risks. I was really tired at coastal road and it was a real challenge to keep above 30kmh. Relieved as I reached the underpass! Managed to complete with ave speed of 29.4km/h and crazy ave hr of 162bpmm The front lights worked really well (buggers are BRIGHT!) and the additional bottle mount is a good investment for those longer lonely rides on the SS. Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

I'm setting some trips for the Single Speed this year, personal ones. Quite a waste to just leave it for Singapore roads.....well at least it has gone through a pleasure-able double century last year achieving average speed in excess of 28km/h (could have been better!). Cycling Kaki's are scarce these days so I guess I'll just have to make up my own fun but seriously, cycling in Singapore is really getting dull. Same old sights, some old sounds, not too mention the immense danger that exists on the roads here.... Here's the touring edition SS Mokkie.....the bright Giant lights up front, to the Fibre Flare and Sigma Cube lights at rear for safety (very important IMO since I'm almost always on my own for those long rides...also added a Topeak Cagemount which works perfectly as the Mokkie has only mounting for one cage. I hate stopping on solo rides to top up so this is excellent for long-ish rides of up to 120-140km (in reasonable morning weather). The SS doesn't ...

This is the first day after a ciggy-less year. It has been a tough while especially in the first few hours, days, weeks, months but I'm really proud of myself over this one for having pull through for a year! Now the second goal is to remain smoke free for another year, and another, and another. To be real honest, I still do dream of smoking once in a while. In those dreams, I light and puff on a cigarette and then always after that, I feel guilty about it, even in the dream! Amazing. Sometimes it was a nightmare as I thought I had failed....until I woke up, of course. I guess this is the part and parcel of dealing with post-nicotine-addiction. Ok, todays ride; on my single speed did the ECP - Siglap speed challenge. Did average of 31.6km/h, very decent considering my personal solo best on the Z3 was 32.1km/h. Average HR, indicative of effort is about the same and as far as I could remember, the wind conditions are quite similar as well. So, there is a 0.5km/h delta (faster) on my ...

Took the Moks out for a 80km spin on Sunday. Its been quite a while since I last took her out and it just reminds me that Steel is really Real....smooth...comfortable...yet fast! The solo SS ride was good. Managed to hit up to 30.7km.h ave after West CoastH'way...managed 30km/h at the end of Mandai, that's pretty fast! I did not tighten the handlebar enough and it kept tilting down so had to be extra careful on the hoods or drops. The garmin data was corrupted (happens once in a while for god knows what reason!). Actual average speed 30.4km/h. Took some simple shots after the ride before I went up home. This is the shallow drop R701 Oval Concepts handlebar I previously had on the Parlee. On Saturday, went out with KL on the same 80km route actually. He took his SS out and seems to have improved his riding (a lot). I was on the Parlee for this ride. The 100mm stem seems more comfy and 'right'...well only time can tell. I only know too well that these things change! Nice...

Got the Nitto Dynamic II 120mm stem installed last night. Luckily I had the Dura Ace Brake cable set still! Had that all changed as well. - Reach is effectively increased due to stem, saddle moved slightly less than 1cm forward. Total reach is still slightly longer than previous setup. - Saddle height increased by 1cm Took it for a quick 10km spin this morning just to get a feel do some tweaks. Feels ok for now at least. Its now quite a similar setup to the SS but with a slightly more relaxed saddle position (further back). Good thing is now, I can raise the bars if I needed to and have some flexibility in the setup to address different rides. I've always liked the feel of a longer stem especially when riding out of the saddle of climbing. The downside if of course, the reach can be a problem for long rides but I think I can get used to it. I actually had a very aggressive setup of the Saronni! Looks ok.....but a bit on the weird side! I've given up hope in the flat from bar to...